The era of the steamboat began with the start of the 19th century, with its rise in popularity and prominence in the United States essentially coinciding with the early history of poker. By the 1830s, more than 1,200 steamboats were carrying passengers, produce, and other products all over the young nation. Not surprisingly, several of the earliest poker stories date from those years as well, many of which describe games played in parlors and bars, on decks, and in private rooms aboard steamers on the Mississippi, the Ohio, or other rivers and tributaries.
The steamboat would remain a preferred mode of travel through the first half of the century and then some, ultimately to be outmoded by trains — both faster and (of course) not water-bound — during the latter decades of the 1800s.