Canal building enjoyed a brief hey day in America from the 1820s
into the 1840s. Although steamboat technology was quickly
adopted on the western rivers after 1812 because it so readily
improved communication and commerce in the nation's interior, it
was largely shunned on canals. The bulk cargoes that canals came
to carry were low in value and did not justify the expense of
steam power. Furthermore, turbulence from powered boats eroded
canal banks and endangered the very structure of these expensive
waterways. Inventors rarely confronted the first constraint, but
they repeatedly addressed the second. Everson's solution was to
place a single paddle wheel in a long, straight-sided channel,
which would "confine the water...so that its expulsion is
directly backward." For strength he designed the tug with two
decks, heavily reinforced with internal framing. His model
elegantly shows the complexity of this framing. Although he
specified the use of two rudders, Everson made no mention of an
engine for turning the