The United States of America has the honour of having built the first passenger steam-boat in the world, and she held the monopoly of the steamship passenger traffic for a period of about two years. She owes this honourable position in the commercial world to the energy and perseverance of Robert Fulton, who in spite of ridicule and active opposition, and want of capital, succeeded in building, in 1807, a paddle steam-packet, which he named the CLERMONT. Shortly after her trial trip, she was advertised to run from New York to Albany, and, as soon as she could be got ready, the CLERMONT sailed on her first voyage up the Hudson. The following extract from a letter, written by an eyewitness on that occasion, tells how the people along the river were excited by the passage of the steam-boat on her voyage from New York to Albany:— “It was in the early autumn of the year 1807 that a knot of villagers was gathered on a high bluff, just opposite Poughkeepsie, on the west bank of the Hudson, attracted by the appearance of a strange-looking craft, which was slowly making its way up the river. Some imagined it to be a sea-monster, whilst others did not hesitate to express their belief that it was a sign of the approaching judgment. What seemed strange in the vessel was the substitution of a lofty and strange black smoke-pipe rising from the deck, instead of the gracefully tapered masts that commonly stood on the vessels navigating the stream, and, in place of the spars and rigging, the curious play of the working beam and piston, and the slow turning and splashing of the huge and naked paddle-wheels, met his astonished gaze. The dense clouds of smoke, as they rose wave upon wave, added still more to the wonder of the rustics. “This strange-looking craft was the CLERMONT on her trial trip to Albany; and, of the little knot of villagers above mentioned, the writer, then a boy in his eighth year, with his parents, formed a part; and I well remember the scene, one so well-fitted to impress a lasting picture upon the mind of a child accustomed to watch the vessels that passed up and down the river. “On her return trip, the curiosity she excited was scarcely less intense—the whole country talked of nothing but the sea-monster, belching forth fire and smoke. The fishermen became terrified and rowed homeward, and they saw nothing but destruction devastating their fishing grounds; whilst the wreaths of black vapours, and rushing noise of the paddle-wheels, foaming with the stirred up waters, produced great excitement amongst the boatmen, until it was more intelligent than before; for the character of that curious boat, and the nature of the enterprise she was pioneering had been ascertained.”