Then, as now, people are fascinated by the bizarre, scandals, new inventions, and habits of remote nations.    A man in Maine passes a 7 inch lizard; a groom dies upside down in the outhouse an hour before his wedding; a thousand virgins sail for Washington state;    “the first balloon ascent by  man on horseback,”;  a little girl realizes God's having trouble lighting his gas lantern;  tame zebras .  P.T. Barnum’s new museum in New York City demonstrated the public would pay for the bizarre or unusual. Lizards in the Bowels A live lizard 7 inches long and 2 1/2 inches round was passed from the bowels of a gentleman in Maine, and both man and lizard are doing well. “Old Bourboun” (sic) in small quantities is a remedy for lizards, but too much of it makes snakes in the boot. Dead Serious An idiot in Germany was told to watch a corpse. The corpse was a living man and the intention was to fool the poor idiot. Presently, the...

     Coal driven steam engines powered ships across the Atlantic now in one to two weeks.  Under sail, it generally took about six weeks to sail from New York to England or Europe. Steam ships still carried a full complement of masts and sails both to provide movement if the engine failed or to conserve use of coal. Running a paddle wheel on one side of the ship faster than the other side allowed precise steering.      Newspapers printed lists, not only of which ships arrived and which departed, but also which ships had been “spoken,” that is, sighted at a particular time.      Despite progress, hazards remained the same.        Storms and hurricanes were unpredictable. Icebergs lurked in the far northern waters.          Ship travel increased dramatically and so did the loss of life.      Demand for better safety measures increased.  January 1, 1857 Baltimore n...

  From Harper's magazine, Jan. 31, 1858 It's estimated over 7,000 people died in railroad accidents before the Civil War Railroads -- In the late 1830s and early 1840s, increasing numbers of wealthy men saw opportunity to join together to create a “rail road.”  The earliest long rail line ran from Wilmington, NC to Weldon, NC on the Virginia border. Later, Weldon became a major transshipping point to carry slaves from the East to new owners in the Deep South.  Early locomotives were little more than a steam engine set on a flat wood surface with wheels attached to the bottom. The freight and passenger cars were simply open top boxes. Speeds varied from 10 to 35 mph. “Riding the cars “or “taking the cars” was the phrase for “ride the train” or “take the train.” Smoke blew back on the engineer and passengers, sparks frequently burning holes in clothes. If it rained, let’s hope you brought your umbrella. Soon, these cars had canvas tops applied to them and a cover for the en...

  The Rise of Steam—The Steam Rises Steam engines were used in various machines.  Here a fire wagon is pulled by a horse but the water is pumped by a steam engine.  Below   A steam powered loom made large textile factories possible.  The theory of using steam to run an engine was more than 100 years old by the time it came into widespread use. The theory is simple; water is heated to create high pressure steam injected into a cylinder, pushing a piston up and down or back and forth. The piston is connected to a shaft, which then moves to turn a propeller, a wheel on a locomotive, or some useful machine motion. Much more efficient engines could have been designed much earlier, however, metal fabrication and machining technology had not advanced far enough to have built better designs.   As metal working skills improved, designs for boiler shapes, piston connections, and even how the steam engine was positioned, quickly improved. By 1848, steam te...

The Sultana explodes on the Mississippi north of Memphis April 27, 1865. Over 1,500 people of the 2,000 aboard died. River Boats-- And you think the Boeing 737 is unsafe??!! Most of us have a vision of steamboats formed by movies and TV.    There is the classic musical Showboat. And I remember James Garner in the old TV series Maverick   about a riverboat gambler. The show's theme music ended with the lyrics "Luck is the lady he loves best."  You bet! (pardon the pun.) Safety standards were non existent.   Riverboat journeys themselves were a gamble.  With little to no regulation and no safety features, riverboats were floating death traps. A July 1860 St. Louis newspaper reported matter-of-factly that 267 riverboats had exploded, burned, sunk, collided, or run aground between St Louis and New Orleans  in the previous six months! The deadliest river boat loss occurred when the  Sultanah  exploded in April 27,1865. ...