sold to parties in New York. Saugerties, Poughkeepsie, Rondout and Catskill service, 1856–1863 thumb|Mary Powell (pictured), Thomas Powells replacement on the Rondout route, retained the Powell name to capitalize on the high reputation of her predecessor By late 1855, Thomas Powell had come into the possession of Oscar Hoyt of New York, who returned her to service on the Hudson River, running between New York City and Albany. Though the steamer would remain in Hudson River service for the rest of her commercial career, she only briefly continued on the Albany route before being purchased in the winter of 1855 by Captain Absalom L. Anderson. thumb|left | upright=0.5 | Captain A. L. Anderson Anderson originally used Thomas Powell to replace the aging steamer Robert L. Stevens, which he had been running on a route between New York City and his hometown of Saugerties. After only one season, however, he realized that the Powell was too large for the service, and in 1857 he switched her destination to Poughkeepsie. Thomas Powell remained on the Poughkeepsie route until 1858, when the citizens of Rondout, who had been deprived of a steamboat service since the withdrawal of the Alida in 1855, persuaded Anderson to extend his steamboat service the additional to their city. The initial run by the steamer to Rondout was made from Jay Street, New York, at 3:53 pm on April 24, 1858. Thomas Powells regularly scheduled service began two days later on the 26th, the vessel departing Rondout at 5:30 am Monday through Saturday, arriving at Jay Street at 11 am after the run, and leaving again for Rondout at 3:45 pm. The route thus established would be maintained, largely by Anderson and his sons, for the next sixty years (albeit with several different vessels). In 1860, the new steamboat Daniel Drew appeared on the river, and Anderson realized that Thomas Powell, previously among the fastest and best-appointed steamboats afloat, was on the verge of being outclassed by a new generation of vessels. He decided to order a new steamboat to replace the Powell, but was unable to do so for another year due to other financial commitments, and his new steamboat, Mary Powell—retaining the Powell name to capitalize on the high reputation of her predecessor—was not launched until August 1861. Mary Powells contract stipulated that she was to be faster by "one mile in twelve" than Thomas Powell or