. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. round counter, the entrance sharp and long, and the run long and easy. The midsection was formed with little or no rise to the floor, a firm round bilge, and some flare in the straight topside. The side wheels were abaft midlength and were 40 to 42 feet in di- ameter, covered iiy wheelhouses, or wheelboxes, the latter name being the shipbuilders' term. \'essels such as the Eclipse had a cabin atop the main deck- house with a pilothouse on the cabin roof abaft the stacks, which were two abreast. These river packets were well finished and fitt
. Bulletin - United States National Museum. Science. round counter, the entrance sharp and long, and the run long and easy. The midsection was formed with little or no rise to the floor, a firm round bilge, and some flare in the straight topside. The side wheels were abaft midlength and were 40 to 42 feet in di- ameter, covered iiy wheelhouses, or wheelboxes, the latter name being the shipbuilders' term. \'essels such as the Eclipse had a cabin atop the main deck- house with a pilothouse on the cabin roof abaft the stacks, which were two abreast. These river packets were well finished and fitted; they attracted much at- tention at home and abroad. Stern-wheelers of some- what lesser size and magnificence were built on the Ohio and Missouri and innumerable small side-wheel and stern-wheel freighters were built. During the Ci\il War some river steamers were con- verted to ironclad gunboats by both the Federal and Confederate navies. The construction of iron vessels began on the upper Mississippi and Ohio during the war, though iron vessels had been built at Pittsburgh as early as 1840. After the war, large river steamers, including the famed Robert E. Lee and the Natchez, were built, and the river trade boomed. Stern-wheel towboats had been built on the Ohio in the 1840's, and after the Civil War these grew in size and power, as the river barge traffic increased. By 1880 highly developed stern-wheel towboats or "push- ijoats" were being built of wood or iron and steel; the bow was long and sharp and the run short and straight, or formed with a tunnel with skegs at the sides. Early in the 20th century the tunnel-stern screw-propelled boats were developed, and these have taken the place of stern-wheelers, particularly after the introduction of the diesel engine. In the last 45 years great efforts have been made to de\elop better river craft and to improve the rivers for inland navigation, with the result that towboats are now of even greater power than the old
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Keywords: ., bookauthorun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectscience
