hose wonders had only begun to
unfold, was at hand. In Connecticut there lived a watchmaker by the name
of John Fitch, who, although he knew little of the use of steam, knew
much about machinery. Through the aid of a company that furnished him
with the necessary money he built a steamboat which was tried out in
1787 and made three miles an hour. Of course it was not a boat like any
of ours for it was propelled by twelve oars, or paddles, operated by a
very primitive steam engine. Nevertheless, it was the forerunner of
later and better devices of a similar nature, and therefore Fitch is
often credited with being the inventor of the steamboat. Perhaps, had he
been able to go on with his schemes, he might have given the world
something really significant in this direction; but as it was he simply
pointed the way. His money gave out, the company would do nothing
further for him, and after building a second boat that could go eight
miles an hour instead of three he became discouraged and intemperate and
let his genius go to ruin, dying later in poverty--a sad end to a life
that might well have been a brilliant one. After Fitch came other
experimenters, among them Oliver Evans of Philadelphia who seems to have
been a man of no end of inventive vision."

"Wasn't he the one who tried sails on a railroad train?" inquired Steve,
noting with pleasure the familiar name.

"He was that very person," nodded Mr. Ackerman. "He evidently had plenty
of ideas; the only trouble was that they did not work very well. He had
already applied steam to mills and wagons, and now he wanted to see what
he could do with it aboard a boat. Either he was very impractical or
else hard luck pursued his undertakings. At any rate, he had a boat
built in Kentucky, an engine installed on it, and then he had the craft
floated to New Orleans from which point he planned to make a trip up the
Mississippi. But alas, before his boat was fully ready, there was a drop
in the river and the vessel was left high and dry on the shore."

"Jove!" exclaimed Dick involuntarily.

"Pretty tough, wasn't it?" remarked Mr. Ackerman.

"What did he do then?" demanded Stephen. "Did he resurrect the boat?"

"No, it did not seem to be any use; instead he had the engine and boiler
taken out and put into a saw mill where once again hard luck pursued
him, for the mill was burned not long after. That was the end of Oliver
Evans's steamboating."

Mr. Ackerman paused thoughtfully.