The taste and temperament -- in a word, the personality -- of the average American citizen of antebellum times was made concrete in the Hudson River steamboat. It somehow suggested the man who might buy an onyx mantel-piece for the satisfaction of putting his feet on it. Those great, resplendent, costly, comfortless, tasteless vessels, overloaded with ornament and magnificently vulgar, were the pride of the towns from which they hailed, and each boat had its retinue of eager partisans, always ready to engage in a wordy

128 The Hudson River

warfare concerning the respective merits of their favourite and its rivals. The first seven steamboats built to run upon the Hudson were the Clcnnont, Xortli River, Car of Neptune, Hope, Perseverance, Paragon, and Richmond. Of these, one was completed in 1807, two in 1808 and 1809, respectively, three in 181 1, and one in 18 13. At first,

" PARAGON," iS]

the rates of fare were such as to be prohibitive to any but travellers of means, though the accommodations were hardly such as would be considered "palatial" by the tourist of latter days. The advertisement of distances, time, and charges, was as follows:

From New York to Newburg S3. Time 14 hours " Poughkeepsie 4. " 17 " Esopus 5. " 20 " " " " Hudson 51. " 30 " " " Albany 7. " 36

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 129

In an advertisement, ])ublished in 1808, the timetable for the boat is sui)plemented by the following caution :