Steamboats and the rise of the cotton kingdom / Robert Gudmestad.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gudmestad, Robert H., 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Inland water transportation--Southern States--History--19th century.

Inland water transportation.

Steamboats--Southern States--History--19th century.

Steamboats.

River steamers--Southern States--History--19th century.

River steamers.

Cotton trade--Southern States--History--19th century.

Cotton trade.

Indians of North America--Relocation--Southern States--History--19th century.

Indians of North America.

Southern States--Commerce--History--19th century.

Southern States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (303 p.)

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Steamboats and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom Robert Gudmestad offers new insights into the remarkable and significant history of transportation and commerce in the antebellum South. He examines the wide-ranging influence of steamboats on the Southern economy. From carrying cash crops to market, to contributing to slave productivity, increasing the flexibility of labor, and connecting southerners to overlapping orbits of regional, national, and international markets, steamboats not only benefitted slaveholders and northern industries but also affected cotton production.

Contents:

Introduction : the New Orleans

Southern steamboat entrepreneurs

Working on old man river

Floating palaces and high-pressure prisons

Indian removal

Speed and safety

The nature of improvements

The rise of the cotton kingdom

Steamboats in decline

Epilogue : Mark Twain's odyssey

Appendix A. Estimates of steamboat construction, tonnage, and longevity on southern rivers, 1811-1860

Appendix B. Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Cherokees removed by steamboat, 1830-1843

Appendix C. Estimates of accident rate, 1811 1851, and fatality rate from boiler explosions, 1816 1848, for western steamboats

Appendix D. Estimates of wood consumption by southern steamboats, 1811-1860

Appendix E. Estimated costs associated with southern steamboats, 1811-1860

Appendix F. Estimated ton-miles, passenger miles, and tonnage hauled for southern

Steamboats and southern railroads in selected years.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780807138410

080713841X

OCLC:

749264687