Ohio History Journal


224 Ohio Arch

224        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

FIRST NAVIGATOR OF THE OHIO RIVER.

It is a most interesting but generally unknown fact (which we have

verified by a letter from Mr. William Loeb, secretary to the President)

that the brother of the grandfather of President Roosevelt was the first

man to navigate a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, says

Mr. Charles C. Allen. Captain Roosevelt was a warm personal friend of

Robert Fulton, the inventor of steam craft, and soon after Fulton's suc-

cessful voyage on the Hudson conceived the idea of launching such a

vessel on the Western rivers. A good deal of doubt was expressed as to

the practicability of the undertaking, but Captain Roosevelt was enthusi-

astic, and along about 1810 made a personal survey of the Ohio and Lower

Mississippi to determine its feasibility beyond all peradventure. The

result of his survey was entirely to his satisfaction and, returning to Pitts-

burg, he began the construction of a steamboat from plans furnished him

by Fulton and Livingston. In the spring of 1811 the vessel was launched,

and, accompanied by his wife, who had the true pioneer spirit and refused

to be left behind, the President's grandfather began his voyage down the

Ohio.   He entered the Mississippi during the throes of the earthquake

which devastated so much of southeastern Missouri, but weathered the

tumult successfully and continued his trip to New Orleans, where he

arrived a short time after, the first man to build a steamboat west of the

Alleghanies and the first to navigate one on western waters.

 

 

LIFE MEMBERS.

Since the issue of the January Quarterly the following have qualified

as life members of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society:

Mr. Frank S. Brooks, Columbus, Ohio.

Hon. Ross J. Alexander, Bridgeport, Ohio.

Mr. George W. Vanhorn, Findlay, Ohio.

 

 

APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES.

On February 23, 1905, Governor Myron T. Herrick re-appointed

Professor B. F. Prince, Springfield, and Mr. E. O. Randall, Columbus, as

trustees of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society for the

term of three years ending February, 1908.