[6] These cuts, copied from Stanton’s “American Steam Vessels,” represent first class Mississippi and Ohio light-draught, high-pressure river steamers. The _J. M. White_, of 1878, was deemed “a crowning effort in steamboat architecture in the West.” She was 320 feet long and 91 feet in width, over the guards. Her saloons were magnificently furnished, and all her internal fittings of the most elaborate description. She carried 7,000 bales of cotton and had accommodation for 350 cabin passengers. Her cost was $300,000. She was totally destroyed by fire in 1886. CHAPTER II. EARLY YEARS OF STEAM NAVIGATION. The _Accommodation_—The _Savannah_—_Enterprise_ —_Royal William_—_Liverpool_—_Sirius_ and _Great Western_—_Great Britain_ and _Great Eastern_—The Brunels—The screw propeller. Two years after the _Clermont_ had commenced to ply on the Hudson, and three years before the _Comet_ had disturbed the waters of the Clyde, the first steamboat appeared on the St. Lawrence. The _Accommodation_, built by the Hon. John Molson, of Montreal, made her maiden trip to Quebec on November 3rd, 1809, carrying ten passengers, in thirty-six hours’ running time. In accordance with the usual custom, which continued for many years, she anchored at night, so that the whole time occupied in the voyage was sixty-six hours. If she ascended the St. Mary’s current, she was towed up by oxen. The length of this vessel was eighty-five feet over all, her breadth sixteen feet, her engine was of six horse-power, and her speed five miles an hour. The _Accommodation_ was built at the back of the Molson’s Brewery, and was launched broadside on. Her engine was made by Boulton & Watt, of Birmingham, England. The fare from Montreal to Quebec by this vessel was £2 10s.; children, half price; “servants with _birth_ (_sic_), £1 13s. 4d.; without _birth_, £1 5s.” The Quebec _Mercury_, announcing her arrival, remarked: “She is incessantly crowded with visitors. This steamboat receives her impulse from an open-spoked perpendicular wheel on each side, without any circular band or rim. To the end of each double spoke is fixed a square board which enters the water, and by the rotatory motion of the wheels acts like a paddle. No wind or tide can stop her.” [Illustration: “JEANIE DEANS,” CLYDE STEAMBOAT. From “Mountain, Moor and Loch,” London, 1894.]