"Now while Fitch and those following him were working at the steamboat
idea here in America, Robert Fulton, also a native of this country, was
turning the notion over in his mind. Strangely enough, he had not
intended to be an inventor for he was in France, studying to be a
painter. During a visit to England he had already met several men who
were interested in the steam engine and through them had informed
himself pretty thoroughly about the uses and action of steam. In Paris
he made the acquaintance of a Mr. Barlow and the two decided to raise
funds and build a steamboat to run on the Rhone. This they did, but
unfortunately the boat sank before any degree of success had been
achieved. Then Fulton, not a whit discouraged, told the French
Government that if they would furnish the money he would build a similar
boat to navigate the Seine. The French, however, had no faith in the
plan and promptly refused to back it."

"I'll bet they wished afterward they had!" interrupted Dick.

"I presume they did," agreed Mr. Ackerman. "It is very easy to see one's
mistakes after a thing is all over. Anyway, Mr. Barlow came back to
America, where Fulton joined him, and immediately the latter went to
building a steamboat that should be practical. On his way home he had
stopped in England and purchased various parts for his engine and when
he got to New York he had these set up in an American boat. You must not
for a moment imagine that everything about this first steamboat of
Fulton's was original. On the contrary he combined what was best in the
experiments of previous inventors. He adopted the English type of
engine, the side paddle, everything that seemed to him workable. Barlow
and a rich New Yorker named Livingston backed the enterprise. Now some
time before the State of New York, half in jest and half in irony, had
granted to Livingston the sole right to navigate the New York waters by
means of ships driven by steam or fire engines. At the time the
privilege had caused much mirth for there were nothing but sailing ships
in existence, and there was no prospect of there ever being any other
kind of vessel. Hence the honor was a very empty one and nobody expected
a time would arrive when it would ever be of any value to its owner. But
Livingston was a shrewder and more far-seeing man than were the old
legislators at Albany, and to Fulton he was an indispensable ally."

The boy listened breathlessly.

"How these three men managed