Note 1. The railroads finished in America in 1835 amounted in length to 1,600 miles; those in progress, and not yet complete, to 1,270 miles more. The canals completed were in length 2,500 miles, unfinished 687 miles.
Volume One—Chapter Three.
Travelling.
The most general, the most rapid, the most agreeable, and, at the same time, the most dangerous, of American travelling is by steam boats. It will be as well to give the reader an idea of the extent of this navigation by putting before him the lengths of some of the principal rivers in the United States.
| Miles. | |
| Missouri and Mississippi | 4490 |
| Do. to its junction with the Mississippi | 3181 |
| Mississippi proper, to its junction with the Missouri | 1600 |
| Do. to the Gulf of Mexico | 2910 |
| Arkansas River, a branch of the Mississippi | 2170 |
| St. Lawrence River, including the Lakes | 2075 |
| Platte River, a branch of the Missouri | 1600 |
| Red River, a branch of the Mississippi | 1500 |
| Ohio River, Do. Do. | 1372 |
| Columbia River, empties into the Pacific Ocean, | 1315 |
| Kansas River, a branch of the Missouri | 1200 |
| Yellowstone Do. Do. | 1100 |
| Tennessee Do. Ohio | 756 |
| Alabama River, empties into the Gulf of Mexico | 575 |
| Cumberland River, a branch of the Ohio | 570 |
| Susquehanna River, empties into Chesapeake Bay | 460 |
| Illinois River, a branch of the Mississippi | 430 |
| Appalachicola River, empties into the Gulf of Mexico | 425 |
| St. John's River, New Brunswick, rises in Maine | 415 |
| Connecticut River, empties into Long Island Sound | 410 |
| Wabash River, a branch of the Ohio | 360 |
| Delaware River, empties into the Atlantic Ocean | 355 |
| James River, empties into Chesapeake Bay | 350 |
| Roanoke River, empties into Albemarle Sound | 350 |
| Great Pedee River, empties into Atlantic Ocean | 350 |
| Santee River, empties into Atlantic Ocean | 340 |
| Potomac River, empties into Chesapeake Bay | 335 |
| Hudson River, empties into Atlantic Ocean | 320 |
| Altamaha River, empties into Atlantic Ocean | 300 |
| Savannah River, empties into Atlantic Ocean | 290 |
Voice from America.
Many of the largest of these rivers are at present running through deserts—others possess but a scanty population on their banks; but, as the west fills up, they will be teeming with life, and the harvest of industry will freight many more hundreds of vessels than those which at present disturb their waters.
The Americans have an idea that they are very far ahead of us in steam navigation, a great error which I could not persuade them of. In the first place, their machinery is not by any means equal to ours; in the next, they have no sea-going steam vessels, which after all is the great desideratum of steam navigation. Even in the number and tonnage of their mercantile steam vessels they are not equal to us, as I shall presently show, nor have they yet arrived to that security in steam navigation which we have.