Page:History of Hudson County and of the Old Village of Bergen.djvu/47

Rh follows; Newburgh, fare $3, time 14 hours; Po'keepsie, fare $4, time 17 hours; Esopus, fare $5, time 20 hours; Hudson, fare $$5 1/2$, time 30 hours; Albany, fare $7, time 36 hours." John Stevens who had bought Hoboken in 1804, installed the first steam ferry in the world in 1811. It made its trial trip in September and ran between Hoboken and Barclay Street, New York, but before long the horse boat was reinstated. Similar lack of success attended the installation of the steam ferries "Jersey" and "York" built by Robert Fulton for the York and Jersey Steam Boat Ferry Company and put into operation in 1812. Although an enthusiastic account had it that "we crossed the river in 14 minutes in this safe machine," cynics alleged that the safe machines, more often needed an hour, and that when the "York" and the "Jersey" met in midstream there was time for painfully long contemplation before they succeeded in passing.

These ferries were not small. Their length was 80 feet, only 20 less than that of the "Clermont" which was considered One of the Early Steam Ferries