Читать книгу The Hudson - Wallace Bruce - Страница 6

A century vast of Hudson-fame

Which Irving's fancy seals;

Whose ripples murmur Morse's name

And flash to Fulton's wheels.

Wallace Bruce.

So Robert Fulton had several predecessors in the idea of applying steam to navigation—John Fitch in 1785, William Symington in 1788 and many others who likewise coasted along the shore and indenture of a great idea, marked by continual failure and final abandonment. It was reserved for Fulton to complete and stamp upon his labor the seal of service and success, and to stand, therefore, its accepted inventor.

In addition to the invention of Fulton who has contributed so much to the business and brotherhood of mankind, the telegraph of Morse occupies a prominent page of our Hudson history, and it is said that Morse left unfinished a novel, the incidents of which were associated with the Highlands, in order to work out his idea which gave the Hudson a grander chapter.

Fulton's and Morse's inventions are also happily associated in this, that the steamboat was necessary before the Atlantic cable, born of Morse's invention, could be laid, and, singularly enough, the laying of the cable, largely promoted by Hudson River genius and capital, by Field, Cooper, Morse and others on August 5, 1857, marks the very middle of the centennial which we are now observing.

A cycle grand with wonders fraught

That triumph over time and space;

In woven steel its dreams are wrought,

The nations whisper face to face.

Wallace Bruce.

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Hendrick Hudson's "Half Moon."