Before trains, cars, trucks andairplanes existed, rivers were used fortravel. They carried people and goods fromone place to another. River travel was oftenslow because speed of travel depended onthe river current and manpower. That allchanged with the introduction of steampoweredboats in the late 1700s and early1800s. The steam-powered boats couldtravel at the astonishing speed of up to fivemiles per hour. They soon revolutionizedriver travel and trade, and dominated thewaterways. The dangers of steamboat travelsuch as explosions, sinkings, Indian attacks,and daring steamboat races captured theimagination of the country. The greatsteam-powered boatsof the nineteenth and twentieth centuriesalso played an important role in theexpansion of the United States to the west.Eventually, other forms of transportationbecame more important than steamboats,but during their day, they ruled the nation’srivers.
