The West: Its Commerce and Navigation |
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advantages afford aggregate Albany amount annual armory arrivals average banks bbls brls built Burnt bush bushels canal cent channels Cincinnati 1831 Cincinnati 1832 Cincinnati and St coal commerce constructed cost employed enterprise estimated exports extent facilities feet flatboats flour four hundred freight furnish h Browns'ille h Marietta hundred and fifty important improvement increase Indian iron keel Kentucky labor Lake Erie lakes land Licking river Little Miami railroad Louis Louisville low water manufacturing ment merchandise Miami canal miles millions Mississippi Missouri navigation North Bend number of boats number of steamboats obstructions Ohio river Orleans passengers passing Pittsburgh 1829 population port portion prosperity railroad rapid region Snagged steam Sunk thousand tons tion tolls tonnage Total towns trade transportation tributaries trip turnpikes twenty United valley vast vessels voyage wealth West western rivers wheat Wheeling Whitewater canal whole Worn
Popular passages
Page 121 - The day will come when some more powerful man will get fame and riches from my invention, but nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of attention.
Page 48 - The navigable 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 territory, as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other states that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.
Page 122 - Pittsburg,) it was the unanimous opinion that " such a contrivance" might conquer the difficulties of the Mississippi, as high as Natchez ; but that we of the Ohio must wait for some more happy "century of inventions.
Page 125 - Shreve for having accomplished in twenty-five days, a trip, which previous to that time had never been accomplished, by the barges and keel boats, in less than three months.
Page 117 - Ohio, and being influenced by a love of philanthropy and a desire of being serviceable to the public, has taken great pains to render the accommodations on board the boats as agreeable and convenient as they could possibly be made. No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on board will be under cover, made proof against rifle or musket balls, with convenient port-holes for firing out of.
Page 131 - Ohio thought himself lucky if the reckless boatmen would give the smallest trifle for the eggs and chickens which formed almost the only saleable articles on a soil whose only fault is its too great fertility. Such was the case twelve years since. The Mississippi boats now make five...
Page 60 - We are not aware of the causes which have induced to the discontinuance of this valuable service, but we know that the consequences have been most disastrous. For several years past the appropriations for the snag-boats have been so small as to render that service wholly inefficient; and the snags have accumulated with fearful rapidity in all the western rivers, while the increasing amount of commerce and number of boats have swelled the danger and the losses to an appalling extent.
Page 60 - From 1822 to 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 to 1832, were reduced to $381,000, in consequence of the beneficial action of the snagboats; and those losses were still further reduced in the years immediately succeeding, by the diligent prosecution of the same service.
Page 249 - Mackinaw boat, carrying 1500 weight to 3 tons, and then the keel boat or barge of 30 to 40 tons. The first appearance of the keel boat, in the Mississippi, above the mouth of the Ohio, of which we have any account, was in 1751, when a fleet of boats, commanded by Bossu, a Captain of French Marines, ascended as far as Fort Chartres. This enterprise also, was the first to ascertain, by experience, something of the nature of the navigation of the Mississippi. One of the boats, " the St. Louis," struck...
Page 121 - ... in the world. Since that time, we are informed, that some of the New York and Chesapeake boats rival, and probably surpass us, in richness, and beauty of internal decoration. As late as 1816, the practicability of navigating the Ohio with steamboats was esteemed doubtful ; none but the most sanguine augured favourably.