The war ended b}" the purchase of a controlling interest in the new boat by the " Commodore" and the restoration of high rates. Thomas Stanton built the Trojan at West Troy, and, afterwards, several other steamboats, the two best known being the Anjieiiia and the Daniel Drew, which was his last. The Dreiv was chartered to take the Prince of Wales and his suite to Albany, at the time that the Prince (now Edward VII.) made his memorable visit to America. A well-known river steamboat, the General Jackson, exi^loded her boilers on the trip from Peekskill to New

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Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 133

York. The accident occurred off Grassy Point and resulted in the death of several persons. Jacob Vanderbilt, a brother of the Commodore, was her captain. One of the noted rivalries of the time we are writing of occurred between the steamboats Kosciiisco and Telegraph. It was a never-ending trial of speed between the two boats, and became so exciting that they sometimes omitted to stop for passengers. On one occasion fifty people were left behind at Peekskill, cherishing emotions that were probably unfit for publication. The Kosciusco was finally defeated by her rival. We ask about the Reindeer, -- that exploded and burned at Maiden in 1852, -- the Alexis, the Henry Clay; and the answer is a melancholy reminiscence. The case of the last-named boat was one of the peculiarly dreadful tragedies that the history of steamboating presents. In 1852, this po])ular boat, while making her regular run and crowded with passengers, was discovered to be on fire. She was headed for the shore at Riverdale and ran hard aground near the wharf. But while from the bow of the boat it was only a step to the shore, yet the stern floated in deep water, and the majority of the passengers w^ere imprisoned by the flames in that part of the boat.