New Orleans (steamboat) - Background

Background

The New Orleans was part of a business venture among Robert Fulton (1765–1815), Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), and Nicholas Roosevelt (1767–1854) to build and operate steamboats on America’s western waters, including the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. After Fulton and Livingston obtained patents for their steamboat design, they hoped to increase their profits from the exclusive rights granted by the state governments of New York and Louisiana to steam navigation on the Hudson and Mississippi Rivers. Fulton had successfully commercialized the steamboat on the Hudson River with his Clermont in 1807. In addition, he had become familiar with the Ohio River while visiting Pittsburgh in 1786. Livingston, who became Fulton's partner, was a wealthy New York politician and inventor who helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase while minister to France from 1800 to 1804; it was during this time that the two met. Both men realized the great potential for steamboat traffic on the western waters, and within twelve days of the completion of the Clermont's first voyage, they began to plan for the introduction of a steamboat on the western rivers. Fulton and Livingston consulted with Nicholas Roosevelt, an expert on steamboats and an inventor of the side-wheel method of steamboat propulsion, an innovation crucial for achieving practical speeds. At the time, Roosevelt manufactured copper and steam engines at the Soho Works on the Passaic River at Belleville, New Jersey, one of the best metal foundries in the nation. Roosevelt had worked on a stern-wheel steamboat for Livingston from 1798 to 1800, but stopped when he lost his government contracts for supplying copper for warships. In 1798 Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to convince Livingston to use side-wheels in his designs, but Livingston insisted on a stern-wheel. However, after exhausting other options, Fulton and Livingston eventually used side-wheels on the Clermont. The two men were also in Roosevelt's debt for originally training and employing many of Fulton's highly-skilled workmen.