At one place a crowd had gathered to see
her as she turned against the current, in order to come up to the
landing-place. An old negro stood watching the boat. It looked as
if in spite of all the captain could do she would be carried down
stream, but at last steam conquered, and the boat came up to the shore.
Then the old negro could hold in no longer: he threw up his ragged
straw hat and shouted, 'Hoo-ray! hoo-ray! the old Mississippi's just
got her master this time, sure!'
Soon steamboats began to run regularly on the Mississippi, and in
the course of a few years they began to move up and down the Great
Lakes and the Missouri River. Emigrants could now go to the west and
the far west quickly and easily: they had to thank Robert Fulton for
that.
Robert Fulton lies buried in New York, in the shadow of the tower
of Trinity Church. There is no monument or mark over his grave, but
he has a monument in every steamboat on every great river and lake
in America.
[Illustration: TOWER OF TRINITY CHURCH.]
200. Summary.--In 1807 Robert Fulton of Pennsylvania built the first
steamboat which ran on the Hudson River, and four years later he built
the first one which navigated the rivers of the west. His boats helped
to fill the whole western country with settlers.
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