Full Steam Ahead is a book of essays celebrating the epic voyage of the steamboat New Orleans, which departed Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October 1811. Onboard were Captain Nicholas Roosevelt, his crew, and family. The New Orleans steamed to Louisville, Kentucky, and then back up to Cincinnati, Ohio, astounding the passengers it had taken onboard - for it was the first steamboat capable of traveling upriver as well as down. After waiting a month to safely cross the treacherous Falls of the Ohio, the New Orleans journeyed to Cairo, Illinois, and down the Mississippi to New Orleans, Lousiana. The voyage ushered in a new period of commerce, hastened immigration and building, transforming the Ohio-Mississippi River basin from a raw frontier to an economic and social powerhouse.