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.
Steamboats in Canada
Samuel Cunard of Nova Scotia developed the successful Atlantic Steam Liner service in the 1830s with the SS Royal William. While shipbuilding and huge fleets of lakers on the Great Lakes proliferated in the nineteenth century. Their success led to penetration deep into the central continent, with the Anson Northrup in 1859 which became first steamer to cross the Canada–United States border on the Red River, via the US Mississippi River system. Steamboats would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized the International at Fort Garry, or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by the vessel Northcote at Batoche.