Steam : The Untold Story of America's First Great Invention

by Andrea Sutcliffe

• ISBN13: 9781403968999
• ISBN10: 1403968993
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-05-13
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The story behind the intense rivalry to build the world's first steamboat In 1807, Robert Fulton, using an English mail-order steam engine, chugged up the Hudson River, passing into popular folklore as the inventor of the steamboat. However, the true first passenger steamboat in America, and the world, was built from scratch by a man named John Fitch, and plied the Delaware River almost two decades earlier. Fitch's steamboat's development was nothing short of remarkable. But he faced competition from the start, and he and several other inventors fought a string of bitter battles. Steam tells the dramatic story of Fitch and his adversaries, weav-ing their lives into a fascinating tale including figures like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. It is the story behind America's first important venture in technology, the persevering and color-ful men that made it happen, and the great invention that moved a new nation westward.

Author Biography

Andrea J. Sutcliffe is an independent scholar and writer who has published nine books including Mighty Rough Times I Tell You, an edited compilation of narratives from former slaves, Touring the Shenandoah Valley Backroads, and The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	xi
Stream-boats and Steamboats	1	(16)
A Ridiculous Idea	17	(18)
Brother Saintmakers	35	(18)
The War of the Pamphlets	53	(18)
The Columbian Maid	71	(18)
Lord High Admirals of the Delaware	89	(12)
The First and True Inventor	101	(18)
``All Further Progress Is in Vain''	119	(14)
Leeches and Sharks	133	(14)
Mother Clay	147	(14)
The French Connection	161	(18)
Steamboat Collisions	179	(22)
John Fitch's Ghost	201	(18)
Epilogue	219	(8)
Chronology	227	(4)
Notes	231	(22)
Bibliography	253	(8)
Index	261

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