Historical Marker
The Robert E. Lee Won with Sturgis Coal
Nearby coal fields supplied fuel to power steamboat Robert E. Lee in race against the Natchez , 1870. Greatest race in river history began in New Orleans and ended at St. Louis. Robert E. Lee won the championship of Mississippi River by 6 hours and 15 minutes. Both steamboat captains were natives of Kentucky.
In 1937, the town of Maysville, Kentucky, became the site of the first public works project built under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program.