Fulton's Steamboat.

In August 1807 Robert Fulton's steam-powered ship, the Clermont, traveled up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany in thirty-two hours. Fulton's success proved that steamships traveling through inland waterways could be an efficient and profitable means of transporting passengers and commodities. Steamboats were faster and more reliable than wind-powered vessels, and their services proved to be far less expensive than hauling goods by wagon over primitive road networks. Political leaders in New York envisioned their state becoming a vital passage for both migration and trade to the West, and they worked aggressively to capitalize on the revolution represented in Fulton's success. As early as 1800 some enterprising New Yorkers hoped to open a canal through upstate New York, linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie. In 1815 DeWitt Clinton, former mayor of New York City, became the canal's leading...