Envelope - Steamboat     ( March 4, 1899 )

Empty Envelope

Envelope Front

Envelope Back

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Three pages, each written only on one side.

Paper: lined paper4-7/8” wide by 8” high

This was found in an envelope addressed to Mrs. William Fizpatrick, Dennison, Michigan

The envelope was stamped with a 2-cent stamp

The front was postmarked Grand Rapids, Mich., Mar 4, 1899, 5-PM

The back was postmarked Dennison, Mich.

The envelope was 4-1/4” wide by 3-5/8” high.

Since the paper was 4-7/8” wide and the envelope was 4-1/4” wide the paper did not fit all the way into the envelope.  The paper was not mailed in this envelope.  It was inserted into the envelope some time after the envelope went through the postal system.

 

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Steamboat

 

The steamboat; the beginning of that great system of steam navigation which has extended over the waters of the world was invented by Robert Fulton.  Fulton was an Irishman by descent and a Pennsylvanian by birth.  His education in boyhood was very limited but was afterwards improved by study at London and Paris.

 

During a visit to England, he learned what was then known respecting the power and applications of steam and conceived the idea of employing it in navigation.

 

In 1806 he returned to New York and commenced the construction of the first steamboat.  This was 100 ft long, 12 ft. wide, 7 ft deep and carried 160 ton.

 

He received much discouragement and ridicule while his boat was being built for it was prophesied from all sides that his invention would be a failure.

 

On the 2^nd of Sept. 1807, Fulton invited his friends to join him on board his new ship, the Clermont, on a trial voyage to Albany.  The passage was made in 36 hrs.  Which previously required from six to ten days.

 

For many years the Clermont plied between New York and Albany and the Hudson River boasted of the only steamship in the world.  This event exercised a vast influence not only on the trade but on the future settlement of the country.  It was of great importance to the people of the inland states for it was necessary that their rivers should be enlivened with rapid navigation and this could only be accomplished by the application of steam.

 

Since then the number of steam ships have rapidly increased until now there is a large number sailing on all waters of the globe.  The largest passenger steamboat now afloat is the City of Rome, which plies the Atlantic between New York and Liverpool.

 

 

 

 

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