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Title: The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830
Author: Shaw, Hazel Yearsley
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830" ***
THE OHIO RIVER TRADE
1788-1830
BY
HAZEL YEARSLEY SHAW, A.B., 1907
THESIS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
IN
HISTORY
IN THE
GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
1908
[Illustration:
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
May 28 1908
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY
Hazel Yearsley Shaw
ENTITLED The Ohio River Trade, 1788-1830
IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in History
Evarts B Greene
Instructor in Charge.
APPROVED: E B Greene
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF History.]
_THE OHIO RIVER TRADE_
_1788_-_1830_.
I. THE OHIO RIVER 1788-1811.
I. BOATS AND BOATMEN.
II. ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC, AND PLACES WITH
WHICH TRADE WAS CARRIED ON.
III. EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS.
II. THE OHIO RIVER 1811-1830.
I. THE COMING OF THE STEAM-BOAT.
II. OTHER CRAFT OF THE PERIOD.
III. ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC, AND PLACES WITH
WHICH TRADE WAS CARRIED ON.
IV. EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS.
_CHAPTER I._
_BOATS AND BOATMEN._
With the opening of the great West, the Ohio River became the main
route of immigration and commerce, and it is in a careful study of
the various forms of craft which floated upon "La Belle Riviere"
that we catch a glimpse of the rapid and almost marvelous economic
development of the Ohio Valley.
The Indian canoe, though sometimes used by travelers, was entirely
inadequate for the purpose of commerce, and was never used, in any
regular branch of trade.[1] The earliest improvement upon the canoe
was the pirogue, an invention of the whites. Like the canoe this
boat was hewn out of the solid log, the difference being that the
pirogue had greater width and capacity, and was composed of several
pieces--as if the canoe had been sawed into two equal sections,
and a broad, flat piece of timber inserted in the middle, so as to
give greater breadth of beam to the vessel.[2] These boats were
occasionally used by the immigrants for the transportation of their
goods and furniture.[3]
The canoe and pirogue were succeeded by the barge, the keel, and
the flat-boat. Of the first two, the barge was the largest, had
the greatest breadth, and the best accomodation for passengers;
the keel was longer, had less depth, and was better fitted for
the navigation of narrow and shallow channels. "They were navigated
by a rude and lawless class of men, who became distinguished as
well for their drolleries, as for their predatory and ferocious
habits. In the thinly scattered state of the population, their
numbers rendered them formidable, as there were few villages on the
rivers, and still fewer settlements, which contained a sufficient
number of able bodied men to cope with the crew of a barge,
consisting usually of thirty or forty hands; while the arrival of
several of these boats together made them completely masters of
the place. The large rivers whose meanders they pursued formed
the boundaries of States, so that living continually on the lines
which divided different civil jurisdictions, they could pass with
ease from one to the other, and never be made responsible to any.
It is a singular fact, that lawless and wild as these men were,
the valuable cargoes of merchandise committed to their care, and
secured by no other bond than their integrity, were always carried
safely to their destination, and the traveler, however weak, or
however richly freighted, relied securely on their protection."[4]
Navigating long rivers, whose shores were still infested by hostile
savages, the boatmen were armed, and depended for safety upon their
caution and their manhood.[5]
The barges, but rarely using sails, and receiving only an
occasional impulse from their oars, descended the stream with a
speed but little superior to that of the current. About the year
1795, seventy or eighty days were consumed in making the long
and monotonous voyage from Pittsburg to New Orleans,[6] while
in 1802, Michaux says that "the barges, in the Spring, usually
take forty or fifty days to make the passage, which two or three
persons in a pirogue make in twenty-five days."[7] The return
voyage was not effected in less than four months.[8] The heavily
laden boats were propelled against the strong current by poles,
or where the stream was too deep to admit the use of those, drawn
by ropes. The former process required the exertion of great
strength and activity, but the latter was even more difficult
and discouraging.[9] The first improvement in the navigation of
the West, and in her commercial operations, was the introduction
of barges moved by sails, when the wind permitted, and at other
times, by oars, and setting poles, as the state of the water might
require.[10] These vessels were constructed to carry from fifty to
one hundred tons. In wet seasons, if properly manned, they could
make two trips, between Cincinnati and New Orleans in a year.
The increased quantity of cargo they carried, reduced the price
of freight, and enabled them to transport from New Orleans to
Cincinnati at from five to six dollars per hundred, which was below
the average charge of carriage across the mountains.[11] From that
time most of the groceries and other imported articles used in
the Territory were brought up the river by those barges, and as the
price of freight was reduced, the quantity of produce shipped was
proportionately increased. The project was suggested and carried
into operation, by two commercial houses in Cincinnati. The vessels
continued in use until about the year 1817.[12] Previous to this
year, the whole commerce from New Orleans to the "upper country"
was carried on in about twenty barges, averaging one hundred tons
each, and making but one trip in the year.[13] In 1811, the barge
Cincinnati, arrived at Cincinnati. This was the first rigged vessel
that ever arrived at this town from below. "She is 100 feet keel,
16 feet beam, rigged sloop fashion, and burthen 64 tons. She was
warped over the falls by eighteen men in half a day."[14] At this
time, 50 days in ascending to the mouth of the Ohio was considered
a good voyage.[15]
The flat boat was introduced a little later than the others.
It was a rough strong boat with a perfectly flat bottom, and
perpendicular sides, and covered throughout the whole length.[16]
Being constructed to float with the current, they did not usually
return after descending the river, though as early as the year
1789 they were in use for traveling up as well as down stream.[17]
Burnet describes the flat boat as being "made of green oak plank,
fastened by wooden pins to a frame of timber, and caulked with
tow, or any other pliant substance that could be procured. Boats
similarly constructed on the northern waters were then called arks,
but on the western waters, they were denominated Kentucky boats.
The materials of which they were composed were found to be of great
utility in the construction of temporary buildings for safety, and
for protection from the inclemency of the weather, after they had
arrived at their destination,"[18] These boats were much used by
emigrating families to transport themselves down the Ohio.[19]
In the year 1794, four keel boats, carrying probably not more than
twenty tons each, were supposed to be sufficient for the trade
between Cincinnati and Pittsburg.[20] The boats were advertised
as having "cover made proof against rifle or musket balls, and
convenient port holes for firing out of. Each of the boats are
armed with six pieces carrying a pound ball, also a number of good
muskets, and amply supplied with plenty of ammunition." "Tables
accurately calculated for the rates of freightage, for passengers,
and carriage of letters to and from Cincinnati to Pittsburg ...
may be seen on board each boat, and at the printing office in
Cincinnati."[21] Previous to the year 1817 the number of keel boats
on the Ohio had increased to about one hundred and fifty, of
about thirty tons each, which made the voyage from Pittsburg to
Louisville and back in two months, or about three such trips in the
year.[22]
In addition to the keel, barge, and flat boat, which were in
general use, many other strange craft floated on the Ohio, a few
of which I shall attempt to give some account of. The boat which
carried the advance guard of the Ohio Company and their provisions
to the mouth of the Muskingum in 1788, was built by Jonathan Devol
at Simrel's Ferry on the Youghiogheny River, and is said to have
been the first decked boat that ever floated on the Ohio.[23] She
was built with stout timbers and knees like a galley, with the
bottom raking fore and aft, and decked over with planks. The deck
was sufficiently high for a man to walk upright under the beams,
and the sides so thick as to resist a rifle bullet. The steersman
and rowers were thus safely sheltered from the attack of enemies on
the banks. The boat was forty-five feet in length, and twelve in
breadth. Subsequently gangboards were added on the outside, so that
she could be pushed against the current, like a keel boat. It was
at first supposed that she could be worked up stream with sail, but
the variable nature and uncertainty of the winds on the Ohio River,
frustrated their arrangements.[24]
Emigrants were usually, at this early period, 1789, detained for
several days for a boat to be made ready for their use. Such a
boat, conveying settlers to Marietta, was built after the fashion
of a large, oblong box, covered half its length with a roof to
shelter the people and their goods from the weather, while the
open space contained their teams and wagons. The waters of the
Youghiogheny and the Monongahela were low, and the boat grounded on
sand bars, requiring the voyagers to lean over the side into the
cold water, and pry her off into the current.[25] In 1790, John Pope
describes the boat in which he left Pittsburg, as "a moveable
fortification having about one hundred and fifty salt pans so
arranged, as to render a few men within, capable of repulsing ten
times their number without."[26]
In the year 1803, family boats were continually passing down the
Ohio.[27] "These boats were of the largest size, and the floors were
covered with rough sawed boards. In the rear a partition had been
run across, in which they had stowed all their present useless
furniture. Through the middle was a passage about five feet wide,
on each side were small bed chambers of about twelve feet long and
six wide, divided and surrounded by clean white curtains, while
in front there was a large open space for the general use of the
boat."[28] Emigrant families frequently passed down the Ohio in
barges, "carrying with them their horses, cows, poultry, wagons,
ploughs, harness, beds, instruments of agriculture, in fine,
everything necessary to cultivate the land, and also for domestic
use."[29]
Floating stores were also to be seen on the Ohio. Cuming says, "On
returning to our boat we found a floating store at the landing.
It was a large square flat-roofed, and fitted with shelves and
counter, and containing a various assortment of merchandise. They
were dropping down the river, stopping occasionally wherever they
could find a market for their goods."[30]
Schultz, in his account of his journey, devotes one entire letter
to a very interesting account of the craft upon the Ohio in 1807.
The smallest were the canoes, then, the pirogues, sufficient to
carry from twelve to fifteen barrels of salt. The skiffs varied
from five hundred to twenty thousand pounds weight burthen, the
larger ones being known as batteaux. Arks were not much in use on
the Ohio, at that time.[31] Kentucky boats were of oblong form,
varying from ten to fourteen feet in breadth, and from twenty
to fifty feet in length, and were sided and roofed in. The roof
answered the purpose of a main and quarter deck, and the boat was
steered by a long pole, the whole length of the boat.[32] The boat
usually carried from one to three hands, as it was necessary, when
heavily loaded, to use the oars to keep the boat in the middle of
the river. New Orleans boats were built upon the same model, but
were generally much larger and stronger, and built with an arched
roof fore and aft. The largest of these boats could carry four
hundred and fifty barrels of flour.[33] The timbers or knees were
built upon a small keel, three inches deep, and four or five in
width,--hence the name keel boat. The keel received the first shock
of any obstruction in the navigation.
Schenectady boats were usually built from forty to eighty feet in
length, and seven to nine in width--the largest kind requiring
one hand to steer, and two to row in descending the Ohio.
These boats carried as much as one hundred barrels of salt. In
ascending the stream six or eight hands were needed to make any
considerable progress.[34] "The best kind of boats on the Ohio
are called barges."[35] These boats were steered by a rudder, and
when descending with the current were not so easily twisted and
turned as a keel boat. The barges carried from forty to sixty
thousand weight, and required four hands besides the helmsman to
descend the river; to return with a loading, from eight to twelve
became necessary. "Barges as well as keel boats, generally carry
a moveable mast a-mid-ships--whenever the wind will permit, set a
square sail, and some few top sails."[36]
The prices of these boats were as follows: Canoes from $1 to $3;
pirogues from $5 to $20; large skiffs or batteaux from $20 to $50;
arks $1 a foot in length; Kentucky and New Orleans boats from $1 to
$1.50 a foot; Keel boats from $2.50 to $3 a foot; and barges from
$4 to $5 a foot.[37]
Most of the strange boats, to be seen upon the Ohio River, after
1794, were broken up and sold at the end of the voyage, the produce
disposed of, and the settler returned to his farm, a thousand or
fifteen hundred miles, as best he could.[38]
The building of larger craft, was undertaken at some of the river
towns. In the year 1800, some of the enterprising men of Marietta,
formed a company for building a small vessel, and actually built,
rigged, and loaded with produce, a brig of 104 tons, named the St.
Clair. She cleared from Marietta in 1801, went to New Orleans, from
there to Havana, and then to Philadelphia where she was consigned
and finally sold.[39] The St. Clair was the first rigged vessel
ever built on the Ohio River.[40] From this time until 1808, not
less than twenty ships, brigs, and schooners, from 150 to 450 tons
burthen, were built at Marietta, besides some of Mr. Jefferson's
gun boats, two or three of whose number were lost in attempting
to cross the Falls of the Ohio when the water was too low.[41] In
1807 Schultz says that there were three ships of about 300 tons
burthen each, and two large brigs, besides smaller craft, on the
stocks at Marietta.[42] The price of ship building in Marietta was
fifty dollars a ton, rigged and equipped completely for sea.[43]
Ellicott in his Journal for the years 1796-1800, says that vessels
have been built and sent to the West Indies.[44] Large boats had
been built at Elizabethtown on the Monongahela, before 1803, and
sent to the West Indies.[45] Previous to 1807, about twelve brigs
and schooners had been launched at Pittsburg;[46] and brigs had
been built at Frankfort and sent down the Kentucky, Ohio, and
Mississippi Rivers.[47]
The Falls of the Ohio were very dangerous to strangers unacquainted
with the navigation. In 1807 pilots might be procured who would
conduct travelers over in safety. Two dollars per boat was charged
for this service.[48]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 191. Used by
Pittsburg traders to convey haberdashery goods, more especially tea
and coffee, to settlers on the River.
[2] Hall, J., The West, 110-111.
[3] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 422.
[4] Hall, J., The West, 111-113.
[5] Ibid., 10.
[6] Latrobe, C. J., Rambler in North America, I., 103.
[7] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 159-160.
[8] Hall, J., The West, 113.
[9] Ibid, 113-114,
[10] Burnet, J., Notes, 399-400,
[11] Ibid., 400.
Collot, V., Journey, I., 39. "The carriage of an hundred weight
from Philadelphia to Pittsburg is from $8 to $10, and from
Baltimore $7 or $8.
Collot, V., Journey, II., 198. "The carriage from Philadelphia
to the Illinois is 12 piastres the hundred weight--the expense
from Baltimore are the same. The expense from New Orleans to the
Illinois, is 5 piastres the French hundred weight."
Schultz, C, II., 186-187. "Return cargo from New Orleans to St.
Louis or Kaskaskia is $6 a hundred. Same to Falls of Ohio--for
any greater distance an additional charge of nearly 50 cents for
every 100 miles."
Schultz, C., I., 125. "The price of carriage over this distance
(from Philadelphia or Baltimore to Pittsburg) is $5 and $6 a
hundred pounds weight."
[12] Burnet, J., Notes, 400.
[13] Hall, J., The West, 13.
[14] Niles, Weekly Register, I., 71.
[15] Brackenridge, H. M., Journey, 43-44.
[16] Hall, J., The West, 114.
[17] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 274.
[18] Burnet, J., Notes, 49.
[19] Hall, J., The West, 114.
[20] Ibid., 116.
[21] Ibid., 116-117.
[22] Ibid., 13.
[23] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 248.
[24] Ibid., 248-249.
[25] Ibid., 437.
[26] Pope, J., Tour, 18.
[27] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 334, 335.
[28] Schultz, C., Travels, II., 100.
[29] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 166.
[30] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 116.
[31] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 129.
[32] Ibid., 129-130.
[33] Ibid., 130.
[34] Ibid., 131.
[35] Ibid., 132.
[36] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 132.
[37] Ibid., 132-133.
[38] Latrobe, C. J., Rambler in North America, I., 103-104.
[39] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 159.
[40] Ibid., 160.
[41] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 161.
[42] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 143.
[43] Ellicott, A., Journal, 25.
[44] Harris, F. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 338.
[45] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 126.
[46] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 193.
[47] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 142.
[48] Ibid., I., 190.
_CHAPTER II._
_ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC AND PLACES WITH WHICH TRADE WAS CARRIED ON._
The peace of 1783 left the Ohio and Mississippi country free from
all other conflicts, but the unremitting hostility of the Indians.
The right to navigate the Mississippi the great western waterway
of export and to some extent of import, was denied to the Western
settlers by the Spanish government.
In the middle of the year 1787, the foundation of an intercourse
with Kentucky and the settlements on the Ohio was laid, which
daily increased. The arrival of a boat belonging to Governor
Wilkinson, loaded with tobacco and other productions of Kentucky,
was announced in New Orleans, and a guard was immediately sent on
board of it. Governor Miro being informed that in Kentucky, there
were two or three crops on hand for which an immediate market must
be found, in order to keep the inhabitants in a state of peace,
made Governor Wilkinson the offer of a permission to import, on his
own account to New Orleans, free of duty, all the productions of
Kentucky, thinking to conciliate the people without yielding the
point of navigation, as the commerce carried on would appear the
effect of an indulgence to an individual, which could be withdrawn
at any time.[49] Wilkinson appointed his friend, Daniel Clark, his
agent at New Orleans, returned to Charleston in a vessel, and on
his arrival in Kentucky, bought up all the produce he could
collect, which he shipped to New Orleans. For some time all the
trade on the Ohio was carried on in his name, a line from him
sufficing to insure the owner of the boat every privilege and
protection.[50] In January, 1789, Wilkinson fitted out twenty-five
large boats, which were armed, and manned by one hundred and fifty
men, and loaded with tobacco, flour, and provisions, with which
he set sail for the south. His lead was soon followed by others.
Among these adventurers was Colonel Armstrong of the Cumberland
Settlements, who sent down six boats manned by thirty men;
these were stopped at Natchez, and the goods being sold without
permission, an officer and fifty soldiers were sent by the Spanish
Commander to arrest the transgressors, who escaped over the line
into the United States territory.[51]
Forman in 1789-1790, made a journey down the Ohio, and mentions the
arrival, at Louisville, of four tobacco boats, on their way to New
Orleans.[52] Furs were sent up the Ohio from Illinois to Pittsburg,
as early as 1790, as is shown by the following from a letter
written by St. Clair, "There is no doubt that the furs of that
country might be brought up the Ohio River at as little or even
less expense than attends the carriage of them to Canada. It has
been tried by one person, a Mr. Vigo, and found to answer; although
the goods he carried out were transported by land from Philadelphia
to Pittsburg, and loaded with an impost the competitors were free
from, they came to market on better terms than those from Canada.
Could these also be subjected to it, a decided advantage would
be given to the American trader."[53] Pope who journeyed down the
Mississippi in 1791, speaks of meeting several boats bound down the
river, loaded with bacon, butter, flour, tobacco, and plank, and
also two large Pittsburg boats loaded with flour.[54] "The Walnut
Hills about ten miles below the Yasous River" were fixed as the
boundary line by the King of Spain, and United States citizens were
not allowed to live in Spanish territory unless they put themselves
under the laws, banners, and protection of Spain. Private
adventurers from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, carried on
a tolerable trade at New Orleans, and had an advance of cent per
cent on their goods, which were nevertheless cheaper than Spanish
importations.[55]
October 27, 1795 a treaty was made with Spain containing the
following provisions: "It is likewise agreed that the western
boundary of the United States which separates them from the Spanish
Colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the
River Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said States to
the completion of the 31st degree of latitude north of the Equator.
And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of
the said river in its whole breadth, from its source to the ocean,
shall be free only to his subjects, and the citizens of the United
States, unless he should extend this privilege to the subjects of
other powers by special convention."[56] "And in consequence of
the stipulation contained in the fourth article, His Catholic
Majesty will permit the citizens of the United States, for the
space of three years from this time, to deposit their merchandise
and effects in the port of New Orleans, and to export them from
thence, without paying any other duty than a fair price for the
hire of the Stores, and his Majesty promises either to continue
this permission, if he finds, during that time that it is not
prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or if he should not agree to
continue it there, he will assign to them, on another part of the
banks of the Mississippi, an equivalent establishment."[57]
Governor Carondelet, at New Orleans, received orders from the home
government to deliver the posts on the Mississippi, but refused to
do so, as he feared that the English were about to move against New
Orleans from the north. In the summer of 1796 he finally received
orders to hold the posts, but later was again ordered by the home
government to deliver them.[58] Efforts were made by agents of
France and Spain to induce the people of the western country to
separate from the Union, and form, in conjunction with Franch and
Spain an independent government in the Mississippi Valley.[59] The
inhabitants of Kentucky and Tennessee, jealous of their rights, ant
not satisfied with the efforts of Congress to procure them redress,
seemed strongly disposed to take justice into their own hands.
There appear to have been no less than five parties among them at
this time. The discord between these parties was fanned by the
English, Spanish, and French, according to their respective views.
The Spanish Treaty went into quiet effect in 1798.[60]
New Orleans was not then, a large commercial city, but merely
a small town without capital or enterprise, and reputed to be
so fatally unhealthy, that its future growth was considered as
entirely improbable.[61] Ascent of the Mississippi, by means of the
boats then in use was a slow and most laborious process. Illinois
received her goods from Michilmackinack; Kentucky, Tennessee,
and the North West Territory, from Philadelphia or Baltimore, on
account of the want of storehouses well and regularly furnished at
New Orleans.[62] Conveyance of goods from Philadelphia to Illinois
required fifty-five to sixty days; from New Orleans seventy to
seventy-five days; the expense of carriage being twelve piastres
the hundred weight by way of Philadelphia or Baltimore, and five
piastres by way of New Orleans.[63] So long as the importation of
goods was attended with so much difficulty and expense, and the
western country was forced to depend upon the Atlantic States for
their supply of European manufactures, the balance of trade was
against them.[64]
The country produced all the necessaries of life in abundance, and
about 1800 the settlers were sending the residue, with many other
articles, such as hemp, cordage, hardware, some glass, whiskey,
apples, cider, and salted provisions down the Ohio and Mississippi
to New Orleans.[65] The St. Clair which cleared from Marietta in
1801, carried pork, and flour which was sold in Havana for forty
dollars per barrel, but was subject to a duty of twenty dollars.[66]
With the proceeds of the cargo a load of sugar was purchased
and disposed of at Philadelphia. The ships built at Marietta,
from this time until 1808, were exchanged for merchandise in the
Atlantic cities, and were the most profitable returns which they
could make. Although the country was thinly peopled, yet the
vessels were always loaded with flour, pork, and other produce,
in their downward voyage, thus yielding a double profit.[67] The
embargo of 1808 put a stop to this trade and ruined many of the
merchants of Marietta, one of the merchants who had a ship in
New Orleans at that time, losing over $10,000.[68] Some of the
vessels from Marietta, bound to foreign ports, took in cotton,
for Liverpool, from the plantations on the Mississippi.[69] The
banks of the Ohio having been inhabited for a period of only a few
years, the Americans shared but very feebly in the commerce of the
Mississippi, which in 1802 consisted of such articles as hams,
salted pork, brandies distilled from corn and peaches, butter,
hemp, skins, and various sorts of flour. Cattle were sent to the
Atlantic States.[70]
Trades people supplied themselves at Pittsburg and Wheeling,
and passed up and down the river, conveying to the settlers
haberdashery goods, and more especially teas and coffee, taking
some of their produce in return.[71] In the beginning of spring
and autumn merchandise was sent from Philadelphia and Baltimore
to Pittsburg for supplying the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and the
settlement of Natchez.[72] Michaux says, "I have heard ... that
during the last war, corn being up to an exhorbitant rate, it
was computed that the exportations from Kentucky had balanced
the price of importations of English goods from Philadelphia and
Baltimore, by way of the Ohio, but since the peace, the demand
for flour and salt provisions having ceased in the Carribbees, corn
has fallen considerable, so that the balance of trade is wholly
unfavorable to the country."[73] Butter not consumed in Kentucky was
put into barrels and exported by the Ohio to the Carribbees.[74]
Salt provisions formed another important article of Kentucky trade,
72,000 barrels of dried pork, and 2485 barrels of salt being
exported in the first half of the year 1802.[75]
In 1802 the freitage of a boat to convey flour to Lower Louisiana
cost one hundred dollars. The boat carried 25 to 300 barrels, and
was navigated by five men, the chief receiving one hundred dollars
for the voyage, the others receiving fifty each. Most of the
embarkations were made from Louisville, thirty or thirty-five days
being required for the journey to New Orleans. The crew embarked at
New Orleans for New York, or Philadelphia, and returned from thence
by way of the Ohio to Kentucky.[76]
The produce of the settlements upon the Monongahela and Allegheny
found an easy conveyance down the Ohio. Corn, hams, and dried pork
were the principal articles sent to New Orleans, whence they were
reexported to the Carribbees. Bar iron, coarse linen, bottles
manufactured at Pittsburg, whiskey, and salt butter were exported
for the consumption of Louisiana. A great part of these provisions
came from Redstone on the Monongahela.[77] Knoxville exported flour,
cotton, and lime to New Orleans by way of the Tennessee River, but
this route was not much frequented by the trade, the navigation
of the river being very much encumbered in different places by
Shallows interspersed with rocks.[78] In Tennessee the major part of
the cultivators sold their cotton to the trades people at Nashville
who sent it by the river to New Orleans, from thence it was sent
to New York or Philadelphia, or exported direct to Europe.[79]
Considerable quantities of corn were shipped from Illinois, in
flat boats, to New Orleans, before the purchase of Louisiana.
Cattle, and horses were raised for the market, some were shipped
to New Orleans, and considerable live stock to the lead mines in
Louisiana.[80] Furs and peltries were articles in great demand,
and were generally shipped to Mickanaw, Philadelphia, and New
Orleans.[81]
During this early period in the settlement of the West, boats were
employed in the trade up the Mississippi and Ohio, as well as in
carrying articles of export down these rivers, Mr. Vigo, a trader
of Illinois, exported furs to Pittsburg as early as 1790.[82] Wagons
from Pittsburg to Philadelphia and Baltimore in 1802 carried fur
skins that came from the Illinois country.[83] At Nashville in 1802
the first attempt was made to send cottons by the Ohio to Pittsburg
in order to be thence conveyed to the remote parts of Pennsylvania.
Michaux speaks of meeting several barges laden with cotton, near
Marietta, "going up the river with a staff, and making about
twenty miles a day."[84] The merchants at this place received a
considerable quantity of their goods from New Orleans by way of the
Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland.[85]
By April, 1802, the news of the cession of Louisiana by Spain to
France, according to the secret treaty of Ildefonso,[86] October 1,
1803, reached the United States, and early in 1803 a treaty was
negotiated giving the United States the possession of Louisiana.[87]
The purchase of Louisiana, the free navigation of the Mississippi,
and the increased importance of the New Orleans market may be
set down as among the causes which led to the rapid growth of
the western country. "Commerce came, bringing them a market for
their products, offering rich rewards to industry, and stimulating
labor to the highest point of exertion. She brought with her
money, and the various representatives of money, established,
credit, confidence, commercial intercourse, united action, and
mutuality of interest. Through her influence the forests were
penetrated by roads, bridges were thrown over rivers, and highways
constructed through dreary morasses. Traveling was rendered easy,
and transportation cheap. Through this influence the earth was
made to yield its mineral treasures ... agricultural products have
increased ... manufactures ... such have been the trophies of
commerce."[88]
In 1803 the Miami Exporting Company was created. Its object was to
reduce the difficulty and expense of transportation by collecting
the produce of the country and shipping it to New Orleans. At the
time the association was formed, the agriculture and commerce
of the West, were at the lowest point of depression.[89] No
artificial roads had been made; canals had not been thought of; the
natural impediments in the rivers of the country rendered their
navigation difficult and hazardous at all times, always tedious,
and often impracticable; and when the water was at its most
favorable stage, the distance of the principal port, the imperfect
means of transportation, and the low price of produce were such,
that a large portion of the avails of a cargo was consumed by the
expense of taking it to market. The average time required to make
a trip to New Orleans and back to Cincinnati was six months. The
craft made use of were small, and the cargoes light, and when
they arrived at New Orleans in flat boats, which could not be
taken back, the boats were abandoned. The pirogues and keel boats
returned with such articles as the market of New Orleans afforded.
Under such disadvantages the commerce was nominal, and only
necessity prompted the inhabitants to engage in it. For many years,
the emigrants created the only demand for the surplus products of
the interior settlements.[90]
In the Spring and Fall of the year 1803, numerous trading boats
destined for Kentucky, New Orleans, or the towns on the Spanish
side of the Mississippi, were continually passing down the Ohio.[91]
They carried flour, whiskey, peach brandy, cider, bacon, iron,
potter's ware, cabinet work, and other articles, all the produce
or manufacture of the country. The boats used in this trade were
called arks, were manned by four boatmen, carried no sail, and were
capable of carrying from two to five hundred barrels of flour.[92]
Vessels were built at Elizabethtown, on the Monongahela, laden with
the produce of the country, and sent to the West India Islands.[93]
Harris speaks of meeting the ship "Pittsburg" of 275 tons
burthen, from the same place, laden with 1700 barrels of flour.[94]
Articles of cabinet work, made at Pittsburg, supplied many of the
settlements of the Ohio and Mississippi.[95] The produce received
by the merchants of this place, from the farmers, was sent to New
Orleans, and the proceeds sent to the Atlantic States to meet their
payments.[96] The articles of merchandise brought over the mountains
to Pittsburg were placed on trading boats, which floated down the
river, stopping at the towns to sell their articles. These boats
contributed much to the convenience of the settlers, by bringing to
them the little necessaries which it would be very troublesome to
go a great distance to procure.[97]
Kentucky cordage and flour, and Monongahela flour were sent to New
Orleans in 1804.[98] During 1805, Monongahela flour,[99] Kentucky
tallow, and white baling rope were received at this port.[100]
Kentucky tobacco and Monongahela flour were advertised for sale at
New Orleans in 1806.[101]
During the dry season which usually prevailed during August and
September, the Ohio was so low that a loaded boat could not descend
from Pittsburg. Accordingly, when the boatmen found that they
would not be able to reach Pittsburg in time, they ordered their
goods sent to Wheeling, where the water was deep enough at all
seasons.[102] The merchants of Ohio at this time, 1807, received
their goods overland from Philadelphia and Baltimore, and some
small supplies from Alexandria. Payments were made to them in the
bulky produce of the country, which they sent to New Orleans.[103]
From the American Bottom in Illinois, great quantities of corn,
pork, and other produce were sent to New Orleans.[104] Schultz
in his voyage down the Mississippi in 1808, met two boats from
Green River loaded with tobacco; four with flour and whiskey from
Cincinnati; two with horses from Limestone; two with cotton and
tobacco from Cumberland; two with lime in bulk from Virginia;[105]
three from Pittsburg with flour, whiskey and pork;[106] five from
Kentucky loaded with horses and tobacco;[107] besides a great number
of boats whose cargoes he does not mention.[108] Floating stores with
a various assortment of merchandise, among which were to be found
copper stills, used for distilling peach and apple brandy, and rye
whiskey, floated down the Ohio from Wheeling, stopping wherever
they could find a market for their goods.[109] Tobacco was exported
down the Cumberland to Baltimore.[110]
During the years 1807-10 we find advertised in the New Orleans
papers, Monongahela and Kentucky flour,[111] Kentucky beef and
pork,[112] Kentucky tobacco,[113] Monongahela whiskey,[114] Kentucky
bogging,[115] Kentucky cordage, Kentucky ham,[116] and Kentucky
packing cloth.[117] From the first of the year to May 16, 1808,
112 boats arrived in New Orleans by way of the Ohio.[118] Schultz
in 1808, says of New Orleans, "the levee in front is crowded with
large vessels from every part of the world. They generally lie
three deep, in a line extending from near the center of the town
to ¼ of a mile below. The same distance at the upper end is always
lined with one or two hundred Kentucky boats and New Orleans
boats, from the interior of the States of New York, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, as well as from the
Territory of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri. Two of those
present along the levee I recognized as my own statesmen (New
York). One of them was loaded with cherry plank from Chatoque Lake,
and the other with ice, the latter of which they sold at 25 cents a
pound."[119]
Sugar was exported from New Orleans and sold along the river.[120]
West India goods were sent in barges by way of New Orleans to
Louisville and Cincinnati.[121] In the early part of the year 1811,
sugar, hides, logwood crates, and other articles were shipped to
Cincinnati from New Orleans.[122] Nashville exported bales of cotton
to Pittsburg in large keel boats requiring nine boatmen.[123] Lead
prepared at the mines was deposited at St. Genevieve, Louisiana,
from whence it was sent up the Ohio as far as Pittsburg, and down
the Mississippi to New Orleans, and distributed from these places
through out the United States.[124]
FOOTNOTES:
[49] Peck, J. M., Annals, 331-333.
[50] Peck, J. M., Annals, 334.
[51] Ibid., 335.
[52] Forman, S. S., Journey, 41.
[53] St. Clair, A., Papers, (Smith's Edition), II., 175.
[54] Pope, J., Tour, 26.
[55] Ibid, 41.
[56] Treaties and Conventions, 777.
[57] Treaties and Conventions, 783.
[58] Allinson, M.
[59] Peck, J. M., Annals, 504. Burnet, J., Notes, 445, 446.
[60] Flint, T., History and Geography. I., 170-171.
[61] Hall, J., The West, 107.
Collot, V., Journey, II., 95, "The population is composed of
about ten thousand souls, including free mulattoes and slaves.
[62] Collot, V., Journey, II., 197.
[63] Ibid., II., 198-199.
[64] Ellicott, A., Journal, 24.
[65] Ellicott, A., Journal, 23-24.
[66] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 159.
[67] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 309.
[68] Ibid.,
[69] Ibid., 161.
[70] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 191.
[71] Ibid., 191.
[72] Ibid., 157-158.
[73] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 205.
[74] Ibid., 245.
[75] Ibid., 247.
[76] Ibid., 239-240.
[77] Ibid., 158.
[78] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 266.
[79] Ibid., 252.
[80] Reynolds, J., MY Own Times, 90.
[81] Ibid., 91.
[82] St. Clair, A., Papers, (Smith's Edition), II., 175.
[83] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 157-158.
[84] Ibid., III., 252.
[85] Ibid., III., 241. "It is now clearly demonstrated that the
expense of conveying goods which go up the river again from New
Orleans to Louisville, is not so great as that from Philadelphia
to Limestone."
[86] Treaties and Conventions, 276.
[87] Ibid., 275-278.
[88] Hall, J., The West, 14-15.
[89] Burnet, J., Notes, 397-399.
[90] Burnet, J., Notes, 396-397.
[91] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 334-335.
[92] Ibid., III., 334-335.
[93] Ibid., III., 338.
[94] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 353.
[95] Ibid., III., 343.
[96] Ibid.
[97] Ibid., 344.
[98] Louisiana Gasette, I. 15.
[99] Ibid., I., 29; I., 78.
[100] Ibid., I., 53.
[101] Ibid., II., 162; II., 171; I., 194; II., 169.
[102] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 125-126.
[103] Schultz, C., Travels, II., 22.
[104] Ibid., II., 38.
[105] Ibid., II., 100.
[106] Ibid., II., 125.
[107] Ibid., II., 126.
[108] Ibid., II., 135-136.
[109] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 116.
[110] Ibid., IV., 279.
[111] Louisiana Gasette, VI., 648; III., 286.
[112] Louisiana Gasette, III., 286.
[113] ibid., iii., 298.
[114] Ibid., VI., 525.
[115] Ibid. Louisiana Moniteur, May 10, 1809.
[116] Ibid., May 10, 1809.
[117] Louisiana Moniteur, May 10, 1809.
[118] Louisiana Gasette, p 2, Col. 3. May 21, 1808.
[119] Schultz, C., Travels, II., 200.
[120] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 264.
[121] Schultz, C., Travels, II., 126.
[122] Niles, Weekly Register, I., 71.
[123] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 97.
[124] Schultz, C., Travels, II., 56.
_CHAPTER III._
_EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS._
One of the greatest hindrances to the early settlement of the
western territory was the continued hostility of the Indian tribes
living in that portion of the country. The two leading causes
of disquiet among the western people during the years 1787-1788
were due to this cause, and to the Spanish possession of the
Mississippi.[125] At Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789, one treaty was
made with the Iroquois, confirming the previous one of October 22,
1784, at Fort Stanwix,[126] and another with the Wyandots, Delawares,
Ottawas, Pottawatomies, and Sacs, confirming and extending the
treaty of Fort McIntosh, made in January 21, 1785.[127]
These treaties were not respected, and the year 1790 saw the old
frontier troubles renewed. The Wabash Indians, especially, who had
not been bound by any treaty as yet, kept up incursions against
the Kentucky settlers, and the emigrants down the Ohio.[128] Three
boats descending the Ohio River in March, 1790 were attacked
by twenty-two Indians, above the Falls, and twenty-six horses,
merchandise valued at from twelve to fifteen pounds, and several
saddlebags containing cash were lost by being left in the two
abandoned boats.[129] "The pioneers who descended the Ohio on their
way westward, will remember while they live, the lofty rock
standing a short distance above the mouth of the Scioto, on the
Virginia shore, which was occupied for years by the savages,
as a favorite watch-tower, from which boats ascending and
descending, could be discovered at a great distance. The murders
and depredations committed in that vicinity at all periods of the
war were so shocking as to attract universal notice, and letters
were written to General Harmar, from various quarters, calling his
attention to the subject. They informed him that scarcely a boat
passed the rocks without being attacked, and in most instances
captured; and that unless something were done without delay,
the navigation of the river would necessarily be abandoned."[130]
September 19, 1790 Governor St. Clair notified the War Department
that the depredations continued on the Ohio and Wabash; that nearly
every day brought an account of some new robbery or murder; and
that shortly before this, a boat belonging to Colonel Vigo of
Post Vincennes, was fired upon near the mouth of Blue River, and
three men killed, and later, in attempting to ascend the Wabash,
the boats were attacked and the crew's personal baggage and arms
stolen. As the boat was navigated by Frenchmen, the Indians
suffered them to depart with the peltries.[131] Pope, in 1791, speaks
of being frequently alarmed at the hostile appearance of Indians
onboth sides of the Ohio, who suspecting that the number of white
men was greater than their own, were deterred from attacking
them.[132]
The savages who assailed the new settlements in the West, resided
chiefly on the northwest side of the Ohio River. The British
government, alarmed at the advance of the United States westward,
had established agencies among them for the sole purpose of keeping
alive their hatred against the American people.[133] The frequent,
predatory movements of the savages, following in such rapid
succession, produced universal alarm throughout the country, and
the sttlers began to think that they would be obliged to abandon
it.[134] The glorious campaign of General Wayne with his defeat
of the western savages at the Battle of the Miami, 1794, put an
end to this warfare.[135] The Treaty of Greenville,[136] signed
by the various Indian nations, on August 3, 1795, and ratified by
the Senate on December 22, closed the old Indian Wars of the West.
In 1796, after some delay, the British government surrendered the
northern posts,[137] thus removing the danger from that quarter.
On July 13, 1787 the Ordinance of 1787 was passed;[138] which because
of its wise provisions and liberal terms, may be considered as one
of the most important documentsin our history. The whole territory
lying north and west of the Ohio, extending to the Mississippi,
and to the northern lakes, was comprehended within one district,
for temporary government. The act contained a provision for the
creation of not less than three, nor more than five States, each
State to have at least 60,000 free population.[139] The prohibition
of slavery probably aided in attracting settlers to this region
The fourth article provided that "thenavigable waters leading into
the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between
the same, shall be common highways and forever free, as well to
the inhabitants of the said territories, as to the citizens of the
United States, and those of other States that may be admitted to
the Confederacy without any tax, import, or duty therefor."[140]
In the year 1787, the Ohio Company purchased 1,500,000 acres of
land from Congress. The total price agreed upon was nearly three
and a half million dollars, but the payment was made in public
securities worth only about twelve cents on the dollar.[141] Joel
Barlow was sent to Europe to sell the lands, and a subordinate
association, called the Scioto Company, was formed to aid him. Mr.
Barlow made considerable sales to individuals and companies in
France, and many emigrants came to this country, who would have
been ruined by the bad faith of the Company, had not the government
generously interfered in their behalf.[142] From 1790-1795 the Ohio
Company expended more than $11,000 in defending their settlements,
which was never repaid them by the United States.[143] J. C. Symmes
of New Jersey in 1787, entered into a contract with Congress for
the purchase of a million acres between the two Miami Rivers. He
finally paid for about one third of it, for which he received a
patent.[144]
The early adventurers to the Northwest Territory were men who had
spent the prime of their lives in the War of Independence. Many
of them had exhausted their fortunes in maintaining the desperate
struggle, and retired to the wilderness to conceal their poverty.
Some of them were young men, descended from revolutionary patriots.
Others were adverturous spirits to whom any change might be for the
better.[145]
The emigration westward, even in 1788, was very great, the
commandant at Fort Harmar reporting forty-five hundred persons
having passed that post between February and June of that year.[146]
Emigrants were constantly passing down the Ohio for Kentucky in
1789.[147] Prior to the year 1795, the east side of the river,
for about ten or twenty miles below Wheeling was generally well
settled. There were few settlements on the opposite shore until the
Muskingum River was reached, and from here to Limestone, "except at
the mouth of the Great Kanhaway," the country on both sides of the
river was a wilderness.[148] "Till the years 1796-1797 the banks of
the Ohio were so little populated that they scarcely consisted of
thirty families in a space of four hundred miles."[149]
From the time of the Treaty of Greenville the inhabitants in
Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and the adjoining States, had gone on
increasing with astonishing rapidity, and swarms were pressing
forward from the new settlements even beyond the Mississippi.[150]
The emigrants from the Eastern States, established themselves in
general on the Ohio. The emigrants from Jersey and Maryland spread
themselves on both sides of the river, as they descended the
Ohio, but during the years, 1793-1796, it was observed that they
settled rather on the right than the left, particularly on both
the Miamis, the Muskingum, the Great and Little Sciotos, and the
Wabash.[151] During this time the population of Kentucky did not
increase much, owing to the dearness of land, and the uncertainty
of tenures, which led the emigrants to prefer the Northwest
Territory, where the land was equally good, and the titles
indisputable.[152] Emigrants from Virginia and North Carolina went
into Kentucky, and those from the Carolinas and Georgia settled
in Tennessee.[153] Before the close of the year 1796, the white
population of the Northwest had increased to about five thousand,
chiefly distributed in the lower valleys of the Muskingum, Scioto,
and Miami Rivers, and on their small tributaries, within fifty
miles of the Ohio River.[154]
By an act of May 7, 1800, the Northwest Territory was divided
into two parts and placed under separate territorial governments;
the western division was called Indiana.[155] The population was
divided into three settlements, which were widely separated. One
of these was at the Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville; another
at Vincennes, and distant from the first more than one h hundred
miles; and the other comprised the French population in the tract
extending from Kaskaskia to Cahokia, on the Mississippi, two
hundred miles from Vincennes[156], Illinois from 1800 to 1809, made a
part of the Indiana Territory, and was, during that period, under
the laws and jurisdiction of that Territory. February 3, 1809, the
Territory of Illinois was established by an Act of Congress.[157]
April 30, 1802, Congress passed the Enabling Act[158] for the
formation of the State of Ohio, and on February 19, 1803, passed
an "act to provide for the execution of the laws of the United
States within the State of Ohio."[159]
Ohio is described by one traveler as being settled by "people
from New England, the region of industry, economy, and steady
habits."[160] As early as 1800 a New England emigrant was not common,
the settlers coming principally from Tennessee, Kentucky, and
Virginia, and some from Pennsylvania.
In 1800 there were about twelve hundred French Creoles and from
eight hundred to one thousand Americans living in Illinois about
nine-tenths of the State being occupied by the Indians.[161] The
first colony of Europeans who formed a settlement in Illinois were
Irish, and located on the Ohio River in 1804 or 1805.[162] From
1805-1809 the whole country on the margin of the Ohio, Wabash,
and Mississippi Rivers, from where Alton now stands to Vincennes,
commenced to improve.[163]
The population of the States increased during this period as
follows:[164]
_1790_ _1800_ _1810_
West Virginia 90,000 11,000 132,000
Ohio 45,000 230,760
Indiana 24,520
Illinois 12,282
Kentucky 73,677 220,959 406,511
Missouri (1799) 6,005 20,845.[1]
[1] Hall, J., The West, 248.
In the early part of the great era of westward emigration the most
important thoroughfare from the New England and Middle States to
the Ohio Valley was the Pennsylvania Road, or "Pittsburg Pike"
built in 1785-1787 by Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature. It
extended 197 miles from Carlisle to Pittsburg. Even after the
construction of the Cumberland 1806-1818, from Cumberland, Maryland
to Wheeling, Virginia, (and subsequently as far west as Vandalia,
Illinois), the majority of traders and travelers from Baltimore and
Washington, as well as from more northern points, made use of this
route, coming into it generally from McConnellstown, 130 miles from
Pittsburg.[165] The few roads that crossed the mountains, were so
wretchedly bad that wagons toiled over them with great difficulty,
and a large portion of the merchandise was carried on the backs
of horses.[166] The emigrants came out in wagons covered with tow
cloth,[167] and drawn by oxen[168], or by two and four horse
teams.[169] Upon reaching Pittsburg, the horses and wagons were sold
at a great sacrifice,[170] or were carried down the Ohio River to the
new home of the emigrant.[171]
Pittsburg, the great gateway of the West, stood at the point where
the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers joined to form the Ohio River,
and was the usual point of embarkation for emigrants bound down the
river. As early as the year 1784 Pittsburg was inhabited almost
entirely by the Scotch and Irish who lived in paltry log houses.
A good deal of trade was carried on, the goods being brought from
Baltimore and Philadelphia at the expense of 45 shillings per
hundred, and exchanged by the merchants in the shops, for money,
wheat, flour and skins.[172] Merchandise was sent from Pittsburg in
Keels and flatboats down the Ohio to Limestone and Louisville. In
the spring of the year 1784 the town was laid out and surveyed
by Col. George Woods, by order of Teucle Francis, attorney for
John Penn, and J. Penn, Junior.[173] John Pope in 1790 gives most
anything but a pleasing account of the town. He says, "The town at
present, is inhabited with only some few exceptions, by mortals who
act as if possessed of a charter of exclusive privilege to filch
from, annoy, and harass her fellow creatures, particularly the
incautious and necessitous; many who have emigrated from various
parts of Kentucky can verify the charge. Goods of every description
are dearer in Pittsburg than in Kentucky, which I attribute to
a combination of pensioned scoundrels who infest the place."[174]
The increase of the town was not rapid until the year 1793, in
consequence of the inroads of the savage tribes which impeded the
growth of the neighboring settlements. The Western insurrection
more generally known as the "Whiskey War," once more made this
the scene of commotion, and is said to have given pittsburg a new
and revising impulse, by throwing a considerable sum of money
into circulation.[175] From that time it increased rapidly, and on
April 22, 1794 was incorporated as a borough.[176] In 1795 Pittsburg
contained about two hundred houses, fifty brick and frame, and the
remainder log[177].
The surplus produce of the country about Pittsburg, was, during
this time, consumed by the numerous emigrants who were continually
passing down the Ohio.[178] Goods from Philadelphia and Baltimore
were sent to Pittsburg, stored there in warehouses,[179] and later
sent down the Ohio to Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Northwest
Territory.[180] The gain on these goods sent to Kentucky was about 33
per cent.[181] Little effort had been made to establish manufactures,
even for articles of the first necessity, these being obtained
from Philadelphia and Baltimore at exorbitant prices.[182] The
carriage from Philadelphia to Pittsburg was from $8 to $10, and
from Baltimore $7 ot $8, two wagons, nevertheless, coming from
Philadelphia against one from Baltimore.[183]
Boat building was carried on in Pittsburg at this time, but Collot
advised travelers to buy their boats on the Monongahela, where the
greater number were built as they would in that way be able to save
much time and about one-third of the expense.[184] By the year 1802
the ship building industry had assumed importance in Pittsburg, one
of the principal ship yards being upon the Monongahela The lumber
being near at hand rendered the expense of building less than that
in the Atlantic States. The cordage was manufactured at Redstone
and Lexington, and sent also to Marietta and Louisville where ships
were built.[185] In 1802 a three mast vessel of 150 tons and bin
of 90 were launched at Pittsburg, and during the spring of 1803,
three ships from 160 to 275 tons were launched.[186] The merchants
living in or near Pittsburg were either the partners, or else the
factors, belonging to the houses of Philadelphia.[187] Trading boats
were sent out from Pittsburg to supply the settlements along the
River.[188]
Schultz, 1807, writes thus of Pittsburg, "There are probably
between 60 and 70 stores, well stocked with every kind of goods.
The price of wagon carriage from this distance, (Philadelphia and
Baltimore), is $5 and $6 a hundred pounds weight. It contains
between 400 and 500 houses. From the best information I could
collect, it is supposed to contain at least 2500 inhabitants, the
most of whom are German and Irish settlers from various parts
of Pennsylvania and Maryland. This town has likewise a number
of public buildings, principally built of brick. Ship building
is carried on here with considerable spirit; they have already
launched about one dozen brigs and schooners. Boat building, boat
buying, and boat selling seem to be part of the business of at
least half of the town. Pittsburg has likewise a considerable
number of factories established already, among which may be
enumerated distilleries, breweries, printing presses, an air
furnace, a glass house and cotton factory; likewise, smaller
establishments for the manufacture of nails, brushes, ropes,
copperware, tinware, and earthenware, with many others too tedious
to mention, Pittsburg appears to be in the "full tide of successful
experiment."[189]
Fort Washington was established on the present site of Cincinnati
in 1789,[190] and at that time, 1789, the settlement numbered 20
log cabins.[191] In 1792, fifty persons were added by emigration,
and in 1802 the Territorial legislature incorporated the town
of Cincinnati. The population of Cincinnati, 1792, consisted of
about 250 inhabitants, living in 30 log cabins; within the next
four years the population increased to 600, and the cabins to 100,
besides which there were about 15 frame houses,[192] with stone
chimneys. Collot in 1796 says, "The town of Cincinnati contains
already 300 families. The spot offers no advantage for commerce;
and it is probable that when the army shall have left this place,
whatever industry it possesses will be carried to the little town
of Newport."[193] Such was this traveler's opinion of the town which
was later to become one of the greatest commercial centers of
the Ohio country. By the year 1805 the population did not exceed
500;[194] in 1807 Cincinnati contained about 300 houses, had a bank,
market-house, printing office, and a number of stores well stocked
with every kind of merchandise in demand in the country.[195] About
the year 1808 a disastrous period commenced which lasted until
1818, during which a short period of imprudent banking and wild
speculation ensued, which proved disastrous to the city.[196] In 1810
Cincinnati contained 2320 inhabitants.[197]
Wheeling settled in 1770, contained in the year 1795 about 50
log and frame houses.[198] Harris in 1803 says that "Wheeling is
increasing very rapidly in population and in prosperous trade; and
is, next to Pittsburg, the most considerable place of embarkation
to traders and emigrants, anywhere in the western waters. During
the dry season, great quantities of merchandise are brought hither,
designed to supply the inhabitants on the Ohio River, and the
waters that flow into it, as boats can go from hence, when they
cannot from higher up the river. Boat building is carried on at
this place to a great extent, and several large keel boats and
some vessels have been built."[199] At this point the great post
roads from Philadelphia, Baltimore and Northern Virginia united,
and crossed the river, on the route through the States of Ohio
and Kentucky, to Tennessee, and New Orleans.[200] In 1807 Wheeling
contained about 200 houses, amongst which there was a considerable
number of stores, well supplied with every kind of merchandise.
It still continued to draw trade away from Pittsburg, many of the
lower country merchants preferring to send their goods overland
to this place, rather than risk a detention of 3 or 4 weeks at
Pittsburg.[201]
The settlement of the Ohio Company's purchase commenced in April
1788, when they planted the colony of Marietta at the junction of
the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers.[202] By the end of the year about 300
persons had settled in Marietta, and aside from these there was not
a single white family within the present bounds of Ohio.[203] In
1795 the town contained about 200 wooden houses, and was protected
from theattacks of the Indians by soldiers stationed there. From
1790-1795 the Indians were very troublesome and stole a great
number of horses from the settlers.[204] The population, at this
time, was composed of five or six hundred families from New England
and a few unfortunate French families, the victims of American
land speculators, and of the ignorance of the chiefs of the Scioto
Company.[205]
As early as the year 1798 or 1799 Commodore Preble built a brig
of 120 tons at this place, which probably was the first sea
vessel launched in the western waters.[206] "The inhabitants of
Marietta were the first that had an idea of exporting directly
to the Carribee Islands the produce of the country, in a vessel
built in their own town, which they sent to Jamaica. The success
which crowned this first attempt excited such emulation among the
inhabitants of that part of the western country, that several new
vessels were launched at Pittsburg and Louisville, and expedited
to the Isles, or to New York and Philadelphia."[207] The ship yard
at Marietta was on the Muskingum, and there in 1803 was built
the brig "Mary Avery" of 130 tons.[208] The ship building industry
increased; ships completely equipped for sea at $50 a ton, brigs,
schooners,[209] and bun boats[210] were built at Marietta in 1807.
Schultz says, "Ship building is carried on here with more spirit
than any other town on the Ohio."[211] From 1801-1808 ship building
was carried on with great spirit at Marietta, not less than 20
ships, brigs, and schooners, from 150 to 450 tons being built,
besides some gun boats.[212] The embargo of 1808 overwhelmed several
of these merchants with ruin, especially such as had ships on hand
unsold. One man who had a ship in New Orleans at the time lost
$10,000 on her and the cargo. No town in the United States suffered
so much as this, according to its capital. Three extensive rope
walks, working up large quantities of hemp raised in the country,
and furnishing rigging for the ships, were put out of employ, and
in a few years fell into ruins. The business of the town did not
revive for many years.[213]
Limestone, Kentucky, in 1790 was a little town and the point where
emigrants from Virginia disembarked.[214] It later, 1796, became the
depot for whatever goods passedfrom Baltimore and Philadelphia to
Kentucky.[215] The grow th of the town was slow, and in 1807 they
were only 80 houses. Schultz says, "from the great number of boats
of every description lying along the shore, it must have a very
considerable share of business. Ship building, I was informed, is
likewise carried on with much spirit, but I saw nothing of the kind
going on while I was there."[216]
Louisville was, in 1796, a small settlement containing from 80 to
100 houses.[217] This was one of the earliest settlements on the Ohio
and was rendered the more important at that time, by its position
at the Falls of the Ohio. All the boats which touched at Louisville
to take pilots were obliged to ascend the river more than two miles
above the town to gain the current on the opposite side, which led
to considerable expense and loss of time. This disadvantage in the
situation of the town probably prevented it from increasing.[218]
The Falls were occasioned by a bed of rocks extending from one
side of the river to the other. There was a fall of 22½ feet in
two miles.[219] In the year 1807 the legislature of Kentucky had
incorporated a Company for the purpose of opening a canal around
the Falls.[220] At this time Louisville contained 120 houses. Ship
and boat building was carried on with considerable spirit.[221]
Pilots were appointed to conduct boats over the falls, at the price
of $2 per boat.[222]
Steubenville, Ohio, laid out in 1798, and incorporated as a
town in 1805,[223] contained, in 1807, about 130 houses, a number
of brick buildings, and several stores well stocked with every
kind of merchandise.[224] Chillicothe, was laid out on the Scioto
by Nathaniel Massie in 1796. Galliopolis, settled in 1791, by a
French colony,[225] is a good example of the bad faith of the Scioto
Company.[226] This town rapidly declined.[227]
Fort Vincents and Jeffersonville, Indiana, were in 1796, small
villages, one of 50 houses,[228] and the other 40 houses.[229]
In 1796 a large number of merchants had already established
themselves at Frankfort on the Kentucky River, which was navigable
for the largest boats ten months in the year.[230] Henderson,
Kentucky, carried on a considerable export trade 1807-1809.[231]
Shawneetown, Illinois, made its first appearance in 1805 and 1806,
and increased considerably for some time. Great fleets of Keel
boats concentrated at this point, engaged in the salt, and other
traffic, and diffused life and energy to the new colonies.[232]
Cuming says, 1807-1809, "there were several trading boats, and
more appearance of business than I had seen on this side of
Pittsburg."[233]
Brownsville, on the Monongahela, and McKeesport on the Youghiogheny
carried on an extensive boat-building business, in 1803, furnishing
craft for the emigrants.[234]
Such was the beginning of the early rivers towns of the West, many
of which were destined, as agriculture, manufactures, and trade
developed, to become great commercial centres.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] Peck, J. M., Annals, 320.
[126] American State Papers, V., Indian Affairs, I., 51.
[127] Ibid.
[128] Peck, J. M., Annals, 340.
[129] St. Clair, A., Papers, (Smith's Edition), II., 135, 144.
[130] Burnet, J., Notes, 94.
[131] St. Clair, A., Papers, (Smith's Ed.), II., 184.
[132] Pope, J., Tour, 22.
[133] Burnet, J., Notes, 96.
[134] Ibid. 90.
[135] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 166.
Latrobe, C. J., Rambler in N. America, I., 103.
[136] American State Papers, V., Indian Affairs, I., 562.
[137] American State Papers, I., Foreign Relations, I., 40 or 30.
[138] Journals of Congress, XII., 58.
[139] Ibid., XII., 62.
[140] Journals of Congress, XII., 62.
[141] Hinsdale, B. A., The Old Northwest, 266.
Journals of Congress, XII., 140, 142, contains some reference
to the grant.
[142] Hall, J., Notes, 163.
Winsor, J., Narrative and Critical History, VII., 534-535.
[143] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs,238.
[144] Hinsdale, B, A., The Old Northwest, 278. American State
Papers, XVI., Public Lands, I., 25. Contains some reference to
the boundaries of these two grants of land.
Winsor, J., Narrative and Critical History, VII., 535.
[145] Burnet, J., Notes, 42.
[146] Peck, J. M., Annals, 324.
[147] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 104.
[148] Imlay, G., Description of N. America, 28.
[149] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 189.
[150] Latrobe, C. J., Rambler in N. America, I., 103.
[151] Collot, V., Journey, I., 108-109.
[152] Ibid., I., 107.
[153] Ibid., I., 109.
[154] Peck, J. M., Annals, 501.
[155] Hurd, H. B., Illinois Revised Statutes, 23.
[156] Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 105.
[157] Hurd, H. B., Illinois Revised Statutes, 25.
[158] Poore, B. P., Charters and Constitutions, II., 1453.
Hinsdale, B. A., The Old Northwest. 308.
[159] Poore, B. P., Charters and Constitutions, II., 1464.
Hinsdale, B. A., The Old Northwest, 314.
[160] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 353.
[161] Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 32,41.
[162] Ibid., 286.
[163] Ibid., 97.
[164] Peck, J. M., Emigrant's Guide, 12.
[165] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 59 (foot note.)
[166] Hall, J., The West, 118.
[167] Forman, S. S., Journey, 120.
[168] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 436.
[169] Forman, S. S., Journey, 20.
[170] Ibid., 23.
[171] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 166.
[172] Peck, J. M., Annals, 283. (from Arthur Lee's Journal, 1784)
[173] Hall, J., Sketches, I., 189-190.
Peck, J. M., Annals, 282.
[174] Pope, J., Tour, 17.
[175] Hall, J., Sketches, I., 189-190.
[176] Peck, J. M., Annals, 653.
[177] (Cont.) Chapman, T., Journey, 359.
Collot, V., Journey, I., 137-138. Says there were about 150
houses.
[178] Imlay, G., Description of N. America, 24-25.
[179] Collot, V., Journey, II., 198-199.
[180] Ibid., II., 197.
[181] Ibid., II., 198.
[182] Ibid., I., 39.
[183] Ibid.
[184] Ibid., 23-24; 33-34.
[185] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 160.
[186] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 344.
[187] Michaux, P. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 159.
[188] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W, Travels, III., 344.
[189] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 124-126.
[190] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 105-106.
Howe, H., Historical Collections of Ohio, 206.
Burnet, J., Notes, 46-47.
Peck, J. M., Annals, 330.
[191] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 106.
[192] Peck, J. M., Annals, 500.
Chapman, T., Journey, 360. (Says there were 260 houses in 1795)
[193] Collot, V., Journey, I., 132-133.
[194] Hall, Basil, Travels, III., 389.
Niles, Weekly Register, XIX., 422.
[195] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 181.
[196] Hall, J., The West, 306-307.
[197] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 190-191.
Hall, J., The West, 266.
[198] Collot, V., Journey, I., 132-133.
[199] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 349.
[200] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 112.
[201] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 136-137.
[202] Burnet, J., Notes, 56.
Peck, J. M., Annals, 322.
[203] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 104.
[204] Chapman, T., Journey, 359-360.
[205] Collot, V., Journey, 71.
[206] Hall, J., Letters, 79.
[207] Michaux, F. A., Travels, Early W. Travels, III., 177.
[208] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 353.
[209] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 123.
[210] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 182.
[211] Ibid., I., 142.
[212] Hildreth, S. P., Memoirs, 161.
[213] Ibid., 309.
Ogden, G. W., Early W. Travels, XIX., 34.
[214] Pope, J., Tour, 18.
Imlay, G., Description of North America, 27.
[215] Collot, V., Journey, 97.
[216] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 179-180.
[217] Collot, V., Journey, I., 150.
Volney, C. F., View of the Climate, etc., 367-368.
[218] Collot, V., Journey, I., 150.
[219] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 190-192.
[220] Ibid., I., 192.
[221] Ibid., I., 190.
[222] Ibid.
[223] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 413.
Howe, H., Historical Collections of Ohio, 271.
[224] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 134.
[225] Howe, H., Historical Collections of Ohio, 177.
[226] Collot, V., Journey, I., 80. Peck, J. M., Annals, 491.
[227] Chapman, T., Journey, 360. Schultz, C., Travels, I., 170.
[228] Volney, C. F., View of Climate, etc., 368.
[229] Schultz, C., Travels, I., 192.
[230] Collot, V., Journey, I., 105.
[231] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 267.
[232] Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 100.
[233] Cuming, F., Tour, Early W. Travels, IV., 271.
[234] Harris, T. M., Tour, Early W. Travels, III., 337-338.
_CHAPTER I._
_THE COMING OF THE STEAMBOAT._
The application of steam power to the purposes of navigation, forms
the brightest era in the history of the West. It was that which
contributed more than any other single cause to the advancement of
Western prosperity. The amount of produce raised for soncumption,
and for export was very great, and the people were, therefore,
liberally disposed to purchase foreign products. The amount of
commercial capital employed, as compared with the population was
great. The introduction of the steamboat extended the channels of
intercourse, and brought the different parts of the country more
closely together.
"The first fruits of the enterprise were far from encouraging;
failure after failure attested the numerous and embarrassing
difficulties by which it was surrounded. For although all the
early boats were capable of being propelled through the water, and
although the last was usually better than those which preceded it,
it was long a doubtful question, whether the invention could be
made practically useful upon our western rivers, and it was not
until five years of experiment and the building of nine expensive
steamboats, that the public mind was convinced by the brilliant
exploit of the Washington, which made the trip from Louisville to
New Orleans and back in 45 days."[235]
The substitution of machinery for manual labor occasioned a
vast diminution in the number of men required for the river
navigation. A steamboat with the same crew as a barge, was able
to carry ten times the burden,[236] and perform her voyage in a much
shorter space of time.
The complete success attending the experiments in steam navigation
made on the Hudson and the adjoining waters previous to 1809,
turned the attention of the principal projectors to the idea of
its application on the western rivers; and in the month of April
of that year, Mr. Roosevelt of New York, pursuant to an agreement
with Chancellor Livingston, and Mr. Fulton, visited those rivers,
with the purpose of forming an opinion whether they admitted of
steam navigation or not.[237] Mr. Roosevelt surveyed the rivers from
Pittsburg to New Orleans, and as his report was favorable, it was
decided to build a boat at the former town. This was done under his
direction, and in the course of 1811 the first boat was launched
on the Ohio.[238] It was called the New Orleans, and intended to ply
between Natchez, Mississippi, and the city whose name it bore.[239]
In October it left Pittsburg for its experimental voyage.[240] On
this occasion no freight or passengers were taken. Mr. Roosevelt,
his wife, and family, Mr. Baker, the engineer, Andrew Jack the
pilot, and six hands, with a few domestics, formed her whole
burden. There were no wood yards at that time and constant delays
were unavoidable. Late at night on the fourth day after quitting
Pittsburg, they arrived in safety at Louisville, having been but 70
hours descending upwards of 700 miles. The small depth of waters in
the Rapids prevented the boat from pursuing her voyage immediately,
and during the consequent detention of 3 weeks, in the upper
part of the Ohio, several trips were successfully made between
Louisville and Cincinnati. Then the waters rose, and in the course
of the last week in November the voyage was resumed, the depth of
water barely admitting the passage of the boat.[241] They reached
their destina tion at Natchez, at the close of the first week in
January, 1812,[242] having passed through a severe earthquake on
the way. The Louisiana Gasette notices her arrival at New Orleans
on January 11th.[243] This steamboat continued to run between New
Orleans and Natchez, making her voyage average seventeen days. She
was wrecked in 1813 or 1814.[244]
From 1812-1817, the following steam boats were built and launched
upon the Ohio River. The Comet, a boat of 25 tons was built at
Pittsburg. She descended to Louisville in the summer of 1813;
reached New Orleans in the spring of the year 1814; made two
voyages from thence to Natchez, and was there sold.[245]
The steamboat Vesuvius of 400 tons was launched at Pittsburg in
December 1813, designed as a regular trader between the falls of
Ohio and New Orleans.[246] In April, 1814, she sailed from Pittsburg,
having been successfully tested in several trial trips of four
and five miles up and down the Ohio and Monongahela.[247] Her voyage
from Pittsburg to Shippingsport was made in 67½ hours, from
Shippingsport to Natchez in 125½ hours, from Natchez to New Orleans
in 33 hours, total 227 hours.[248] She was employed for some months
between New Orleans and Natchez, and was finally destroyed by
fire.[249]
The steamboat Enterprise, built on the Monongahela, arrived at
Pittsburg in July, 1814, designed as a packet between that place
and the Falls of the Ohio. She was tried against the current of the
Monongahela, unusually high and rapid for the season, and made 3½
miles an hour, and then returned with the stream in ten minutes.[250]
Having reached New Orleans, the Enterprise made five trips to the
Balize, and one to the Rapids of Red River. One of the trips to
Natchez was made in four days, a distance of 313 miles, against the
strong current of the Mississippi River, without the aid of sails.
Another trip from New Orleans, to Beardstown, 1500 miles against
the current was made in 25 days.[251] In August, 1815, this steamboat
reached Brownsville, in ballast, having discharged her cargo at
Pittsburg. The Enterprise was the first steamboat that ever made
the voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi and back. The voyage up
the rivers, about 2200 miles, was made in 54 days, 20 days being
employed in loading and unloading freight at the river towns.[252]
The Buffalo, of 285 tons, was launched at Pittsburg in July 1814,
designed to ply between that place and Louisville, once a month.[253]
The Despatch, owned as well the Enterprise, by the 'Monongahela
and Ohio steam-boat Company ' was built at Bridgeport in 1815, and
was expected to pass through the water at the rate of nine miles
an hour.[254] The Etna, in 1816, performed a voyage from the Falls
of Ohio to New Orleans in 15 days.[255] The Oliver Evans, built at
Pittsburg in 1816, was intended for the conveyance of passengers
and goods on the Ohio and Mississippi.[256] The Washington, built
at Wheeling in 1816,[257] was the boat which made the voyage from
Louisville to New Orleans and returned in 45 days, convincing
the public that steamboat navigation on the western waters would
succeed.[258] Her boilers were on the upper deck, and she was the
first boat on that plan.[259] The James Monroe, the Franklin and the
Harriett, were also built at Pittsburg.[260]
That the importance of the steamboat to the commerce of New Orleans
was clearly recognized as early as 1815, is shown by the following
newspaper article. "We have had undoubted proofs of the good
effects of the steamboat navigation between this city (New Orleans)
and Natchez, and why not extend its beneficial effects to the Ohio
and to the different navigable streams emplying into that river.
The want of public spirit, properly directed has retarded the
salutary object so long. If enterprising men would propose and
form associations and companies for building steamboats on the
different navigable waters west of the Allegheny mountains it is
reasonable to suppose that few men of capital would withhold their
support ... surely interest most clearly points out something like
the foregoing plan to immediately operate in favor of the trade of
the rivers Ohio and Mississippi. The steamboats now in use cannot
carry one twentieth part of the goods that might be in demand from
this city.... Experience alone will establish what size of boats,
or draught of water will be best for the navigation of both rivers
... it appears very reasonable, however, to suppose that the boats
of small draught of water would be best calculated for the Ohio,
taking into consideration the different stages of the water and
how subject that river is to fall very low.... To the commercial
interest of New Orleans the steam navigation is of immense
consideration, the vast sums of money annually paid in Philadelphia
and Baltimore for goods, and carried over the mountains in wagons,
would concentrate here. View the course of trade. The merchants
of Cincinnati, Lexington, Nashville, and the small towns in the
western states, after the extreme labor, anxiety and expense of
getting their goods carried from the seaboard by land, are obliged
to receive produce in payment, which is floated down to this
city, and converted into money for the coffers of the New York,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore importers--whereas, if the steamboats
were in complete operation, the whole western states could be
supplied with every kind of goods here, and on better terms than
they now are from Philadelphia and Baltimore ... but certainly
it is not chimerical to say that if exertions are not made by
individuals, or companies through views of gain or otherwise to
bring more steamboat tonnage into use for the western trade, it
would have been better (as it relates to that trade) that the steam
boats had never been in operation--then the old laborious, tedious
barging would have continued in full vigor."[261]
The steamboats, making occasional trips up and down the river,
created great excitement along the banks, and at the towns and
villages their arrival and landings were great occasions.[262] These
boats were a queer style of water craft, as they had not assumed
the forms that were afterward found to be suited to the river
navigation. Their builders copied the models of ships adapted to
deep water, and the boats all drew too much water to be available
in the dry season, so that they could not be used on the upper Ohio
more than about three months in the year. They looked just like a
small ship without masts. Some of them were of peculiar models, and
all of them had very little power in comparison with boats built
later. The first boats had no more decking than a common sailing
vessel. Very few of them could make over 2 or 3 miles against the
stream when it was strong.[263]
When Fulton commenced steamboat building, be patented the side
paddle wheels, and held a monopoly of that form of boat. Niles
notes the following incidents arising from this monopoly.
"Mr. Livingston of New Orleans under a patent of the State of
Louisiana, as the assignee of Fulton and Livingston's exclusive
right to navigate the Mississippi and its waters, by steam, so
far as respects the navigation from New Orleans to and up the Red
River, has prevented the steamboat Despatch, of Pittsburg, from
taking a return cargo at New Orleans, though it appears she is
worked by machinery quite distinct from that under the aforesaid
patent. He has, however, permitted her to go out of the limits
of the State without incurring a penalty. The procedure appears
likely to create much sensation in the "western world."[264] "The
Louisville Correspondent" announces a second attempt of the
Livingston steamboat company to interrupt the steam navigation of
the Mississippi by boats not under their charter. The procedure
excites much sensibility in the western world."[265] "The question
of Fulton and Livingston's privilege is again agitated by a suit
brought in the federal court of New Orleans, against the steamboat
Constitution. We wait with anxiety the result of a question
involving the most prominent interests of W. America."[266] The
evasion in many of the western boats consisted of placing a wheel
on each side of the keel at the stern of the vessel, so that the
wheels were out of sight from behind.[267]
The General Pike, built at Cincinnati in 1818, and intended to ply
as a packet between Maysville, Cincinnati, and Louisville, is said
to have been the first steam boat constructed on the western waters
for the exclusive convenience of pass engers. The length of her
cabin was 40 feet, the breadth 25 feet, in addition to which there
were fourteen state rooms.[268]
The Post-Boy, built at New Albany, in 1819, was intended for the
conveyance of mail between Louisville and New Orleans, under an
act of Congress, passed March, 1819. This was the first attempt on
western waters to carry the mail in steam boats.[269]
Steamboats now multiplied rapidly on the western rivers. In 1817,
nine were building on the Ohio and Mississippi, sufficient to make
the total number of twenty on those waters.[270] In 1818 there were
about twenty-five boats,[271] and the Weekly Register of November 7,
says, "Our Western papers inform us of the launching of several new
steamboats, and they seem to be building by dozens."[272] The trade
between New Orleans and the upper and adjacent country was carried
on in this year, by twenty steamboats carrying about 4000 tons,[273]
although about nine-tenths of the entire trade was still carried
on in the usual craft.[274] Nuttall in 1819, says that there were at
that period, about seventy-five steamboats upon the Mississippi
and its tributaries, but that owing to the general and unfavorable
fluctuation in the commerce of the United States, the number had
become greater than their actual employment would warrant.[275] The
boats ascending to a point below the Falls were from 300 to 500
tons burthen.[276] Of the 40 boats, built since 1812, 7 had been
wrecked, burned, or abandoned, 33 were still plying from place to
place, and 28 new ones were building in 1819.[277]
From this time on, the boats multiplied very rapidly; 72 were
employed in 1821;[278] in 1826 the navigation of the Mississippi
and Ohio was carried on in 95 boats;[279] in 1827, 109 steamboats,
averaging 170 tons were employed in the trade of these rivers;[280]
and in 1829, about 200 boats, whose tonnage may be stated at 35,000
tons, were plying on these rivers.[281]
"The following is a list of the steamboats built on the western
waters from 1811-1830."
_Now Running_ _Lost or Worn Out._
1811- 1
1814- 4
1815- 3
1816- 2
1817- 9
1818- 25
1819- 27
1820- 7 1
1821- 6 1
1822- 7 2 5
1823- 13 5 8
1824- 13 9 4
1825- 29 26 4
1826- 52 48 4
1827- 25 22 3
1828- 31 29 3
1829- 42 42
Not Known 25 5 20
----- ---- ----
321 188 133
"Add to this number 188, 15 boats finished this spring (1830) and
now running, and 10 built in the last, and the whole number now
running on the western waters will be 213. Of this number 86 were
built at Cincinnati."
Of the 133 lost or worn out there were
Worn out-- 57
Lost by snags 35
Burned 14
Lost by collision 2
By other accidents 25
-----
133[1]
[1] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 97.
As the steamboats were perfected, their speed was greatly
increased, rendering communication between the different ports
easy and rapid. In 1817, a steamboat made the voyage from the
Falls to New Orleans, with a full cargo, in seven days.[282] The
steamboat Vesuvius, in the following year, made the passage from
Louisville to New Orleans, 1600 miles, in the same space of
time.[283] The average speed of a vessel heavily laden was about 60
miles a day.[284] In 1819, the James Ross, coming from New Orleans
to Louisville, made the voyage in 14 days.[285] In 1824 the passage
from New Orleans to Shippingsport was made in 11 days and 2½ hours,
said to be the shortest passage by 12 hours that was ever made up
to that time.[286] In 1826 the passage down was made in 6 days, as
against 12 to 14 days in 1817; and from 10 to 14 days were required
to come up stream as against 22 days in 1817.[287] The steamboat,
Lady Washington performed a voyage, in 1827, from Pittsburg to
Nashville and back, 2600 miles, in less than 17 days.[288] In The
same year, the Huntress made the voyage from New Orleans to
Louisville, in 8 days and 11 hours, having lost 10 hours in a
fog.[289] The first boat ascending the Allegheny, 1827, proceeded up
the river at four or five miles an hour, and returned at the rate
of ten miles an hour.[290] A shipment made in 1827, from the port of
New York via New Orleans, by the ship Illinois, reached St. Louis
in 29½ days. The distance was 3300 miles, and there was a delay of
probably two days at New Orleans while the goods were transferred
from ship to steamboat.[291]
In 1818, rates for passengers from New Orleans to the mouth
of the Ohio was $95; from New Orleans to Shawneetown $105; to
Shippingsport $125; children from 2 to 10 years at half price;
children under two at one fourth price; and servants at half
price.[292] The passage up the river to the Falls, in 1819, cost
$100, including provisions; from Shippingsport to New Orleans the
cost was $75.[293] The passage up the river to Cincinnati from New
Orleans in 1823 was $50; Cincinnati to New Orleans, $25; Cincinnati
to Louisville, $4; Louisville to Cincinnati, $6; Cincinnati to
Pittsburg, $15; Pittsburg to Cincinnati, $12; Cincinnati to
Wheeling, $14; and from Wheeling to Cincinnati $10.[294] In 1827
the passage up the river to Louisville was about eight pounds,
which included every expense of living. Many of the vessels carried
seven hundred passengers, besides merchandise.[295] A year later, the
regular charge for a cabin passenger was $35 from New Orleans to
Louisville; for a deck passenger the rate was $10, $2 being struck
off, if they were willing to assist in carrying wood.[296] By 1830
passage from Louisville to New Orleans and back was reduced to $30
each way.[297]
Steamboats with their safety barges in tow were to be seen on the
Ohio. The Merchant from Pittsburg to Cincinnati, having in two her
safety barge with 95 passengers, in 1826, was the first attempt of
the kind. The barge had 52 berths and 3 cabins. The steamboat had 2
cabins.[298]
Goods were carried, about the year 1818, at 6¼ cents per pound
weight,[299] by 1820 the increase of craft, together with the
decreasing quantity of goods imported, had lowered the freight
from New Orleans to the Falls of the Ohio to 2 cents per pound.[300]
In 1829-1830 goods were delivered at the wharf of Cincinnati for
one dollar per hundred pounds, from Philadelphia by way of New
Orleans.[301]
The larger boats, on account of the shallowness of the water,
usually ascended no farther than Shippingsport.[302] The navigation
of the Ohio was often obstructed part of the year by large masses
of floating ice.[303] From the middle of February or the first of
March to the end of June, and in October or November were the best
seasons for navigating the Ohio.[304]/
The steamboats were in constant danger from Planters, Sawyers,
and Wooden Islands in the river. A Planter was a tree rooted fast
to the bottom of the river and rotted off level with the water.
Sawyers were less firmly rooted, and rose and fell with the water,
being more dangerous when they pointed down stream. Wooden Islands
were logs accumulated against planters.[305] From 1822-1827, the
loss of property on the Ohio and Mississippi by snags alone,
including steam and flat boats, and their cargoes, amounted to
$1,362,500. The losses on the same items, from 1827-1832, were
reduced to $381,000 in consequence of the beneficial action of the
snag boats.[306] These boats, constructed under the direction of the
government, were successful in removing these obstacles at small
expense, and with great facility.[307]
As the settlements and business of the valley of the Ohio
increased, the danger, delay, and expense of passing the Falls
of that river, became a subject of general solicitude. Men of
intelligence and enterprise, who were engaged in the river trade
at Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and the intermediate towns, having
been subjected to the inconvenience and expense caused by that
obstruction, from the first settlement of the country, began to
discuss the question, whether the difficulty could not be removed.
William Noble, an enterprising merchant of Cincinnati, found that,
at the time when the commerce of the West was in its infancy,
the loss sustained by traders residing above the Falls, amounted
in one year to $80,000, including storage, drayage, cooperage,
commissions, and the wages of hands during the delay.[308]
The Falls were impassable for steamboats, except during the high
floods which usually occurred in the spring and continued for a
few days only at a time. They were passed by means of a laborious
and expensive portage, extending from Louisville to Shippingsport,
a distance of two and a half miles.[309] To remedy these
inconveniences, the Louisville and Portland Canal was built round
the Falls.[310] The first steamboat that passed through the Canal was
the Uncas, on December 21, 1829.[311] This work,which was intended as
a great benefit to the commerce of the West, seemed to have failed
in accomplishing that purpose, for the following reasons: I. During
the greater part of the year it afforded the only outlet for the
productions of the larger portion of the Ohio Valley, and the only
channel of ingress for the valuable imports of the same region. It
was found that boats of great length were those of the greatest
speed, and best suited to the navigation of the rivers, and the
character of the trade. The length which was found most convenient
was greater than the dimension of the locks of the Canal, and thus
the boats best adapted to the trade between Pittsburg, Cincinnati,
and other ports on the upper Ohio, and St. Louis or New Orleans,
were excluded from that commerce, and a smaller class of boats,
which were much less profitable, were exclusively employed.[312]
II. The width of the Canal was such that steamboats could not pass
each other within it, nor could a loaded boat work her way through,
but by a great effort, which occasioned a great loss of time.
III. Excessive tolls were levied, thus imposing an unjust burden
upon the owners of the boats navigating the Ohio. The government,
as a stockholder, participated in these profits.[313]
In spite of these various adverse conditions, steamboats on the
Ohio and Mississippi rapidly increased, and gradually took the
place of the slower and more clumsy draft which had formerly
enjoyed a monopoly of the carrying trade on those rivers.
FOOTNOTES:
[235] Hall, J., The West, 10-11.
[236] Hall, J., Sketches, II., 72.
[237] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler, I., 104-105.
[238] Ibid. Peck, J. M., Annals, 592. Thomas, D., Travels, 272.
[239] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler, I., 105.
[240] Ibid. Louisiana Gasette, October 9, 1811. "A steamboat was
advertised to sail from Pittsburg for this place on the 20th
Ult. She is intended, we are informed, to be a regular packet
between New Orleans and Natchez."
[241] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler, I., 105-106. Peck, J. M.,
Annals, 593.
[242] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler, I., 109. Peck, J. M., Annals,
593. Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 173. Says that the
boat descended from Pittsburg to New Orleans in 259 hours.
[243] Louisiana Gasette, January 11, 1812. p. 3. col. 3.
[244] Hall, J., The West, 123.
[245] Ibid., 123.
[246] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 197.
[247] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 198.
[248] Ibid., VI., 320.
[249] Hall, J., The West, 124. Niles, Weekly Register, X., 400.
[250] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 320.
[251] Ibid., VIII., 320.
[252] Ibid., VIII., 404.
[253] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 320. Louisiana Gasette, July
5, 1814. "She has two cabins, and four State rooms for private
families, and will conveniently accommodate 100 persons with
beds." Louisiana Gasette, July 26, 1814. "The steamboat Buffalo
arrived at Maysville on Thursday in 48 hours from Pittsburg."
[254] Niles, Weekly Register, VIII., 404.
[255] Ibid., X., 96.
[256] Ibid., XI., 106.
[257] Ibid., X., 349.
[258] Hall, J., The West, 125-126.
[259] Ibid.
[260] Ibid.
[261] Louisiana Gasette, October 24, 1815.
[262] Howells, W. C., Recollections, 73.
[263] Ibid., 74.
[264] Niles, Weekly Register, X., 231-232. June 1, 1816.
[265] Ibid., XI., 208. November 23, 1816.
[266] Ibid., XIV., 312. June 27, 1818.
[267] Howells, W. C., Recollections, 74.
[268] Hall, J., The West, 127-128.
[269] Hall, J., The West, 127-128.
[270] Niles, Weekly Register, XIII., 112.
[271] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 133. "from 50 to 400 tons burthen."
[272] Niles, Weekly Register, XV., 175.
[273] Ibid., XIV., 439.
[274] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 135.
[275] Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 317.
Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 286. "Says that there
were 60 boats."
[276] Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 67.
[277] Niles, Weekly Register, XVI., 144.
[278] Ibid., XX., 416.
[279] Niles, Weekly Register, XXIX., 305.
[280] Ibid., XXXIII., 181.
[281] Hall, J., The West, 129.
[282] Ibid., XII., 143.
[283] Ibid., XV., 267.
[284] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 133.
[285] Niles, Weekly Register, XVI., 319.
[286] Ibid., XXVI., 251.
[287] Niles, Weekly Register, XXIX., 305.
[288] Ibid., XXXII., 35.
[289] Ibid., XXXII., 229.
[290] Ibid., XXXII., 148.
[291] Ibid., XXXII., 224.
[292] Ibid., XV., 384.
[293] Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 197.
[294] Niles, Weekly Register, XXV., 95.
[295] Bullock, W., Journey, Early W. Travels, XIX.
[296] Hall, B., Travels, III., 368-369, 349, 128-129.
[297] Flint, T., History and Geography. Appendix, 212.
[298] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXI., 304.
[299] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 164.
[300] Ibid., IX., 286.
[301] Hall, J., The West, 133.
[302] James, E., Account, Early W. Travels, XIV., 76.
[303] Ibid., XIV., 92.
[304] Ibid., XVII., 174.
[305] Fordham, E, P., Travels, 81-82.
[306] Hall, J., The West, 60.
[307] Niles, Weekly Register, XXIX., 127. Contains some account of
this work. October 22, 1825.
[308] Burnet, J., Notes, 491.
[309] Hall, J., The West, 77-78.
[310] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 355.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXIX., 322. January 21, 1826. Contains
account of the awarding of the contract.
[311] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 355.
[312] Hall, J., The West, 78-79.
[313] Hall, J/, The West, 79-81.
_CHAPTER II._
_OTHER CRAFT OF THE PERIOD._
The primitive forms of craft continued in use, upon the Ohio River,
long after the introduction of the steamboat. The business of the
country was small, and a few boats served the purpose. It was only
after the steamboats had become very common, growing in numbers
with the country, that they absorbed the great part of the carrying
trade.
The lumber from the upper river was all rafted, and in the spring
and early summer, when the water was high, the rafts were a leading
feature of the river life. They were made up through the winter
on the small branches of the Allegheny, and floated out on the
first spring freshet.[314] Sometimes several rafts would be joined
together, till they would cover an acre of space, or even more. On
these were built shanties for the men, and vast heaps of shingles,
and lath in bundles occupied a part of the space. As the region of
Pennsylvania and New York, drained by the Allegheny, was a pretty
good place to emigrate from, families were constantly leaving for
the countries down the river, and made these rafts available as the
means of moving. Indeed, for the purpose, nothing could be more
convenient, for the movers could build themselves a comfortable
shanty of the loose lumber, a shed for their horses and cows, if
they wished to take them along, and be quite at home during a
journey, that would often occupy three or four weeks.[315]
Howell says, "Often I have seen the shanties of two or three
families, with wagons, horses, cows, and even poultry, all snuggly
situated, with room for the children to play outside. I have seen
the women washing, and a clothes-line hung with the linen."[316] Hall
also gives us a pleasing account of this mode of travel. "Today we
passed two large rafts lashed together, by which simple conveyance
several families from New England were transporting themselves and
their property to the land of promise in the western woods. Each
raft was 80 or 90 feet long, with a small house erected on it, and
on each was a stack of hay, round which several horses and cows
were feeding, while the paraphernalia of a farm yard, the ploughs,
wagons, pigs, children, and poultry, carelessly distributed, gave
to the whole more the appearance of a permanent residence, than
of a caravan of adventurere seeking a home. In this manner these
people travel at slight expense."[317]
The smaller forms of boats, the skiffs, and the pirogue were still
in use on the Ohio. The total expense of two people, for a voyage
of seven hundred miles in a skiff, down the Ohio, was but seven
dollars each.[318] Birkbeck speaks of forming two pirogues, out of
large poplars, lashing them together, and placing large planks
across both, thus creating a roomy deck and good covered stowage,
making it possible to take a bulky as well as a heavy cargo.[319]
Arks, which Schultz says were not much used on the Ohio in
1807 were at this period often used by emigrating families to
transport themselves down the river.[320] They were long floating
rooms, built on a flat bottom, with rough boards, and arranged
within for sleeping. Boatmen were hired, provisions were laid
in, and when the end of the voyage was reached the boat was
sold.[321] They were sometimes called flat bottoms, and described
as being "planked up at the sides, and covered at the top."
Emigrants generally procured them at Pittsburg and Wheeling, and
after reaching their destination sold them to persons wishing to
take produce to market.[322] This was a pleasant and cheap method
of traveling.[323] About 1817-1818 hundreds of these boats were
to be seen on the river, great numbers of them being built at
Pittsburg.[324] Tranchepain describes a boat which must have been a
form of ark. He says, "During our voyage we passed a great many
flat-bottomed boats. Some of them were small, and merely contained
an emigrant's family and its furniture. Some of the emigrants who
were better off, were going to the Missouri and the Illinois, and
their boats, besides their family, contained also a small wagon,
and two or three horses. These boats are built in the shape of a
parallelogram, whose sides are in the ratio of three, four, or
even five to one. They are planked up on each side and behind,
and are protected by a slightly curved roof made of thin boards,
their height being in the interior about that of a tall man. The
upper part of the front, and a few feet on each side of the front
are left open like a sort of balcony. From this opening project
two long oars which serve to steer the boat, and, in case of
necessity, to move it out of the way either of a sand bank, or
of a mass of drift wood. Each boat is often divided into two
or more apartments, one of which has a fireplace and chimney; so
that each of these strange habitations might not inappropriately
be termed a floating cottage."[325] Flint describes the flat boats
used by emigrants as being from forty to one hundred feet in
length, fifteen feet wide, and carrying from twenty to seventy
tons. They were very large and roomy, and had separate apartments,
fitted up with chairs, beds, tables, and stoves. He says, "It
is no uncommon spectacle to see a large family, old and young,
servants, cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, fowls, and animals of all
kinds, bringing to recoll-ection the cargo of the ancient ark, all
embarked and floating down on the same bottom; and on the roof the
looms, ploughs, spinning wheels, and domestic implements of the
family."[326] Family boats cost from $30 to $50 in Pittsburg.[327]
These boats were sometimes tied end to end, two boats carrying as
many as forty people.[328] In 1818-1820 "family boats are almost
continually in sight," on the Ohio, near Louisville.[329]
The larger sort, called Kentucky Arks, and of about 150 tons
burthen, were used for purposes of trade. They contained a vast
assortment of articles, such as horses, pigs, poultry, apples,
flour, corn, peach brandy, cider, whiskey, bar iron and castings,
tin, copper wares, glass, cabinet work, chairs, millstones,
grindstones, and nails. These boats passed down the Ohio, selling
what they could at the river towns.[330] When the crew reached
New Orleans they sold the boat, and returned overland or by
steamboat.[331] Latrobe describes the ark as "a broad flat-boat
with a deck of two or three feet elevation above the water. They
have generally a small window fore and aft, and a door in the
middle, a peep into which will show you a goodly store of pots,
pans, or flour barrels. A narrow ledge runs round them for the
convenience of poling. A small chimney rises above; racoon and deer
skins, the produce of the hours spent ashore, are nailed on the
sides to dry. The larger are propelled by four oars, and I have
occasionally seen them surmounted by a crooked mast or top mast.
Here you will meet one fitted up as a floating tinshop, gleaning
many a bright dollar from the settlers. Others again are of a more
simple construction, and have merely a temporary deck supported
upon rails, through which the sheep and other live stock may be
descried. Hay for their consumption will be piled above, and
cabbages stowed away in a compartment behind."[332]
The flat-boat belonged to the same class as the ark. Their
construction was temporary and they were broken up at New Orleans
as not being sufficiently strong to be freighted up the the
river.[333] These flat boats or Orleans boats as they were sometimes
called, were from twelve to twenty-five feet wide, and from thirty
to ninety feet long, and carried about seven hundred barrels of
flour.[334] Farmers built these boats and sent their produce to New
Orleans in them.[335] Freight on board a flat boat in 1817 was 50
cents per cwt.[336] In 1818, one traveler on a steamboat counted as
many as 643 flat boats descending the Ohio and Mississippi.[337]
In one month, in the early part of the year 1831, it was estimated
that one thousand flat boats entered the Ohio from the Wabash,
with cargoes estimated at $2000 each.[338] Five hundred of these
boats passed Vincennes.[339] In 1827, Bullock says that there were
from 1200 to 1500 flat boats, averaging from 40 to 60 tons, at New
Orleans.[340] Basil Hall in 1827-1828 counted about 100 arks at New
Orleans.[341] The margin of the shore at New Orleans was lined in
the early part of the year 1831, with these flat boats from all
parts of the upper country.[342] The descent of a flat boat to New
Orleans, if in autumn, usually occupied fifty days.[343]
Retail trading boats continued in use on the Ohio. Every
considerable landing place on the Ohio and Mississippi, had in the
spring, a number of stationary and inhabited boats, lying by at the
shore. They were often dram shops.[344] Flint says, "While I was at
New Madrid, a large tinner's establishment floated there in a boat.
In it all the different articles of tinware were manufactured,
and sold by wholesale and retail.[345] A still more extraordinary
manufactory, we were told, was floating down the Ohio, and shortly
expected at New Madrid. Aboard this were manufactured axes,
scythes, and all other iron tools of this description, and in it
horses were shod. In short it was a complete blacksmith's shop of
a higher order. I have frequently seen in this region, a dry goods
shop in a boat, with its articles very handsomely arranged on
shelves."[346]
Keel boats were still used on the Mississippi and Ohio in low
stages of water, and on the boatable streams where steamboats did
not run. Before the introduction of the steamboat, there were six
times as many of these boats used as afterward.[347] These boats were
used to carry merchandise down the river, eight or ten boatmen
being required for a journey down stream,[348] and from twelve to
twenty-four to pole the boat up stream.[349] Emigrants sometimes
took passage down the Ohio in keel boats.[350] As early as 1817 the
steamboats were beginning to supersede them.[351]
Barges, varying from 40[352] to 170[353] tons burthen, were
used in the transportation of merchandise. About twenty[354] or
twenty-five[355] hands were required to work an ordinary barge
upstream, the boatmen being able to make about six or seven miles
per day against the current.[356] During the years 1812-1818
these barges were used to carry large cargoes both to and from
New Orleans.[357] These boats often were equipped with sails,
masts, and rigging. From ninety to one hundred days was a tolerable
passage from New Orleans to Cincinnati. In this way the intercourse
between Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and St.
Louis, for the more important purposes of commerce, was kept up
with New Orleans.[358] A rather interesting article appeared in
the Louisiana Gasette of October 24, 1815, which was as follows:
"The steamboats now in use cannot carry one twentieth part of
the goods that might be in demand from this city (N. O.)--the
common barges, always slow and expensive in their operations are
in a great measure paralyzed by the few steamboats in use, the
bargemen know that steamboats will always have the preference,
hence they are prevented from preparing barges, the expense being
great, and the barge owners generally men of very limited means,
so that the public will be worse served than if steam were not
in operation unless a spirit is immediately diffused that will
bring the steam navigation into use commensurate to the demand
of transportation."[359] As time went on the barges fell into
disuse,and about the year 1830, few were to be seen.[360]
In 1818, two thousand people were regularly employed as boatmen on
the Ohio, and they were proverbially ferocious and abandoned in
their habits, though possibly with many exceptions.[361] The shores
of the Monongahela in 1819, were lined with barges, keels, and arks
or flats, waiting for the rise of the Ohio.[362] During 1821-1823
flat bottoms, keels, and barges[363] found constant employment in the
carrying trade to and from New Orleans.[364] As late as 1828 or
1830, flats, arks, and barges were to be seen at New Orleans.[365]
The flats seem to have continued in the greatest numbers after the
introduction of the steamboat.
There were on the Ohio many other forms of craft which I shall
briefly mention. The Allegheny or Mackinaw skiff was a covered boat
carrying from six to ten tons.[366] "Dugouts," named from the manner
of making them, and canoes hollowed from trees were to be seen
in great numbers. These boats and skiffs were used to cross the
rivers, and a select company of travelers often descended the river
in them to New Orleans.[367] Flat boats, worked by a wheel, driven
by the cattle that they were conveying to New Orleans, were to be
seen; also horse boats of various construction, used for the most
part as ferry boats, but sometimes as boats of ascent.[368] Boats
moved rapidly up stream by wheels, after the steam construction,
propelled by a man turning a crank.[369] Flint says, "in this land
of freedom and invention, with a little aid perhaps, from the
influence of the moon, there are monstrous anomalies, reducible to
no specific class of boats, and only illustrating the whimsical
archetypes of things that have previously existed in the brain of
inventive men, who reject the slavery of being obliged to build
in any received form. You can scarcely imagine an abstract form
in which a boat can be built, that in some part of the Ohio or
Mississippi, you will not see, actually in motion."[370]
As the steamboat was perfected, and increased in numbers and
importance, many of these strange craft were destined to disappear,
and prior even to the year 1830, many of them began to be
superseded by the larger and more swiftly moved steamboats.
FOOTNOTES:
[314] Hall, J., Notes, 142-143.
[315] Howells, W. C., Recollections, 84-85.
[316] Howells, W. C., Recollections, 84-85.
[317] Hall, J., Letters, 87-88.
[318] Hulme, T., Journal, Early W. Travels, X., 39.
[319] Birkbeck, M., Letters, 119.
[320] Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 171.
[321] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 38.
[322] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 41.
[323] Hulme, T., Journal, Early W. Travels, X., 42.
[324] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 86.
[325] Tranchepain, Travels, 100-101.
[326] Flint, T., Recollections, 13-14.
[327] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 97.
[328] Ibid., IX., 147.
[329] Ibid., IX., 163.
[330] Tranchepain, Travels, 101-102.
Hall, Basil, Travels, III, 21-22
[331] Tranchepain, Travels, 101-102.
Hall, B., Travels, III., 322.
[332] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler in North America, I., 112.
[333] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 267.
[334] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 79.
[335] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 140, 152.
[336] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 79.
[337] Niles, Weekly Register, XIV., 344.
[338] Ibid., XL., 183.
Peck, Emigrant's Guide, 324.
[339] Peck, Emigrants Guide, 324.
[340] Bullock, Wm., Journey, Early W. Travels, XIX., 125-126.
[341] Hall, B., Travels, III., 321-322.
[342] Peck, Emigrant's Guide, 60.
[343] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 140.
[344] Ibid., I., 156.
[345] Ibid. I., 155.
[346] Flint, T. Recollections, 105
[347] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 151.
[348] Hall, J., Letters, 47.
[349] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 79.
[350] Howells, W. C., Recollections, 12.
[351] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 106.
[352] Niles, Weekly Register, IX., 420.
[353] Ibid., VIII., 119-120.
[354] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler in North America, I., 112-113.
[355] Flint, T., Recollections, 13.
[356] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler in North America, I., 112-113.
[357] Niles, Weekly Register, VIII., 119-120.
Ibid., IX., 420.
Ibid., XII., 70.
Ibid., XIII., 377.
Ibid., VI., 360.
Ibid., VIII., 152.
Ibid., X., 372.
Louisiana Gasette, April 17, 1812.
Ibid., April 11, 1812.
Ibid., March 25, 1813.
Ibid., August 11, 1814, p 3, col 1.
Fordham, E. p., Travels, 192.
[358] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 151.
[359] Louisiana Gasette, October 24, 1815.
[360] Flint, T., Recollections, 13.
Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler in North America, I., 112-113.
[361] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 77.
[362] Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 45.
[363] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 41.
[364] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 41.
[365] Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler in North America. D., 331-332.
[366] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 151-152.
[367] Ibid.
[368] Ibid., I., 152.
[369] Ibid.
[370] Flint, T., Recollections, 14.
_CHAPTER III._
_ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC, AND PLACES WITH WHICH TRADE WAS CARRIED ON._
As the population of the country rapidly increased, and the means
of communication by water were improved, the resources of the
country were developed, manufactures sprang up, and the commerce of
the Ohio Valley experienced a remarkable growth. Many of the small
river villages became large and thriving cities, and many parts of
the country which had worn the face of a wilderness now became the
center of a vast and increasing trade.
During the year 1811, merchants of New Orleans advertised for sale
the following articles: Kentucky, flour,[371] horses,[372] pork,
whiskey,[373] lard,[374] oats,[375], Monongahela and Kentucky
flour,[376] tobacco,[377] hemp,[378] hempen yarn,[379] and packing
cloth.[380] From October 5, 1810 to May 5, 1811 there passed the
Falls of the Ohio the following number of boats and articles:
Boats--Number 743.
Flour--bbls. 129,483
Bacon--lbs. 604,810
Whiskey--bbls. 9,477
Cider--bbls. 2,513
Pork--bbls. 13,562
Apples--bbls. 2,513
Oats--bu. 4,020
Corn--bu. 47,795
Merdhandise $355,624
Cheese--bbls. 5,141
Beans--bbls. 606
Plank--feet 1,483,130
Butter--lbs. 24,691
Live hogs 708
Cider, Royal--bbls. 1,350
Lard--lbs. 465,412
Onions--bbls. 218
Potatoes--bu. 1,811
Hemp--cwt. 630,562
Dry fruit--bbls. 263
Yarn }
Cordage}--lbs. 113,015
Fowls--number 1,207,338
Shoe thread--lbs 2,592
Country linen--yds 8,140
Horses--number 292
Beer--bbls. 227
Tobacco--hhds. 2,311.
"and a number of articles too tedious to be calculated. A Mr.
Bowman, a pilot at Jeffersonville, took 106 boats over the Falls of
the Ohio, during the aforesaid period of whose cargoes no notice is
taken in the above. The foregoing is a return made by the regular
pilots, who all agree in stating that during the high water at
least one-third as many more passed without their assistance. This
estimate, therefore gives the whole probable number of boats, that
passed the Falls, at nearly 1200, wafting the rich produce of the
western parts of Pennsylvania, and Virginia, with those of the
State of Ohio, and a part of Kentucky, to the markets on the sea
board."[381]
In 1812 New Orleans received from the "upper country", cider
royal of Kentucky,[382] Monongahela flour,[383] Kentucky flour,[384]
tobacco,[385] hemp,[386] whiskey,[387] hempen yarn,[388] flour from
Pittsburg,[389] Kentucky bagging,[390] and white rope.[391] The flour
received at New Orleans for a time must not have been sufficient
to supply the demand as is shown by the following article, "We
are happy to state that several boats with fresh flour have
arrived--that from the enormously high price of $20 per bbl. it
has been offered at $16--much more is expected very soon--So that
we may fairly calculate in a few days or weeks to have our loaves
increasing to their usual size."[392]
Goods were occasionally sent from eastern ports by way of Pittsburg
to New Orleans and from thence to Mexico, as shown by the following
article, "During the week ending the last year (1812) a Mr.
Wells of this town (Boston), has received at the custom house
certificates of the legal importation of goods to the amount of
$30,000 which have been sent to Mexico by the following route:
from Baltimore to Providence in wagons, thence by water through
the Sound to Amboy, thence in wagons and by water to Philadelphia,
thence by wagons to Pittsburg, thence down the Ohio and Mississippi
to New Orleans, and from thence by land and in boats to Mexico.
But what is most astonishing, the expense from this to New Orleans
is only 4½ per cent on the cost of goods at Boston, while the
insurance alone on such as are sent by the way of the ocean is 30,
and not less than 25 per cent."[393]
During the year 1812, 100 loaded boats left Chilicothe for Natchez,
New Orleans, and other ports. In the same year a vessel of 400
tons was built at the mouth of the Scioto (owned in Chilicothe)
and sent off loaded for a foreign port.[394] The flour, whiskey,
tobacco, bacon, hemp, and coarse linens that Kentucky was capable
of exporting in 1814 was immense.[395] Much coarse linen and yarn was
exported from Ohio at this time.[396]
From New Orleans barges were sent to Louisville with freight in the
years 1812-1814, the Louisville 'Western Courier' in the latter
year noticing the arrival, in three months, of twelve barges, and
seven keel boats.[397] Illinois, in 1812 received her freight from
New Orleans in barges.[398] In 1814, sugar and coffee were shipped
to Cincinnati;[399] cotton and sugar to Louisville;[400] and sugar,
cotton, and indigo to Pittsburg.[401] In September or October of the
preceding year a Pittsburg merchant advertised 99,385 lbs. of New
Orleans sugar for sale; and considerable quantitites were received
by others, with supplies of cotton, and other articles[402] Many tons
of red lead were received during the year from St. Louis. In 1813,
350 boat loads containing 3750 tons of salt petre, salt, lead,
peltry, sugar and other articles, 1250 tons of hemp, and 3750 tons
of hempen yarn were received at Pittsburg.[403]
New Orleans, in 1815, received shipments of Kentucky and Tennessee
flour. Cincinnati also carried on quite an extensive trade with
this city, having sent to New Orleans, in this year, one large
barge of 170 tons carrying 1600 barrels of flour, weighing 342,400
pounds, besides sundry other articles;[404] and receiving in return,
sugar, cotton, and coffee.[405] New Orleans, in 1816, exported to
Cincinnati, sugar, molasses, copperas, shad, mackerel, codfish,
queensware, logwood, and Swedish iron;[406] receiving flour and
pork from Cincinnati.[407] Orleans cotton was selling in Pittsburg
from 33 to 34 cents, and sugar at 25 cents wholesale prices.[408] A
writer in the "Register" says, "I venture to say, that when the
official papers shall be published, the fact will appear, that a
much greater value of goods will be exported from New Orleans in
the first year after the proclamation of peace, than from all the
"Nation of New England...." meaning of native products. 112 vessels
were at one time working up the river."[409]
The following is an estimate of the products received at New
Orleans, independent of what was furnished by Louisiana. The amount
given was carried in 594 flat bottomed boats and 300 barges from
the Western States and Territories.
Apples 4,253 bbls.
Bacon and hams 13,000 cwt.
Bagging 2,579 pieces
Beef 2,459 bbls.
Beer 439 bbls.
Butter 509 bbls.
Candles 358 boxes
Cheese 30 cwt.
Ginseng 957 bbls.
Hay 356 bundles
Hemp yarn 1,095 reels.
Hides 5,000
Hogs 500
Horses 375
Lead 3,500 cwt.
White lead 188 bbls.
Linens, coarse 2,500 pieces
Lard 2,458 bbls.
Oats 4,065 bu.
Paper 750 reams.
Cider 646 bbls.
Cordage 400 cwt.
Cordage baling 4,798 coils
Corn 13,775 bu.
Corn Meal 1,075 bbls.
Cotton 37,371 bales
Flaxseed Oil 85 bbls.
Flour 97,419 bbls.
Pork 9,725 bbls.
Potatoes 3750bu.
Powder, gun 294 bbls.
Saltpetre 175 cwt.
Soap 1,538 boxes.
Tallow 160 cwt.
Tobacco 7,282 hhds.
" Mfgd. 711 bbls.
Carrots 8,200
Whiskey 320,000 gal.
Bear Skins 2,000
Peltries 2,450 packs.
"Besides a quantity of horned cattle, castings, grind stones, indigo,
muskets, merchandise, paoan nuts, peas, beans, etc.[410]"
Beer, porter, and ale were made in Cincinnati, in great quantities,
as well for exportation, as for home consumption. The exports of
the city consisted of flour, corn, beef, pork, butter, lard, bacon,
whiskey, peach brandy, beer, porter, pot and pearl ashes, cheese,
soap, candles, hats, hemp, spun yarn, saddles, rifles, cherry and
black ash boards, staves and scantling, cabinet furniture and
chairs.[411] Boats were, in 1817, sent from Cincinnati to Boston with
cargoes.[412]
East Indian and European goods were imported from Baltimore and
Philadelphia by way of Pittsburg.[413] A journey, undertaken for
the purpose of purchasing goods at Philadelphia, occupied about
three months.[414] A house at Pittsburg advanced money in payment of
the carriage, and attended to the receipt of the goods by wagon,
and their shipment by boats, receiving 5 per cent commission
in payment.[415] Coal, of which vast quantities were consumed at
Cincinnati, was brought down the Ohio from Pittsburg and Wheeling
in flat bottomed boats. White pine boards, and shingles were
brought in rafts from Hamilton on the Allegheny.[416] Lead was
procured from St. Louis; and rum, sugar, molasses, and some dry
goods were received from New Orleans in keels and steamboats.[417]
Salt was easily obtained from the Kenhaway salt works.[418] Thus
the town of Cincinnati, which was, before 1811, but a small and
unimportant village, was destined to become a greater commercial
center than Pittsburg.
Three fourths of the surplus produce of Kentucky found their way to
New Orleans,[419] the farmers usually being able to command a ready
cash sale for their produce.[420] Fearon says, "Indian corn is raised
here in vast abundance, and also stock of various kinds for the
New Orleans, Southern and Atlantic markets, 30,000 hogsheads of
tobacco were shipped from this State last season, and 8,000 barrels
of flour, the price of which latter experienced great fluctuations,
varying from 4 to 8 dollars per barrel, at present it is 6 to 7.
Pork ... the present price is 3 to 4 dollars per cwt. Beef is also
of good quality. Whiskey ... the export of last season was one
million gallons. Cordage, yarn, and bagging have been important
businesses, but European competition has materially decreased their
consumption.[421] The exports for one season were as follows:
_Dollars_.
Flour and Wheat $1,000,000.
Pork, bacon, lard 350,000
Whiskey 500,000
Tobacco 1,900,000
Wool, and fabrics of wool, and cotton 100,000
Cordage, hemp, and fabrics of hemp 500,000
Cattle 200,000
Horses, and mules 100,000
Saltpetre, and gunpowder 60,000
White, and Red Lead 45,000
Soap, and Candles 27,000
---------
4,782,000[1]
[1] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 238.
In 1817-1818 the wealthy farmers of Ohio raised live stock for the
home, and Atlantic city markets, and sent beef, pork, cheese, lard,
and butter to New Orleans.[422] Pork was exported from Illinois.[423]
Fearon says, "there is a class of men throughout the western
country called 'merchants', who, in the summer and autumn months,
collect flour, butter, cheese, pork, beef, whiskey, and every
species of farming produce which they send in flats and keel boats
to the New Orleans market. The demand created by this trade,
added to a large domestic consumption, insures the most remote
farmer a certain market. Some of these speculators have made large
fortunes."[424]
It may be interesting to note the estimates, on the prices of
freight, given by Fearon and Fordham who traveled through the
West in the years 1817-1818. Fearon says, "The price of boating
goods from New Orleans to Louisville (1412 miles) is from 18 s. to
22 s. 6 d. per hundred. The freight to New Orleans from hence
is 3 s. 4½ d. to 4 s. 6 d. per hundred. The average period of
time which boats take to go to New Orleans is about 28 days;
that from New Orleans 90 days. Steam vessels effect the same
route in an average of 12 days down, and 36 days up." "Freight
from this place (Illinois) to Louisville (307 miles) is 5 s. per
cwt.; from Louisville is 1 s. 8 d.; from hence to New Orleans
(1130 miles) 4 s. 6 d.; from New Orleans, 20 s. 3 d.; hence to
Pittsburg (1013 miles) 15 s. 9 d.; from Pittsburg, 4 s. 6 d. This
vast disproportion in the charge of freight is produced by the
difference in time in navigating _up_ and _down_ the streams of the
Ohio and Mississippi."[425]
Fordham's figures are as follows: "From Shawnee, Illinois, to New
Orleans, $1 per hundred pounds, back $4½; to Pittsburg #3.50,
from Pittsburg, $1; from Louisville 37½ cents; from Shawnee, or
the mouth of the Wabash to Carmi, on the Little Wabash, 20 miles
below us, 37½ cents ... to the nearest point of the Wabash to our
settlement, 50 cents; down the stream to Shawnee, 5 cents per
hundred pounds."[426] "Freighting down to New Orleans will pay the
expense of going, and leave one or two hundred dollars surplus. But
if, besides $700, the price of a new boat completely rigged, the
owner has a capital of $1500 or $2000, he may make the voyage pay
him from $500 to $1500. The whole trip is completed in two or three
months."[427] "Trade from the general want of capital, and other
causes with which I am unacquainted, is exceedingly profitable. 75
to 100 per cent is reckoned a good profit; 50 per cent is a living
profit; 25 per cent will not keep a man to his business, he will
look out for something else. I had the following account from a
River Trader"
A boat of 30 tons burden from Orleans to Louisville.
_Dr._
14 men at $75 $ 1,050.
Board for 75 days 525.
Extra pay to steersman 75.
Wear of boat 100.
--------
$ 1,750.
_Cr._
Freight of 36 tons at $90 $ 3,240.
Deduct expenses 1,750.
--------
Clear profit $ 1,490.[1]
[1]Fordham, E. P., Travels, 121.
Groceries for Illinois had been received from Philadelphia or
Baltimore, but in 1818 they came from New Orleans: coffee at 40
cents a pound; sugar from 22 to 50 cents; and tea at $2.50.[428] The
steamboats coming up stream carried dry goods, pottery, cotton,
sugar, wines, liquors, salted fish, and other articles; downwards
their loading consisted of grain, flour, tobacco, bacon, etc.[429]
At Harmony, Indiana, in 1818, a boat was being built, as a regular
trader, to carry off the surplus produce, and bring back coffee,
sugar, and groceries, as well as European manufactures.[430] Lead was
received from Louisiana, and copper from South America.[431]
Horses, hogs, and cattle were raised, in Illinois, for
exportation.[432] Flour, and fish were exported from Cincinnati to
New Orleans, in the year 1818.[433] Birckbeck, in 1818, writes as
follows, "The demand for grain will probably equal the produce
for some years, owing to the influx of new settlers; and the
Southern States, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, will be an
increasing and sure market for our surplus of every kind; vast
quantities of pork, and beef are shipped for New Orleans from
Kentucky and Indiana."[434] "500 persons every summer pass down
the Ohio from Cincinnati to New Orleans as traders or boatmen,
and return on foot. By water, the distance is 1700 miles, and
the walk back 1000. Many go down to New Orleans from Pittsburg,
which adds 500 miles to the distance by water, and 300 by land.
The storekeepers of these western towns, visit the eastern ports
of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, once a year, to lay
in their stock of goods. The great variety of articles, and the
risk attending their carriage to so great a distance, by land and
water, renders it necessary that the storekeepers should attend
both to their purchase and conveyance. I think the time is at hand
when these periodical transmontane journeys are to give place to
expeditions down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. The vast
and increasing produce of these states, in grain, flour, cotton,
sugar, tobacco, peltry, timber, etc., which finds a ready vent
at New Orleans, will be returned through the same channel in the
manufactures of Europe, and the luxuries of the East to supply the
growing demands of this western world."[435]
Faux, while traveling in America, was told by Eastern farmers that
transportation per barrel for 80 miles cost half a dollar, while
the farmers of the West could send it 2000 miles for $6;[436] and
that the western people could afford to sell at half price, better
than the eastern could at whole price, because they grew double
the quantity per acre, and because the popula tion was rapidly
increasing.[437]
Great supplies of lumber from the extensive pine forests about
the sources of the Allegheny, supplied the country below as far
as New Orleans.[438] A yankee speculation to New Orleans sometimes
consisted "of iron coffins, or nests of coffins filled with shoes,
so accomodating both the living and the dead."[439]
Wheat in Ohio, in 1819-1820, even at 50 cents, found no market,
as New Orleans was then supplied by countries more conveniently
situated.[440] Boats carrying from 100 to 500 barrels, sold for
only $16.[441] Cincinnati continued to send flour and pork to New
Orleans.[442] Flint says, "On shore the utmost bustle prevails, with
drays carrying imported goods, salt, iron, and timber, up to the
town, and in bringing down pork, flour, etc., to be put aboard
boats for New Orleans."[443]
Produce was floated down the Wabash, and the boats returned laden
with goods for their market at an enormous profit.[444] Indian corn
was purchased of the farmer on the Wabash at 25 cents per bushel,
soon after harvest; in the spring it was sent to New Orleans under
a freight of 25 cents per bushel, and sold at 75 cents to one
dollar a bushel; wheat was bought at six pence or seven pence the
bushel dearer than corn, and sold proportionally higher.[445] Produce
from the English settlement in Illinois, (corn, etc,), was hauled
to Bon Pas, which was on a tributary of the Wabash, and sent from
thence to New Orleans, there to be shipped either for Europe or the
eastern ports of America.[446]
For a return lading salt was purchased at half a dollar per bushel,
and sold at Vincennes from $2 to $2¼ per bushel. Loaf sugar sold at
50 cents per pound; brown sugar at 37½ cents per pound; coffee at
75 cents per pound; tea from $2½ to $3½; and many other groceries,
which like the above were bought for considerably less than one
half their selling price.[447] Welby says, "... of iron and drugs
I could not obtain the price at New Orleans; but of the profit on
the iron the reader may judge by the price I paid to a blacksmith
for eight new horse shoes, steel tacs, and eight removes, the bill
for which was about $10."[448] Faux, speaking of a man who had come
to Princeton, says, "If he had money he could buy bacon at $4 and
sell it at $16; and sugar from New Orleans would pay 50 per cent;
costing 10 cents, and selling at 25 cents, 2½ cents being deducted
per pound for carriage. Store goods, bought at Washington, which he
is selling cheaper than his neighbors, pay 25 per cent profit."[449]
Cincinnati received cotton from northern Alabama.[450]
The 'Register' of June 9, 1821, says, "The whole number of boats
which passed the Falls of Ohio last year, is estimated to be
2400, wafting the rich produce of the western world to the markets
on the seaboard, the principal part of which consisted of 1,804,810
pounds of bacon, 200,000 barrels of flour, 20,000 barrels of pork,
62,000 bushels of oats, 100,000 bushels of corn, 10,000 barrels of
cheese, 160,000 pounds of butter, 11,207,333 fowls, and 466,412
pounds of lard."[451]
Stove coal was carried in boats down the river in 1821-1823 to
supply the great number of steam mills in making flour.[452] These
boats were also engaged in freighting salt to the various parts
of the count ry.[453] The following is an "estimate of the amount
of products which descended the Falls of Ohio at Louisville, the
growth of the year 1822 ... the produce of the whole of the State
of Ohio, (except the part bordering on the lake), two-thirds of
Kentucky, one half of the State of Indiana, and a small part of the
States of Pennsylvania and Virginia."[454]
Notice the vast increase since 1820.
_Est. Tons._ _Est. Cost._
12000 hhds. Tobacco. 7,500 $ 500,000
10000 hhds. hams and shoulders, green 4,464 350,000
12000 hhds. and boxes bacon 2,700 210,000
4000 hhds. corn meal, kiln dried 1,700 24,000
50000 bbls. pork. 7,000 350,000
4000 bbls. beef. 535 24,000
300,000 bbls. flour 27,000 900,000
75,000 bbls. Whiskey 10,800 500,000
5000 bbls. Beans 450 7,500
3000 bbls. Cider 430 9,000
100,000 kegs of lard 2,250 250,000
25,000 firkins butter 550 125,000
2,000 bales hay 350 2,000
2,000 casks flax seed, 7 bu. to Cask. 360 4,000
3,000 bbls. linseed oil 400 57,000
5,000 boxes window glass 200 25,000
25,000 boxes soap. 560 75,000
10,000 boxes candles 225 50,000
3,000 bbls. porter 400 15,000
60,000 bbls. ginseng 27 15,000
50,000 bbls. beeswax 22 12,500
10,000 kegs tobacco 580 60,000
65,000 lbs. feathers 29 16,000
------ ---------
$ 68,932 $ 3,590,000
"There are many articles of export not included in the above
schedule, such as iron, iron castings, salt, gunpowder, white
lead, and other manufactured articles, of various descriptions,
the amount of which could not be correctly estimated, for want
of adequate data. It is estimated, that produce and manufactured
articles, to the amount of upwards of one million of dollars,
have been shipped from Cincinnati and its immediate vicinity,
during the year ending in April, 1823--principally the production
of what is termed the "Miami Country". Among the articles from
Cincinnati are "types and printing materials $10,000, paper$15,000
cabinet furniture $20,000, chairs $6,000, hats $6,500." Within
the last year every store and warehouse has become reoccupied by
business men--generally by those who were unconnected with the late
embarrassments. All purchases are now made for cash, and at no
period, within the last ten years, have we witnessed so numerous
and active a population, or so great a number of new buildings in a
state of progress."
Corn and wheat were sent to New Orleans from Illinois in 1823.[455]
Albion, Illinois, exported produce, for the first time, in this
year. They loaded the flat boats with corn, flour, pork, beef,
sausages, and other articles, and floated them down the Wabash
into the Ohio, and from thence to New Orleans.[456] Harmony was,
annually, sending boats laden with produce to New Orleans.[457]
Tranchepain journeyed part of the way down the Ohio in a boat
loaded with horses, fowls, iron castings, apples, and whiskey for
New Orleans.[458]
From St. Louis, a central point on the Mississippi, to New York
by way of New Orleans, the price of transportation was about $45
per ton, for a return cargo not less than $80.[459] Beck says, "The
export trade must then be divided between New Orleans and New
York. She (New Orleans) commands the greatest interior; she is
the key to the richest and most extensive inland region of any
mercantile capital in the world. Besides the produce required for
her own consumption, and that of Louisiana and Mississippi, she
will be the entrepot of the produce destined for the West Indies
and the provinces of South America. The capital of New Orleans
is disproportionate to the quantity of produce landed there. The
warmth and unhealthiness of the climate prevents the farmer from
sending his produce to that place at a time when he may be most in
need of the articles for which he would barter. During this time,
he is at present completely deprived of a market for his produce,
and is moreover obliged to pay the merchant an exorbitant price
for his necessaries. It frequently happens, that in the Western
States during the summer and fall, the price of those articles for
which they depend upon New Orleans is raised 50 and sometimes 100%.
But New Orleans is at all times a very uncertain market. It not
unfrequently happens that a few boat loads of produce completely
supply the demand.[460] If another cargo then arrives the owner is
obliged either to sacrifice it, or leave it in store; in the latter
case, if it consists of flour of bacon, it suffers much from the
heat and humidity of the climate, and its value is not unfrequently
diminished one half or three fourths. This is also the case with
furs and several other articles which cannot be transported by New
Orleans to a foreign market, without a considerable depreciation in
their value. These considerations clearly prove the importance of
opening a communication with New York, by which means the States
bordering on the Mississippi will be enabled to find a market
for their produce during those seasons when they are completely
excluded from New Orleans. Even at this time merchants at St.
Louis, and in different parts of Illinois and Missouri purchase
their goods in the eastern cities, and transport them across the
mountains in preference to sending them by New Orleans."[461] For
several years all articles of life in Illinois and Missouri, were
below what the planters could afford to raise them for, with
any view beyond domestic consumption. Grain boats from Missouri
scarcely paid the expense of their building and transport to New
Orleans.[462]
In 1825 extensive arrivals of cotton came into New Orleans from
the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.[463] It was estimated that the
goods sent to New Orleans from Louisville during this year weighed
27 or 28,000 tons;--42 steamboats made 140 trips during the same
period.[464] The southern interior counties of Illinois began in
1824-1825 to cultivate tobacco and the castor bean, and to make
these articles of considerable exportation.[465] Tobacco was raised,
with great success, in Ohio, at the rate of 700 lbs. to the acre,
and of a quality to bring $12 to $15 per hundred in the Baltimore
market.[466] From the extensive glass works of Pittsburg about
$100,000 worth was exported yearly.[467]
Niles Register, July 8, 1826, says, "152 boats descending the
Wabash passed Vincennes during the late freshets.[468] They were all
well laden. The following is an estimate of some of the chief items
of their cargoes.
250,000 bu. corn.
100,000 lbs. pork.
10,000 hams
4,000 bbls. pork.
800 bbls. corn meal.
2,000 live cattle.
250 live hogs.
10,000 lbs. beeswax.
3,600 venison hams and
many small articles.[1]
[1]Niles, Weekly Register, XXX., 338.
Salt from the Kenawha works was sent up the highest boatable waters
of the Allegheny to regions formerly supplied from the Salines
of New York.[469] Flint describes the boats stopping at New Madrid
on the Mississippi, as follows. "You can name no point from the
numerous rivers of the Ohio and Mississippi from which some of
these boats have not come. In one place there are boats loaded
with planks, from the pine forests of the Southwest of New York.
In another quarter there are the Yankee nations of Ohio. From
Kentucky, pork, flour, whiskey, hemp, tobacco, bagging, and bale
rope. From Tennessee there are the same articles, together with
great quantities of cotton. From Missouri and Illinois, cattle and
horses, the same articles generally as from Ohio, together with
peltry and lead from Missouri. Some boats are loaded with corn in
the ear and in bulk; others with barrels of apples and potatoes.
Some have loads of cider, and what they call "cider royal," or
cider that has been strengthened by boiling or freezing. There are
dried fruits, every kind of spirits manufactured in these regions,
and in short, the products of the ingenuity and agriculture of the
whole upper country of the West. The fleet unites once more at
Natchez or New Orleans."[470]
The "Fame" from Pittsburg, arrived in Cincinnati, in 1827 with a
cargo, part of which consisted of 102 pieces of cannon, and and
about 80 tons of grape shot, for the United States Navy. Her deck
was entirely filled with empty hogsheads and casks, belonging to a
house in Pittsburg, sent to New Orleans to be filled with a return
cargo of Molasses, as it was found to be much cheaper to have the
casks made at Pittsburg and pay their freight to New Orleans, than
to purchase them at the latter place.[471] In 1828, 5504 bales of
Kentucky cotton bagging, 15,526 coils of bale rope, and 4,918,494
lbs. of lard, were received in New Orleans, as against 2,308 bales,
1 0,459 coils, and 2,426,299 lbs. of the preceding year.[472]
New Orleans had drawn away considerable of the trade of the western
country with Philadelphia and Baltimore. Basil Hall says, "There
are projects afloat, however, for restoring this lost balance to
Philadelphia and Baltimore, and of regaining some portion of the
profits derived from supplying the western country with goods, and
of drawing off its produce.... If the mouth of the Mississippi
could be damned up, or the harbor of New York demolished, there
might be some chance for the resuscitation of the intermediate
seaports."[473] Grain, salted meats, spirits, tobacco, hemp, skins,
and the fruits of the regions bordering on the Missouri, Ohio,
and Mississippi were sent to New Orleans;[474] return cargoes of
manufactured goods from foreign countries, together with fish,
salt, sugar, steel, iron, and other articles were sent back by
steamboat.[475] Slaves were sent from Maryland, Virginia, and
Kentucky to the southern states bordering on the Mississippi and
the Gulf of Mexico. Basil Hall says, "During certain seasons of the
year, I am informed, all the roads, steamboats, and packets are
crowded with negroes on their way to the great slave markets of the
South."[476]
During the year 1828, 4100 hogsheads of sugar, and 3500 barrels or
bags of coffee were received at Louisville, worth together about
$600,000. In 1825-1826, 2050 hogsheads of tobacco were deposited at
Louisville; 4354 in 1826-1827; and 4075 in 1827-1828. Freight was
so reduced by competition, that sugar, coffee, tea, and groceries
in general, had only a small advance over their prices in New
Orleans, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Good sugar of the new crop
sold in Louisville at 7¼ to 7½ cents per pound, by the single
barrel.[477]
The 'Register' quotes from the 'Commercial Daily Advertiser'
1830, as follows: "The manufacture of chair and cabinet wares at
Cincinnati, for articles _sent out_ of the city, had a value last
year, in the great sum of $150,000. The chief part of this value
was in the _labor_ bestowed by inhabitants of the city. There was
a _creation_ of not less than $125,000.... The canal is also doing
great things for this city.[478] We see by the 'Gazette' that in the
first ten days of March, there arrived 8,105 barrels of flour, 2116
of whiskey, 2,823 of pork, and 4,167 of lard, bulk pork and bacon,
100 tons, with a great variety and quantity of other articles such
as corn, corn meal, butter, eggs, etc. This canal extends only 60
miles into the interior. The total received in these ten days,
amounted to $2,028.22."[479]
Kentucky exported all the grains, pulses, fruits, wheat, and corn.
Hemp and tobacco were the staples of the State. In addition to
these articles Kentucky exported immense quantities of flour, lard,
butter, cheese, pork, beef, Indian corn and meal, whiskey, cider,
cider royal, fruit, fresh and dried, horses, and manufactures.
Exports were chiefly to New Orleans, but a considerable amount
ascended the Ohio to Pittsburg. The growers of this State often
shipped from New Orleans, on their own account, to the Atlantic
States, Vera Cruz, or the West Indies.[480] The exports for the
greater part of the state, amounted in 1829, to $2,780,000.[481]
In western Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana,
Missouri, and a part of Tennessee, flour, corn, small grains, pulse
potatoes, and other vegetables; fruit, as apples, fresh and dried,
dried peaches, and other preserved fruits, beef, pork, cheese
butter, poultry, venison hams, live cattle, hogs, and horses were
exported. The greater part of the flour was sent from Ohio and
Kentucky; wheat was grown with more ease in Illinois and Missouri,
and Ohio engaged in the culture of yellow tobacco.[482] Large
quantities of flour were shipped from Wellsburg, West Virginia to
New Orleans.[483] Cotton, and the Castor bean, and the oil made from
it were exported from Illinois for several years prior to 1830.[484]
There were often as many as five or six thousand boatmen in New
Orleans from the 'upper country' at this period.[485] The canals,
the rapid influx of immigration, and the levelling tendency of
the increased facilities of transport, caused western products to
rapidly approximate the Atlantic value. Flint says, "The natural
result of this order of things will be, that the west will soon
export four times its former amount of flour and other produce."[486]
I have endeavored in this chapter to show how rapidly the
resources, and the commerce of the country were developed, bringing
great prosperity to the West.
FOOTNOTES:
[371] Louisiana Gasette, VII., 815. January 23, 1811.
Ibid., April 6, 1811.
[372] Ibid., April 6, 1811.
[373] Ibid.
Ibid,. July 26, 1811.
[374] Ibid., April 6, 1811.
[375] Ibid.
[376] Ibid., July 26, 1811.
[377] Ibid.
Ibid., July 13, 1811.
[378] Ibid., July 26, 1811.
[379] Ibid.
[380] Louisiana Moniteur, June 27, 1811.
[381] Niles, Weekly Register, I., 10/
[382] Louisiana Moniteur, April 2, 1812.
[383] Ibid.
Louisiana Gasette, May 27, 1812.
[384] Louisiana Gasette, May 27, 1812.
[385] Ibid.
[386] Ibid.
[387] Ibid.
[388] Ibid.
[389] Ibid., July 7, 1812.
[390] Louisiana Courier, July 31, 1812.
[391] Ibid.
[392] Louisiana Gasette, November 17, 1812.
[393] Niles, Weekly Register, III., 346.
[394] Ibid., VI., 209.
[395] Ibid., VI., 249.
[396] Ibid., VI., 360.
[397] Louisiana Gasette, August 11, 1814. p. 3. col. 1.
[398] Louisiana Gasette, April 12, 1812.
[399] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 360.
[400] Louisiana Gasette, August 11, 1814. p. 3. col. 1.
[401] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 320.
[402] Ibid., 207.
[403] Ibid.
[404] Ibid. VIII., 119-120.
[405] Ibid., 152.
[406] Ibid., X., 372.
[407] Ibid., IX., 420.
[408] Ibid., 420.
[409] Niles, Weekly Register, VIII., 320. For estimate of produce
received annually at New Orleans this period, see, Ibid, X.,
348.
[410] Brown, S. R., Western Gazetteer, 149-150.
Niles, Weekly Register, XII., 70. March 29, 1817. "The schedule
of what is called Lower Louisiana, consisting of cotton, corn,
indigo, molasses, masts and spars, planks, gunpowder, rice,
sugar, shingles, soap, taffia, tallow, timber, beeswax, etc...."
of the above produce is independent of
[411] Brown, S. R., Western Gazetteer, 280.
[412] Niles, Weekly Register, XII., 70.
[413] Brown S. R., Western Gazetteer, 280.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 232. "The imports of Cincinnati at this
time consisted of nearly every description of English goods,
and some French and India; these were received by way of New
Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, chiefly the two latter
cities. Some of their goods they imported direct from England,
but more commonly they purchased them at Philadelphia...."
[414] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 231.
[415] Ibid.
[416] Brown, S. R., Western Gazetteer, 280.
Niles, Weekly Register, XII., 70.} Also contain references to
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 232. } the trade of Cincinnati.
Fordham, E. Q., Travels, 192. }
[417] Brown, S. R., Western Gazetteer, 280.
[418] Ibid.
[419] Ibid., 73.
[420] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 236.
[421] Ibid., 237-238.
[422] Ibid., 221-222.
[423] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 132.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 260.
[424] Ibid., 199.
[425] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 260.
[426] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 117-118.
[427] Ibid., 122.
[428] Birkbeck, M., Letters, 107-108.
[429] Ibid., Notes, 133.
[430] Ibid., Letters, 55-56.
[431] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 207.
[432] Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 176.
[433] Niles, Weekly Register, XIII., 377.
[434] Birkbeck, M., Letters, 74.
[435] Ibid., Notes, 89-90.
[436] Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 147.
[437] Ibid., XI., 143-144.
[438] James, E., Account, Early W. Travels, XIV., 56.
[439] Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 143-144.
[440] Ibid., XII., 18.
[441] Ibid.
[442] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 156.
[443] Ibid., 149-151.
[444] Welby, A., Visit, Early W. Travels, XII., 236.
[445] Welby, A., Visit, Early W. Travels, XII., 236.
[446] Ibid., XII., 257.
[447] Ibid., 238.
[448] Ibid.
[449] Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 301.
[450] Niles, Weekly Register, XVII., 376.
[451] Niles, Weekly Register, XX., 239.
[452] Tranchepain, Travels, 100.
Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 41.
[453] Tranchepain, Travels, 99.
Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 41.
[454] Niles, Weekly Register, XXI., 95.
Tranchepain, Travels, 119.
[455] Beck, L. M., Gazetteer, 64.
[456] Tranchepain, Travels, 159.
[457] Ibid., 249.
[458] Ibid., 135-136.
[459] Beck, L. M., Gazetteer, 34.
Niles, Weekly Register, XVIII., 112. Shawneetown, in 1820,
received goods from New York by steamboat at $3 per cwt.
[460] Flint T., Recollections, 247. Speaks of these conditions.
[461] Beck, L. M., Gazetteer, 33-34.
[462] Flint, T., Recollections, 247-248.
[463] Niles, Weekly Register, XXVIII., 3.
[464] Ibid., XXIX., 55.
[465] Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 238.
[466] Niles, Weekly Register, XXIX., 215.
[467] Ibid., XXIX., 180.
[468] Ibid., XXX., 338.
[469] Flint, T., Recollections, 24.
[470] Ibid., 102-104.
[471] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXII., 36-37.
[472] Ibid., XXXV., 68.
[473] Hall, B., Travels, II., 395.
[474] Ibid., III., 322.
[475] Ibid., III., 323.
[476] Hall, B., Travels, III., 196-197.
[477] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXV., 387.
[478] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXIV., 122. The Miami Canal was
filled with water in April 1828, and "a fleet of canal boats"
arrived at Cincinnati on the sixteenth.
[479] Ibid., XXXVIII., 86-87.
[480] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 351-352.
[481] Ibid., I., 352.
[482] Ibid., I., 148-149.
[483] Ibid., I., 431.
[484] Peck, J. M., Emigrant's Guide, 157-159.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 292. Gunpowder was exported
from New Orleans to Louisville in 1830, the steamboat Tigress
being blown up with 300 kegs on board.
[485] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 263.
[486] Peck, J. M., Guide, 324.
Niles, Weekly Register, XL., 183, 194.
Flint, T., History and Geography, Appendix, 211. See these for
reference to the vast increase in trade in 1831.
Ibid., I., 149.
_CHAPTER IV._
_EMIGRATION. GROWTH OF THE RIVER TOWNS._
During the War of 1812, the tide of immigration westward was
almost completely arrested, and many of the settlements already
established were broken up by the savages.[487] The war being over,
and the Indians being deprived of their distinguished British
ally,[488] profound peace was soon restored to all our borders,
from the northeast to the southwest.[489] Immigration now set more
strongly toward the West, for having been so long kept back, and
the country was peopled with a rapidity unparalleled in the annals
of any other nation.[490] "Shoals of immigrants were seen on all
the great roads leading in that direction. Oleanne, Pittsburg,
Brownsville, Nashville, Cincinnati, and St. Louis overflowed with
them. Ohio and Indiana beheld thousands of new cabins spring up
in their forests. The settlements which had been broken up during
the war, were repeopled, and many immigrants returned again to the
very cabins which they had occupied before the war. Boon's Lick,
and Salt River, in Missouri, were the grand points of immigration,
as were the Sangama and the upper courses of the Kaskaskia's in
Illinois. In the south, Alabama filled with new habitations, and
the current, not arrested by the Mississippi, set over its banks,
to White River, Arkansas, and Louisiana, west of that river. The
wandering propensity of the American people carried hundreds even
beyond our territorial limits into the Spanish country."[491]
"This flood of immigrants of course increased the amount of
transport, and gave new impulse to building,--in short, every
species of speculation was carried to a ruinous excess. Mercantile
importations filled the country with foreign goods. In three
years from the close of the War, things had received a new face
along the great water courses, and in all the favorable points
of the interior. The tide began to ebb, and things to settle to
their natural level. Between the general failure of the western
banks, and the operation of this system, (branches of Bank of the
United States, and Post-Office System--medium of sure and prompt
remittance of a circulation everywhere uniform), western dealers
were driven to the extremely burdensome and precarious resource
of specie in their foreign transactions. Business and trade were
brought to a dead pause. The evils were spread along a course of
two thousand miles, and were experienced in the remote cabins, as
well as the towns, and villages on the rivers. The result of a
sound and uniform currency was seen in the restoration of business
and credit; and commerce sprung up, like a Phoenix, from its ashes.
Shapeless and meanlooking villages became towns, and the towns in
neatness and beauty began to compare with those in the Atlantic
country. The best evidence of the change, wrought by this order
of things is, that produce and every species of vendible property
rose to double and triple its value, during the season of general
embarrassment."[492]
As early as 1813, the roads over the Alleghanies were in a very
rough condition, though the Cumberland Road was partly made, and
in the spring of this year there were considerable stretches of
it used by the wagoners. For emigrants and the transportation
of freight, there was no mode of conveyance but the large "road
wagons", as they were called, usually drawn by five or six horses,
and carrying sixty to seventy hundred weight. There were several
routes by which these wagons approached the mountains, but after
passing Cumberland they followed the one road, known as Braddock's
Trail, which struck the Monongahela River at Brownsville, or Red
Stone Fort, passing down the Laurel Hill, near Uniontown, then
called Beesonstown.[493] The wagoners usually traveled in groups for
company and to assist one another by doubling teams, on the steep
hills, and to help in case of accidents. Howells says that it is
his impression that his father paid between $3 and $4 a hundred
weight (112 pounds) for the carriage of his goods to Brownsville.[494]
A mighty population was pouring into Ohio in 1813, a great
number of the people coming from Lower Canada.[495] A "New England
Emigration Society" was established in Boston, in 1815, for the
purpose of promoting emigration to the western country. The
association was composed of a considerable number of persons of
all parties, who were determined to establish a colony of their
own.[496] The Buffalo Gazette says, that during the spring of this
year scarcely a day passed without the editor's noticing the
passage of several families from New England through that village
for the State of Ohio.[497] The monthly returns from the several land
offices in Ohio and Indiana Territory exhibited an unparalleled
sale of public land, and in some districts the sales had been
doubled in the six months prior to February, 1815. The emigration
to the State in the summer of 1814 was very great, the main road
through the State being literally covered with wagons moving out
families.[498]
The Register, of November 30, 1816, says, "Missouri and Illinois
exhibit an interesting spectacle at this time. A stranger to
witness the scene would imagine that Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and the Carolinas had made an agreement to introduce them soon
as possible to the bosom of the American family. Every ferry
on the river is daily occupied in passing families, carriages,
wagons, negroes, carts, etc."[499] Much of the surplus produce of
the State of Ohio was consumed by the numerous emigrants, who came
from New York, and the eastern States, but more especially from
Pennsylvania.[500] Many of these travelers followed the route through
New York and down the Allegheny River, "260 wagons have passed a
certain house on this route in nine days, besides many persons on
horseback and on foot. The editor of the Gennessee Farmer observes,
that he himself met on the road to Hamilton, a cavalcade of upwards
of 20 wagons, containing one company of 116 persons on their way
to Indiana, and all from one town in the district of Maine. So
great is the emigration to Illinois and Missouri, also, that it
is apprehended that they must suffer for want of provisions the
ensuing winter."[501] Alabama was also receiving vast numbers of
emigrants, one traveler having met about 3800 persons in nine
days.[502]
Birkbeck, writing in 1818, says, "Old America seems to be breaking
up, and moving westward. We are seldom out of sight, as we travel
on this grand track; towards the Ohio, of family groups, behind
and before us, some with a view to a particular spot. A small
wagon with two small horses; sometime a cow or two, compromises
their all; excepting a little store of hard earned cash for the
land office of the district; where they may obtain a title for as
many acres, as they possess half dollars, being one fourth of the
purchase money. The wagon has a tilt, or cover, made of a sheet, or
perhaps a blanket. The family are seen before, behind, or within
the vehicle according to the road or the weather, or the spirits
of the party."[503] "Such is the influx of strangers into this State
(Indiana), that the industry of the Settlers is severely taxed to
provide food for themselves, and a superfluity for newcomers."[504]
Birkbeck advised the emigrants coming from England to the West,
to land at an eastern part, proceed from thence to Pittsburg,[505]
and then down the Ohio, disembarking at Shawneetown if bound to
Illinois. Emigrants are advised to bring with them, clothing,
bedding, household linen, simple medicines of the best quality, and
sundry small articles of cuttlery, and light tools.[506] The expense
of the journey from an eastern part to Birkbeck's settlement was
estimated at £5 sterling per head.[507] Travelers coming overland, on
horseback, were advised to go by way of Wheeling Chilicothe, and
Cincinnati, from thence through Indiana to Vincennes.[508] Traveling,
across the mountains to Pittsburg, was entirely disproportionate
to the price of provisions, and very expensive considering the
accommodations afforded; storekeepers laying on a profit of at
least 50 per cent.[509] Fordham says that the passage by stage and
the expense of a journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburg was $50;
the journey down the Ohio 900 miles from $10 to $15; to St. Louis
by steamboat $20, on horseback $8.[510]
The route to the western country, by way of New Orleans, was
attended with many disadvantages, being much longer and more
dangerous, in consequence of a good deal of coasting, and the
difficulties of the Gulf of Florida. The voyage from the Balize
to New Orleans, a distance of 100 miles, was always tedious and
vessels sometimes consumed three weeks in covering this distance.
The steamboats, from New Orleans,[511] did not proceed at stated
periods, and travelers were sometimes obliged to take up a long and
expensive residence in that city. To attempt to engage a passage
in a keel boat up the stream was an almost endless undertaking.
For these reasons, emigrants were advised to cone overland to
Pittsburg, and to float from there down the Ohio River to their
destination.[512]
Fearon during his journey from Chambersburg to Pittsburg passed 63
wagons, with families from the several places following: 20 from
Massachusetts, 10 from the district of Maine, 14 from Jersey, 13
from Connecticut, 2 from Maryland, 1 from Pennsylvania, 1 from
England, one from Holland, 1 from Ireland; and about 200 persons on
horseback and 20 on foot.[513] Fearon says that every emigrant whom
he met on the Alleghanies, told hi m that he intended to settle
in Ohio.[514] The population in Illinois, at this period, was to be
found chiefly on the Wabash, below Vincennes, and on the banks of
the Kaskaskia, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.[515]
In the latter part of the year 1818 Flint writes as follows:
"... the current of emigration, being here (Chambersburg) united,
strangers from the eastern country, and from Europe, are passing in
an unceasing train. An intelligent gentleman at this place informed
me, that this stream of emigration has flowed more copiously this
year, than at any former period, and that the people now moving
westward are ten times more numerous than they were ten years ago.
His computation is founded on the comparative amount of the stage
coach business and on careful observation."[516] Flint advises
emigrants to go from Baltimore to Wheeling as that route is cheaper
than the one from Philadelphia to Pittsburg.[517] In 1819 travelers
were not so numerous as in 1818, owing to the decline in trade, and
depression in the price of land. Flint says, "travelers however are
still so numerous that a stranger not fully aware of the rapidity
with which new settlements are forming, and of the great populace
of the eastern States, might be apt to imagine that the Americans
are a singularly volatile people."[518] Nuttall remarks that "A
stranger who descends the Ohio at this season of emigration cannot
but be struck with the jarring vortex of heterogenous population
amidst which he is embarked, all searching for some better country,
which ever lies to the west."[519]
The prohibition of slavery contributed greatly to the population of
Ohio, and turned the current of European emigration from Kentucky
and Tennessee, and spread it widely not only over this State, but
also over Indiana and Illinois.[520] The fertility of the soil, the
low price of lands, the security of titles, and the high price of
labor also served to attract emigrants to this State.[521]
The 'Register' of May 14, 1825 says, "Emigration is powerful to the
West."[522] Kentucky was at this time losing her citizens by hundreds
and thousands, by removal to the west faster than she had acquired
them from the east for some years.[523] The progress of population
in Illinois had been greatly retarded by the violent and illegal
efforts that were made to cause the introduction of slavery, year
after year, and while the question was agitated, persons hesitated
about locating themselves in Illinois, preferring to stop in
Ohio or Indiana, or even to proceed to Missouri. When the matter
was finally put at rest, the emigration to the State rapidly
increased.[524] The annual increase of the population of Illinois
from 1825-1829 was estimated at 12,000 persons.[525] Of Ohio, the
'Register' says, "the rapid and powerful population of this State
would remind us of the days of Cadmus, except that men do not
spring up armed to destroy one another."[526]
Travelers coming from the Atlantic States, with the intention of
descending the Ohio and going into the western states, preferred
the National Road to the one which came from Philadelphia to
Pittsburg, and was made by the State of Pennsylvania. The traffic
of the Pennsylvania "turnpike" was therefore much diminished, and
the people of that State, as well as many of the other states, who
derived no immediate benefit from this road, were opposed to any
grants being made by Congress for keeping it in order.[527]
The conveyance of goods from the eastern ports to Pittsburg, to be
sent from that place to the western country, created much business
and contributed to the rapid growth of the city. In the year 1813,
no less than 4055 wagons engaged in this trade, were calculated to
have reached Pittsburg.[528] During the eight months from April to
December, 1815, no less than $356,000 were paid at Pittsburg alone
for the carriage of goods brought to and unladen at that town, by
wagons, from the seaports of the Atlantic. The value of the goods
so brought was supposed to be three and a half to four million
dollars.[529] During the year 1817, about 12,000 wagons passed
between Baltimore and Philadelphia, carrying from 35 to 40 cwt. The
cost of carriage was about $7 from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and
the money paid for the conveyance of goods on this road, exceeded
300,000 pounds sterling.[530] Fearon says, "The articles sent from
Philadelphia are hardware, and what are denominated "dry goods"
This term includes all articles of woolen, linen, cotton, and
silk. Those returned from Pittsburg are farming produce, chiefly
flour."[531]
For the next few years the trade of Pittsburg failed to increase
so rapidly as formerly. The tradesmen, though living well and
saving money, complained of hard times, saying that peace had
thrown the ocean trade into New Orleans, which they in time of war
monopolized.[532] Pittsburg also suffered on account of the enormous
influx of British goods, which were imported for the purpose ob
breaking down the new manufacturing establishments.[533] Wheeling,
being better situated for ready communication with the western
country, at all seasons began to draw away some of the trade of
Pittsburg.[534]
About the year 1818 the States of New York and Virginia began to
show themselves as the rivals of Pennsylvania, which till that
time, with the exception of New Orleans had enjoyed the most
considerable portion of the commerce of the west.[535]
Pittsburg in 1821, was carrying on a considerable trade with
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and likewise some little
with New York, by way of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and the
lakes.[536] The price of carriage from Philadelphia and Baltimore
had now been reduced to $4 to $6 for one hundred weight.[537] Flint
writing a few years later, says, "But the wealth, business,
and glory of this place are fast passing away, transferred
to Cincinnati, to Louisville, and other places on the Ohio.
Various causes have concurred to this result, but especially the
multiplication of steamboats, and the consequent facility of
communication with the Atlantic ports by the Mississippi. There
is little prospect of the reverse of this order of things. The
National Road, terminating at Wheeling, contributes to this decay
of Pittsburg. Her decline is not much regretted, for she used to
fatten on the spoils of the poor emigrants that swarmed to this
place."[538] The trade of Pittsburg may have been on the decline,
but scarcely so bad as Flint paints it. One traveler, on the road
between Baltimore and Frederick, on March 3, 1827, passed 235
wagons in a distance of 35 miles.[539]
Another element contributing largely to the growth and prosperity
of Pittsburg was her manufacturing establishments. In 1810 the
manufactures of this city amounted to $1,000,000, and in 1814 it
was estimated that their value would be doubled.[540] The 'Register'
of April 9, 1825 says that Pittsburg is "the greatest manufacturing
town in the United States."[541] The articles manufactured at
Pittsburg were sent to the western country, New Orleans, and the
West Indies.* During this period the population of Pittsburg
increased from 4740 inhabitants in 1810[542] to 22,433 in the city
and its suburbs in 1830.[543]
Cincinnati, but a small and unimportant village before 1811,
suddenly sprang into prominence during this period and even
threatened to become the serious rival of Pittsburg. The
manufacturing industry contributed largely to the growth of this
town. In 1814 the 'Register' speaks of Cincinnati as being "the
busiest town in Ohio, and except Pittsburg, and Lexington, the
greatest place of manufacturing in the western country."[544] In 1826
the manufacturing industry of this city amounted to $1,800,000, not
more than fifteen steam engines being employed in manufactures.[545]
In 1830 the 'Register' speaks of this city as follows: "Cincinnati,
'the queen of the West' goes on rapidly to increase in population
and wealth. Her happy location is made the most of by industrious
and enterprising freemen. Manufactures abound, and a spirit of
improvement prevails. Labor is honored, and profits are constantly
added to capital. This city seems long since to have recovered from
the effects of certain spe culations which, for a considerable
time, checked its advancement."[546] Iron articles and cabinet
furniture were the chief articles of manufacture exported from
the city.[547] The making of sugar mills for Louisiana and the West
Indies formed a large business at Cincinnati, and also at Pittsburg
and Wheeling.[548]
The trade, especially the exports, formed a very large element
of the business of Cincinnati. Birkbeck, writing in 1818, says,
"Cincinnati is, however, a most thriving place, and backed as it
is already by a great population and a most fruitful country, bids
fair to be one of the first cities of the West. We are told, and
we cannot doubt the fact, that the chief of what we see is the
work of four years. The hundreds of commodious, well furnished
brick houses; the spacious and busy markets; the substantial public
buildings; the thousands of prosperous well dressed, industrious
inhabitants; the numerous wagons and drays; the gay carriages;
the shoals of craft; the busy stir prevailing everywhere, ..."[549]
all testify to the prosperity of the city. Pork formed the chief
article of export.[550] The 'Register' in 1827, says, "The pork
business of this city is equal if not of greater magnitude, than
that of Baltimore, and is, perhaps, not exceeded by that of any
place in the world.[551] The exports of Cincinnati in 1820 were
worth about $1,000,000, including both manufactures and other
articles.[552] The opening of the Miami Canal increased the trade
of Cincinnati, by making it the place of deposit for the produce
exported from the surrounding country.[553] In 1812 the sale of
imported articles amounted to $250,000 per year;[554] about 1830
the imports, of which dry goods formed the principal item, were
estimated to be worth five million dollars.[555]
The population of Cincinnati in 1815 was 6,498;[556] in 1826,
16,230;[557] and in 1830, 25,279.[558]
Louisville derived her greatest advantage from the river trade.
Before the building of the canal, goods brought down the river,
had to be unloaded here and carried around the Falls.[559] The steam
boat commerce of this city amounted in 1820 to 29,014 tons.[560]
The wealth of Louisville was employed chiefly in the importation
of merchandise from New Orleans, and the eastern cities, and
the shipment of western produce to the Southern and Atlantic
markets.[561] Manufactures were developed to some extent.[562] The
population increased from 1350 in 1810, to 10, 336 in 1830.[563]
Marietta had, in the early period, engaged quite extensively in the
ship building industry, which declined from about 1807 to 1816,
when it was revived again.[564] In 1814 this town was engaged in
manufacturing and carried on quite a brisk trade,[565] but Ogden, in
1821, says that it was rapidly declining.[566]
Wheeling derived much advantage from her location, being situated
at a point where the Ohio was navigable at all seasons. It was
the principal depot for the supply and commerce of that part of
Virginia in 1819,[567] and in 1823 enjoyed considerable importance on
account of the great quantity of merchandise brought to and from
the Ohio along the National Road.[568] Boat building was carried on
to some extent in Wheeling. By 1829 this town had engaged quite
extensively in manufactures.[569]
Steubenville, Ohio, was the market for the produce of the
surrounding country, which it supplied with English and West
India goods.[570] As early as 1815 this town began to establish
manufactories,[571] and in 1825 was exporting many thousand dollars
worth of cloth to the Atlantic States.[572] In 1817 the city
contained 2032 inhabitants,[573] and in 1830, 3153.[574]
Maysville, Kentucky, was the principal river port for the
northeastern part of the State.[575] The greater part of the goods
from Philadelphia and the eastern cities were landed here, and
distributed over the state.[576]
Vincennes, Indiana, served as a place of extensive supply of
merchandise to the interior of that state.[577] Vevay, Indiana,
was also quite a commercial town.[578] Zanesville, Ohio, became a
thriving town, engaged in manufactures[579] and trade.[580]
Shawneetown, Illinois, enjoyed a share in the trade on the
river.[581]
These river towns developed and increased in importance as the
river trade became an ever increasing object of importance.
Pittsburg and Cincinnati were by far the two greatest commercial
and manufacturing centers of this western country during the years
1811-1830. As this great stream of emigrants poured into the West,
the soil was brought into cultivation, and its surplus produce
exchanged for articles of home and foreign manufacture.
FOOTNOTES:
[487] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 387.
[488] Ibid., I., 178.
Peck, J. M., Annals, 651-652.
[489] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 178.
[490] Ibid., I., 172.
[491] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 178.
[492] Ibid., 180-182.
[493] Howells, W. C., Recollections, 9.
[494] Ibid., 10.
[495] Niles, Weekly Register, V., 263.
[496] Ibid., 39. VIII.
[497] Ibid., VIII., 420.
[498] Niles, Weekly Register, VII., 350.
[499] Ibid., XI., 223.
Ibid., XI., 127. "We observe the current of emigration directed
strongly toward the Territory of Missouri."
Ibid., XI., 208. "Emigration powerfully sets westward. 50 wagons
are said to have passed the Muskingum at Zanesville, in a day,
going west."
[500] Brown, S. R., Gazetteer, 316.
[501] Niles, Weekly Register, XIII., 224. November 29, 1817.
[502] Niles, Weekly Register, XI., 336. June 11, 1817.
[503] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 25-26.
[504] Ibid., 79.
[505] Birkbeck, M., Letters, 33. "Horseback is the most pleasant
and expeditious; on foot the cheapest; a light wagon is eligible
in some cases; in others the stage is a necessary evil."
[506] Birkbeck M., Letters, 33.
[507] Birkbeck, M., Letters, 97.
[508] Ibid., 110-111.
[509] Ibid., Notes, 36.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 192. "All the emigrants with whom I
conversed complained of the enormous charges at taverns."
Welby, A., Visit, Early W. Travels, XII., 195-196. Says that the
charges at a good English Inn would be double the amount charged
in America.
Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 171, 196-197.
Complains of the expense.
[510] Fordham, E. P., Travels, 118.
[511] Ibid., A journey from New Orleans up the Mississippi cost $90.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 337-338. Quoted from M. Birkbeck's
letter of November 29, 1817.
Fordham, E. P., Travels, 59. The wagons from Baltimore to
Pittsburg, made the journey of 240 miles in 16 days.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 452-453.
[512] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 98, 74, 68, 101.
Discusses the expense of traveling.
Faux, W., Memorable Days, Early W. Travels, XI., 198. Passage in
steamboat from an eastern port to New Orleans was $200.
[513] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 196.
Ibid., 188. He speaks of meeting 20 wagons containing families
from Massachusetts, Jersey, and Connecticut.
[514] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 213-214.
[515] Ibid., 255.
Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 176.
[516] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 67-68. Ibid., Ix.,
65, 72, 77, 87. For reference to the vast numbers of emigrants
[517] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 105-115.
[518] Ibid., IX., 288.
[519] Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 65.
James, E., Account, Early W. Travels, XIV., 59. For reference to
emigrants on the Ohio.
Niles, Weekly Register, XVII., 286.
[520] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 80.
[521] Ibid.,
Ibid., XIX., 82. Mentions other inducements to emigration
Reynolds, J:, My Own Times, In 1820 the price of land was
reduced from $2 to $1.25 per acre.
James, E., Account, Early W. Travels, XIV., 63. In 1819-1820,
James says, "The difficulty of establishing an indisputable
title to lands has been a cause operating hitherto to retard
the progress of settlement in some of the most fertile parts
of the country of Ohio, and the inconveniences resulting from
this source still continue to be felt.
[522] Niles, Weekly Register, XXVIII., 161-162.
[523] Ibid., XXIX., 147.
Ibid., XXXVII., 165.
[524] Ibid., XXIX., 422. February 25, 1826.
[525] Ibid., XXXVI., 271.
Ibid., XXXVI., 304. "Owing to the great influx of emigration,
provisions of all kinds are very scarce."
Latrobe, C. J., The Rambler, II., 221-222. Speaks of Illinois as
"a country rapidly filling with settlers."
Reynolds, J., My Own Times, 304. 1830 "For several years past, a
strong tide of emigration has flowed in upon us. Its wilderness
has been subdued; and thriving villages and cultivated farms are
now scattered over its whole extent."
[526] Niles, Weekly Register, XL., 141.
Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 130.
[527] Franchepain, Travels, 90-91.
[528] Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels, IX., 86.
Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 207. Says that 4,000 wagon loads of
dry goods, groceries, etc., and 1,000 wagon loads of iron were
received at Pittsburg in 1813.
[529] Niles, Weekly Register, X., 371.
Ibid., X., 231. Wagons with upwards of 3,500 pounds have reached
Pittsburg in 13 days from Philadelphia.
[530] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 29.
Ibid., 128. The land carriage from Philadelphia to Pittsburg is
from $7 to $10 per cwt.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 186,196. references to this trade.
[531] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 186.
Niles, Weekly Register, XIII., 116-117. "A merchant from
Marietta, Ohio, has just left this city (New York) with several
tons of goods (it being his second trip,) who takes them from
Albany by way of Geneva and Hamilton on the Alleghany River, to
his place in the State of Ohio. This gentleman is of opinion
that goods can be transported from this place to Pittsburg for
considerably less than they can be taken from Philadelphia over
the mountains to Pittsburg."
[532] Fearon, H. B., Journey, 205. "The state of trade is at
present dull, but that there is a great deal of business done
must be evident from the quantity of "dry goods" and "grocery
stores", many of the proprietors of which have stocks as large
as the majority of London retail dealers."
Fordham, E. P., Travels, 75.
[533] Niles, Weekly Register, XXVIII., 82.
Birkbeck, M., Notes, 34.
Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 41. "To judge of
the inland commerce carried on betwixt Philadelphia and
Pittsburg, a stranger has but to view this road at the present
season. All day I have been brushing past wagons heavily loaded
with merchandise, each drawn by five and six horses.
[534] Welby, A., Visit, Early W. Travels, XII., 197.
Niles, Weekly Register, XV., 267. "It has been estimated that
three millions of dollars worth of goods were at Pittsburg on
the 7th ult. (December, 1818) waiting for a rise of the waters,
to descend the river, as well as a multitude of travelers and
emigrants."
[535] Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 38.
[536] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 25.
[537] Ibid., XIX., 27.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXVII., 149. "The number of wagons
loaded for Pittsburg, by a single house last year was upwards
of 200; and the freight alone, at the present reduced rate,
amounted to $24,000. (from Philadelphia).
[538] Flint, T., Recollections, 17.
Hall, J., Letters, 34. Agrees with Flint's statement of the
causes of the decline.
[539] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXII., 34.
Ibid., XXXI., 165. "The river remains low. But the number of
heavily laden keels which arrive and depart daily, show that the
improvements in the channel have been such as to secure us an
uninterrupted navigation from Pittsburg westward, at the very
lowest stages of the water."
Ibid., XXXIV., 411. "Pittsburg goes on prosperously. The happy
union of the two arms of the American system will make her
great, her manufactures and the location of the Pennsylvania
Canal
[540] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 208.
[541] Ibid., XXVIII., 82.
[542] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 208.
[543] Ibid., XXXIX., 219
For references to manufactures see
Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 208.
Ibid., XVII., 341.
Ibid., VIII., 141.
Thomas, D., Travels, 52.
Brown, S. R. Gazetteer, 338.
Fordham, E. P., Travels, 75-76, 71-72.
Fearon, H. B., Journey, 203.
Birkbeck, M., Notes, 33-34.
Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 45.
Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 25.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXIX., 180.
Ibid., XXXV., 102.
Hall, J., Letters, 34.
Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 132, 147, 426-427.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVI., 66.
Ibid., XXXVII., 178.
Ibid., XXXIV., 346.
[544] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 209.
[545] Hall, J., The West, 264.
Hall, J., Notes, 270.
[546] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 86.
Hall, J., Notes, 174. A period of distress in the western
country which reached its height about 1819.
Flint, T., History and Geography. I., 180.
[547] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 410.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 86. Speaks of the exportation
of chair and cabinet wares.
[548] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 293.
[549] Birkbeck, M., Notes, 70.
[550] Niles, Weekly Register, XXIV., 176.
[551] Ibid., XXXII., 35. In three months, 40,000 hogs were packed
in Cincinnati. See also, Niles, Weekly Register, XL., 142.
[552] Hall, J., Notes, 270.
Flint, T., History and Geography, Appendix, 211. From Cincinnati
in 1831 the exports were over $1,000,000.
[553] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVIII., 86-87. Ibid., XL., 52.
[554] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 209.
[555] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 410. Fearon, H. B.,
Journey, 231. Flint, J., Letters, Early W. Travels.
Ix., 238. The Town suffered a decline in trade in 1817 and 1820
[556] Niles, Weekly Register, X., 16.
[557] Ibid., XXXII., 35.
[558] Ibid., XXXIX., 5.
[559] Tranchepain, Travels, 116.
[560] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXII., 89.
[561] Hall, J., Notes, 267.
[562] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 250.
Brown, S. R. Gazetteer, 104-105.
Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVII., 181.
[563] Flint, History and Geography, I., 355.
[564] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 34.
[565] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 209.
[566] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 34.
[567] Nuttall, T., Travels, Early W. Travels, XIII., 51.
[568] Tranchepain, Travels, 91.
[569] Niles, Weekly Register, XXXVI., 298.
Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 431-432.
[570] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 34.
[571] Niles, Weekly Register, VIII., 452.
[572] Ibid., XXVIII., 82.
[573] Ibid., XII., 144.
[574] Ibid., XXXVIII., 339.
[575] Brown, S. R. Gazetteer, 90.
[576] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 356-357.
[577] Ibid., I., 378.
[578] Ogden, G. W., Letters, Early W. Travels, XIX., 42.
[579] Flint, T., History and Geography, I., 414.
[580] Niles, Weekly Register, VI., 209.
[581] Ibid., XXXVI., 302.
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_SECONDARY WORKS._
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Transcriber's Notes:
As this is not a professionally published document, and was under
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