It may be taken for granted, in the first place, that the whole of the country bordering upon the Patowmac river, and upon those rivers which fall into it, will trade with the city of Washington. In tracing the course of the Patowmac all these rivers were not enumerated; a better idea of them may be had from an inspection of the map. Shenandoah, which is the longest, is not navigable at present; but it has been surveyed, and the company for improving the navigation of the Patowmac have stated that it can be made so for one hundred miles. This would be coming very near to Staunton, behind the Blue Mountains, and which is on the high road from Kentucky, and from the new state of Tennessee, to the city of Philadelphia. Frankfort, the capital of the former of these states, is nearly eight hundred miles from Philadelphia; Knoxville, that of the other, seven hundred and twenty-eight. Both these towns draw their supplies of foreign manufactures from Philadelphia, and by landcarriage. Supposing then that the navigation of the Shenandoah should be perfected, there would be a saving of four hundred and thirty-six miles of land carriage from going to Washington by the Shenandoah and Patowmac instead of going to Philadelphia; such a saving, it might be imagined, would draw the whole of this trade to Washington. Whether the two western states, Kentucky and Tennessee, will trade to New Orleans or not, at a future day, in preference to any of these places, will be investigated presently.
WATER CARRIAGE.
By means of Cheat and Monongahela rivers it has been shewn, that an opening may be obtained to Pittsburgh. This will be a route of about four hundred and fifty miles from Washington, and in it there will be one portage, from the Patowmac to Cheat River, of thirty-seven miles, and perhaps two or three others; but these will be all very small. It has been ascertained beyond doubt, that the Pittsburgh merchant can have his goods conveyed from New York, by means of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, to Oswego, and from thence by the lakes Ontario and Erie, and the Alleghany River, to Pittsburgh, for one third of the sum which it costs him to transport them by land from Philadelphia. He prefers getting them by land, because the route from New York, is uncertain; his goods may be lost, or damaged, or delayed months beyond the time he expects them. From Hudson River to the Mohawk is a portage of ten miles, or thereabouts; and before they can get to Oswego are two or three more. At Oswego the goods must be shipped on board a vessel suitable for navigating the lakes, where they are exposed to tempests and contrary winds. At the Falls of Niagara is a portage of nine miles more; the goods must here be shipped again on board a vessel on Lake Erie, and after arriving at Presqu’ Isle must be conveyed over another portage preparatory to their being laden in a boat upon the Alleghany River. The whole of this route, from New York to Pittsburgh, is about eight hundred miles; that from the federal city not much more than half the distance; if therefore the merchant at Pittsburgh can get his goods conveyed from New York for one third of what he pays for the carriage of them by land from Philadelphia, he ought not to pay more than one sixth of the sum for their carriage from the federal city; it is to be concluded, therefore, that he will avail himself of the latter route, as there will be no objection to it on account of any uncertainty in the mode of conveyance, arising from storms and contrary winds.
The people in Pittsburgh, and the western country along the waters of the Ohio, draw their supplies from Philadelphia and Baltimore; but they send the productions of the country, which would be too bulky for land carriage, down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. From Pittsburgh to New Orleans the distance is two thousand one hundred and eighty-three miles. On an average it takes about twenty-eight days to go down there with the stream; but to return by water it takes from sixty days to three months. The passage back is very laborious as well as tedious; on which account they seldom think of bringing back boats which are sent down from Pittsburgh, but on arriving at New Orleans they are broken up, and the plank sold. These boats are built on the cheapest construction, and expressly for the purpose of going down stream. The men get back the best way they can, generally in ships bound from New Orleans to the southern states, and from thence home by land. Now, if the passage from the Ohio to the Patowmac is opened, it cannot be supposed that the people in Pittsburgh and the vicinity will continue thus to send the produce down to Orleans, from whence they cannot bring any thing in return; they will naturally send to the federal city, from whence they can draw the supplies they are in want of, and which is so much nearer to them, that when the navigation is perfected it will be possible to go there and back again in the same time that it requires merely to go down to New Orleans.
FLOODS AND EDDIES.
But although the people of that country which borders upon the Ohio and its waters, in the vicinage of Pittsburgh, may have an interest in trading to the federal city, yet those who live towards the mouth of that river will find an interest equally great in trading to New Orleans, for the Ohio River is no less than eleven hundred and eighty-three miles in length. How far down upon the Ohio a commercial intercourse will be kept up with the city, will most probably be determined by other circumstances than that of distance alone; it may depend upon the demand there may be at one or other port for particular articles, &c. &c.; it may also depend upon the season; for at regular periods there are floods in the Mississippi, and also in the Ohio, which make a great difference in the time of ascending and descending these rivers. The floods in the Mississippi are occasioned by the dissolution of the immense bodies of snow and ice accumulated during winter in those northern regions through which the river passes; they are also very regular, beginning in the month of March and subsiding in July. Those in the Ohio take place between Christmas and May; but they are not regular and steady like those of the Mississippi, for the water rises and falls many times in the course of the season. These floods are occasioned by heavy falls of rain in the beginning of winter, as well as by the thawing of the ice.
The Mississippi has a very winding course[[12]], and at every bend there is an eddy in the water. These eddies are always strongest during the inundations, consequently it is then a much less difficult task to ascend the river. With the Ohio, however, it is directly the reverse; there are no eddies in the river; wherefore floods are found to facilitate the passage downwards; but to render that against the stream difficult.
[12]. In the year 1722, as a party of Canadians were going down the river, they found at one place such a bend in it, that although the distance across land, from one part of the river to the other, was not more perhaps than two hundred yards, yet by water it was no less than forty miles—The Canadians cut a trench across the land for curiosity—The soil bordering upon the Mississippi is remarkably rich and soft, and the current being strong, the river in a short time forced a new passage for itself, and the Canadians took their boat through it. This place is called Pointe Coupée. There are many similar bends in the river at present, but none so great.
NAVIGATIONS.
Supposing, however, the season favourable for the navigation of the Mississippi, and also for the navigation of the Ohio, which it might well be at the same time, then Louisville, in Kentucky, is the place through which the line may be drawn that will separate as nearly as possible the country naturally connected with Washington from that appertaining to New Orleans. It takes twenty days, on an average, at the most favourable season, to go from Louisville to New Orleans, and to return, forty; which in the whole makes sixty days. From the rapids in the Ohio, close to which Louisville is situated, to Pittsburgh, the distance is seven hundred and three miles; so that at the rate of thirty miles a day, which is a moderate computation, it would require twenty-four days to go there. From Pittsburgh to the Patowmac the distance is one hundred and sixty miles against the stream, which at the same rate, and allowing time for the portages, would take seven days more, and two hundred and ninety miles down the Patowmac, at sixty miles per day, would require five days: this is allowing thirty-five days for going, and computing the time for returning at the same rate, that is thirty miles against the stream, and sixty miles with the stream, each day, it would amount to twenty-five days, which, added to the time of going, makes in the whole fifty-nine days; if the odd day be allowed for contingencies, the passage to and from the two places would then be exactly alike. It is fair then to conclude, that if the demand at the federal city for country produce be equally great as at New Orleans, and there is no reason to say why it should not, the whole of the produce of that country, which lies contiguous to the Ohio, and the rivers falling into it, as far down as Louisville in Kentucky, will be sent to the former of these places. This tract is seven hundred miles in length, and from one hundred to two hundred miles in breadth. Added to this, the whole of that country lying near the Alleghany River, and the streams that run into it, must naturally be supplied from the city; a great part of the country bordering upon Lake Erie, near Presqu’ Isle, may likewise be included.