John Fitch (inventor)
The first successful trial run of his steamboat "Perseverance" was made on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention. It was propelled by a bank of oars on either side of the boat. During the next few years, Fitch and Voigt worked to develop better designs, and in June 1790 launched a boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern-mounted oars. These oars paddled in a manner similar to the motion of a swimming duck's feet. With this boat, he carried up to 30 paying passengers on numerous round-trip voyages between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey during the summer of 1790. Estimates of miles traveled that summer range from 1,300 to 3,000, and Fitch claimed that the boat often went for 500 miles without mechanical problems. Estimated speeds were of a minimum 6 miles per hour under unfavorable conditions, to a maximum of 7 or 8 miles per hour.
Fitch was granted a U.S. patent on August 26, 1791, after a battle with James Rumsey, who had also invented a steam-powered boat. The newly created federal Patent Commission did not award the broad monopoly patent that Fitch had asked for, but rather a patent of the modern kind, for the new design of Fitch's steamboat. It also awarded steam-engine-related patents dated that same day to Rumsey, Nathan Read, and John Stevens. The loss of a monopoly due to these same-day patent awards led many of Fitch's investors to leave his company. While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch no longer had the financial resources to carry on.
Kootenay River
Because of the rugged terrain and rough waters on the two rivers, especially on the glacier-fed Kootenay, steamboat operation was extremely difficult and proved to be anything but cost effective. The roughest water was in Jennings Canyon, now mostly submerged in the Lake Koocanusa reservoir behind Libby Dam. Two of the first steamers, the "Duchess" and the "Cline", both sank when transporting miners to the Wild Horse gold rush on the Kootenay. Both ships had not even reached Canal Flats when they hit rocks in the Columbia. The first steamboat to actually run the Kootenay was the "Annerly" in 1893. Later vessels, such as the "Gwendoline", had mixed success. Captain Frank P. Armstrong, who had piloted several earlier steamboats on the Golden-Jennings run, was her builder and when she was about three-quarters completed, Armstrong decided to take her to Golden to complete the job. "Gwendoline" sailed up to the canal, which unfortunately was unusable because the gates of the lock had been dynamited due to a Kootenay flood. Armstrong was forced to portage the vessel and eventually made it to Golden. "Gwendoline" eventually sailed back south to Jennings to haul iron ore on the Kootenay. She was also the only ship to ever travel through the canal by proper means, and made two of the only three steamboat trips through the canal.