Lithograph print drawn by H. B. Barlow of the machinery in Robert Fulton's paddle steamer Clermont, America's first steam boat. After the efficiency and speed of the Clermont in 1808 on the run between New York and Albany on a route whic passed Clermont (the country seat of Robert Livingstone, Robert Fulton's promoter and partner), the State of the New York Legislature passed a bill giving Fulton and Livingstone the monopoly of running steamers on the waters of the State of New York.