Enterprise (1814)

The "Enterprise" (a.k.a. "Enterprize") was the first steamboat to demonstrate by her epic 2,200-mile voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburgh that steamboat commerce was practical on America's western rivers. ["Western Courier" [Louisville, Ky.] , 1 June 1815: "Arrived in this port, in 25 days from New-Orleans, the Steam-Boat "Enterprize", capt. SHRIEVE. The celerity and safety with which this boat descends and ascends the currents of these mighty waters, the improvement of the navigation of which is so advantageous to the western world, must be equally interesting to the farmer and the merchant. The facility and convenience of the passage, in ascending the rivers, are such as to give a decided preference to this mode of navigation, while the size and construction of the boat entitles it to all the advantages which the "Ætna and Vesuvius" have in vain attempted to "monopolize" over the "free" waters of our common country."] ["American Telegraph" [Brownsville, Pa.] , 5 July 1815: "Arrived at this port on Monday last, the Steam Boat Enterprize, Shreve, of Bridgeport, from New Orleans, in ballast, having discharged her cargo at Pittsburg. She is the first steam boat that ever made the voyage to the Mouth of the Mississippi and back. She made the voyage from New Orleans to this port, in fifty four days, twenty days on which were employed in loading and unloading freight at different towns on the Mississippi and Ohio, so that she was only thirty four days in active service, in making her voyage, which our readers will remember must be performed against powerful currents, and is upwards of "two thousand two hundred miles in length."]

The "Enterprise" was the fourth steamboat west of the Allegheny Mountains. [Lloyd, James T. (1856), "Lloyd's steamboat directory, and disasters on the western waters...", Philadelphia: Jasper Harding, p. 43: "The Enterprise was No. 4 of the Western steamboat series."] Hunter, Louis C. (1993), "Steamboats on the western rivers, an economic and technological history", New York: Dover Publications, p. 12-13] The "Enterprise", with an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French, was launched in 1814 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania for her owners: the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company. ["American Telegraph", 5 July 1815: "Last Saturday evening the Steam was first tried on the Despatch, another steam boat, lately built in Bridgeport, and owned as well as the Enterprize, by the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company. We are happy to learn that she is likely to answer the most sanguine expectations of the ingenious Mr. French, the engineer, on whose plan she is constructed."] The "Enterprise", under the command of Israel Gregg, was first used to transport passengers and cargo to ports between Brownsville and Louisville, Kentucky. ["Pittsburgh Gazette", 10 June 1814: "The Elegant Steam Boat, Enterprize, Captain Israel GREGG, arrived here on Wednesday last, from Bridgeport, on the Monongahela,... She is handsomely fitted up for passengers for Louisville, Falls of Ohio, for which place she will sail on Saturday or Sunday morning next."] ["Western Courier", 27 June 1814: "Arrived here on Tuesday last from Pittsburgh, the Steam Boat Enterprise, Capt. Gregg."] From June to December she completed two voyages from Louisville to Pittsburgh that were performed against strong river currents. ["American Telegraph", 14 December 1814: "The Steam Boat Enterprise of this place, which has been trading since last June in the Ohio, arrived here last Sunday afternoon. We understand that she performed the voyage from Steubenville to Pittsburgh, with a full cargo, in about three days; she made the passage from Pittsburgh to Brownsville, a distance of 65 miles, in about 17 hours. When the strength of the current is taken into consideration, it will be seen that she is equal to any boat in use. She will return to Pittsburgh in a few days, whence she will take freight and passengers, for New Orleans."] With these voyages the "Enterprise" demonstrated for the first time that steamboat commerce was practical on the Ohio River.

Then, in response to General Andrew Jackson's fervent requests from New Orleans for firearms and ammunition, command was transferred to Henry Shreve. On December 21, 1814, the "Enterprise" departed Pittsburgh with a cargo of firearms and ammunition for American troops to use during the Battle of New Orleans. [Major Abraham Edwards to Secretary Monroe, 11 February 1815: "Report of the departure of boats, loaded with munitions of war, from this place [Pittsburgh] to Baton-Rouge and New Orleans and the names of persons in charge of the stores." National Archives DNA-RG 107, E-1815, microfilm 222, reel 15] On December 28, the "Enterprise" passed the Falls of Ohio at Louisville. ["Western Courier", 4 January 1815: "Passed the Falls [Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, Ky.] on the 28th ult. the Steam Boat Enterprise, loaded with public property, consisting of 24 pounders, carriages, shells, small arms &c. for Gen. Jackson's army."] She reached New Orleans on January 9, 1815. ["American Telegraph", 29 March 1815: "The Enterprize has been employed in the public service for some time. She arrived at New Orleans on the 9th of January, one day after the battle, laden with amunitions [sic] of war, and it appears from the following extract of a letter from one of the officers on board, that she has given entire satisfaction, she exceeds in speed any other vessel that has yet floated in those rivers, she is a vessel of 50 tons burthen."]

After the American victory, the "Enterprise" was seized at the request of the heirs of the steamboat monopoly granted to Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton. After her release, Shreve steered the "Enterprise" homeward. During this voyage she became the first steamboat to reach Louisville from New Orleans. Then the "Enterprise" steamed to Pittsburgh and Brownsville. This voyage, a distance of 2,200 miles from New Orleans, was performed against the powerful currents of the Mississippi, Ohio and Monongahela rivers.

Subsequently, the judge in the "Enterprise" trial at New Orleans established a legal precedent by ruling against the monopolists.

The seizure of the "Enterprise" produced a strong reaction by the public against the monopolists. In January 1817, the Kentucky legislature passed the following resolution: [Slaughter, Gabriel (1817), "Acts passed at the first session of the twenty-fifth general assembly, for the commonwealth of Kentucky", Frankfort, Kentucky: Gerard and Kendall, p. 280-281]

"Resolutions relative to the free navigation of the river Mississippi."

"Be it resolved by the general assembly of the commonwealth of Kentucky, That they have viewed with the deepest concern, the violation of the right guaranteed by the federal constitution and the laws of congress, to navigate the river Mississippi, in the seizure of the Steam Boat Enterprize, under the pretended authority of a law enacted by the legislature of the late Territory of New Orleans."

"Resolved, That they will maintain inviolate by all legitimate means the right of her citizens to navigate said river, and its tributary streams."

The "Enterprise's" epic voyage, which demonstrated for the first time that steamboat commerce on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers was practical, and the judge's landmark ruling against the monopolists did much to stimulate the growth of steamboat commerce on America's western rivers.

References

*Maass, Alfred R. (1994), "Brownsville's steamboat Enterprize and Pittsburgh's supply of general Jackson's army", "Pittsburgh History", 77: 22-29, ISSN: [http://worldcat.org/issn/1069-4706|ISSN 1069-4706]
*Maass, Alfred R. (1996), "Daniel French and the western steamboat engine", "The American Neptune", 56: 29-44
*Maass, Alfred R., "The right of unrestricted navigation on the Mississippi, 1812-1818", "The American Neptune", 60: 49-59
*Shourds, Thomas (1876), "History and genealogy of Fenwick's Colony, New Jersey", New Jersey: Bridgeton, p. 314-320, ISBN 0-8063-0714-5
*Stecker, H. Dora (1913), "Constructing a navigation system in the West", "Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly", 22: 16-27

External link

* [http://www.pa-roots.org/data/read.php?351,504081 History of the "Enterprise" by Thomas Shourds] Based on information provided by Barclay White