Speed and Safety on Early Hudson River Steamboats

Extract

The time when Hudson River steamboating was an experiment and an adventure is brought to mind by an old advertisement of the “splendid safety barges ‘Lady Clinton’ and ‘Lady Van Rensselaer,’ towed by steamboats of great power,” operating between New York and Albany in 1826. After the Supreme Court decision in 1824 that the New York laws prohibiting vessels licensed according to the laws of the United States from navigating the waters of the State of New York by means of fire and steam, are repugnant to the… constitution, [of the United States,] and void,” steam vessels had increased and multiplied on the Hudson, and opposition lines sprung up to share the business of Livingston and Fulton's old North River line.