to be prohibitive to any but travellers of means, though the accommodations were hardly such as would be considered "palatial" by the tourist of latter days. The advertisement of distances, time, and charges, was as follows: From New York to Newburg $3. Time 14 hours " " Poughkeepsie 4. " 17 " ' Esopus 5. " 20 " Hudson 5^. " 30 " " " Albany 7. " 36 " Digitized by Microsoft® Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 129 In an advertisement, published in 1808, the time- table for the boat is supplemented by the following caution : As the time at which the boat may arrive at the different places above mentioned may vary an hour, more or less, accord- ing to the advantage or disadvantage of wind and tide, those who wish to come on board will see the necessity of being on the spot an hour before the time. Persons wishing to come on fcL v: ■~-~-^:. ■• RICHMOND," 1S13 board from any landing other than these here specified can calculate the time the boat will pass and be ready on her arrival. Innkeepers or boatmen who bring passengers on board or take them ashore from any part of the river will be allowed one shilling for each person. All passengers other than those regularly shipped at the stated landing-places were required to pay at the rate of one dollar for every twenty miles, and half a dollar for each meal taken on board. Baggage was al- lowed free, if below sixty pounds in weight, and freight was carried at the rate of three cents a pound. Some of the old river boats had an interesting his- tory. One, called the New World, that used to run Digitized by Microsoft® 130 The Hudson River between New York and Albany, was cut up and taken to San Francisco, and, having been put together again, ran between that city and Sacraraento as El Capitan. The Swallow made a disastrous ending on the rocks in the forties, another found her final resting-place at Pier- mont, while Kingston was for years a tying-up place for decrepid hulls that once throbbed and trembled under the stress of over-taxed boilers and engines in the frequent mad races for supremacy on the river. When Vanderbilt's steamer, Westchester, was running and trying to monopolise business (in 1832) an associa- tion was formed to build and run a rival boat in the interest of farmers and shippers. Subscribers were found all along the river and the famous Water Witch came into being. Then commenced a rivalry so in- tense that the rate of fare dropped to twelve-and-a- half cents from New York to Peekskill. The war ended by the purchase of a controlling interest in the new boat by the " Commodore" and the restoration of high rates. Thomas Stanton built the Trojan at West Troy, and, afterwards, several other steamboats, the two best known being the Armenia and the Daniel Drew, which was his last. The Drew was chartered to take the Prince of Wales and his suite to Albany, at the time that the Prince (now Edward VII.) made his memor- able visit to America. A well-known river steamboat, the General Jackson, exploded her boilers on the trip from Peekskill to New Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 133 York. The accident occurred off Grassy Point and resulted in the death of several persons. Jacob Van- derbilt, a brother of the Commodore, was her captain. One of the noted rivalries of the time we are writing of occurred between the steamboats Kosciusco and Tele- graph. It was a never-ending trial of speed between the two boats, and became so exciting that they some- times omitted to stop for passengers. On one occasion fifty people were left behind at Peekskill, cherishing emotions that were probably unfit for publication. The Kosciusco was finally defeated by her rival. We ask about the Reindeer, — that exploded and burned at Maiden in 1852, — the Alexis, the Henry Clay; and the answer is a melancholy reminiscence. The case of the last-named boat was one of the peculiarly dread- ful tragedies that the history of steamboating presents. In 1852, this popular boat, while making her regular run and crowded with passengers, was discovered to be on fire. She was headed for the shore at Riverdale and ran hard aground near the wharf. But while from the bow of the boat it was only a step to the shore, yet the stern floated in deep water, and the majority of the passengers were imprisoned by the flames in that part of the boat. A wild panic ensued. The helpless people, without means of escape and maddened by the intense heat,