Steamboat
Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries, Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make and travelled more than during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a second boat made excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the Delaware River before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing.
George Tromley Sr. House
Tromley sailed the Mississippi River before the advent of the steamboat. He began his career on the river floating log rafts, which were common before the Civil War, and he built the first raft boat on the river at Le Claire. Eventually he sailed the river as a captain. Tromley and Thomas Doughty, a local engineer, took the small steamer the "Le Claire" upriver where they conducted an experiment to use a steamboat to push a log raft. The "Le Claire" was not powerful enough to control the raft, but the experiment led to a major development in being able to transport logs from the northern forests to the mills further south. Samuel Van Sant of Le Claire was able to use its results to build a boat that was large enough and had enough power to tow a log raft in 1870. George Tromley Sr. married Katherine McCaffrey and they raised three children. The house of their eldest son, George Tromley Jr., is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.