HUDSON STEAMERS. 



16. Practical evidence of the economy arising from this increase 

 of power and dimensions is supplied by the fact that the pro- 

 prietors of the Hudson steam-boats reduced their tariff for 

 passengers, as well as for freight, as they increased the size of 

 their vessels. 



Previously to 1844 the lowest fare from New York to Albany, a 

 distance of 145 miles, was 4s. 4d. ; at present the fare is 2s. 2d. ; 

 and for an additional sum of the same amount the passenger can 

 command the luxury of a separate cabin. When the splendour 

 and magnitude of the accommodation is considered, the magnifi- 

 cence of the furniture and accessories, and the luxuriousness of 

 the table, it will be admitted that no similar example of cheap 

 locomotion can be found in any part of the globe. Passengers 

 may there be transported in a floating palace, surrounded with 

 all the conveniences and luxuries of the most splendid hotel, at 

 the average rate of twenty miles an hour, for less than one-sixth of 

 a penny per mile ! 



It is not an uncommon occurrence during the warm season to 

 meet persons on board these boats who have lodged themselves 

 there permanently, in preference to hotels on the banks of the 

 river. Their daily expenses in the boat are as follow : 



*. d. 

 Fare 22 



Separate bed -room 22 



Breakfast, dinner, and supper . . . .66 



Total daily expense for board, lodging, attendance, 



and travelling 150 miles at 20 miles an hour . 10 10 



Such accommodation is, on the whole, more economical than an 

 hotel. The bed-room is as luxuriously furnished as the hand- 

 somest chamber in an hotel or private house, and is much more 

 spacious than the room similarly designated in the largest packet 

 ships. 



To obtain an adequate notion of the form and structure of one 

 of the first-class steam-boats on the Hudson, let it be supposed 

 that a boat is constructed similar in form to a Thames wherry, but 

 above 300 feet long and 25 or 30 feet wide. Upon this, let a 

 platform of carpentry be laid, projecting several feet upon either 

 side of the boat, and at stem and stern. The appearance to the 

 eye will then be that of an immense raft, from 250 to 350 feet long, 

 and some 30 or 40 feet wide. Upon this flooring let us imagine 

 an oblong rectangular wooden erection, two stories high to be 

 raised. In the lower part of the boat, and under the flooring just 

 mentioned, a long narrow room is constructed, having a series of 

 berths at either side, three or four tiers high. In the centre 



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