Book Description

Excerpt from Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters, Containing the History of the First Application of Steam as a Motive Power: The Lives of John Fitch and Robert Fulton, Likeness Engravings of Their First Steamboats With all that profusion of Literature, for which the present age is remarkable, an opportunity sometimes offers to supply the public with a book which everybody admits to be a desideratum. We hope it is not presumptuous on our part to believe that the present work is one of that class which the American public cannot easily dispense with, inasmuch as it presents a record of facts and events which form an interesting and important part of our country's history. In this volume, if we do not greatly deceive ourselves, the reader will find a more complete account of the beginning and progress of Steam Navigation in the United States, and in the Great West especially, than has ever been comprised in any previous publication. As incidental to the history of Steam Navigation in the West, we have introduced a copious detail of the awful and heart-rending accidents which have been of too frequent occurrence in that region. We have also had drawn at great expense maps of the Western Rivers with the Towns, Cities, Landings, and Islands, correctly laid down, making a complete Guide Book for the travellers on these rivers. These maps are the only correct ones now printed, they are complete and reliable, having been drawn recently by Capt. John Tucker of Campbell Co., Ky., who is the oldest and best pilot on the western waters. We have also given in this volume a History of all the Railroads in the United States, their length, cost, officers, and other information to the travelling public of great worth; and as there are many Boats on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers unsafe and dangerous, we have concluded to name and point out to the travellers on these waters the safest and best Boats in each trade; and we pledge ourselves to notice no boat unworthy of the patronage of the travelling community. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.