Full Steam Ahead: Reflections on the Impact of the First Steamboat on the Ohio River, 1811-2011

Full Steam Ahead: Reflections on the Impact of the First Steamboat on the Ohio River, 1811 2011 celebrates the epic voyage of the steamboat New Orleans, which departed Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October 1811. Onboard were Captain Nicholas Roosevelt, his crew, and his pregnant wife, their toddler, and a young maid. The New Orleans steamed to Louisville, Kentucky, and then back up to Cincinnati, Ohio, astounding the passengers it had taken onboard for it was the first steamboat capable of traveling upriver as well as down. The New Orleans s voyage ushered in commerce, hastened immigration, and engendered town building within the Ohio Mississippi River basin, transforming it from a raw frontier to an economic and social powerhouse. Full Steam Ahead is a book of essays on the development of steamboats, Ohio River cities, and river transportation. Written for the general reader by individuals who have been engaged in a variety of river occupations, it is part of a larger project to explore ways the voyage of the New Orleans impacted the United States.

Paperback. 240 page. 2011, Indiana Historical Society Press. Edited by Rita Kohn.