Before the Transportation Revolution, products had to be floated downstream on rafts or boats, eventually reaching New Orleans and other gulf towns and then taken by ship to eastern cities or foreign markets. The trip was long and arduous and required pilots of the boats and rafts to return home over hundreds of miles on overland paths.
Initially used on the deeper rivers, the steamboat was quickly adapted to carry large cargoes on shallower western rivers.
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Allowed Americans to travel across the country and transport goods into new markets that weren’t previously available.
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