The Novelty of Early Steamboats
One can imagine the sensation and suspicion the strange-looking river craft New Orleans sparked as it made its way down the Ohio in the fall of 1811. Many if not most people doubted its ability to supplant the flatboats and keelboats used to navigate the interior rivers. But when its crew demonstrated that it could travel effectively upstream against the current as well as downstream, the steamboat won over most doubters, many of whom resided in Louisville.
A river town at the Falls of the Ohio that owed its existence to the only major obstacle to navigation on the entire length of the river, the coming of the steamboat transformed Louisville into a major city with a thriving economy firmly linked to the river. Steamboats also spurred the growth of the other “Falls Cities” of Jeffersonville, New Albany, and Portland. Upstream, Cincinnati experienced a similar rise in population, industry, and prosperity due in part to the steamboat.
Shortly before his death, Jonathan Clark recorded in his diary his ride on the first steamboat on western waters, the New Orleans, on November 9, 1811.
Clark took a ride on the New Orleans while it waited in Louisville for the river to rise and enable it to pass through the Falls. He likely thought his short trip a novelty, but he provided no indication that he realized the historic nature of his experience. His simple diary entry, “Sailed in the Steam Vessel New Orleans as far as the Diamond [Eighteen Mile] Island,” certainly leaves the reader wishing for more details.