The application of steam power to the purposes of navigation, forms the brightest era in the history of the West. It was that which contributed more than any other single cause to the advancement of Western prosperity. The amount of produce raised for soncumption, and for export was very great, and the people were, therefore, liberally disposed to purchase foreign products. The amount of commercial capital employed, as compared with the population was great. The introduction of the steamboat extended the channels of intercourse, and brought the different parts of the country more closely together. "The first fruits of the enterprise were far from encouraging; failure after failure attested the numerous and embarrassing difficulties by which it was surrounded. For although all the early boats were capable of being propelled through the water, and although the last was usually better than those which preceded it, it was long a doubtful question, whether the invention could be made practically useful upon our western rivers, and it was not until five years of experiment and the building of nine expensive steamboats, that the public mind was convinced by the brilliant exploit of the Washington, which made the trip from Louisville to New Orleans and back in 45 days."[235] The substitution of machinery for manual labor occasioned a vast diminution in the number of men required for the river navigation. A steamboat with the same crew as a barge, was able to carry ten times the burden,[236] and perform her voyage in a much shorter space of time.