In early 1800’s a new kind power changed transportation and trade along the Mississippi River. This power was steam. People already knew that how to use steam engines to run machines. Some people wanted to move boats by the same way. The first steamboats to travel on the Mississippi was the “New Orleans”, which made its first trip in 1811. It was a great successful, and by 1819 there were 191 steamboats travel on the long river. In the past, the farmers products went to other parts of the country used steamboats. The manufacturers whose trade depend on cheap and easy transportation used steamboats so well.