Henry Miller Shreve

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Henry Miller Shreve (October 21, 1785 – 1854) was an American inventor and steamboat captain and the man who opened up the Mississippi, Ohio and Red Rivers to steamboat navigation. Shreve was also instrumental in breaking the Fulton-Livingston monopoly on steamboat traffic on the lower Mississippi. He was the first riverboat captain to travel the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans and back, as well as the first to bring a keelboat from the Ohio River, up the Mississippi to the Fever River. Shreve also made significant improvements to the steamboat and the steam engine, such as separate boilers to power side paddlewheels independently, horizontal cylinders, and multiple decks to allow for passengers and entertainment.

Contents 1 Early life 2 The Enterprise 3 The Washington 4 Clearing the Great Raft 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] Early life

Henry Miller Shreve was born at "Mount Pleasant", the Shreve family homestead near Columbus, New Jersey. On July 7, 1788, the Shreve family departed New Jersey for their new home on property owned by George Washington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Young Henry's new home was close to the Youghiogheny River near the present day town of Perryopolis.^[1] After his father's death in 1799, Shreve served on several riverboats to help support his family. After purchasing his own keelboat, he began trading between Brownsville, Pennsylvania and ports as far away as New Orleans, Louisiana. Shreve would depart Brownsville during springtime's high water and, after his keelboat was hauled 2,200 miles from New Orleans, return home about six months later.

[edit] The Enterprise

The steamboat Enterprise, with an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French, was trading between Brownsville and Louisville, Kentucky.^[2] Shreve, after becoming captain of the Enterprise, departed Pittsburgh on December 21, 1814 with a load of munitions for General Andrew Jackson to defend New Orleans against an invasion of British forces.^[3] The Enterprise passed the Falls at Louisville on December 28, 1814. ^[4]

After the American victory at the Battle of New Orleans, a lawsuit was brought by the heirs of Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston against Shreve and the owners of the Enterprise for violating the formers' monopoly against any unauthorized navigation of Louisiana's waters by steamboat.^[5] Soon after being released from jail, Shreve commanded the Enterprise from New Orleans to Louisville, the first time a northbound steamboat was able to reach that city.^[6] Then he navigated the Enterprise to Pittsburgh and finally to her homeport of Brownsville.^[7] This long and difficult voyage by the Enterprise, more than 2,200 miles against the currents of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, demonstrated the ability of steamboats to navigate the country's western rivers.

[edit] The Washington

Shreve and four partners commissioned George White to build a new steamboat, named the Washington, at Wheeling, West Virginia.^[8] The Washington's engine and drive train were built by Daniel French at Brownsville.^[9] Launched in 1816, the Washington was the first steamboat with two decks, the predecessor of the showboats of later years. The main deck was used for the boiler and the upper deck was reserved for passengers.

Shreve, for the second time, piloted a steamboat to New Orleans where he once again was sued by the heirs of the Fulton-Livingston monopoly. Shreve took the Washington from New Orleans to Louisville, returning again to the Crescent City on March 12, 1817. Shreve, along with several counterparts, were subjected to lawsuits initiated by the monopolists. On March 25, Shreve departed New Orleans and piloted the Washington upriver. Louisville was reached in 25 days equaling the Enterprise's record time set nearly two years earlier.^[10] On April 21, Judge Dominic C. Hall, declaring that the court did not have jurisdiction, dismissed all of the suits.^[11] This decision virtually eliminated any enforcement of the Livingston-Fulton monopoly in Louisiana courts. Hall's decision and the Washington's recent voyage from New Orleans to Louisville heralded the forthcoming steamboat era on the western rivers.

[edit] Clearing the Great Raft

The American rivers were still difficult to navigate, however, due to the presence of dead wood called snags, sawyers [1], or log jams. Shreve was appointed Superintendent of Western River Improvements in 1826 and charged with finding a solution to this problem. He had been working on a design for a "snagboat" since 1821, and he finally was able to have it built in 1827. This craft, the Heliopolis, had a steam-powered windlass used to pull large concentrations of dead wood from the water. Due to the success of his design, Shreve was ordered in 1832 by the Secretary of War to clear the Great Raft, 150 miles of dead wood on the Red River. Shreve successfully removed the Raft (despite inadequate funding) by 1839. The area of the Red River where the Raft was most concentrated is today the city of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Shreve spent his final years with his daughter Rebecca's family in St. Louis, Missouri. He died in the home of his son-in-law, Walker Randolph Carter, in 1854 and was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Davis, Edwin Adams and John C. L. Andreassen (1936), "Diary of William Newton Mercer", Journal of Southern History (Mercer's account of his voyage aboard the Washington in 1816.)
• Ellis, Franklin (1882), History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Philadelphia: L. H. Everts and Company
• Hunter, Louis C. (1949), Steamboats on the western rivers, an economic and technological history, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
• Maass, Alfred R., "The right of unrestricted navigation on the Mississippi, 1812-1818", The American Neptune, 60: 49-59