28th Congress, 
 1.9/ Session. 
 
 {SENATE.] 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 3 ro 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 A NUMBER OF CITIZENS OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, 
 
 FRAYING 
 
 The removal of obstructions in the navigation of the Ohio and Missis¬ 
 sippi rivers. 
 
 March 12, 1844. 
 
 Laid on the table, and ordered to be printed. 
 
 PUBLIC MEETINGS. 
 
 At a meeting of the committee of the citizens of Cincinnati, held on 22d 
 January, 1844, it was 
 
 Resolved , That a new edition of the memorial of last year, with such 
 additions as subsequent information and experience may have rendered 
 advisable, be prepared forthwith, and transmitted to Congress. 
 
 JAMES HALL, Chairman. 
 
 Henry Hayes, Secretary. 
 
 A meeting of the citizens of Cincinnati, for the purpose of memo¬ 
 rializing Congress on the subject of removing the obstructions from the 
 Western waters, was held at the council chamber on Friday evening, No¬ 
 vember 4, 1842-—Micajah T. Williams, Esq., chairman, Joseph Graham, 
 secretary. 
 
 On motion of James Hall, Esq., the following gentlemen were appointed 
 a committee to draught a memorial to Congress : 
 
 James Hall, T. J. Halderman, E. S. Haines,. Paul Anderson, E. D. Mans¬ 
 field, J. C. Vaughan, J. G. Woodin, Lewis Whiteman, S. W. Hartshorne, 
 P. Rogers, George Carlisle, Robert Buchanan, Joseph Pierce, sr., Jede- 
 diah Banks, Henry Hayes, M. T. Williams, and George Graham, jr. 
 
 Resolved , That the same committee be authorized to correspond with 
 any committees that may be appointed at other places in the West, in refer¬ 
 ence to the improvement of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with a view to 
 procure a concert of action among the friends of the measure ; and also to 
 correspond with members of Congress and other influential persons, whose 
 co-operation may be desirable or necessary ; and that the said committee be 
 fully authorized to adopt all measures which, in their opinion, may be ex¬ 
 pedient for the promotion of the important object of the meeting. 
 
 Resolved , That the said committee be authorized to call an adjourned 
 meeting of the citizens, for the purpose of reporting said memorial when 
 ready for signatures. 
 
 M. T. WILLIAMS, Chairman . 
 
 Joseph Graham, Secretary . 
 
2 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 At a meeting of the citizens of Cincinnati, held 21st December 1842,. 
 Lewis Whiteman, Esq., was appointed chairman, and Henry Hayes sec¬ 
 retary. 
 
 Judge Hall, from the committee appointed on the 4th ultimo, reported 
 the draught of a memorial to Congress, on the subject of the navigation of 
 the Ohio and Mississippi rivers ; whereupon, the following resolutions were 
 unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved , That the memorial just read be adopted ; that it be signed by 
 the committee which reported it, printed, and transmitted to Congress 
 through our immediate representatives in, that body. 
 
 Resolved, That copies of the memorial be transmitted to the several 
 State Legislatures now in session, by the same committee, with a view to 
 procure the sanction of those bodies to the views expressed therein. 
 
 LEWIS WHITEMAN, Chairman. 
 
 Henry Hayes, Secretary. 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in 
 
 Congress assembled: 
 
 The memorial of the people of Cincinnati, in the State of Ohio, 
 Represents as follows : n 
 
 Your memorialists, in common with all the inhabitants of the Western 
 and Southwestern States, are deeply interested in the trade and navigation 
 of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Inhabiting a country of great magni¬ 
 tude and unsurpassed fertility, rich in all the products of nature and of 
 unbounded resources, our commerce, already great, is daily swelling in 
 value and importance. The plain of the Mississippi, extending from the 
 29th to the 47th degree of north latitude, embraces not only all the pro¬ 
 ductions of the temperate zone, but many of those of the frigid regions of 
 the north and of the sunny climate of the tropic ; so that those who inhabit 
 the shores of this gigantic river and its tributaries carry on already an in¬ 
 terchange of domestic products and manufactures, which in itself consti¬ 
 tutes a most extensive traffic, and includes a great variety of the staples of 
 commerce. But when to this is added all that we export to foreign markets 
 and import for home consumption, the variety and value of this immense 
 internal trade will be found to assume an importance which should recom¬ 
 mend it to the serious attention of the American people and the National 
 Government. 
 
 In estimating the importance of the navigation of the Ohio and Missis¬ 
 sippi rivers, it is necessary to invite attention to a few prominent facts, 
 which we shall collect from the most authentic sources. The region drained 
 by those rivers and their tributaries extends from the 29th to the 47th de¬ 
 gree of north latitude, and from the Allegany to the Rocky mountains; 
 and the portion of that territory already inhabited and organized under 
 civil government may be stated, with sufficient accuracy, in round num¬ 
 bers, as embracing an average length from north to south of 12 degrees, and 
 a breadth of 10 degrees, which would give an area of 432,000 square miles. 
 And it is worthyof remark, that such is the wonderful fertility of this country, 
 its mineral wealth, its abundant resources, and its advantages of climate and 
 navigation, and so great are the enterprise of its people and the increase of 
 population from abroad, that any rational statement of its limits or its wealth. 
 
3 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 founded upon evidence, must fall far short of the truth. It is a new coun¬ 
 try, imbued with all the characteristics of a vigorous youth, and possessing 
 extraordinary elements of expansion and improvement. Every day is ex¬ 
 tending its limits, filling up its vacant places, and developing its latent re¬ 
 sources ; and not a season passes which does not open some new channel 
 of commerce or some hidden source of wealth. Every thing is growing 
 and changing, ripening and increasing; and any collection of statistics, in 
 regard to such a country, must fall short of the reality, because our data 
 must be taken from the records of the past, and we must lose the accumu¬ 
 lations which are rapidly growing up around us. 
 
 The region in question is no less than the great West, a wilderness fifty 
 years ago, but now an important integral portion of a great nation. It 
 contains nine States and two Territories, and parts of two other States. 
 The aggregate population of all the States and Territories bordering on the 
 navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi is 8,437,779 ; or, if we include only 
 one-third of the population of Pennsylvania and Virginia, for the portion 
 residing west of the Allegany mountains, we have an aggregate of 
 6,461,S92, which is a little over one-third of the population of the United 
 States. We approach the Congress of the United States, then, with a claim 
 in which, under the most narrow view of the subject, one-third of the 
 American people are obviously and directly interested, and in W'hich a ma¬ 
 jority of the population of the Union are interested, if we include the whole 
 of the inhabitants of the States which border on those rivers. But we hold 
 this to be a very inadequate view of the question of interest; for such is 
 the magnitude of our trade, and the intimacy of our relations with the At¬ 
 lantic States, that there is scarcely a corner of the Union which is not bound 
 to us by a constant and reciprocal interchange of commercial advantages* 
 Three of the Atlantic States have been engaged for years in rival exertions 
 to secure the advantages of the Western trade, and have expended millions 
 of treasure in the endeavor to attract that trade to their respective sea ports. 
 Another great State has recently embarked in the same patriotic contest, 
 with a spirit which shows how high an estimate is placed upon the prize. 
 Which of these States is not directly interested in the transportation of mer¬ 
 chandise throughout the whole length of our Western rivers ? Which of 
 them can view with indifference a question that involves the facility, the 
 safety, and the cheapness of navigation, upon these great channels of com¬ 
 merce ? After constructing, by the most lavish expenditure, railroads, turn¬ 
 pikes, and canals, leading to the West, does their pecuniary interest, cease, 
 and their patriotism die at the termini of their gigantic works ; and have 
 they no further concern in the merchandise or the passenger which has 
 passed their boundaries ? These questions are easily answered. Those 
 who purchase our products are interested in every tax upon our industry, 
 and they who supply us with foreign merchandise or manufactured articles 
 that we consume are concerned in all the facilities for transportation, by 
 which their market is rendered accessible. Whatever affects the cost of 
 freight and insurance concerns all mutually who participate in the inter¬ 
 change of commodities. 
 
 Of the millions of property floating annually upon the Western waters, 
 much is owned directly by citizens of the Atlantic States; and of the hun¬ 
 dreds of thousands of passengers who crowd our steamboats, a vast number 
 are inhabitants of those States, who are drawn hither by business, by cu¬ 
 riosity, in the pursuit of pleasure, or in the search of a new home. The 
 
4 
 
 [ ] 
 
 subject, then, is not one of local concern or sectional character; and in ask¬ 
 ing Congress to expend a liberal portion of the public treasure in remov¬ 
 ing the obstructions from our great Western highways, we believe that we 
 represent the wants and interests not merely of eleven States and two Ter¬ 
 ritories, but of the American people . We invite the patronage of the na¬ 
 tion to a great central chain of national intercommunication, which per¬ 
 vades nearly the whole Union, having its connexions with the ocean through 
 Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans, and ex¬ 
 tending its advantages westwardly, throughout the wilderness, to the ex¬ 
 treme frontier. 
 
 Every tax upon the products of the country must be paid either by the 
 producer or the consumer, or it must be divided between them; and what¬ 
 ever adds to the cost of our imports, it is so much taken in some shape from 
 the pockets of the seller or buyer. Where these burdens are of such a 
 character as to afford employment to a portion of our population, it is some 
 consolation to know that what is taken from one class is given to another; 
 but such is not the form of the tax upon our commerce, which forms the 
 subject of this memorial. We deplore the loss, the utter annihilation of 
 property. We deprecate the existence of obstructions in our navigation, 
 which cause unnecessary expense by delay, by destruction of property, by 
 risk, and consequent precaution. All that is thus taken is so much wrested 
 from the hand of industry and enterprise, and given to the devouring ele¬ 
 ment. It is lost to the country. Individuals suffer more or less, but no 
 one is a gainer. The destructive hurricane purifies the atmosphere, and 
 the carcasses that moulder on the battle field enrich the soil; but the wealth 
 ingulfed in the bosom of the waters yields no fruit, nor does the corpse 
 of the hapless voyager, mouldering in an obscure grave, on the borders of 
 a Western river, add a flower to the. wilderness. 
 
 The length of the rivers which we propose to have improved at the na¬ 
 tional charge is worthy of consideration. Without burdening this memo¬ 
 rial with unnecessary details, upon a subject of general notoriety, we may 
 state, in round numbers, that the length of the Ohio, from Pittsburg to its 
 mouth, is 1,000 miles ; and that the length of the Mississippi, from the falls 
 of St. Anthony to the ocean, is 2,000 miles’—giving an extent of 3,000 
 miles for the principal rivers, the improvement of which we ask by the 
 General Government. But in showing the national character of this nav¬ 
 igation, and its importance in comparison with that of the ocean, we add 
 for the navigable length of the Missouri 3,000 miles, and for the aggregate 
 navigable extent of all the tributaries which pour their freights into these 
 principal rivers 6,000 miles more, making the whole extent of navigation 
 12,000 miles. The policy which would consider a connected chain of nav¬ 
 igation of 12.000 miles in extent, and spread over an area of 432,000 square 
 miles, of unexampled fertility and boundless resources, as of local or sec¬ 
 tional interest, must be narrow indeed. But if we are to consider the ex¬ 
 tent of this navigation, in competition with the line of the sea coast of the 
 United States, for the purpose of vindicating our claim to a proportionate 
 share of the protection of the Government, it will be necessary to double 
 its length, as our navigation has a double coast, and we have 24,000 
 miles of river shore, inhabited by American citizens, who are as much in¬ 
 terested in the trade of these rivers as any portion of the American public 
 in that of the Atlantic. 
 
 Large as the interest would seem which is indicated by these figures, it 
 
5 
 
 [179 ] 
 
 is even greater than we have stated. In order to form an adequate idea 
 of the importance of these great rivers as channels of commerce, we must 
 embrace in our view the whole of the great system of intercommunication 
 of which they are only connecting links. They are but parts of a great 
 whole—important fractions of a magnificent system. Their most obvious 
 and direct connexion is with the great Northern lakes, a vast chain of in¬ 
 land seas, surrounded by a productive country, and already whitened by 
 the sails of a most valuable commerce. We cannot better illustrate the 
 magnitude of this trade than by quoting from a speech recently delivered 
 in Congress by a member from Ohio. 
 
 “ Mr. Giddings attributed this neglect of Western commerce to its silent 
 and gradual growth. Until after the purchase of Louisiana it scarce had 
 an existence ; and the people on the seaboard had, even to this day, no ad¬ 
 equate conception of its extent and importance. The American flag had 
 first been raised on Lake Erie, within his personal recollection, on board 
 of a small schooner of seventy tons, in 1796. In 1802 the first Govern¬ 
 ment vessel was launched there. Previous to 1815, the arrivals at Buffa¬ 
 lo, now the queen city of the Western lakes, were so few as not to be re¬ 
 corded ; they were then 395 ; they now exceed 4,000. The first steam¬ 
 boat was built in 1818; there were now on Lake Erie alone 64 steam¬ 
 boats. After going to some extent in these statistical details, Mr. Giddings, 
 to give Southern gentlemen a more adequate conception of what the West¬ 
 ern commerce really was, went on to state that in 1842 the State of Ohio 
 alone had built vessels of a larger aggregate amount of tonnage than Vir¬ 
 ginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Missis¬ 
 sippi, with Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, in the bargain. Was a 
 navigation like this entitled to no regard, no protection at the hands of 
 Government? Including ships, brigs, and craft of all descriptions, there 
 were 400 vessels now navigating these lakes above the falls of Niagara. 
 The first steamboat built at Chicago was in 1832 ; and in eleven years the 
 tonnage of that port had grown up to 117,000 tons. 
 
 “ On a lake coast exceeding 5,000 miles, there had been bestowed by 
 the Government but $2,400,000, (while in Delaware harbor alone it had 
 spent $300,000.) Of this coast, 240 miles belonged to the State of Ohio, 
 and it had received but $423,000. Lake Erie had no natural harbor on 
 all its southern coast, insomuch that Perry’s fleet had to lie for protection 
 under some little islands near the head of the lake: The mouths of the 
 rivers were open in the spring, but as soon as the freshets subsided, the 
 strength of the stream was no longer sufficient to force its way into the 
 lake; the consequence of which was, that by midsummer a bar of sand 
 was deposited all across the mouth of the harbor, so that a man might 
 walk across dry shod. When a good harbor had been made by project¬ 
 ing parallel piers into the lake, as at Cleveland, vessels of six or seven hun¬ 
 dred tons could enter at all times without the least difficulty. 
 
 “ Mr. Giddings here went on to enumerate the harbors where improve¬ 
 ments of this kind had been made or commenced, but all abandoned in 
 1838 ; in consequence of which, all that had been done went to ruin, and 
 some of the harbors were entirely closed. From 1S25 to 1838 these im¬ 
 provements were made the care of the Government, and appropriations 
 were from time to time made, and economically applied. The people were 
 satisfied and grateful; but in 1838 the very tools necessary to preserve 
 what had been done were publicly sold, the Government expressly re com- 
 
[ 179 ] 
 
 6 
 
 mending that these works be abandoned. The people then learned what 
 they had to expect.” 
 
 The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser furnishes the very interesting statis¬ 
 tics below, showing the amount of merchandise and furniture which passed 
 that great key of the lakes in the past year. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 
 all receive goods through other routes. Michigan receives hers almost 
 exclusively through Lake Erie. 
 
 The tolls show conclusively that the stream of emigration is to Wisconsin; 
 but that Ohio is the great consumer of merchandise. 
 
 “ The quantity of merchandise and furniture arriving here and passing 
 westward is one of the best criterions of the growth and prosperity of the 
 interior. In connexion with our table of canal exports, we gave the ag¬ 
 gregate of merchandise received. The ultimate destination of this prop¬ 
 erty, and the families accompanying it, exhibit fully the leading points of 
 emigration during the past season. 
 
 “ Of the merchandise, Ohio has received much the greatest quantity, 
 while the heaviest aggregate of furniture has gone toward Wisconsin. 
 The annexed table shows this: 
 
 “ Exhibit of merchandise and furniture passing westward in 1843. 
 
 States, &c. 
 
 Merchandise. 
 
 Furniture. 
 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Lbs. 
 
 Ohio ----- 
 
 29,056,8 65 
 
 1,384,372 
 
 Michigan ----- 
 
 16,505,281 
 
 1,492,627 
 
 Illinois ----- 
 
 6,954,903 
 
 1,275,377 
 
 Wisconsin ----- 
 
 5,730,523 
 
 2,630,190 
 
 Indiana - ' - 
 
 4,511,301 
 
 249,936 
 
 Pennsylvania - 
 
 152,023 
 
 51,664” 
 
 The exports of wheat and flour from four ports upon the lakes, viz : 
 Cleveland, Detroit, Sandusky, and Chicago, in 1843, amounted to the fol¬ 
 lowing aggregate :* Wheat, 1,894,992 bushels ; and flour, 812,903—worth 
 about four and a half millions of dollars. 
 
 The value of all the exports from Cleveland alone, for the year 1843, was 
 five and a half millions. 
 
 The States immediately adjacent to these lakes, and directly interested 
 in their navigation, are New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, 
 and Michigan, all of which have been enumerated in a foregoing part of 
 this memorial as being directly interested in the navigation of the Western 
 rivers, except New York and Michigan. These two States contained to¬ 
 gether, in 1840, a population of 2,641,1S8, which, added to that of the 
 States whose borders are washed by the Mississippi and its tributaries, 
 gives a total of 11,078,967, and shows the important fact that eleven out 
 of the seventeen millions of the population of the United States are di¬ 
 rectly interested in these two great links of the vast interior chain of com¬ 
 munication. 
 
 Nor is this the only form in which we recognise the intimate connexion 
 
7 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 of these parts. If we take our position at the busy harbor of Buffalo, 
 and behold her quays crowded with merchandise and passengers; if we 
 extend our observation along the great railway and canal to Albany, and 
 thence by the Hudson to New York, and the railway to Boston, we be¬ 
 hold an inland thoroughfare of unrivalled extent and magnificence, cre¬ 
 ated by a vast expenditure of treasure, and an unsurpassed exertion of 
 genius, enterprise, and public spirit; and we see this long line of transit 
 crowded with a busy throng of human beings and rich freights of mer¬ 
 chandise. To what end were millions of dollars expended in the con¬ 
 struction of these highways, and why are they thus frequented by busy thou¬ 
 sands of human beings ? It is the road to the West; those countless tons 
 of freight are the products of our rich plains, or the returns of foreign 
 merchandise, which are destined to traverse our lakes and rivers. It is a 
 .part of that great inland trade which has grown up within the memory of 
 living men, and has become the pride of our country, its paramount in¬ 
 terest, the muscle and sinew of its power. 
 
 We cannot separate these interests. It is impossible to consider these 
 great arterial channels without perceiving their connexion with each other, 
 and tracing their ramification to the utmost extremities of our country. 
 The West is no longer a frontier ; it is the heart of the Union. This is not 
 only geographically true, but it is true in every sense. The centre of pop¬ 
 ulation, of production, and of consumption, is here. We furnish the greater 
 portion of the exports and consume the greater portion of the imports 
 that make up the sum of the foreign commerce of the nation. Our rivers 
 are no longer margined by silent forests; cities, towns, villages, and culti¬ 
 vated fields, enliven their shores, and bear testimony to the industry, re¬ 
 sources, and refinement of the country. 
 
 We have said that the Ohio and Mississippi are but parts of a great 
 chain of inland communication. Their tributaries penetrate every West¬ 
 ern State, and disseminate throughout the whole of our broad plain the 
 advantages of this navigation; and should Congress carry forward, with 
 the spirit worthy of a great nation, the work of improving the Mississippi 
 and Ohio, it will not be long before every river in the West will be cleared 
 of obstructions by the action of the General or State Governments, and 
 the magnificent spectacle will be presented to the world, of an uninter¬ 
 rupted inland navigation of more, than twenty thousand miles in extent, 
 within the bosom of a great continent, far removed from the sea coast, and 
 independent of the estuaries and inlets of the ocean ! 
 
 Nor is the conception of this great highway complete, until we trace it 
 to its extremities. In the South, it connects with the Gulf of Mexico, in 
 latitude 29°; in the North, it falls into the St. Lawrence, communicates with 
 the whole southern boundary of the Canadas, and stretches off into the 
 Atlantic ocean in latitude 50°; and it extends through Lake Superior, 
 through a long chain of lakes and rivers, far beyond the utmost bounds of 
 civilization in the Northwest. On the East, it connects itself by canals and 
 railroads, already mentioned, with the sea ports of the Eastern and Mid¬ 
 dle States, while on the West its advantages are extended by the long chan¬ 
 nels of the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas, and Red rivers, beyond 
 the inhabited regions of the United States. From large portions of our 
 country, it is the highway that must be travelled to Texas, to Oregon, and 
 to Canada; it bears the freights intended for our commerce with Santa Fe, 
 the products of the fur trade from the regions of the Rocky mountains, and 
 
8 
 
 t 179 ] 
 
 the traffic with all the Indian tribes upon our borders. Such is the char¬ 
 acter and magnitude of the grand thoroughfare which we ask the nation 
 to open and improve by its treasure, and such the trade for which we in¬ 
 voke the parental care of the Government. 
 
 The number of steamboats employed at this time in navigating the Mis¬ 
 sissippi and its tributaries is 450. The average burden of these boats is 
 200 tons each, making an aggregate of 90,000 tons; and their aggregate 
 value, at $80 per ton, is $7,200,000. Many of these are fine vessels, af¬ 
 fording the most elegant accommodations for passengers, and which will 
 compare favorably, in beauty of model, completeness of finish, and all other 
 particulars, with the best packets in any part of the world. 
 
 The number of persons engaged in navigating our steamboats varies 
 from twenty to fifty for each boat. The average is about thirty-five per¬ 
 sons, which will give a total of 15,750 persons embarked in this naviga¬ 
 tion. 
 
 It appears, from the reports of the Louisville and Portland canal, that 
 more than 700 flat boats have passed that canal in one year. At this rate, 
 there cannot be less than 4,000 descending the Mississippi, and allowing five 
 men to each boat, there are 20,000 persons engaged in this branch of the 
 navigation. The cost of these boats is $420,000, >vhic.h, as they do not re¬ 
 turn, is an annual expense, and the expense of loading, navigating^ and 
 unloading them, is $960,000—making the whole annual expenditure upon 
 this class of boats $1,380,000. 
 
 In 1834, the number of steamboats in existence on the Western waters 
 was 230, and they were estimated to carry 39,000 tons. The expense of 
 running them was put down as follows: 
 
 60 boats over 200 tons, ISO running days, at $140 per day - $1,512,000 
 
 70 boats from 120 to 200 tons, 240 running days, at $90 per 
 
 day ------- 1,512,000 
 
 100 boats under 120 tons, 270 running days, at $60 per day 1,620,000 
 
 Total yearly expenses - - 4,645,000 
 
 y 
 
 This calculation, applied to the present number of boats, would result 
 as follows : 
 
 110 boats over 200 tons, 180 running days, at $140 per day $2,772,000 
 140 boats from 120 to 200 tons, 240 running days, at $90 
 
 per day ------- 3,024,000 
 
 200 boats under 120 tons, 280 running days, at $60 per day 3,240,000 
 
 Total - - - - 9,036,000 
 
 This sum may be reduced to the different items producing 
 lowing proportions : 
 
 For wages, 36 per cent., equal to - 
 For wood, 30 per cent., equal to - 
 For provisions, 18 per cent., equal to 
 For contingencies, 16 per cent., equal to - 
 
 it, in the fol- 
 
 $3,252,960* 
 
 2,710,800 
 
 1,626,480 
 
 1,445,760 
 
 Total 
 
 9,036,000 
 
9 [ 179 J 
 
 To this is to be added, for insurance, 15 per cent., on 
 
 $7,200,000 - $1,080,000 
 Tolls of the Louisville and Portland canal - 250,000 
 
 Interest on the investment, $7,200,000, at 6 per cent. - 432,000 
 
 Wear and tear of the boats, 20 per cent. - 1,440,000 
 
 Total ------ 12,238,000 
 
 Add for the flat boats, as above * 1,380,000 
 
 Total annual cost of transportation - 13,618,000 
 
 The rapid increase of this commerce may be seen from the following 
 facts: 
 
 Previous to the adoption of the steamboat navigation, say in 1817, the 
 whole commerce from New Orleans to the upper country was carried in 
 about twenty barges, averaging 100 tons each, and making but one trip per 
 year. The number of keel boats employed on the upper Ohio could not 
 have exceeded 150, carrying 30 tons each, and making the trip from Pitts¬ 
 burg to Louisville and back in two months, or about three voyages in 
 the season. The tonnage of all the boats ascending the Ohio and lower 
 Mississippi was then about 6,500. 
 
 In 1834, the number of steamboats was 230, and the tonnage equal to 
 about 39,000 tons ; and, in 1842, the number of boats is 450, and their 
 burden 90,000 tons. 
 
 In 1842 it was calculated that the whole number of persons deriving 
 subsistence from this navigation, including the crews of steam and flat boats, 
 mechanics and laborers employed in building and repairing boats, wood 
 cutters, and persons employed in furnishing, supplying, loading and un¬ 
 loading these boats, was 90,000. As the number of boats has doubled 
 since that time, the number of people directly engaged in and about this 
 navigation is not less than 180,000; but who shall place a limit to the 
 numbers who are beneficially interested in a business which distributes its 
 millions of dollars for wood, its millions for wages, its millions for provi¬ 
 sions, its millions for machinery and the labor of mechanics, and which 
 transports a commerce whose value can only be computed by hundreds of 
 millions ? 
 
 The whole number of steamboats constructed at Cincinnati in 1843 was 
 45 ; the aggregate amount of their tonnage is 12,035 tons, and their cost 
 $705,000 ; which gives an average of 267 tons for each boat, and about 
 $16,000 for the cost of each. 
 
 The models of these boats, as well as their finish and accommodations, 
 evince a progressive improvement upon the boats of forme* years. They 
 have more length and less draught, and are faster than the last generation,, 
 while the hulls are more stanch, though they contain less weight of timber. 
 The cabins are not so gaudy and expensive as those of the old boats, while , 
 they are greatly superior in comfort and convenience. The average cost 
 is about seventy-two dollars per ton, which is a great reduction from former 
 prices. 
 
 All the work of these boats is done at Cincinnati, and gives employment 
 to boat builders, carpenters, joiners, engine makers, blacksmiths, copper¬ 
 smiths, painters, upholsterers, cabinet makers, chair makers, and some other 
 mechanics. 
 
10 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 There have been steadily employed at the Cincinnati ship yards, during 
 the year, in the heavier portions of the work: 
 
 320 hands at the boat yards. 
 
 200 joiners. 
 
 200 engine and foundry men. 
 
 50 painters. 
 
 770 
 
 Within the same year there have been built at Louisville, New Albany 
 and Jeffersonville, 35 boats, of 7,406 tons, which cost $700,000. These 
 boats would cost $20,000 each, would average 211 tons, and would cost 
 about $95 per ton. 
 
 And there have been built at Pittsburg, in the same year, 25 boats, of 
 4,347 tons, of which the cost is not given. The average tonnage of the 
 boats is about 173 tons. 
 
 The aggregate of the boats built in 1843 is nearly as follows : 
 
 
 Boats. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Cincinnati - 
 
 45 
 
 12,035 
 
 Louisville, New Albany, and Jeffersonville 
 
 35 
 
 7,406 
 
 Pittsburg ■- - 
 
 25 
 
 4,347 
 
 Add for all other places - - - 
 
 15 
 
 3,000 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 26,788 
 
 The whole tonnage of the Western boats previous to 1843 being 90,000 
 tons, and the annual loss by destruction and superannuation being twenty 
 per cent., the decrease by the latter cause for 1843 was IS,000 tons, and 
 the increase 26,78S tons—making a nett increase of 8,788 tons. 
 
 It will be seen that we have placed the tonnage of our Western boats 
 at 90,000 tons. This was considered to be the real aggregate of the ton¬ 
 nage, when the first edition of this memorial was prepared, in the winter 
 of 1842- ? 43. We have since that time had access to official returns, 
 published under the sanction of Congress, showing the tonnage- of the 
 West to have been much larger, even at that time, than we stated it to be; 
 but, as we had based all our calculations on the amount stated by us, we 
 have not, in this edition, altered the statement alluded to, but shall add 
 such additional information as we have obtained. 
 
 By the official returns, it appears that the whole steamboat tonnage of 
 the United States, on the last day of September, 1842, was 218,994 tons; 
 which may be divided as follows, setting down the figures as we find them, 
 in the returns, and only transposing them so as to arrange them under the 
 appropriate heads : 
 
 WEST. 
 
 New Orleans 
 St. Louis - 
 Cincinnati 
 Pittsburg - 
 Louisville 
 Nashville - 
 
 Tons. 
 
 - 80,993 
 
 - 14,725 
 
 - 12,025 
 
 - 10,107 
 
 * 4,618 
 
 3,810 
 
 126,278 
 
11 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 Tons. 
 
 8,212 
 
 3,296 
 
 2,315 
 
 1,970 
 
 1,859 
 
 17,652 
 
 Tons. 
 
 35,260 
 
 7,143 
 
 6,982 
 
 4,578 
 
 3,289 
 
 2,854 
 
 2,606 
 
 1,418 
 
 1,362 
 
 3,395 
 
 1,212 
 
 1,178 
 
 1,120 
 
 4,767 
 
 76,064 
 
 The steamboat tonnage belongs to the internal commerce of this country, 
 as we have no steam vessels engaged in foreign commerce, except two or 
 three in the Gulf of Mexico. Of the whole 218,994 tons, it appears that 
 two-thirds belong to the West; and as a portion of the other tonnage is 
 employed on routes leading to the West, and connecting with our 
 highways, the commerce of the West may be safely stated as amounting 
 to more than two-thirds of the commerce of the Union. 
 
 Estimating the number of steamboats from their average tonnage, there 
 must be one thousand in the United States, of which six hundred belong 
 to the West. 
 
 The table of tonnage above given shows where this vast commercial 
 marine is employed. First, on the valley of the Mississippi, next in the 
 city of New York, and then on the lakes. From the port of New York, 
 there are some 70 or 80 steamboats constantly running; while on the 
 lakes there are hundreds. In the valley of the Mississippi, the number of 
 steamboats now employed is equal to the whole number of those employed 
 in England proper. This will appear from the following statement, ex¬ 
 tracted from McCulloch's Gazetteer, of the steamboat tonnage of Great 
 Britain in 1834 : 
 
 Buffalo 
 Detroit 
 Prequ’isle 
 Oswego - 
 Cuyahoga 
 
 OTHER. 
 
 New York - 
 
 Baltimore - 
 
 Mobile .... 
 
 Philadelphia - 
 
 Charleston - 
 
 Newbern - 
 
 Perth Amboy - 
 
 Appalachicola - 
 
 Boston - 
 
 Norfolk - 
 
 Wilmington - 
 
 Georgetown - 
 
 Newark - 
 
 Miscellaneous - 
 
 NORTHWEST- 
 
 * " 
 
C 179 3 
 
 England 
 
 
 12 
 
 » 
 
 Steam ships. 
 434 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 43,877 
 
 Scotland 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 105 
 
 13,113 
 
 Ireland 
 
 - 
 
 «r 
 
 S4 
 
 17,674 
 
 British dependencies 
 
 - 
 
 m* a» 
 
 49 
 
 8,032 
 
 Total 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 722 
 
 82,716 
 
 It appears, then, that the steamboat tonnage of the Mississippi valley 
 exceeds, by 40,000 tofts, the entire steamboat tonnage of the British em¬ 
 pire. In other words, the steamboat tonnage of Great Britain is only two- 
 thirds that of the Mississippi valley. The magnitude of this fact will be 
 best seen by considering that the entire tonnage of the United States is 
 but two-thirds that of Great Britain—showing that this proportion is ex¬ 
 actly reversed in Western steamboat trade. 
 
 Not only is the building of steamboats increasing every year, but every 
 year is opening new channels of trade and navigation. In the last year, 
 the river Platte was navigated by a steamboat for the first time; and it 
 will not be long before the Yellowstone, the Arkansas, Red river, and 
 the Missouri, will employ more boats than are now floating on the Mis¬ 
 sissippi. 
 
 In estimating the value of the property floating upon the Ohio and Mis¬ 
 sissippi at one time, or within any given period, much must be left to con¬ 
 jecture, as, under our happy form of Government, no portion of it is sub¬ 
 ject to entry at a custom-house, or liable to any official registry, which 
 would place on record the accurate statistics of this commerce. But we 
 are not left entirely without data from which to form an estimate ap¬ 
 proximating the true amount. We know that this trade is carried on by 
 means of 450 steamboats, of 90,000 tons burden, some of which, as the 
 larger boats running to New Orleans, from the more distant ports, make 
 from eight to fifteen trips per year. The boats carrying the vast trade from 
 Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville, to and from St. Louis, make thirty 
 trips, while a great number of boats ply between less distant points, and 
 make their 1 trips more frequently. If, however, we suppose that the aver¬ 
 age number of trips is twenty, our whole number of boats have the capa¬ 
 city to carry 1,800,000 tons per annum. To this would be added the 
 freights of 4,000 flat boats, carrying, at an average of 75 tons each, 300,000 
 tons, and bringing the whole annual tonnage to more than two millions, 
 if the steamboats always carried full cargoes, which, however, is far from 
 being the case. But the fact that our boats are capable of carrying that 
 Amount of freights, and that they find suflicient business to keep them 
 employed, forms an important link in the series of facts from which we 
 form our estimate. 
 
 The actual amount of imports into New Orleans, by the descending 
 trade of the Mississippi, is another important element in this calculation. 
 This we obtain from a list published annually in that city, and obtained 
 from the daily reports of the wharf masters of the packages and merchan¬ 
 dise actually landed. Taking the year from September J, 1S41, to August 
 31, 1842, estimating the supposed contents of the packages of which the 
 contents are not actually stated or known, and affixing the present re¬ 
 duced prices, we find that the imports, as stated in this list, amount to 
 $35,764,477 36. 
 
13 
 
 C 179 1 
 
 Another mode of deciding the amount of this trade is by reference to 
 the number of sea vessels arriving at the port of New Orleans, which may 
 be ascertained from the reports of the custom-house. These are not'at 
 this moment within the reach of your memorialists, but can be commanded 
 by Congress. But we state, on the authority of the newspapers of that 
 city, that the shipping in port at one time, in December, 1843, amounted 
 to upwards ot 600—all of which are employed in carrying away the sta¬ 
 ples of the West, while their crews consume a large amount of products, 
 not included in the list of staples. The country which employs 600 ships 
 in bearing off its products by one outlet, while it exports largely in the 
 opposite dir^ion by the lakes, canals, and railroads, can be neither small 
 in extent, nor inconsiderable in its wealth, industry, and resources. 
 
 This list, it will be perceived, includes only the more important articles 
 of commerce ; but those which are not embraced in it would amount to a 
 very considerable annual sum. It does not include live stock ; yet horses, 
 cattle, sheep, and hogs, are shipped to New Orleans in immense numbers; 
 and the amount of poultry, eggs,* vegetables, and other provisions, carried 
 to that market, from the most distant parts of the Mississippi valley, is 
 great beyond the belief of those not conversant with the facts. New 
 Orleans, it will be recollected, is situated in a southern climate, and in a 
 planting country, where but a scanty supply of food is raised for home 
 consumption, and it is a seaport at which the number of vessels congre¬ 
 gated at the business season is greater perhaps than at any port in the 
 Union, to say nothing of the large number of steamboats and other river 
 craft; and the supplies of provisions for that city, and for the shipping and 
 boats lying there, are floated down the Mississippi. A variety of manu¬ 
 factured articles also, such as machinery, furniture, and many fabrics of 
 iron, tin, copper, wood, and leather, are not included in the list referred to. 
 Cincinnati alone manufactures sugar mills for the Southern market to the 
 amount of $200,000 per annum, a considerable portion, of which are ship¬ 
 ped to New Orleans. Nor does that list include any merchandise or 
 produce which is landed without the limits of the municipalities, which 
 would include the cargoes of many steamboats, and a still larger por¬ 
 tion of the lading of fiat boats. Neither does it include shipments of 
 specie, nor the money carried in various forms on board of steamboats. 
 We arrive, then, at the conclusion, that the whole annual value of the ar¬ 
 rivals at New Orleans by the river, from descending boats, is not less than, 
 fifty millions. After making this estimate, we were gratified to learn, from 
 an authentic source, that an intelligent committee of gentlemen at New 
 Orleans, making an estimate recently from the same data, arrived at the 
 same conclusion. 
 
 To this is to be added the trade to that part of the Mississippi called 
 “ the coast.’’ The shores of the Mississippi, on both sides, from the mouth 
 of the Ohio downwards, receive supplies of live stock, provisions, machinery, 
 farming implements, cabinet ware, tin ware, saddlery, and a great variety 
 of fabrics, from the more northern states. The population thus supplied 
 is not less than one million of souls, who receive all the luxuries and most 
 of the necessaries of life by way of these rivers. 
 
 A still more important addition is the trade which passes from town to 
 
 * It is a fact that one individual at Cincinnati has negotiated drafts through the banks to the an¬ 
 nual amount of from $20,000 to $25,000, or the proceeds of eggs shipped from that place to New 
 Orleans. • 
 
14 
 
 C 179 ] 
 
 town, and from State to State, throughout the West, and which is indepen¬ 
 dent of what are termed exports or imports. It is difficult to form any ade¬ 
 quate idea of this trade; but we who see it going forward, and witness the 
 gigantic means required to keep it in operation, know that it forms a large 
 item in the estimate of our trade and industry. The population of the West¬ 
 ern plain was nearly seven millions at the enumeration made in 1839 and * 
 1840, for the census of 1840, and the trade to which we now allude is that of 
 an enterprising people, whose numbers may now be assumed as fully seven 
 millions, scattered over a continuous but vast region, embracing a great 
 diversity of soil, climate, and products, and affording the materials and facili¬ 
 ties for an almost unlimited interchange of commodities. ^The furs and 
 lead of the northern portion; the iron of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, 
 and Tennessee : the grain, the salted provisions, and live stock, of the mid¬ 
 dle region ; and the sugar, cotton, and tobacco, of the South—would alone 
 furnish the elements of a vast internal commerce. 
 
 The manufactured articles consumed in the West are now made, to a 
 great extent, within our limits, and transported to every part of our coun¬ 
 try, and of course the raw materials which are employed in these fabrics 
 enter largely into our freights. At Cincinnati alone, by an accurate enu¬ 
 meration made for the year 1841, it appears that there were 10,647 work¬ 
 men engaged in mechanical and manufacturing employments, and that 
 the annual value of their products was - $17,432,670 
 
 And the amount of provisions, in addition to those included 
 
 in the above estimate, passing through our city from the 
 
 interior, was computed at - - - - - 6,000,000 
 
 Making ------ 22,432,670 
 
 After deducting the consumption of our city, and the articles which are 
 shipped to New Orleans, there will remain something over $10,000,000 of 
 manufactured articles which are transported to various markets within the 
 Western States, and nearly all of which float on our rivers. 
 
 The manufactures of Pittsburg do not vary greatly in amount from those 
 of Cincinnati, but in the $17,000,000 set down for Cincinnati are included 
 live millions of provisions and other articles which find a market at New 
 Orleans, and which are included in the estimate of the imports of that 
 city, while the labor and capital of Pittsburg are more largely invested in 
 fabrics of iron, glass, &c., which are distributed widely throughout the 
 West. The shipments, therefore, from both places, to other parts of the 
 West, may be safely stated at twenty five millions. Louisville and New 
 Albany would furnish five millions more to this head; and if three points 
 on the Ohio furnish thirty millions of articles to the trade within the 
 Western States, it cannot be an unreasonable calculation to allow, for 
 the raw materials imported into those places, and for the whole of this 
 branch of trade carried on between all other places in the West, including 
 St. Louis, forty millions more, making for the whole of this interior inter¬ 
 change of commodities an aggregate of seventy millions of dollars, which, 
 added to the fifty millions exported through New Orleans, would give a 
 grand total of one hundred and twenty millions, for the annual amount of 
 the productions of the Western States, which are freighted upon the Ohio 
 and Mississippi. This calculation we find corroborated by that of an in¬ 
 telligent committee at St. Louis, which is the more satisfactory, as the 
 
15 
 
 [ 179 1 
 
 vastness of the commerce centering at that point, and the great extent of 
 country through which the operations of her enterprising citizens are car¬ 
 ried, afford them the best data from which to form a deliberate opinion. 
 
 To the above amount is to be added the value of the imports of foreign 
 goods, which are floated to their places of destination upon the same wa¬ 
 ters. And here it may be stated, with sufficient accuracy for the present 
 purpose, that if our exports to New Orleans amount to fifty millions of 
 dollars, our returns from .the same point will equal that sum, while the 
 imports from the Eastern cities, by the way of Wheeling, Pittsburg, and 
 the lakes, embracing a large proportion of all the European goods used in 
 the West, will amount to an additional sum of fifty millions per annum—- 
 making, in all, one hundred millions of imports. 
 
 In making these estimates we feel satisfied that, if the statistics of our 
 trade could be ascertained, they would greatly exceed our estimate, and 
 that we may safely assume the aggregate value of the property floating * 
 on our great rivers to be two hundred and twenty millions per annum. 
 
 The imports into the United States from foreign nations, for the year 
 1S41, were $127,916,177, and the exports $121,851, SOS ; and when it is 
 recollected that, in estimating our interior trade, we have based some of our 
 heaviest items upon data collected three years ago, that all our values are 
 calculated at prices greatly reduced, and that our whole country, with its 
 trade and production, are in a state of rapid progression, it will be readily 
 seen that this interior commerce is fully equal to our commerce with for¬ 
 eign nations, that its character is equally national, and its protection equally 
 essential to the common benefit, and advantage of all the States. 
 
 It is also true that, of the foreign goods imported into the United States^ 
 the West is the most important consumer ; and that, besides our direct 
 contribution to the national revenue in the cash paid for lands, we pay a 
 large proportion of the imposts on foreign merchandise ; and that we fur¬ 
 nish a larger proportion of the public revenue than any other part of the 
 Union, while the proportion of the national expenditures made among us 
 has been comparatively trifling. 
 
 We do not make this comparison invidiously, but in vindication of our 
 just rights. We have seen the treasures of the American people lavished 
 in bountiful appropriations for surveys and defences of the coast, for the 
 improvement of the harbors, for the erection of light-houses, for the build¬ 
 ing of custom-houses, for astronomical observations, and various other pur¬ 
 poses, in aid of the navigation and commerce of the ocean, not only with¬ 
 out regret, but with a willingness to contribute freely to whatever may 
 conduce to the general prosperity. But, while sustaining bur just propor¬ 
 tion of the expenditures for commercial purposes upon one boundary of> 
 the Union, and for the benefit of one branch of the national wealth and 
 enterprise, we claim the appropriation of a like proportion of the public 
 treasure for the protection of another branch of commerce, equally national 
 and alike important. We claim it as the equitable right of a numerous 
 population, who have built up a great internal empire by their own wealth 
 and labors, with little aid from the common purse, who defended it during 
 the perils of the war with their blood, and are daily enlarging its bounda¬ 
 ries and resources by their industry, their patriotism, and their public 
 spirit. We urge it as the true policy of a wise people, in reference to their 
 own future prosperity. The West is the centre of the Union, the citadel 
 of its power, the great living fountain, whose boundless resources are des 
 
16 
 
 / 
 
 C 179 ] 
 
 tined to sustain and enrich the nation. Here will soon exist the millions 
 who will govern our vast Republic, and the treasures resulting from the 
 labors of an energetic people, which must circulate through every channel 
 of commerce and industry to the remotest boundaries of our dominion, 
 and to every land to which the American flag shall find access; and here 
 should the nation lay broad and strong the foundations of its future great¬ 
 ness. 
 
 We may fairly refer to the prospective increase of this trade, as it is 
 obvious that it must not only be great, but beyond the compass of any 
 reasonable calculation. The vast amount of unsettled land of the finest 
 quality, and the tide of emigration which is rapidly pouring in, leave no 
 room to question the speedy growth of the country, or to doubt that its 
 agricultural products will be multiplied in an increasing ratio. Another 
 great interest is growing up among us, which will vastly accelerate this 
 process. Already we manufacture largely. Pittsburg and Cincinnati, to 
 say nothing of other points, stand prominent among the manufacturing 
 towns of the Union; and nature has scattered over our land, with a pro¬ 
 fuse munificence, all the elementary principles and materials required for 
 the sustenance of manufacturing industry. The most important of min¬ 
 erals, iron, is found in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio, and doubtless may 
 be found in other places, of the most superior quality, and admirably 
 adapted to every purpose for which that metal is used. Lead is equally 
 abundant. Cotton, hemp, and wool, are among our staples. The country 
 abounds in water power. The cotton of Mississippi can be delivered at 
 Cincinnati nearly as cheaply as at New Orleans ; and there is no place in 
 the Union where the laborer can be supported with greater comfort and 
 economy. The pittance which elsewhere will barely procure the neces¬ 
 saries of life will here spread his table with its luxuries. With beef and 
 pork at 2 cents per pound, wheat at 70 cents per bushel, corn at 12| cents per 
 bushel, potatoes at 25 cents per bushel, turkeys at 25 cents, chickens at 8 
 cents, coal of the finest quality at from 6 to 10 cents per bushel, and wood at 
 $1 50 per cord, we must take this branch of industry from any country 
 having a more steril and less genial climate. The raw materal, the mo¬ 
 tive power, the provisions, are here ; the market for the manufactured ar¬ 
 ticle is here, and the labor will come whenever we say that we are ready 
 to give it employment. 
 
 We cannot forbear from quoting some valuable facts, which are con¬ 
 tained in a late number of Hunt’s Magazine, in which the writer shows 
 the immense amount of the agricultural products of the United States, of 
 which the West is known to furnish the greatest proportion: 
 
 “Of the amount of the several species of agricultural products yielded 
 by the country, we are furnished with full data by the statistical returns, 
 . which, although, perhaps, not entirely accurate, present as complete a 
 statement as could, under the circumstances, have been furnished. By a 
 table compiled from these returns, it appears that we have produced dur¬ 
 ing the year ending the 1st of June, 1840, the products, a statement of 
 which we here subjoin, with their amount: 
 
 Horses and mules 
 Neat cattle - 
 
 Live stock,. 
 
 4,333,669 
 
 14,871,596 
 
17 
 
 Sheep - 
 
 Swine - - 
 
 Poultry of all kinds, estimated value 
 
 No. bushels 
 
 wheat - 
 
 Do 
 
 barley - 
 
 Do 
 
 oats 
 
 Do 
 
 rye 
 
 Do 
 
 buckwheat 
 
 Do 
 
 Indian corn 
 
 No. pounds 
 
 wool 
 
 Do 
 
 hops 
 
 Do 
 
 wax 
 
 Bushels potatoes 
 
 Tons hay 
 
 Tons hemp and flax - 
 
 Cereal grains. 
 
 Various crops . 
 
 Tobacco , cotton , sugar , fyc. 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 - 19,311,374. 
 
 - 26,301,293 
 
 - $9,344,410 
 
 - 84,823,272 
 
 4,161,504 
 
 - 123,071,341 
 
 - 18,645,567 
 
 7,291,743 
 
 - 377,531,875 
 
 - 35,802,114 
 
 1,23S,502 
 
 628,303 
 
 - 108,29S,060 
 
 - 10,248,108 
 
 95,251 
 
 Pounds tobacco gathered 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 217,163,319 
 
 Do rice - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 80,841,422 
 
 Do cotton gathered 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 790,479,205 
 
 Do silk cocoons - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 61,552 
 
 Do sugar made - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 155,100,809 
 
 Cords wood sold - 
 
 m 
 
 - 
 
 5,088,891 
 
 Value of the produce of the dairy - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - $33,787,008 
 
 Do do do orchard 
 
 t 
 
 •a 
 
 - $7,556,964 
 
 Gallons wine made - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 124,734 
 
 Value of home-made or family goods 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 29,023,380 
 
 “ He also states, as a fact which has escaped the observation of many, 
 that the Indian corn raised in Tennessee is nearly three times the amount 
 raised in Pennsylvania, and more than four times the quantity produced in 
 the great State of New York ; and yet Tennessee, in the North, is hardly 
 looked upon as an agricultural State. 
 
 “ Tables are given which show that two-thirds of the crop of Indian com 
 is raised in the slaveholding States; and of this quantity but a very small 
 portion is exported. It is the great staple for the food of all classes ; and 
 for beast as well as man. In these States a comparatively small amount 
 of wheat is raised, though the crops of oats are large. The great wheat¬ 
 growing States are Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia, though 
 it is known they have been greatly gained on the past two years by Illinois 
 and Michigan. 
 
 “ The great corn-growing States are Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, 
 Indiana, North Carolina, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia—Tennessee being the 
 greatest. In 1839 she raised 44,9S6,00Q bushels. Tennessee therefore is 
 the banner State in corn, Ohio in wheat, and New York in oats; while in 
 the aggregate of these three principal grains Ohio is the banner State of 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 •the Union, Pennsylvania rating No. 5 in the list. New England stands 
 very low in the scale in both corn and wheat, and not very high up in oats. 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut are both below Delaware in their product 
 of wheat and corn. 
 
 “The crops of 1S42 are estimated at 800,000,000 bushels, the whole of 
 which in price would average about the average selling price of corn, or 
 40 cents per bushel; which gives the enormous aggregate of $320,000,000, 
 as the worth of the present year’s grain crops, exclusive of rye, buck¬ 
 wheat, and barley, which, according to the same calculation, is worth 
 about $10,000,000 more, giving a grand total of $336,000,000. This is 
 indeed a great country, and in nothing greater than its agricultural re¬ 
 sources, which are but partially enumerated above, and which, too, have 
 hardly begun to develope themselves.” 
 
 If there be any truth in figures, we have here abundant evidence that 
 agriculture is the paramount interest of the country, the source of its com¬ 
 merce, the fountain of its wealth. The West is by far the most extensive, 
 fertile, and productive part of the Union, and furnishes the most valuable 
 portion of these products ; the vast amount of which corroborate the esti¬ 
 mate we have made of the value of our trade. And we add the further 
 inference, if the products of the nation be so great, how important the 
 great central avenues by which they must find a market! 
 
 If the Western rivers are thus important to the American people, in ref¬ 
 erence to the facilities afforded to them in their commerce and private con¬ 
 cerns, as individuals, it is not less so to them in their political capacity. 
 Of the amount of population which we have set down as inhabiting the 
 countries watered by these rivers, 4,053,731 are inhabitants of the States 
 containing the public domain, and in which the nation is directly interested 
 as the owner of the soil. How many of those inhabitants would now be 
 settled upon lands purchased of the Government, had not the country 
 been made accessible by the application of steam ? The reply is obvious. 
 Of all the elements of the prosperity of the West—of all the causes of its 
 rapid increase in population, its growth in wealth, resources, and improve¬ 
 ment, its immense commerce, and gigantic energies—the most efficient has 
 been the navigation by steam. Had it not been for the widely diffused 
 facilities of commerce afforded by the Mississippi and its numerous tribu¬ 
 taries, ages would have rolled away before the great wilderness of the 
 West would have been penetrated by the foot of industry; and had not 
 the noble conception of Fulton, carried out by the skill of the American 
 mechanic and the energy of the Western people, brought the steamboat into 
 successful operation, the productions of these rich plains must have continued 
 to be floated laboriously to market by the insufficient means of the barge, 
 the keel, and the flat boat, while our imports would have come to us bur¬ 
 dened with a cost of freightage which would have limited the amount to 
 an inconsiderable traffic; and the commerce of the nation, with its re¬ 
 sources derived from imports, would have been proportionably depressed. 
 The sales of public land would have been comparatively small, and the 
 millions which have enriched the public Treasury from this source would 
 not have existed as a branch of the national income. Without the navi- 
 o-ation by steam, it is not probable that the proceeds from this source would 
 nave exceeded the cost of the purchase and sale of the public lands, with 
 the contingent expenses of protecting, surveying, and bringing them into 
 market. The Government is still the largest proprietor of Ihe soil on the 
 
19 
 
 \ 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 Western States, and is the party most largely concerned in interest in 
 every improvement which developes the resources, stimulates the indus¬ 
 try, or enhances the value of land in this region. Can it be doubted that 
 an improvement in the navigation of our rivers, which would disarm it of 
 its dangers and decrease its expenses, would not produce those beneficent 
 effects, or that the Government would not be the greatest gainer from an 
 expenditure which would increase her revenue from foreign imports, en¬ 
 hance the value of the public domain, and enlarge the federal population? 
 
 The amount of the lands owned by the Government, within the States 
 and Territories, exceeds 300,000.000 of acres, and that, owned west of the 
 Mississippi and Arkansas exceeds 750,000,000. One thousand millions of 
 acres constitute the vast domain, penetrated and intersected by our great 
 rivers, rendered accessible by our 600 steamboats, and made valuable by 
 the industry of our seven millions of inhabitants. 
 
 The value of the public lands sold and paid for in the eight years, from 
 1834 to 1841, inclusive, was $73,832,008 47, and deducting the sales in 
 Michigan, Alabama, and Florida, which do not lie in contact with the 
 waters proposed to be improved, the amount of sales in the States directly 
 interested is $55,940,569 09. Nearly fifty-six millions of dollars, then, 
 have been drawn from these States within eight years, a portion of which 
 has gone to the support of the General Government, and the remainder 
 distributed pro rata among all the States of the Union. If the Western 
 people pay annually to the nation a revenue of seven millions of dollars for 
 the purchase of the lands they occupy, what proportion of that sum should 
 be appropriated by the Government, in its capacity of a land owner only, 
 for the keeping up the highways which render those lands.accessible, and 
 give them the greater part of their value ? And what proportion should 
 it appropriate as the proprietor of the countless millions of acres yet unsold, 
 the value of which is daily enhanced, and indeed their entire marketable 
 value almost wholly created, by the industry of the Western people ? If 
 we should succeed in demonstrating the necessity of improving this navi¬ 
 gation, or the expediency of the measure as a question of interest, can 
 there be a doubt that the Government, as the largest proprietor of the soil, 
 should bear her just proportion of the expense? 
 
 But the nation has another important interest in this improvement. The 
 report of the Postmaster General, dated December 2,1841, shows that the 
 mail is transported within the Western States, by railroad and by steam¬ 
 boat, 587,309 miles, of which the portion carried by railroads is not speci¬ 
 fied, but is too inconsiderable to be worthy of deduction. Large as this 
 number of miles may seem, it is small compared with the extent to which 
 the transportation of the mails by water might be carried, if our naviga¬ 
 ble rivers were so improved as to afford water for the passage of boats 
 uninterruptedly during the dry season. The rapidity, safety, and cheap¬ 
 ness of this mode of transportation recommend it so strongly as to leave 
 little doubt of its adoption wherever the navigation is such as to render it 
 practicable; nor can there be a rational question, in our opinion, as to the 
 duty of Congress in reference to the improvement of those great arterial 
 highways through which the mails must flow, under any complete and 
 thoroughly efficient administration of the Post Office Department. 
 
 Nor is this the only department of the Government which is interested, 
 A line of military posts extending along the whole Western frontier, from 
 the Southern to the Northern limits of the United States, derive all their 
 
20 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 supplies of ordnance, small arms, military stores and provisions, by means 
 of these rivers, which also afford the facilities for the transportation of 
 troops. In the eager competition among the numerous places in the West,, 
 whose citizens are applicants for the site of the proposed Western armory, 
 the relative accessibility of these points by the larger navigable rivers is 
 dwelt upon as a prominent topic, showing distinctly the sense of the com¬ 
 munity on this subject. We have not the data at hand to show the 
 amount of property and the number of lives annually embarked in this 
 navigation by our Government; but there is no question that the stake is 
 large, and the cost of transportation great; for, although provisions and 
 some other articles are delivered by the contractors at their own risk at the 
 places of consumption, the cost and risk of transportation form parts of the 
 prices, and are actually paid by the Government. 
 
 In case of a war, by which our coasts or borders should be assailed in 
 any direction, the importance of this navigation to the public would be 
 vastly increased. If the coasting trade should be rendered unsafe, a large 
 amount of the commerce between the States which now floats upon the 
 Atlantic would necessarily be thrown upon the interior channels of com¬ 
 munication, and would pass along our great rivers, which would become 
 (if such is not now their character) the great central highways of the nation. 
 As the rivers in question occupy a central position in reference to the whole 
 Union, and are now connected with all its extremities, either by their own 
 tributaries or the noble works constructed by the States, they would be¬ 
 come the principal ways by which troops and munitions of war would be 
 transported to the points of danger ; and not only the safety of the navi¬ 
 gation, but the completeness and celerity of the access from point to point,, 
 would become eminently important to the nation. During the last war 
 New Orleans was defended in part by gallant volunteers from the interior, 
 and that city would have fallen but for the timely arrival of arms from 
 Pittsburg. And in any future war, the Western plain must be the centre 
 and main body upon which the nation must rely for support, and from 
 which men and arms and provisions must be drawn, to sustain either ex-, 
 tremity of the Union which may be threatened from abroad. 
 
 But even now the Mississippi is the great arterial highway for the transit 
 of passengers between the extreme points of the Union. At this time the 
 actual cost of a passage from Philadelphia to New Orleans upon the mail 
 route, by the railways and roads along the Atlantic seaboard, is, for a 
 single passenger, $94; while the expenses of a single passenger between 
 the same places, by the route of the Western rivers, is but $36. If th© 
 great Western route, impeded as it now is by obstructions in the naviga¬ 
 tion, burdened with tolls, and taxed by exorbitant rates of insurance, is 
 the cheapest channel of intercourse between the North and the South by 
 more than one-half, can it be doubted that it will become the chief thorough¬ 
 fare when it shall have received the improvements of which it is suscep¬ 
 tible ? Setting aside, then, the safety and advantage of the greater por¬ 
 tion of the American people, which we think the Government ought not 
 to disregard, these rivers claim the attention of the National Legislature, 
 as affording the most important link in the chain of post routes, and the 
 most useful military highway within the bounds of the Union. 
 
 The importance of this navigation and of its improvement has not been 
 overlooked by the States which are most immediately interested. On the 
 27th of January, 1S17, a resolution was passed by the Legislature of Ohio 
 
21 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 inviting the co-operation of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Indi¬ 
 ana, in measures for the improvement of the Ohio river. The invitation 
 was promptly responded to by Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky; 
 and in 1819 a thorough examination of that river was made by General 
 Blackburn, of Virginia, General John Adair, of Kentucky, General E. W. 
 Tupper, of Ohio, and Walter Lowrie, Esq., of Pennsylvania, who made 
 a joint report to their respective Legislatures, under date of November 2, 
 1819, accompanied by elaborate draughts and plats. It is believed that 
 the several Western States have caused surveys to be made of many of 
 the rivers within their boundaries; Ohio has improved the Muskingum, 
 and Kentucky is now engaged in making slack-water navigation upon 
 Green river, Kentucky river, and Licking; Indiana and Illinois contem¬ 
 plated the improvement of the Wabash, and caused surveys to be made 
 for that purpose, and the attention of the General Government has been 
 urgently called to the upper and lower rapids of the Mississippi. 
 
 If it be asked, why the improvement of the Ohio and Mississippi has not 
 been undertaken by the States whose borders are washed by these streams, 
 it might be inquired, in return, why a few States, of which these rivers 
 form the boundaries, should assume a work of such magnitude, and of so 
 obviously a national character. As well might the States on the seaboard 
 be required to erect light-houses and to improve the harbors of the sea 
 coast, as the Western States be left to open the navigation of those great 
 rivers which separate States, that are declared by the supreme law of the 
 Union to be public highways for all the States, and upon which no single 
 State nor combination of States can place an obstruction or collect a toll. 
 
 , Being public highways for all the States, and not lying within the territory 
 or civil jurisdiction of any one member of the Confederacy, the navigation 
 belongs to the whole American people, and is a proper subject of national 
 legislation. 
 
 But there are obvious difficulties in the way of any joint or several ac¬ 
 tion by the States in relation to this work. If undertaken by the States, 
 singly, it would be difficult to assign the limits within which the labor of 
 each should be expended ; if by all, jointly, the diversity of population, 
 wealth, and interest, would embarrass and probably defeat any attempt to 
 apportion the expenditure. Popular opinion would vary as to the time, 
 the manner, and the magnitude of the disbursement—and while all the 
 States would be equally able or willing—or that the unanimous action of 
 their legislative bodies could be obtained. 
 
 The financial resources of the Western States are limited, and have 
 already been taxed to the full extent of their ability. Populating with 
 unexampled rapidity, and spread over a vast surface, their unavoidable 
 expenses have been great, and their exigencies suddenly created. In older 
 communities, public improvements have grown up imperceptibly with the 
 increase of population, wealth, and refinement; but here, an energetic and 
 -civilized population, accumulating rapidly in a wilderness, were obliged to 
 create the institutions, the public works, the facilities for intercourse and 
 civil government, to which they had been accustomed. Within fifty years, 
 we have created and reared up civil institutions and monuments of public 
 spirit and social enterprise, which in other countries have been the work of 
 centuries. We have organized cities, counties, and States ; we have made 
 roads, canals, and railways ; we have built court-houses, jails, schools, and 
 ..churches; we have covered a wilderness with productive farms and flour- 
 
22 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 ishing villages. All ibis has been done by a people who brought little 
 wealth into the country, from the products of a virgin soil, and the labors 
 of an enterprising* population. The State of Ohio and its citizens have 
 nearly completed 765 miles of canai and artificial slack-water navigation, 
 at a cost, when all the payments shall have been made, of nine and a half 
 millions of dollars, and 667 miles of turnpike road, at a cost of four mil¬ 
 lions of dollars, besides about 70 miles of railroad. The expenditures of 
 Kentucky upon turnpike roads and slack-water navigation have been very 
 large ; while Indiana and Illinois have expended millions of dollars in at¬ 
 tempts and preparations to extend great systems of artificial communica¬ 
 tion throughout their widely spread territories. 
 
 And we respectfully suggest, further, that it is essential to a successful 
 prosecution of this great work, that it shall be carried on, not only with the 
 treasure of the nation, but under the direct supervision of Government offi¬ 
 cers. The magnitude of the undertaking, and the wide extent of territory 
 through which it must be conducted, require that there should be unity ili¬ 
 the plan, skill in the execution, and rigid economy in the expenditures, to 
 give it the full efficiency of which it is susceptible. The Government has 
 the command, in its able corps of engineers, of all the talent, experience., 
 and scientific knowledge requisite for the work, together with the possession 
 ofable reports and estimates already made, in relation, it is believed, to every 
 branch of the desired improvements; and in the known fidelity and effi¬ 
 ciency of these officers the public would have a pledge that the expendi¬ 
 tures would be made under a well-matured system, and with reference to 
 public utility, instead of being prostituted to sectional partialities or private 
 speculations. 
 
 We are gratified to perceive that our views in regard to the agency by 
 which this great work shall be effected are in accordance with those of the 
 General Government, and that an experienced officer, who has the con¬ 
 fidence of the country, has been intrusted with the execution of the prelimi¬ 
 nary surveys. We hail this measure as an earnest that something is to be 
 done, and that it will be done under right auspices. We ask nothing but 
 what is practicable and reasonable—nothing but what will be honorable 
 to the country and permanently useful to the people ; and, as we desire that 
 every dollar which may be appropriated to a purpose so truly national and 
 so nobly munificent shall be faithfully applied, we hope to see this work 
 intrusted only to the most responsible hands, and conducted with the most 
 rigid economy. And we feel relieved in regard to the duty of furnishing 
 the statistics requisite to sustain our petition, by the knowledge that several 
 engineers of great ability have been employed industriously during the past 
 season in making surveys, and by the belief that their reports will furnish 
 all the information desirable, and in a far more perfect form than we could 
 give to it. 
 
 The obstructions in these rivers consist of rocks, bars, and sunken logs 
 or snags. There are a few points on the Ohio river where rapids are cre¬ 
 ated by ledges of rock. The most important of these are at Captina and 
 . Buffington’s islands, and Le Tart’s falls, the falls of Ohio, and the Grand 
 Chain; and there are points where the navigation is not safe for as much 
 water as is contained in the channel, in consequence of the existence of 
 projecting rocks. The removal of rocks, and the improvement of all the 
 rapids, except the falls of Ohio, could be easily accomplished. With re¬ 
 gard to these rapids, and to the whole subject of the obstacles in the upper 
 
23 
 
 C 179 ] 
 
 portion of the Ohio, we beg leave to refer to an able report, made in 1835, 
 by Lieutenant G. Dutton, of the United States engineers, which will be 
 found on file in the War Department. 
 
 The most important obstruction in the navigation of the Western rivers 
 occurs at the falls of the Ohio, which is too well known to require descrip¬ 
 tion. A fall of 25 feet in two miles, caused by a ledge of rocks extending 
 across the river, renders this obstacle impassable for steamboats, except] 
 during the high floods which occur usually in the spring, and continue fora 
 few days only at a time. These rapids were formerly avoided by a labori¬ 
 ous and expensive portage, extending from Louisville to Shippingport, a 
 distance of two and a half miles; but they are now passed by means of a 
 canal. This work, which was intended as a facility to our commerce, and 
 a benefit to the whole people of the West, has signally failed in accom¬ 
 plishing the purpose for which it was constructed ; and as the Government 
 of the United States, with the beneficent view of patronizing a work of 
 public utility, became a partner in this canal, it cannot be thought invidi¬ 
 ous to call the attention of Congress to its deficiencies. The objections to 
 this work are: 
 
 1. The contracted size of the locks, which do not admit the passage of 
 the largest class of boats. 
 
 2. The insufficiency of the construction of the canal, which being defi¬ 
 cient in width and depth, causes great delay, and often serious injury, to 
 passing boats. 
 
 3. The enormous and unreasonable tax levied in tolls. 
 
 With regard to the first objection, we remark, that the Louisville and 
 Portland canal was intended to be a national work, and stands connected 
 with the commerce of the whole West. During the greater part of the 
 year it affords 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. Such a work should have been constructed upon the 
 most liberal scale, and its benefits have been extended to every class of the 
 community. This is, unfortunately, not its character. After many years’ 
 experience in the navigation of our rivers by steamboats, it has been ascer¬ 
 tained that boats of a great length are those of the greatest speed, and best 
 suited to the navigation of our rivers and the character of our trade. But 
 the length which has been found most convenient is greater than the di¬ 
 mensions of the locks of this canal, and thus the boats which are best adapt¬ 
 ed to the trade between Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and other ports on the 
 upper Ohio, and St. Louis or New Orleans, are excluded from that com¬ 
 merce, and a smaller class of boats, which are much less profitable, is ex¬ 
 clusively employed. 
 
 The second objection is one of not less forcible application to a work of 
 this magnitude. The width of this canal is such that steamboats cannot 
 pass each other within it, nor can a loaded boat work her way through but 
 by a protracted and laborious operation. As two boats passing in oppo¬ 
 site directions cannot enter the canal at the same time, the delays encoun¬ 
 tered here are very great, and add materially to the heavy tax paid more 
 directly in the form of toll, while the scanty dimensions of the channel, both 
 in width and depth, expose boats to the continual danger of injury. If 
 there were no other objections, therefore, to this canal, it is insufficient in 
 point of size, and does not afford the facilities required for the trade at this 
 
24 
 
 C 179 ] 
 
 time, and must become every year more objectionable in this respect, in 
 consequence of the rapid increase of our trade. 
 
 To estimate fully the validity of this objection, it should be stated that 
 these delays occur almost daily, during the busy season, and vary from a 
 few hours to a whole day. The expenses of such a boat will be some¬ 
 where from $50 to $100 per day, and that amount, or any large fraction 
 of it, occurring only at each alternate trip, would in the course of a year 
 form a large item in the account of a single boat; but which, multiplied by 
 the number of boats which suffer by the delay, would give a sum total of 
 actual loss to the commerce of the West more than sufficient to pay for the 
 annual repairs and custody of such a canal. It is proper to add, that these 
 vexatious delays are inseparable from the nature of this work, which is 
 constructed on a scale too limited for the purposes of its creation, or, rather, 
 whose dimensions, originally deemed sufficient, have been outgrown by 
 the increase of the trade ; and that we do not suggest them as evincing any 
 delinquency on the part of the company. 
 
 The insufficiency of this canal is by no means attributable, as a matter of 
 censure, to the stockholders or their officers. We speak of it only in refer¬ 
 ence to the wants of our commerce. The work was commenced under the 
 most discouraging circumstances, ,and was carried forward in the face of 
 formidable obstacles, by an exertion of great enterprise and perseverance. 
 It is a great and useful work, and affords facilities to commerce which, in 
 comparison with the ancient mode of transporting goods around the falls by 
 portage, cannot be too highly appreciated. It is proper also to state, that 
 before the dimensions of the locks were decided upon, the largest boats 
 then afloat on the Ohio were measured, and the locks were made, as was 
 supposed, of sufficient capacity to pass every description of river craft. 
 The model of our boats has, however, been since changed, and the locks 
 are now found to be entirely too small, while the vast increase of com¬ 
 merce has rendered the canal itself inadequate to the great purpose of its 
 construction. 
 
 But the third objection is that which is complained of as most grievous, 
 and which demands the prompt interposition of Congress. In presenting 
 this important subject to the serious consideration of the National Legisla¬ 
 ture and the public, we shall proceed to show the amount of commerce 
 which passes through this canal, the amount of tolls received by the com¬ 
 pany, the exorbitant profits in which the Government participates as a 
 stockholder, and the unjust burden imposed upon the owners of vessels 
 navigating the Ohio river. 
 
 The following table, taken from the reports of the company, shows the 
 number of vessels which passed the canal, and the receipts of toll, from 
 1831 to 1843, inclusive : 
 
 » 
 
25 [ 179 ] 
 
 ft 
 
 Abstract qf the boats that have passed and tolls received on the Louis¬ 
 ville and Portland canal. 
 
 Years. 
 
 1S31 
 
 
 
 Steamboats. 
 
 406 
 
 Flat and keel 
 boats. 
 
 421 
 
 T ons. 
 
 76,323 
 
 Amount received. 
 
 $12,750 77 
 
 1832 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 453 
 
 179 
 
 70,109 
 
 25,756 12 
 
 1833 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 875 
 
 710 
 
 169,885 
 
 60,736 92 
 
 1S34 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 93S 
 
 623 
 
 162,000 
 
 61,848 17 
 
 1835 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,256 
 
 355 
 
 200,413 
 
 80,165 24 
 
 1836 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,182 
 
 260 
 
 182,220 
 
 88,343 23 
 
 1837 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,501 
 
 165 
 
 242,374 
 
 145,424 69 
 
 1838 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,058 
 
 438 
 
 201,750 
 
 121,107 16 
 
 1839 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,666 
 
 578 
 
 300,406 
 
 180,364 01 
 
 1840 
 
 - 
 
 mm 
 
 - 1,231 
 
 392 
 
 224,841 
 
 134,904 55 
 
 1S41 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,031 
 
 309 
 
 189,907 
 
 113,944 59 
 
 1842 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 983 
 
 183 
 
 172,755 
 
 95,005 10 
 
 1S43 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 1,206 
 
 88 
 
 232,264 
 
 107,274 65 
 
 
 
 
 13,756 
 
 4,701 2 
 
 ,425,567 
 
 1,227,625 20 
 
 The original subscription of the United States to the Louisville and Port¬ 
 land canal was $235,000, by which the Government became the owner of 
 2,350 shares of the stock. In June, 1833, a dividend was made in stock 
 for the amount of profit on the tolls up to that time, and interest on the mo¬ 
 ney expended up to the time of opening the canal, of which the proportion 
 of the United States was 552 additional shares, making the whole interest 
 of the Government 2,902 shares. The remainder of the stock, 7,098 shares, 
 is owned by individuals, making the whole number of shares 10,000, and 
 the capital $1,000,000. On this stock the United States has received in 
 cash dividends $258,37S, being $23,378 more than her original subscrip¬ 
 tion and entire advance in money. 
 
 It thus appears that the canal, in twelve years, has more than paid for 
 itself in dividends. The objection, however, is not that individuals should 
 reap a profit on their investment, to which they are justly entitled, but that 
 this useful and necessary facility for passing the falls should, by being placed 
 in the hands of individuals, be the means of levying a tax on the trade of 
 the river so heavy as to be a burden. To show that this tax is intolerably 
 high, we state the following conclusive facts : A steamboat owned at Cincin¬ 
 nati, and plying regularly between this city and St. Louis, is obliged to pass 
 through this canal. The boat, being of 300 tons burden, and worth $24,000 
 when new, has heretofore paid for each passage through the locks sixty 
 cents per ton, or $1S0, and supposing the number of trips to be thirty in a 
 year, the tolls will amount annually to $5,400, which is over 22 per cent, 
 on its cost; and in five years, the full term of life of a Western steamboat, 
 will have exceeded the first cost of the boat. The toll, however, has late¬ 
 ly, and since the above statement was first made, been reduced to fifty 
 cents per ton ; and a boat of 300 tons will now pay but $4,500 for thirty 
 trips, and will not expend her value in tolls in less than five and a half years. 
 
 We state another fact, the particulars of which we have received from 
 an authentic source, and which corroborates the instance given above. A 
 boat of 190 tons, owned at Cincinnati, has been in the habit of making 
 her trips from this city to St. Louis and back in two weeks, and has passed 
 
26 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 the canal four times in one month. Her toll, each trip, at 60 cents per ton, 
 was $114, and her toll for one month was $456, or at the rate of $5,472 
 per year, which is nearly half the value of such a boat. It may be said 
 that no boat makes 48 trips, or even 30 trips, between St. Louis and Cin- • 
 cinnati, in a year, as the ice or low water would obstruct the navigalion at 
 some seasons, and at others the boat might pass over the falls. But this 
 is no answer to our argument, the object of which is to show that, during 
 the season in which we use this canal, we pay an exorbitant tax, which, 
 reduced to a yearly rate, would swallow the value of a boat in a few years. 
 
 This is a practical view of the subject, in regard to which there can be 
 no doubt. The passage between St. Louis and Cincinnati is regularly 
 made in from three to four days; and if three days be allowed for lading 
 and unlading at each place, which is more than is required, the fair time 
 for the trip, both ways, will be two weeks. This is in fact about the 
 average time consumed ; and during seasons in which the canal is used 
 these boats do actually pass the lock four times per month. The toll being 
 now reduced to 50 cents per ton, a boat of 200 tons, whose value, at $60 
 per ton, is $12,000, will pay for each passage through the locks $100, or at 
 the rate of $400 per month, and $4,800 per year. 
 
 The navigation of the Ohio below Cincinnati, and of the Mississippi 
 below St. Louis, is not obstructed by ice and extreme low water more 
 than four months in the year; the navigation is open eight months, dur¬ 
 ing which time the boats between Cincinnati and St. Louis may, and 
 actually do, run, and are actively employed. The freshets which enable 
 them to pass over the falls are few, and of short duration, and should not 
 be taken into view in any estimate made for practical purposes ; the toll, 
 if any, should be such as the owners of boats could afford to pay through¬ 
 out the season, and so certain that it could be calculated in advance as a 
 regular item in the expenditure of the boat. Now, if a boat pass the 
 canal four times in a month, or thirty-tiro times in eight months, paying 
 50 cents per ton for each transit, she will pay sixteen dollars per ton in the 
 eight months which are comprised in the running season, and in four sea¬ 
 sons she will pay sixty-four dollars per ton, which is the full value. 
 
 The capital invested in steamboats in the West we have shown to be 
 $7,200,000, which must be reproduced every five years, as that is the term 
 of the existence of a boat ; and if this capital be subject to a tax of from 
 20 to 30 per cent in tolls, and IS per cent, insurance, those boats which 
 pass the canal will, in five years, pay double their cost in freight and insu¬ 
 rance. In other words, a steamboat engaged in the regular trade between 
 Cincinnati and St. Louis, which cost $25,000 when new, must earn 
 $75,000 to pay her cost, insurance, and tolls, over and above her ordinary- 
 expenses, before she can begin to make profits for her owners. This ex¬ 
 penditure is only reduced by the occurrence of freshets which enable the 
 boats to pass over the falls, or by occasional trips to other ports. 
 
 While our trade is burdened by this enormous tax, we have shown 
 that, for the use of an insufficient canal, the stockholders are reaping a 
 high annual interest upon their investment, amounting probably to an av¬ 
 erage of 12 or 13 per cent; and the Government of the United States is 
 a partner in the gains of the profitable stock, having already received for 
 their subscription of $235,000 cash dividends amounting to - $258,378 
 And stock amounting to 55,200 
 
 Making - 
 
 313,578 
 
27 
 
 C 179 } 
 
 So that the Government has received back in dividends $78,578 more 
 than her investment, and is the holder of nearly one-third of the shares of 
 this money-making corporation. 
 
 We repeat, that no liberal man would object to paying a fair interest on 
 the investment of those public-spirited individuals who have completed 
 this useful work at their own risk. And however any may object, they 
 have vested rights which deserve respect, and around which the law has 
 thrown her conservative sanction. The public voice, however, has con¬ 
 demned the levying of a tax on such a highway, and the high rate of the 
 toll has increased the general dissatisfaction. To remedy this evil, an act 
 has been passed by the Legislature of Kentucky, authorizing the canal 
 company to appropriate the nett annual income of the canal to the pur¬ 
 chase of stock, held by others than the United States, at a rate commencing 
 at $150 per share, and increasing annually by the addition of the interest 
 on the value of the stock; and, when the whole shall be purchased, to 
 surrender the canal to the United States, on condition that the work shall 
 be kept in repair, and that the tolls levied shall be no more than sufficient 
 to pay the expenses of the custody, repairs, &c. There is a further condi¬ 
 tion, that the United States, after taking possession of the work, shall re>- 
 port annually to the Legislature of Kentucky the amount of the receipts 
 and expenditures, and making the latter body the judge whether the con¬ 
 ditions of the law are complied with. 
 
 The stock of the canal having become a safe and profitable investment^ 
 the inducement to the acceptance of this law is by no means strong, and 
 it would doubtless have been rejected, had the stockholders consulted only 
 their present interest. But the universal condemnation of a tax, which 
 all unite in pronouncing insupportably burdensome, indicated to them in 
 significant language the impolicy of provoking a high-spirited people into 
 an exercise of power which might, by diverting the commerce into other 
 channels, render their work of little value. They reluctantly consented to 
 carry the act into effect; and they have reported that 471 shares were pur¬ 
 chased from the profits of 1843, and that 500 shares will be purchased in 
 1844. 
 
 But will the United States await the tardy operation of this law, and 
 will she accept the trust offered by it ? If the nett receipts of a year will 
 only purchase 500 shares, it will take fourteen years to buy 7,000 shares- 
 at the same price; but, as the price of the stock is to be annually in¬ 
 creased, it will take longer. If the locks are to be enlarged by the com¬ 
 pany, and other improvements made, which are urgently and imperatively 
 demanded, and these expenditures deducted from the annual receipts, it 
 will take at least twenty years to complete the purchase, and bring about the 
 desired reduction of tolls—a delay to which the Western people are not 
 willing to submit. And if the requisite improvements are to be delayed 
 until the change of ownership shall be consummated, the just expecta¬ 
 tions of the Western people will be disappointed, for no unnecessary delay, 
 not the delay of a year without unavoidable necessity, will be viewed 
 with complacency by those who are interested in this navigation. 
 
 Neither do we suppose that the United States will accept the work on 
 the conditions imposed by the law of Kentucky, and hold it subject to the 
 supervisory power of that State. The proposition is unreasonable, and 
 will hardly be insisted upon when its objectionable character shall be 
 pointed out. 
 
28 
 
 Z 179 ] 
 
 We respectfully advise, we earnestly solicit, that an appropriation be 
 made without delay for the purchase of this canal, at a price conforming 
 with the value which the stockholders have placed upon it by accepting 
 the terms of the law above alluded to, and that measures be taken to pro¬ 
 cure the repeal of any law of Kentucky, by which the control of that 
 State over the work is reserved. This purchase can be made, as will be 
 seen from the above data, for a sum not varying far from one million of 
 dollars ; and by a further expenditure of from three to four hundred 
 thousand dollars in making a new set of locks, to be additional to those 
 now in operation, in deepening the canal, and in widening it in two or three 
 places to admit the passage of boats, the requisite facilities for surmount¬ 
 ing this formidable obstruction would be fully and promptly supplied. 
 The canal might then either be supported by the United States, and made 
 free, or a small toll might be imposed, sufficient to pay for the repairs and 
 requisite attendance. That toll would probably not exceed five cents per 
 ton, or one-tenth of the tribute which is now levied upon the industry and 
 enterprise of the Western people. 
 
 Your memorialists, in making this recommendation, are influenced in 
 some measure by the consideration that this work can be purchased as 
 cheaply as a new canal could be constructed, of similar length and equal 
 efficiency; and that, such being the case, good faith suggests the purchase 
 of the property from the individuals who hold it under the sanction of a 
 law of Kentucky, and in partnership with the Government of the United 
 States, rather than the construction of a rival work, by which the value of 
 this property would be destroyed. They believe, also, that they would 
 arrive at the object of this memorial sooner by the purchase and improve¬ 
 ment of this canal than by the tedious process of constructing a new work. 
 But if this purchase cannot be effected, or can only be accomplished at an 
 unreasonable price, or subject to burdensome conditions or vexatious de¬ 
 lay, then we respectfully recommend the construction of a new work, 
 upon the most eligible site, to be selected by the engineers of the Gov¬ 
 ernment. 
 
 It has been suggested that this improvement might be effected by exca¬ 
 vating a channel through the falls. The practicability of this plan has not 
 been demonstrated, and, even if a safe passage of the falls could be pro¬ 
 duced by cutting through the rock, we should deprecate the attempt. 
 The natural dam formed by this ledge of rock being removed, a series of 
 rapids or bars in the channel above would probably be produced, which 
 would greatly injure the navigation. 
 
 The upper and lower rapids of the upper Mississippi present formidable 
 obstructions to the navigation of that noble river, and impede the access 
 to one of the most productive and beautiful regions of the habitable globe. 
 These impediments, consisting of ledges of rock* which lie across the river, 
 are extensive, and, during the seasons of low water, render this fine river 
 wholly impassable for freighted boats, which are obliged to be unladen 
 and lighted over the rapids ; and causing the expense of freight to increase 
 by double and three-fold at such seasons. Yet they are of such a charac¬ 
 ter as to be susceptible of removal at a comparatively small expense. 
 Above these rapids, the river is navigable to the falls of St. Anthony, dis¬ 
 tant from St. Louis nine hundred miles. In their vicinity, and beyond 
 them, lies a wide expanse of country, embracing a large portion of Illinois, 
 Iowa, and Wisconsin, of incomparable fertility and inexhaustible re- 
 
29 
 
 [ 179 J 
 
 sources—a region of prairies, teeming with vegetative power, and ready 
 cleared to the hand of the husbandman. Equally adapted to the growth of 
 wheat, the rearing of cattle, and the production of wool, this country already,, 
 though in its infancy, affords a large surplus for exportation; and so vast 
 is the extent of its rich lands, that the increase of its staples is great be¬ 
 yond conception. The country over which, thirteen years ago, the militia 
 of Illinois chased the bands of Black Hawk, and in which the Sacs, the 
 Sioux, and the Winnebagoes, contended for mastery, furnished during the 
 past year the freights for 244 steamboats and 55 keels. 
 
 In the same region are lead mines, in prosperous operation, which sup¬ 
 ply annually to commerce 40,000,000 pounds of lead, included in the 
 . above estimate, worth $1,000,000, and supposed to be capable of supply¬ 
 ing that metal in sufficient quantities to meet the demands of the civilized 
 world, while the copper mines recently opened are also becoming valua¬ 
 ble. To show further the productiveness of a country so recently a wil¬ 
 derness, and still only known in that character to most of the American 
 people, we state that in 1S40 nine counties in the southern part of Wis¬ 
 consin produced 197,225 bushels of wheat, 25,966 head of cattle, 45,136 
 hogs, and 7,564 tons of lead. If such are the products of a small and 
 remote district of a newly settled land, how prolific must be the broad 
 region in which it lies? How impossible to calculate the wealth of the 
 great West, when single counties estimate their products by such imposing 
 figures ? 
 
 It appears, from data kept at St. Louis, that the navigation of the upper 
 Mississippi was clear of ice, in 1841, eight months ; in 1S42, eight months 
 and seven days ; and in 1843, seven months and eleven days. As the 
 navigation of this vast region is closed, by the immutable laws of nature, 
 during four months of the year, the duty of the Government is the more 
 imperative to keep it open during the other eight months, into which all 
 the business done upon its waters must be crowded. 
 
 The arrivals of boats, from the upper Mississippi, at St. Louis, during 
 the last three years, were as follows: 
 
 1841 - 143 steamboats 108 keel boats. 
 
 1842 - - - - - 195 “ 88 « 
 
 1843 ----- 244 “ 55 “ 
 
 The emigration to this favored region is great. The completion of the 
 Illinois and Michigan canal, which may now be looked for at an early 
 period, and the connexion between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, which 
 cannot be long delayed, will give it peculiar attractions ; and, as the pro¬ 
 prietor of by far the greater part of the domain, the Government is in¬ 
 vited, by interest as well as by duty, to open the navigable channels of the 
 country, and thus accelerate its settlement, and promote the sale of her 
 own lands. 
 
 But we advocate the improvement of this river, as well as the Illinois, 
 the Wabash, and the Ohio, with the more confidence, as two of them are 
 already connected with the lakes by canals, and the other two will soon 
 be similarly connected, and they are thus emphatically great national 
 highways, connecting the North and the South, the East and the West, 
 and bringing distant and apparently discordant interests into harmonious 
 co-operation. 
 
 The bars in the Ohio may be classed : 1st, into those formed of hard 
 
30 
 
 C 179 ] 
 
 and apparently permanent gravel; 2d, shifting or loose gravel; and, 3d, 
 shifting sand bars. These bars have been minutely surveyed on several 
 occasions by officers of the United States, whose reports furnish all the 
 information which may be desirable in regard to them, and preclude the 
 necessity of any detailed description in this memorial. It may be remarked, 
 however, that, while these bars present serious obstacles to navigation in 
 low water, they seem also to serve a valuable purpose in another respect. 
 The Ohio, through its whole course, has in general a gentle and equable 
 current. In low water, the river is resolved into a series of ripples or 
 dams, with extensive basins of slack water between them, varying in 
 depth from two to five fathoms. It would seem as if nature had formed 
 these bars or dams for the purpose of collecting the water above them, and . 
 thus forming a succession of navigable pools. 
 
 Following this indication, it would seem desirable not to remove them, 
 which is perhaps impracticable, but to pass them by some form of artificial 
 channel, which would not greatly change the depth of the water above. 
 Experiments having this object in view have already been made under 
 the patronage of the Government, by constreting wing dams from each 
 side of the river, so as to eonfipe the current within narrow banks, and to 
 give it a sufficient volume of water to wash a current for itself. A work 
 of this character was constructed about eighteen years ago, by Colonel 
 .Long, of the topographical engineers, at Henderson bar, 200 miles below 
 Louisville ; and similar dams have since been constructed at French island, 
 Three Mile island, Scuflletown bar, and the Three Sisters. These were 
 among the shoalest and most difficult, places in the Ohio, and they have 
 been greatly improved. We have little doubt that this mode of improve¬ 
 ment, when prosecuted upon a scale consistent with the importance of 
 the object and the liberality of a great nation, and reduced to system 
 by a careful attention to the results of experiment and observation, 
 will be found successful to a considerable extent. It is supposed that 
 it may prove abortive in some cases, from a tendency of the sand, when 
 washed from one place, to deposite itself in another immediately below, 
 and thus form a new obstruction.- This might occur in some, but 
 certainly would not in all instances; and, if the original obstruction can 
 be removed by art, the new creation may also be removed by the same, 
 or some other means. It may also be suggested, that many of these bars, 
 supposed to be the most difficult to affect by permanent artificial improve¬ 
 ment, are composed of shifting ^and, through which channels are easily 
 cut, which would remain open during the season of low water, but would 
 be filled up with the same species of loose sand during the floods of the 
 winter. It may be worthy of experiment, whether at such places chan¬ 
 nels might not be opened annually, and kept open during the season, at 
 an expense trifling, when compared with the value of the service. Small 
 vessels, propelled by steam, and supplied with machinery for scooping out 
 the sand, would open channels sufficiently deep for the smaller class 
 of steamboats, with great facility, and they might run from bar to- bar, 
 throughout the season of low water, without incurring any formidable ex¬ 
 penditure-. 
 
 The Ohio river, though not obnoxious to the full force of the sarcasm 
 of the distinguished Virginian who described it as frozen one-half of the 
 year and dried up during the remainder, is subject to vicissitudes, which ' 
 seriously, affect the navigation, and demand the national attention, from 
 ihe double consideration of the magnitude of the evil, and the vastness of 
 
31 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 the means required for its correction. If the work can be done at all, in 
 a manner worthy of the energies of a great people, and permanently ad¬ 
 vantageous, it must be done by the National Government. 
 
 When the waters are low during the summer and autumn, this majestic 
 river dwindles to a small stream, and becomes comparatively useless. 
 Among the hills of Pennsylvania and Virginia it is seen rippling over bars 
 of gravel and ledges of rock, through which boats of the lightest burden 
 with difficulty find a passage. Further down a series of sand bars, extend¬ 
 ing in some places from shore to shore, and in others projecting from the 
 margin of the river far into its bed, render its navigation almost impracti¬ 
 cable. Steamboats constructed for the purpose, and navigated by skilful 
 pilots, ply at this season with difficulty. Many are grounded upon the 
 bars, from which perilous situation some are relieved by great labor, at¬ 
 tended with serious delay and expense, while others remain exposed to 
 the elements during the remainder of the season, and are either lost or se¬ 
 riously injured. The larger boats are wholly useless during this part of 
 the year; and of the hundreds of noble vessels that are actively plying at 
 other seasons, freighted with rich cargoes, the greater portion are now idle. 
 
 As a general rule, the water is lowest during the months of July, Au¬ 
 gust, and September, but the autumnal months are frequently dry, and in 
 that case the river remains low until the winter. We call attention to this 
 fact, as showing the long period during which this valuable navigation is 
 destroyed, or so impeded as to be attended with great expense and risk of 
 loss. 
 
 Throughout the winter the frequent changes from cold to moderate 
 Weather produce rains and thaws, which occasion a series of freshets, and 
 afford ample supplies of water. The change from the severe cold of the 
 winter to the higher temperature of the spring is usually sudden, and 
 causes the precipitation of vast, floods into the channels of our rivers. The 
 snows which cover the Allegany mountains along their whole western 
 exposure, from the borders of New York to those of North Carolina, are 
 rapidly melted, and the whole of this mass of water thrown suddenly into 
 the Ohio, which now attains its greatest depth and volume. In the great 
 rise of 1832 the water rose at Cincinnati sixty-three feet above low-water 
 mark; the sectional area was 91,464 feet, without including its extension 
 over the lower parts of Cincinnati and Covington ; the number of cubic 
 feet discharged per hour was 2,99S,529,714, and the velocity of the stream 
 was 6^ miles per hour. 
 
 One of the important consequences of these great floods is, the creation 
 of obstructions in the form of logs and trees, which are swept from the 
 bank and precipitated into the stream. The snags which cause the de¬ 
 struction of so many boats are formed of large trees, which are thrown into 
 the channel by the crumbling of the banks or the force of the current. The 
 base of the stem and the mass of roots, rendered heavier by the earth 
 which adheres to them, sink to the bottom; the top of the tree floats, and is 
 thrown into the direction of the current; the roots become imbedded and 
 firmly fixed; the smaller branches decay and drop off, and the large limbs 
 remain, pointing down the stream. When these sunken trees are concealed 
 beneath the surface, they are very dangerous to boats, which, rushing upon 
 them with the momentum given by a powerful steam engine, seldom fail, 
 when they strike, to have the hull perforated, and the boat sunk. 
 
 This branch of the subject has already received the attention of the Gov- 
 
32 
 
 E 179 ] 
 
 ernment, and the results of the experiments instituted have been entirely 
 satisfactory. The snag boat constructed under the direction of the Gov¬ 
 ernment has been successful in removing these obstacles, at a very trifling 
 expense, and with great facility. The boat is of simple construction, yet 
 has such power that the largest tree, however firmly fixed, is removed in 
 a few minutes. A number of these ingenious vessels were employed for 
 several years with such success that thousands of snags were removed 
 from the Ohio and Mississippi; the most dangerous places were rendered 
 perfectly safe, and the whole navigation made completely free from this 
 formidable evil. In the year ending in September, 1S33, 1,960 snags were 
 taken up from the Mississippi, and the chances of danger diminished by at 
 least that number. The crews of the boats were employed within the 
 same year, when the water was too high to permit their working on the 
 bed of the river, in felling the overhanging trees which stood on banks lia¬ 
 ble to be undermined, and removed 10,000 trees which must soon have 
 been precipitated into the current. 
 
 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 1S27 to 1S32, were re¬ 
 duced to $381,000, in consequence of the beneficial action of the snag 
 boats; and those losses were still further reduced in the years immediately 
 succeeding, by the diligent prosecution of the same service. 
 
 We are not aware of the causes which have induced 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. In the memorial 
 of the citizens of St. Louis, recently published, it is stated, that “ in the 
 year 1839 there were forty steamboats lost, forty-one in 1S40, twenty-nine 
 in 1841, and in the year 1842 the number is said to be twenty-eight— 
 making a total in four years of one hundred and thirty-eight boats.” The 
 estimate here given for the latter year is far short of the truth, for since the 
 date of this memorial at least fifteen steamboats have been lost; indeed,, 
 while preparing this memorial, a single mail from the Southwest brought 
 intelligence of the loss of five boats, four more were added to the melan¬ 
 choly list on the following day, and three more by a subsequent arrival. 
 
 Between the 11th of September and the 15th of October, in the year 
 1842, the losses on the Mississippi, between St. Louis and the mouth of 
 the Ohio, a distance of only 180 miles, were $234,000. Within the suc¬ 
 ceeding 17 months there have been lost 72 steamboats, worth $1,200,000, 
 besides their cargoes, which were of great value. 
 
 The losses paid by the insurance offices in Cincinnati alone, on boats 
 and cargoes, during a period of five years, from November, 1837, to 
 November, 1842, including only the losses by obstructions in the navi¬ 
 gation, and excluding all losses by explosion, collision, fire, and other 
 causes, have been $442,930 S9. As insurance is made also at Pittsburg, 
 Louisville, Nashville, St. Louis, Wheeling, Natchez, New Orleans, and at • 
 some of the smaller towns, the above sum might be multiplied by seven 
 to arrive at something like a fair approximation of the losses sustained by 
 underwriters, from the dangerous condition of the navigation, and the re¬ 
 sult would be $3,000,000, or $600,000 per annum. If to this be added the 
 
33 
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 ,osses from the same cause, on which there was no insurance, the amount 
 would be not less-than $1,000,000 per annum. $1,000,000 per annum is 
 actually taxed on the commerce of the West for losses sustained in conse¬ 
 quence ot obstructions, which might be wholly removed by an appropria¬ 
 tion by Congress of a comparatively trifling sum. An additional fact, 
 showing the danger of this navigation, is, that many offices have declined 
 to insure the hulls of boats, and such risks are only taken on the best boats, 
 and at rates varying from 12 to 18 per cent.; the insurers are said to lose 
 money, at even these enormous rates. The amount, then, of the annual 
 risk on the $7,200,000 invested in steamboats alone is more than one mil¬ 
 lion of dollars. 
 
 The most fruitful causes of these losses ape the snags, a species of ob¬ 
 struction which we have shown to be completely within the control of the . 
 Government ; and we therefore respectfully‘urge the propriety of an im¬ 
 mediate and energetic action by the Government in reference to this sub¬ 
 ject, by the construction of as many snag boats as may be necessary, and 
 an annual appropriation, for keeping these boats in the regular service of 
 the nation, from year to year. 
 
 We have thus far not touched upon the exposure of life occasioned by 
 the inattention of Government to this dangerous navigation. There are 
 employed on the 60 steamboats, and the 4,000 flat and keel boats, that float 
 on the Ohio and Mississippi, not less than from 45,000 to 50,000 persons; and 
 as all the steamboats carry passengers, there are several hundred thousand, 
 not Western citizens only, but citizens of each and every State in the Union, 
 annually exposed to delay, expense, inconvenience, and jeopardy of life, 
 from the causes indicated in this memorial. And who shall count the value 
 of their lives? Shall the lives of the free citizens of an enlightened na¬ 
 tion be weighed against the amount of an appropriation in money which 
 would insure their safety ? The Romans paid the highest civic honors to 
 him who saved the life of a citizen ; and if we admire the principle which 
 dictated this policy, what should be the conduct of a Christian and highly 
 civilized nation—a nation of unbounded resources and untiring energy— 
 in reference to a work of comparative insignificance, but the neglect of 
 which involves daily and hourly the lives of many citizens ? The Ameri- 
 - can people have reserved, in their Constitution, the right of passing from 
 State to State, and of transporting their property throughout the Union ; 
 and can it be doubted that the Government should facilitate the exercise of 
 a right asserted with such provident care ? To an enterprising, commer¬ 
 cial, and highly social people, who travel so continually and so extensively, 
 no subject can be more important than that under consideration. 
 
 It might not be proper.here to enter into a minute description of a stearn- 
 • boat disaster on the Mississippi. The peculiar character of that mighty 
 river, the irresistible force of the current, and the steep and crumbling nature 
 of the banks, which afford but few safe places of landing, surround the dis¬ 
 abling o( a boat on these waters with fearful dangers. When a steamboat 
 heavily laden, and crowded with passengers, strikes upon a snag in thd 
 night, and is ingulfed, in a few minutes, in the stream, the scene is terrific 
 beyond description; the loss of life to some of the more helpless of those 
 embarked is inevitable, and the danger to all appalling. 
 
 It is not to be disguised that many losses occur from the insufficiency of 
 steamboats and their machinery, and from the culpable rashness, negligence, 
 and ignorance of those who have^them in charge. This is a subject which has 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 [ 179 •] • 
 
 excited much public attention, and has even occupied a prominent place in 
 the discussions of the National Legislature. The result of the most careful 
 inquiries has produced a general conviction, on the minds of those con¬ 
 versant with the subject, that while we have many fine boats, managed 
 with as much skill and prudence aslhose of any other country, and in which 
 the passenger enjoys the highest degree of safety of which such navigation 
 is susceptible, there is connected with the remainder an inexcusable want 
 of care of the lives intrusted to them. The unavoidable accidents to steam¬ 
 boats are few, in comparison with losses occasioned by neglect and bad 
 management and by obstructions in the navigation. 
 
 To discriminate among these causes of loss, and apply the remedy, is a 
 matter of no small delicacy and embarrassment, but it is one which would 
 be stripped of much of its difficulty if the natural obstacles which endanger 
 the navigation were removed-. At present, the great number of steamboat 
 losses blunts the public sensibility in regard to such catastrophes, and 
 wearies and baffles that spirit of inquiry which would investigate the causes 
 of these disasters, while it affords a ready excuse for those who might 
 otherwise become the objects of puolic condemnation. If the river channels 
 were disarmed of their terrors, and the safety of boats was made to depend 
 entirely upon the fidelity and skill of their construction and management, 
 the public would demand a much greater degree of security than is now 
 expected, and the owners and officers of boats would be held to a higher 
 degree of responsibility. A wholesome moral effect would also be pro¬ 
 duced by the action of the Government. So long as the Government, re¬ 
 gardless of its parental and conservative character, remains a cold and in¬ 
 different spectator of the destruction of life and property, so long will life 
 and property cease to be regarded with care by the thoughtless portion of 
 its citizens. In a country where public opinion is the sovereign law, and . 
 where so much of that public opinion flows from the legislation created by 
 itself, a tender sensibility for the life of the citizen, and a decorous respect 
 for his property, is peculiarly demanded from those who, in making the 
 laws, influence the morals and sentiments of the people. 
 
 In conclusion, we commend this whole subject to the early and serious 
 attention of Congress, and pray the adoption of such measures as are de¬ 
 manded by the urgency of the occasion, the vast exposure of life and 
 property, the greatness of the interests involved, the honor and advantage 
 of the American people. 
 
 JAMES HALL, Chairman. 
 
 JOHN C. VAUGHAN. 
 
 E. S. HAINES.. 
 
 PAUL ANDERSON. 
 
 M. T. WILLIAMS. 
 
 ROBERT BUCHANAN. 
 
 GEORGE CARLISLE. 
 
 LEWIS WHITEMA*N. 
 
 * T. J. HALDERMAN. 
 
 E. D. MANSFIELD. 
 
 J. G. WOODIN. 
 
 S. W. HARTSHORNE.. 
 
 P. ROGERS. 
 
 JOSEPH PIERCE, Sr. 
 
 JEDEDIAH BANKS. 
 
 Henry Hayes, Secretary .