The maritime landscape of the American Midwest changed forever when Walk-in-the-Water, the very first steamboat to navigate Lake Erie, launched on May 28, 1818. Named after a descriptive term used by a Wyandot chief to describe a steam vessel’s mechanical motion, this pioneering sidewheel steamboat proved that engineering power could conquer fierce lake currents. By introducing the first reliable, scheduled transit across the inland seas, it opened up vital trade and migration routes to the American West, reliably shaving days off the unpredictable journeys of wind-dependent sailing ships.
