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]