Introduction
Boat are arguably the father of all "adventurous" long distance travel. From Native American canoes used to hunt fish (or travel from tribe to tribe) to the famous Santa Maria (used to explore the New World) and the notorious Queen Anne (used for plundering and piracy), boats have truly come a great distance from the beginning of time. And now, they have traveled a further distance across American Society. The new innovation in boat technology that changed the world: The Steamboat.
How it WorkedThe modern steam engine was invented in the 1760's by James Watt. All steam engines work with the same concept, converting thermal energy from the combustion of fuel into physical energy to power a piston. The easiest way to do this was to burn coal below a boiler full of water. When water boils, the steam it releases is far less dense than liquid water. This building of pressure in the boiler tank allows it to power a piston, which then can be used by factory machines, locomotives, or even steamboats. In the case of a steamboat, also known as a steamer, this mechanical energy is used to spin a propeller or turn a paddle wheel and move the watercraft forward. The first practical steamboat was built by American inventor Robert Fulton in 1807. He created the commercial steamboat known as the North River Steamboat of Claremont. The earliest steamboats used paddle wheels; however, by the 1850's, most ships had upgraded to propellers.
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Types of SteamboatsWhen people think of steamboats, most imagine the paddle wheel-driven boat with the shallow draft that was commonly seen on the Mississippi River in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, not all steamboats are like this. Generally, there were two different types of steamboats during this period: The East Coast steamboat and the Western steamboats. The East Coast steamboat was a deep-draft boat propelled by paddle wheels or propellers. The Western steamboats had shallow-drafts and had cruder construction, often having a sidewheel, sternwheel, or propeller propulsion. Other types of boats were towboats, ferries, packets (the most common one), fuelers, snag boats, and showboats. Despite the many different designs, all steamboats had one universal purpose: to transport goods and people from place to place.
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Positive Impact?Obviously with the emergence of such technology, many of benefits arose. With the coming of this technology, many economic improvements and great social changes occurred. Before the coming of these steamboats, farmers across America were forced to pay a great deal to transport their crops from Point A to Point B. This became an economic burden amongst farmers, for the distance and time taken to transport these crops were devastating. With the emergence of the steamboat, farmers now could transport their goods from the agrarian West and South to the Industrial North at much cheaper costs. Their crops and transport would reach their destination at a much faster pace, allowing for much faster sale and output. Travel across large distances greatly changed as well, for now greater amounts of people could move from Point A to Point B at a much faster rate across bodies of water. This allowed for a major social change, for now more people were able to move to the West at a much lower cost and much faster than ever before.
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Negative Impact?It is possible that these steamboats, like the steam locomotives greatly dealt damage to the environment. It is possible that the emission from the chimneys of these steamboats may have caused pollution that would have impacted the environment over the long term. It is also possible that, due to construction and big-project canal excavations (i.e. Erie Canal), their would be a large amount of deforestation that occurred, ultimately causing major environment problems such as land erosion, etc. Manifest Destiny truly took its tolls on the environment.
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Bibliography (Chicago)
"About Steamboats; tools/implements." About Steamboats; tools/implements. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://www.museum.state.il.us/RiverWeb/landings/Ambot/TECH/TECH4.htm.
Pictures:
https://ir-newspaper.wikispaces.com/file/view/Steamboat_pg26.jpg/43381911/Steamboat_pg26.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7d/95/2c/7d952c7ef551c7757e4a91d041b4227f.jpg
http://www.american-historama.org/images/steamboats.jpg
http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/redwoods.png
http://steamboats.com/jpgs/DisneyCharacters30sSTERNWHEELERgrayscale.jpg
http://steamboats.com/jpgs/NATCHEZdonDavey1976REDUCEDforNORI.jpg
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/b/be/Im1934RTrev-Rastrick2.jpg
"About Steamboats; tools/implements." About Steamboats; tools/implements. Accessed March 14, 2017. http://www.museum.state.il.us/RiverWeb/landings/Ambot/TECH/TECH4.htm.
Pictures:
https://ir-newspaper.wikispaces.com/file/view/Steamboat_pg26.jpg/43381911/Steamboat_pg26.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7d/95/2c/7d952c7ef551c7757e4a91d041b4227f.jpg
http://www.american-historama.org/images/steamboats.jpg
http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/redwoods.png
http://steamboats.com/jpgs/DisneyCharacters30sSTERNWHEELERgrayscale.jpg
http://steamboats.com/jpgs/NATCHEZdonDavey1976REDUCEDforNORI.jpg
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/b/be/Im1934RTrev-Rastrick2.jpg