Paddle Steamer Resources by Tramscape
The Internet's largest database of Paddle Steamers past and present  

The history of steamboating in the USA is an enormous topic and it is not intended to research this topic in detail at this stage. A number of links to websites and web pages relevant to the matter are presented below

Great Lakes

Lake Erie Steamers - including Greater Buffalo and Greater Detroit the largest pure paddlers ever presented by the Marine History Society of Detroit
Detroit News : newspaper article on one of the great steamboat races which took place : in 1901 between the Tashmoo and the City of Erie
Detroit News : newspaper article on the sinking of the famous Tashmoo in 1936
Two Lake Erie paddlers Greater Buffalo and Seeandbee - converted to aircraft carriers ! - and  another report on the same
Frank E Kirby - the man who designed the later Lake Erie paddlers
Maritime History of the Great Lakes
Great Lakes Images - over 500 tinted postcard view of steamers
of which : Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company - tinted postcard views of their magnificent fleet
Niagara River Services
Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto illustarted history chapters wtitten in the late 19th century : part of the Maritime History of the Great Lakes site
-- Niagara River Steamers 1874-78
-- Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company
-- also the Toronto Ferry Co, Ottawa Steamers, Niagara Falls Line (links from above pages)
Toronto Island Ferry Services - including PS Trillium
Trillium in 1974 - the year of her restoration -   pictures from the City of Toronto archives

East Coast

Hudson River - presented by the Hudson River Maritime Museum : where it all started with Robert Fulton and where some of the world's greatest river paddlers ran.
Building a replica of Robert Fulton's pioneering "Clermont" ......... in time for the bicentenary in 2007
Fall River Line - a history by the Fall River Police Department
Fall River Line - article by American Heritage magazine

West Coast

California - report on Dave Dawley's website