This text proposes to recover the main debates that involved the implementation of navigation routes in Pará in the second half of the 19th century, with emphasis on the experiences on the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers. For this we are using a set of documentation produced by the provincial and Imperial administration, as well as the annals of the Brazilian parliament. The perspective is to develop an analysis that perceives the institution of regular steam navigation as an action that seeks to promote economic development and the promotion of the settlement of the Amazon.