1814
Caleb went to Louisiana for the purpose of expanding the company's steamboat line to a third boat which would operate between Louisville and New Orleans. Furthermore, this trip was a fulfillment of the business agreement between Elisha Hunt and Daniel French.
On 1 March 1814 Benjamin Henry Latrobe wrote from Pittsburgh to Robert Fulton:
There is a company chiefly of Quakers who are building a Steam boat on French's plan at the eastern shore 30 miles above this place.
Sometime in May 1814, the Enterprise was launched at Bridgeport.
In August 1815, the manager of the cotton factory, named the "Bridgeport Manufacturing Company", announced that it was ready to begin operations. Using Daniel French's steam engines the company would process raw cotton and wool into yarn.
Elisha Hunt was one of the principals behind the Bridgeport Manufacturing Company. He planned to process raw cotton and wool into finished goods in Bridgeport and then ship them to southern ports aboard the company's steamboats. Then the steamboats would transport raw cotton to Bridgeport to be processed into finished goods. This synergistic relationship between the manufacturing company and the steamboat company would increase the chances that both of them would be successful.
Read more about this topic: Monongahela And Ohio Steam Boat Company