ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Lake steamers of North America

Okay, so imagine you are at a really big lake, like the kind you see on your map of North America. And on that lake, there were these big boats that would use steam to move around. They were called lake steamers!

Now, these steamboats were really important because they helped move people and things around the lake. They had big engines that would use coal to create steam, which would then move these big paddle wheels on the sides of the boat. These paddle wheels would spin and push the boat forward.

Lots of people rode these steamboats, like tourists who wanted to see the beautiful views around the lake, or people who needed to travel from one town to another. Some steamboats even had restaurants and fancy rooms for people to stay in!

But, steamboats were also really important for trade. They could carry lots of heavy things, like timber or mining materials, that were too hard to move by land. So, people would load up the steamboat with these heavy things and take them to other towns around the lake to sell.

Today, steamboats are not as common as they used to be. But, you can still sometimes see them on lakes around North America, and they are a reminder of how important they were in moving people and things around the region many years ago.