Rita Kohn 240 pages softcover
Full Steam Ahead is a book of essays celebrating the epic voyage of the
steamboat New Orleans, which departed Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in
October 1811. Onboard were Captain Nicholas Roosevelt, his crew, and
family. The New Orleans steamed to Louisville, Kentucky, and then back
up to Cincinnati, Ohio, astounding the passengers it had taken onboard -
for it was the first steamboat capable of traveling upriver as well as
down. After waiting a month to safely cross the treacherous Falls of the
Ohio, the New Orleans journeyed to Cairo, Illinois, and down the
Mississippi to New Orleans, Lousiana. The voyage ushered in a new period
of commerce, hastened immigration and building, transforming the
Ohio-Mississippi River basin from a raw frontier to an economic and
social powerhouse.
