Mississippi Steamboat Trade

The paddle-wheelers that made the Mississippi basin America's freight artery in the 19th century before railroads took over.

Overview

The first steamboat reached New Orleans in 1811, and within decades shallow-draft, high-pressure boats pushed cotton bales downstream and carried settlers and trade goods upstream, making New Orleans one of the world's busiest export ports by the 1840s. Boilers, snags and races made the trade famously dangerous, and piloting it gave American literature Mark Twain. Railroads and then bridges ate the passenger and package freight business after the Civil War. The river never stopped working: diesel towboats now push barge trains that move grain and fuel at costs no rail or road can match.