Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/252

 FMVIl FITCIIBURG attain sufficient speed to answer the purpose t4, the trial proved conclusively the iierease this efficiency it was only necessary to enlarge the machinery. Soon rhis success the company learned for the first time that .lames Kumsey of Virginia claimed to be the first inventor of the steam- boat, and to have made a prior successful trial. .-.- of pamphlets followed. An examina-
 * f steam as a motive power for ves-
 * ' the evidence leaves no reason to doubt

that the first practical success in steam naviga- tion was made by Fitch. It is probable enough that Rurusey had entertained the idea of pro- pelling a boat by steam before it occurred to Fitch, as it had previously occurred to others. In 1788 Fitch built a second boat for the old machinery, which made several passages be- Philadelphia and Burlington at the rate of four miles an hour. More power was re- quisite for commercial success. A boat built tor an engine of 18-inch cylinder was ready for trial in August, 1789. After several fail- ures, and changes in the machinery, this boat was successfully tried in the spring of 1790, and was run as a passenger boat on the Dela- ware, making during the season more than 2,000 miles at an average speed of 7 miles an hour. But more money was wanted to intro- duce the invention, and the numerous stock- holders in the enterprise could pot be brought to respond to further assessments. Time ran on, and Fitch was cramped for the necessaries of lite. He repeatedly asserted that the pas- senger traffic of the great western rivers would one day be carried on exclusively by steam; that ships of war and packet ships would navi- gate the Atlantic by steam ; and that some one to come after him would reap fame and fortune from his invention. He now sought some small office under the government of Pennsylvania and that of the United States, but was disap- pointed. Failing to interest new parties in his project, and the company absolutely declining to make further advances, Fitch abandoned his boat, and for some months wandered about the streets of Philadelphia, a ruined man, with the reputation of a crazy projector. On Oct. 4, 1792, he presented a sealed envelope contain- ing manuscripts to the library company of Phil- adelphia, with a request that it might be kept unopened till 1823. In 1793 he went to France in pursuance of a contract with Aaron Vail, contemplating the introduction of his inven- tion in Europe ; but the times were not propi- tious, and the means and patience of Fitch were exhausted. On his return he remained a while in London, and in 1794 he worked his passage to the United States as a common sailor, land- ed at Boston, and spent nearly two years at East Windsor. In the summer of 1796 he was in Xew York, and placed a small boat on the Collect pond, worked by a submerged wheel at the stern, which has been described as a screw propeller. Soon after he visited Oliver Evans in Philadelphia, and expressed his in- tention of forming a company to introduce steamboats on the western waters. With this view, and to ascertain the condition of his western property, he went to Kentucky, where he found his laud overrun with squatters, and no encouragement for his steam projects. Mor- tified by his inability to carry out his great project, and wearied by the lawsuits in which he had been engaged for the recovery of his lauds, Fitvh became despondent and desperate, and terminated his life by swallowing a dozen opium piils which had been left with him from time to time by his physician to use as anodynes. The sealed envelope was formally opened by the directors of the library com- pany in 1823, and was found to contain a de- tailed history of his adventures in the steam- boat enterprise, inscribed u To my children and to future generations/' with a journal and other papers, from which his biography was prepared by Thompson AVesteott (Philadelphia, 1857). A memoir of Fitch by Mr. C. Whit- tlesey is in Sparks' s " American Biography." FITCHBl RG, a city and one of the county seats of Worcester co., Massachusetts, on a branch of the Nashua river, 40 m. X.'W. of Boston; pop. in 1850, 5,120; in 1860, 7,805; in 1870, 11,260, of whom 2,517 were for- eigners. It embraces the villages of Crocker- ville, Rockville, South Fitchburg, Traskville, and West Fitchburg. It is the terminus of four railroads : the Fitchburg, to Boston ; the Fitch- burg and Worcester, to Worcester ; the Ver- mont and Massachusetts, to Brattleboro ; and the Cheshire, to Keene and Bellows Falls. It is also connected with Boston ria South Frarn- ingham by the Boston, Clinton, and Fitchburg railroad. The river furnishes abundant water power, and manufacturing is extensively car- ried on. The principal establishments are 14 machine shops, turning out steam engines, mowers and reapers, machinists' tools, and employing 1,000 men; several chair fac- tories, employing 500 men ; 3 paper mills, with 200 hands; 2 iron founderies, 1 brass found- ery, 3 manufactories of edge tools, 1 of boots and shoes, 3 of sash, doors, and blinds, 1 of files, 1 of cotton duck, 2 of beaver cloths, 1 of cassimeres, 1 of shoddy, and 1 of carpet yarn. There are 2 national banks, with an aggre- gate capital of $500,000, 2 savings banks, with deposits amounting to over $2,500,000, and a fire insurance company. The city has a small police force, an efficient fire department, water works, and gas works. The public buildings include a masonic and an odd fellows' hall, a city hall, a jail, and a court house. A monu- ment to the memory of the soldiers who fell in the civil war has recently been erected. There are 37 public schools, taught by 49 teachers, viz.: 1 high, 3 grammar, and 33 of inferior grades ; a public library containing over volumes, and two weekly newspapers. There are ten churches. Fitchburg, which at first formed part of Lunenburg, was incorporated as a separate town in 1764, and as a city in