round counter, the entrance sharp and long, and the 

 run long and easy. The midsection was formed with 

 little or no rise to the floor, a firm round bilge, and 

 some flare in the straight topside. The side wheels 

 were abaft midlength and were 40 to 42 feet in di- 

 ameter, covered iiy wheelhouses, or wheelboxes, the 

 latter name being the shipbuilders' term. \'essels 

 such as the Eclipse had a cabin atop the main deck- 

 house with a pilothouse on the cabin roof abaft the 

 stacks, which were two abreast. These river packets 

 were well finished and fitted; they attracted much at- 

 tention at home and abroad. Stern-wheelers of some- 

 what lesser size and magnificence were built on the 

 Ohio and Missouri and innumerable small side-wheel 

 and stern-wheel freighters were built. 



During the Ci\il War some river steamers were con- 

 verted to ironclad gunboats by both the Federal and 

 Confederate navies. The construction of iron vessels 

 began on the upper Mississippi and Ohio during the 

 war, though iron vessels had been built at Pittsburgh 

 as early as 1840. After the war, large river steamers, 

 including the famed Robert E. Lee and the Natchez, 

 were built, and the river trade boomed. 



Stern-wheel towboats had been built on the Ohio in 

 the 1840's, and after the Civil War these grew in size 

 and power, as the river barge traffic increased. By 

 1880 highly developed stern-wheel towboats or "push- 



ijoats" were being built of wood or iron and steel; the 

 bow was long and sharp and the run short and straight, 

 or formed with a tunnel with skegs at the sides. Early 

 in the 20th century the tunnel-stern screw-propelled 

 boats were developed, and these have taken the place 

 of stern-wheelers, particularly after the introduction 

 of the diesel engine. 



In the last 45 years great efforts have been made to 

 de\elop better river craft and to improve the rivers 

 for inland navigation, with the result that towboats 

 are now of even greater power than the old steamers 

 and can draw more water, which allows the use of 

 screw propellers, many modern boats having as many 

 as four. Few major changes, other than the tunnel 

 stern, have been introduced to alter the basic hull 

 design of river craft, already well developed at the 

 time of the Civil War. 



The number of steamers in the coasting trade in 

 the East gradually increased after the Civil War. Ves- 

 sels were built for coastwise passenger service, and 

 those intended for such voyages as from New York to 

 Charleston, Savannah, or Jacksonville, resembled the 

 oceangoing steamers of their time and were usually 

 screw propelled. The side-wheelers remained popu- 

 lar in some coastal trades for a few years after the 

 Civil War, but the screw gradually replaced them. 

 Manv notable steamers were built for the Lonsf Island 



Side-Paddle-Whf.el Steamer Fulton, from a French print in the Watercraft Collection (USNM 1 60010). 

 Built bv Smith and Dimon in 1 856 for the New York-Le fiavre service, her register dimensions were 290' x 42'4" 

 X 3i'6", 2,300 tons. She was broken up in 1861. {Smithsonian photo 4^628-e.) 



472S4C — 60 



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