LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVLRS ITY 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 en-s
 
 LETTERS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 COMMERCE OF THE WEST. 
 
 BY H. A. S. DEARBORN. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY HENRY P. LEWIS, 
 
 1839.
 
 a 
 
 Boston, December 6, 1838. 
 To the Editor of the Boston Courier : 
 
 I place at your disposal a letter from Gen. Dearborn, who 
 is temporarily residing at Buffalo in charge of important 
 business of the Commonwealth. The letter is apparently 
 the first of a series, containing information in regard to the 
 productions, commerce, he. of the West, which I have sup- 
 posed might be interesting to your readers ; especially as the 
 subject has an important bearing upon the future usefulness 
 of our Western Rail-Road. Yours, 
 
 JOHN P. BIGELOW. 
 
 03 
 
 r^ 
 
 283538
 
 LETTER NO. I. 
 
 Buffalo, Nov. 22, 1838. 
 To the Secretary of the State of Blassachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — Such are now the facilities of intercommunica- 
 tion, by the means of steam-boats, rail-roads, and canals, that, in 
 four days and a half, from the time of leaving Boston, I was 
 standing on the banks of Niagara river and looking down into 
 the profound gulf of its stupendous cataract ; and had I not been 
 detained twelve hours in New-York, in consequence of there not 
 being a morning boat to Albany, and nearly as many more in 
 Rochester, I should have performed the whole journey to this 
 place, of 770 miles, in four days, without being deprived of an 
 hour's sleep, and in the most pleasant and interesting manner. 
 
 It is impossible for persons residing in the older portions of 
 the United States, to form an adequate conception of the great 
 progress which has been made, and the giant strides with which 
 our country is advancing, in population and all the arts of civili- 
 zation, — of the wonderful physical and moral changes, which 
 have been effected, within the last thirty years, throughout the 
 whole extent of the Republic, without passing through the west- 
 ern parts of New- York and Pennsylvania, and the new states 
 and territories which have been formed in the broad Valley of 
 the Mississippi, since the close of the Revolution. 
 
 As late as 1792, there was not a white family residing in this 
 state, west of Utica, and that immense fertile tract of land, from 
 the bounds of Pennsylvania on the south, and the shores of Lake 
 Ontario on the north, to the Niagara river and Lake Erie, was
 
 a wilderness, — the hunting-grounds of those once powerful and 
 warlike tribes of Indians, which formed that very remarkable 
 and celebrated confederation, called the Six Nations. James 
 and William Wadsworth of Connecticut were the first pioneers, 
 who had the enterprise and fortitude to penetrate the unexplored 
 forest, and commenced a settlement on the right bank of Genessee 
 river, within the limits of the present beautiful village of Gen- 
 essee, where the former gentleman resides, as the enlightened, 
 hospitable, and honored patriarch of western New-York. His 
 brother, who was eminent for his industry, perseverance, and 
 patriotic efforts, to advance the best interests of those zealous 
 and fearless fellow-citizens, who, with him, had staked their lives 
 and fortunes in the same arduous yet commendable career, died 
 a kw years since, leaving to posterity a name and a character, 
 which is more v.'orlhy of admiration, and better entitled to the 
 respect and gratitude of succeeding generations, than those of 
 the Grecian Argonauts. He went forth, as the herald of civili- 
 zation, and boldly adventured into the depths of the primeval 
 wilderness, to reclaim a new dominion for agriculture, enlarge 
 the sphere of human industry, and advance the happiness and 
 prosperity of millions. He was not ambitious of that distinction, 
 which is derived from a merely hazardous expedition, or encour- 
 aged by the buoyant hope of returning triumphant to his native 
 land, from a far distant clime, enriched with the golden spoils of 
 conquest, or the treasures of commercial speculation, on the bar- 
 barous coast of another Colchis ; but, with a lofty spirit of vir- 
 tuous emulation, and that unostentatious yet indomitable perse-, 
 verance, which no obstacles can impede, he sought to be the 
 benefactor of his country, and those hardy compatriots, who fol- 
 lowed in the path he had opened ; and the glorious reward, for 
 all his perils and hardships, is the imperishable homage of public 
 gratitude. 
 
 It was not until after seven years, from the time those two 
 meritorious sons of New-England reared their log hut, on the 
 luxuriant banks of the Genessee.* that the tide of emigration 
 reached the shores of Seneca Lake, and twelve had elapsed, 
 before it flowed into the vale of that beautiful river ; but then it 
 
 • GenesBee is the Iiulian name for Pleasant Valley.
 
 soon rushed, with accumulating energy, to the frontier of the 
 stale. 
 
 In the year 1813, I passed through Rochester and this place, 
 when the only structures, at the former, were a small saw-mill, 
 one log and some two or three framed houses. Now it is a flour- 
 ishing city, containing more than eighteen thousand inhabitants. 
 Genessee river divides the city, and being precipitated two hun- 
 dred and sixty feet, over rapids and falls, within its limits, fur- 
 nishes a hydraulic power of pre-eminent grandeur, which is the 
 chief cause of the foundation and present flourishing condition of 
 Rochester. These falls have been carefully guaged, by experi- 
 enced civil engineers, and found to be equal to two thousand 
 steam-engines, of twenty horse power. There are now, wiihin the 
 bounds of the city, twenty flour-mills, containing ninety runs of 
 stones, and are capable, when in full operation, of manufactur- 
 ing five thousand barrels of flour daily, requiring a supply of 
 twenty thousand bushels of vi^heat. The annual product of flour, 
 in fertile seasons, has been estimated at 600,000 barrels. There 
 are also many saw-mills, and manufactories of carpets, woollen 
 cloths, fire-arms, and numerous other articles. 
 
 The Erie Canal passes through the centre of the city, at right 
 angles to the course of the river, thereby affording a direct and 
 cheap mode of transportation to the lakes and Hudson river, 
 while the mouth of the Genessee has been converted into a large 
 and commodious harbor, by the construction of two piers, each 
 of which extends into Lake Ontario nearly 2700 feet. This 
 highly important work, so creditable to that enlarged and liberal 
 policy of the National Government, which is rendering such great 
 and indispensable facilities and security to the navigation of the 
 lakes, will, when completed in solid masonry, require an expen- 
 diture of about $300,000. Similar artificial labors have been 
 successfully commenced, and are nearly finished, in Sodus Bay 
 and at the entrance of Oswego river. The safe and spacious 
 port of Rochester admits the largest steam-boats, and other vessels 
 which navigate Ontario, and is connected with the city by a 
 rail-road of only two miles in length ; and a canal is being made 
 up the valley of Genessee river, to connect the Erie Canal with 
 the Alleghany river at Olean, thus opening the whole trade of
 
 8 
 
 that rich wheat-growing region with Rochester, and making a 
 line of water transportion to Pittsburg, on the Ohio. 
 
 Lockport has been created since the Erie Canal was opened, 
 and contains a population of between seven and eight thousand. 
 It is situated at the eastern extremity of the deep-cut, through 
 the elevated ridge, which was, at some distant period, the shore 
 of Lake Ontario; and the great descent of the locks produces a 
 water power of such vast capacity, as renders that admirable site 
 for a town, one of the most valuable and inviting, for mills and 
 factories, after Rochester, between the Niagara and Hudson 
 rivers, on the line of the Erie Canal. 
 
 Buffalo, when visited at the period above mentioned, was but 
 a small village, consisting of some twenty or thirty dwelling- 
 houses, all of which, save two, were destroyed by the British, 
 the following winter ; and the only means of reaching Fort 
 Schlossar, the landing-place just above the rapids of Niagara 
 Falls, was by an Indian path, which had been barely sufficiently 
 cleared out and improved to admit the difficult passage of an ox- 
 team, or a batteau, in which I was obliged to descend the river; 
 from the mouth of Buffalo creek, the present harbor, to the 
 Schlossar landing. Now there is a rail-road, with locomotives, 
 the Erie Canal for half the distance, and a steam-boat which 
 makes two trips a day, besides an excellent county road. The 
 only vessel of the United States, on Lake Erie, before the gallant 
 Commodore Perry commenced the equipment of his victorious 
 fleet, was one small armed schooner ; and so great has since be- 
 come the demands of transportation, that, during the past sum- 
 mer, it has been navigated by five hundred large ships, brigs and 
 schooners, besides sixty magnificent steam-boats. Such is the 
 accumulation of goods, which have reached this place, for the 
 autumnal supply of the upper country, that nine steam-boats left 
 the harbor this morning, laden as deep as they could swim, with 
 freight and passengers; and, as two were coming down the lake, 
 there were eleven seen under way at the same moment. There 
 were, besides, eight laying at the wharves, loading and unload- 
 ing, and between forty and fifty square-rigged vessels and schoon- 
 ers. The warehouses are still filled with merchandize, and the 
 canal being yet navigable, it is feared there will not be the means
 
 of transportation to despatch the whole thai may be received, 
 before the harbors of the lakes are frozen up. 
 
 Thus, in the short period of twenty-five years, a city has arisen 
 on the ruins of the conflagrated village, which contains more 
 than twenty thousand inhabitants, with a greater number of ele- 
 gant stone and brick houses, stores, churches, and other public 
 edifices, in proportion to its size, than any other in the Union. 
 But the chief increase of the city has been since the completion 
 of the Erie Canal, which was not until November, 1824; and it 
 has all the appearance of that thrifty growth, which announces, 
 in the most clear and decisive manner, the future grandeur of 
 this truly Tyrian creation. In less than twenty-five years, it 
 will inevitably number one hundred thousand, of the most indus- 
 trious, enterprizing people, who ever gave consequence and 
 added to the power and glory of a nation. This may appear ex- 
 travagant ; but, nevertheless, the reality will outstrip the predic- 
 tion, if the exact data, furnished by the past and the 'present, 
 are to be considered as sufficiently veracious, on which to esti- 
 mate, with an approximating accuracy, the results which are to 
 be developed in the future ; and more especially, since the suc- 
 cessful substitution of steam, for animal power, on the land, and 
 that of the winds, on the ocean. The triumphant experiments 
 in rail-roads, and the navigation of the Atlantic by steam-ships, 
 with the infinite facilities afforded by canals, of unprecedented 
 extent and capacity, have given such a tremendous impulse to 
 industry and intelligence, as was never before experienced or 
 contemplated ; and the prospective consequences are so immeas- 
 urably beyond whatever has been achieved by genius, science, 
 art, wealth, and national power combined, that no mind can 
 grasp, and no prescience indicate them. We are witnessing the 
 most sublime spectacle that ever attracted the wonderous gaze of 
 philosophy. A movement of civilization, which is as startling 
 and momentous as one of those earthquake convulsions, which 
 changed the entire geology of the earth. 
 
 There is not so commanding a position in the United States 
 as this, for forming a clear and just conception of the grand and 
 interesting features of the physical geography and moral energies 
 of the nation,— the gigantic strides of emigration, the rapidly 
 expanding bounds of all branches of industry, the vast natural 
 2
 
 10 
 
 means of intercommunication by lakes and rivers, and the ines- 
 timable advantages which are to be derived from an enlarged 
 and liberal system of internal improvements. This city may be 
 considered as the focal point of re-union for the innumerable 
 adventurers, who, from Maine, New-Hampshire, Vermont, Mass- 
 achusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New- York and Europe, 
 are destined for Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and 
 the still farther West. Here they embark in sieam-boats, ships, 
 and other vessels, for the various lake ports which are nearest the 
 places of their several intended establishments. It is the short 
 and narrow defile through which all the products of the mines, 
 forests, agriculture, and the numerous other branches of industry, 
 of the immense western region, must pass down, to the markets 
 on the Atlantic, and those of the whole globe up, to supply the 
 wants, comforts and luxuries of that thronging multitude, which, 
 like an irreflluent flood, is sweeping over the whole surface of 
 those fertile and flourishing states and territories. 
 
 It is a position which will command a greater concentration 
 of commerce and business of every kind, than any other in the 
 interior of our capacious country ; for, besides the conspicuous 
 advantages which I have enumerated, a water power has been 
 created, by the construction of the sea-wall from Black Rock to 
 the entrance of Lake Erie, which is not only greater than any 
 other in the Union, but equal, at least, to the whole of those in 
 the New-England States ; as it embraces nearly a quarter of the 
 volume of the entire current which rushes over the Falls of Nia- 
 gara, and is as perpetual and inexhaustable as the four inland 
 seas, which are its sources of supply. Mills and factories may, 
 therefore, be extended upon the lateral wall, and below the dam, 
 to the entrance of the Erie Canal, in the village of Tonnawanda, 
 without producing any perceptable diminution in the prism of 
 water. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN. 
 
 A'.
 
 LETTER NO. II. 
 
 Buffalo, Nov. 28, 1838. 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — From the two powerful causes, which were 
 stated in a former letter, Buffalo will increase in population 
 in a manner unprecedented in the history of any of the very 
 remarkable towns which have risen into consequence, either 
 before or since the war of the revolution ; and with the com- 
 manding situations of Black Rock and Tonnawanda, the entire 
 area of land between the northern bounds of the latter to the 
 shores of Lake Erie, and an indefinite eastern line, will become 
 a continued settlement, which must ultimately be united into one 
 city, and the sooner that is done the better it will be for each, 
 when they will inevitably become an immense emporium, which 
 can only be surpassed in grandeur and affluence by but a very 
 few others, on some of the most favored harbors and estuaries of 
 the maritime frontier. 
 
 When the ship canal, from Chicago to the foot of the rapids of 
 the Illinois river, is completed, cotton can be brought to this 
 place from the states of Mississippi and Louisiana by steam-boats, 
 at as little expense as by coasters and land transportation, to the 
 manufacturing towns of New-England, while wool is now a staple 
 product of a large portion of this State of Ohio. What a field 
 for manufacturing enterprize will then be offered, by the hydrau- 
 lic power which has been described ; not only for the supply of 
 the western region, with cotton and woollen fabrics, but every 
 other article which is now made in the North-eastern States ; and 
 especilly those composed of iron; for the inexhaustible mines of 
 that metal, and of bituminous coal, are being opened and
 
 12 
 
 wrought in the State of Ohio, and can be delivered here, at 
 prices which must inevitably cause numerous works, for the 
 construction of steam-engines and various other articles of that 
 invaluable material, which will be required to meet the increas- 
 ing demand of the lake country. 
 
 The coal, with which this city is now supplied, is brought from 
 a mine near Cleveland, on the Ohio Canal, and is superior, as 
 fuel, to any of the varieties imported from England. It is so 
 combustible as to ignite with greater facility, and presents a clear 
 and vivid blaze, without as much smoke as either the Orrel, 
 Newcastle, or Cannel ; and when the bituminous portion has 
 been evolved, the remainder of the mass is so completely carbonic, 
 that the appearance of the fire, is that, of one produced from the 
 best charcoal; and the whole is so completely consumed, as to 
 leave only a comparatively small portion of white ashes, such as 
 are the residuum of rock maple or hickory wood, without any 
 scoria or cinders. The price, the past summer, has been six 
 dollars per chaldron. 
 
 Another mine has been opened, and some vessel loads brought 
 here, for trial, which is considered, by eminent geologists, as a 
 still more perfect variety of the bituminous species of coal, and 
 superior to any hitherto found in any country. I have only seen 
 samples of it, but have not yet had an opportunity of witnessing 
 its being used as fuel. It is found in an isolated mountain, in 
 Broomheld, Trumbull County, Ohio, about fifty miles from Erie 
 in Pennsylvania. A canal is in progress from the port of Erie 
 to Pittsburg, which passes on one side of the base of the moun- 
 tain, in which the coal is deposited, in a vein five feet thick ; and 
 a rail-road will be commenced next year, from Coneaut, on Lake 
 Erie, thirty miles westward of the town of Erie, to Beaver, on the 
 Ohio river, thirty miles below Pittsburg, which will pass on the 
 opposite side of the mountain, — by both of which lines of trans- 
 portation, the coal can be brought to the shore of the lake, and 
 thence in vessels to the city, where it will be sold for not more 
 than five dollars per ton. There is an abundance of iron ore in 
 the immediate vicinity of this coal depositc, and the latter approx- 
 imates so nearly to perfect charcoal, that it can be used in the 
 manufacture of iron, even without being coked. 
 
 But (lour mills will precede manufactories on the Niagara,
 
 13 
 
 from the facilities which the location presents for such structures. 
 Large vessels can either pass down the basin formed by the Black 
 Rock sea-wall, or the main channel of the river, and unlade their 
 cargoes of wheat directly into the mills, and when converted 
 into Hour, the barrels containing it may be rolled into the canal- 
 boats, for transportation to the Hudson. One mill, of pre-emi- 
 nent excellence, containing seven runs of stones, has been built 
 by Kingman & Durfee, within two years, which grind fifteen 
 hundred bushels of wheat, and turn out three hundred barrels of 
 flour daily ; and is capable, if worked twenty hours out of each 
 twenty-four, of manufacturing four hundred barrels. 
 
 Some estimate may be formed of the number of mills which 
 will be required, from the fact, that over 2,000,000 bushels of 
 wheat were sent down the lake from Illinois, Michigan, and 
 Ohio, the past season, for the mills in this vicinity, and along the 
 route of the Erie Canal, as well as for the Albany and New-York 
 markets. The same intelligent and meritorious young gentlemen 
 have commenced a still larger mill on the Black Rock dam, 
 having cleared, the first year, the cost of the first, although 
 amounting to over fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 The steam saw-mill at White-Haven, on Grand Island, directly 
 opposite the mouth of Tonnawanda Creek, and the town of that 
 name, is unequaled in this country. It contains six gangs, each 
 composed of nine saws, which are chiefly employed in cutting 
 white oak plank, for ship-building. The island contains about 
 15,000 acres, being nine miles long and nearly as broad in its 
 greatest width, and is covered with a superb growth of trees, 
 chiefly white oak, and of a prodigious size. I saw logs at the 
 mill four feet in diameter at the butt, and seventy feet in length, 
 as straight and symmetrical as an architectural column. I was 
 informed that trunks five feet in diameter and seveniy-five feet in 
 length have been sawed. The plank are sent down the Erie 
 Canal to Albany, and from thence, coastwise, to the several navy 
 and mercantile ship-yards on the sea coast. They are the best 
 in material, and beauty of surface, and uniformity of thickness, 
 which have ever been used, and command the highest price. 
 A suflScient number can be sawed weekly for planking up two 
 ships, of five hundred tons each. Besides the timber obtained 
 from Grand Island, large quantities are received from the Canada
 
 14 
 
 shore of Lake Erie, and the white pine logs, for boards, which 
 come from the banks of Chippewa river, are remarkable for their 
 immense size and superior quality. 
 
 The land of Grand Island is excellent, — equal to any in the 
 State — and, as the timber is removed, will be converted into farms 
 of great value. Between it and the main land is the island of 
 Tonnawanda, of about a hundred acres, owned by Mr. White of 
 your city, and on which he is erecting a cottage. It is impossi- 
 ble to conceive of a more beautiful spot for a summer residence. 
 It is covered with all the variety of trees and shrubs peculiar to 
 this part of our country, save some twenty acres, which have 
 been cleared and cultivated. 
 
 White-IIaven will be the site of the great ship-yard for con- 
 structing the numerous steam-boats and other vessels, which will 
 be required for these waters. 
 
 There must be a large town at the mouth of the Tonnawanda 
 Creek, as Grand and Tonnawanda Islands form a deep and 
 capacious harbor, where the largest ships, that navigate the lakes> 
 may be laden and discharged, in perfect security against the 
 storms, which frequently render the other ports dangerous to the 
 commercial fleets which seek them for shelter. Besides, it is 
 the basin and grand entrepot of the Erie Canal ; for there, is 
 properly its western terminus; and the period is not distant, 
 when a ship canal will be commenced at that point, and, follow- 
 ing the valley of the Creek, pass on to Lockport, and from thence 
 down Eighteen Mile Creek, to Lake Ontario ; the distance being 
 only about thirty miles, and the route much preferable to that 
 whteh has been projected from near Fort Schlossar to Lewiston. 
 The lockage will be less diflicult, and the work will not be ex- 
 posed to injury from batteries on the opposite shore, in the event 
 of a war, in which Canada may become a hostile country. 
 
 A town has been laid out at Niagara Falls, and a number of 
 elegant houses, stores and hotels, have been erected. Gen. Peter 
 B. Porter has just commenced a magnilicent stone mansion, and 
 there is all the appearance of a thrifty settlement. There are 
 several mills and factories on a canal, which is supplied 
 with water from the rapids ; but another, on a much larger 
 scale, is to be excavated, which will afford an ample water
 
 15 
 
 power, for any number of establishments, in either of those 
 branches of business. 
 
 Of the Falls of Niagara ! those mighty cataracts? I say noth- 
 ing. Like the ocean in a tempest, and the Alps, — they must be 
 seen to be appreciated, for they cannot be described. 
 
 The necessity of a larger and more safe harbor, is begun to 
 be experienced at Buffalo ; in fact, the present one is, even now, 
 barely sufficient for the innumerable canal boats, and when they 
 shall be triple their present size, which will be the case as soon 
 as the Erie Canal shall have been enlarged, in the manner 
 whichvhas been commenced, the daily number usually in port 
 cannot be accommodated. Fortunately, there is no difficulty in 
 so enlarging the harbor as will be fully commensurate with the 
 demands of the future navigation of the city. Nearly opposite 
 the extremity of the pier, which has been extended into the lake, 
 from the peninsula, which forms the left bank of the entrance of 
 the Buffalo Creek, is a reef, which extends to the breakwater, 
 where the sea-wall ends, that has been named, as forming the 
 basin and hydraulic power of Black Rock. On that reef a 
 breakwater can be easily erected, which will form a harbor, 
 secure against all winds, with an area of at least five hundred 
 acres. From the mouth of the present harbor, a sea-wall must 
 be constructed, down to the entrance of the Niagara river, in 
 sufficient depth of water to allow the largest vessels to lie afloat ; 
 and the space between it and the shore filled up, so as to form a 
 spacious quay, or landing place, and the whole of the ground 
 leveled to the southern margin of the canal, and intersected by 
 several crosscuts from the latter, into the harbor. On the quay 
 and borders of the short canals, as well as those of the main 
 trunk, should be broad paved streets, which will afford excellent 
 sites for stores and warehouses, and where the chief commercial 
 business of the city will be transacted. The General Govern- 
 ment should construct the breakwater; but if it does not, indi- 
 vidual enterprize will accomplish that indispensable work. At 
 its upper end should be formed a massive granite pedestal, and 
 surmounted by a collossal bronze statue of the illustrious De 
 Witt Clinton, a hundred feet high, — holding aloft in one hand, 
 a flambeau, as a beacon light, to designate, in the night, the 
 entrance, and pointing with the other, in the direction of the
 
 16 
 
 Yonte of the Erie Canal. New-York owes such a monument to 
 its greatest benefactor, in grateful remembrance of the pre- 
 eminent services he rendered the State; ay, — tlie whole repub- 
 lic ; for the direct and glorious influence of his patriotic labors 
 have been felt in every city, town, village and dwellin?, through- 
 out the West and the Ea^t, from the St. Croix to the extremity 
 of Florida. 
 
 From the peculiarly favorable topographical features of that 
 portion of the city, laying west of Main-street, its future extension 
 will first be towards the new harbor of the Niagara river. But 
 all the area within the existing limits will ultimately embrace but 
 a small portion of the dense population, which must be assembled 
 in the modern Byzantium, that will majestically crown the banks 
 of this American Bosphorus, and become the grand entrepot, 
 between the vast Euxines of the West and the Atlantic Ocean. 
 Here must be concentrated the products of every clime, destined 
 for the supply, and in exchange for those of a large portion of the 
 millions of inhabitants, who will occupy the immense territory 
 which extends westward to the Rocky Mountains, between the 
 Ohio on the south, and the highlands in the west and north-west, 
 which are the fountains of all the waters that flow into lakes 
 Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, and the deep and length- 
 ened channels of the Missouri and Mississippi, above the conflu- 
 ence of the Oliio, will) the latter majestic river. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER NO. III. 
 
 Buffalo, Nov. '^2, 1838. 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — From the very remarkable physical features of our 
 country, the Straits of Niagara, afford the only practicable point, 
 within the bounds of the United States, for forming a water com- 
 munication, between the Atlantic and the four great lakes. The 
 extensive range of the Alleghany Mountains, which commences 
 but a little distance south-east of Buffalo, and stretches into 
 Georgia and Alabama, imposes an insuperable barrier, to a rival 
 outlet, for the trade of the Nortii-west. Fortunately for New- 
 York, the tremendous convulsion, which uphove those Northern 
 Andes, did not extend farther than the latitude of the Falls of 
 Nunda, on the Genessee river, and the level gorge, thus pre- 
 sented, has enabled the intelligent government of this State, to 
 turn their northern flank, where the route for a canal is opened, 
 to the tide-waters of the Hudson, without encountering but an 
 inconsiderable elevation, above the level of those of Lake Erie, 
 and which can be made to flow into that river, with a descending 
 lockage of only five hundred and seventy feet; and that, too, in 
 a distance of three hundred and sixty miles. At no other place, 
 in the entire range of over five hundred miles, until past the 
 southern extremity of the mountains, can a canal or rail-road be 
 formed, into the immense basin of the lakes, or the valley of the 
 Mississippi, from the sea coast, that must not cross a summit 
 level, of at least a thousand feet in height, requiring an ascend- 
 3
 
 18 
 
 ing and descending lockage, more than quadruple that of the 
 Clinton Canal. 
 
 This natural geographical advantage, has been, and must for 
 ever continue to be, the grand cause of the prosperity and illim- 
 itable expansion of Buffalo, Black Rock, and Tonnawanda. If a 
 mere spring of water, and a grove of a few trees, in the midst of 
 the arid desert, which lies between the Euphrates and the Med- 
 iterranean, induced Solomon, to there establish his " Tadmor in 
 the wilderness," for the accommodation of the numerous cara- 
 vans, which, for centuries, carried on the trade of Palestine, 
 Greece, and the Roman empire, with Persia and India, — if an 
 advantage, so comparatively insignificant, was the sole cause of 
 the rise of the magnificent and once powerful city of Palmyra, — 
 and if the commerce of the Israelites, with the Red Sea, induced 
 the navigators and princely merchants of Tyre, to create the 
 emporium of Ezion Geber, and enabled the Edomites to execute 
 those splendid temples, theatres, and mausoleums, in the solid 
 rocks, which encircled the still wonderful yet dilapidated and 
 lonor-lost capital of Petra, what must be the consequences of a 
 position, so pre-eminently superior, and where there is a combi- 
 nation of impulsive powers, which are in perpetual and accumu- 
 lating action? 
 
 The very remarkable and propitious influence, which the con- 
 struction of the Erie Canal has had upon the city and State of 
 New- York, has been equally experienced, in all the other states 
 and territories bordering upon those five great lakes, which are 
 the perrennial urns of the St. Lawrence. The opening of that 
 artificial Nile, gave a sudden and mighty impetus to enterprize 
 and industry, throughout that whole region ; and it has been 
 constantly augmenting in energy, from the co-operating meas- 
 ures, that have been successfully adopted, by the respective legis- 
 latures of each of its political divisions, to render the advantages, 
 derived by those, who, from their favorable positions on navaga- 
 ble waters, were immediately enabled to participate in them, 
 common to a still more extensive portion of ihe population, which 
 actually did, or speedily must exist, not only within their several 
 limits, but far, far beyond. 
 
 Such have been the direct advantages which have resulted 
 from the first grand experiment, which was made to test the
 
 19 
 
 utility of internal improvements ; but the indirect moral conse- 
 quences have been equally astonishing and momentous. The 
 states of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and afterwards Virginia, 
 the Carolinas and Georgia, were roused to a just sense of their 
 altered conditions, and perceived, that unless they imitated the 
 enlightened policy of the cataract state, the business of their 
 maritime cities with the interior, would rapidly diminish and ulti- 
 mately be lost, while the products of agriculture, would be either 
 excluded from the Atlantic markets, or the farmers and plant- 
 ers be barely able to subsist, by a competition, which must be so 
 unequally prosecuted, as long as the great difference of the ex- 
 pense of land and water transportation continued. Then, there 
 were the rich mines of coal and iron, which were laying useless 
 in the mountains, and would be forever valueless, until, by canals 
 and rail-roads, they were rendered inexhaustible sources of indi- 
 vidual and public wealth. 
 
 From these considerations, a spirit was roused, which soon 
 put into vigorous action all the resources and energies of those 
 states, for the important purposes of internal improvement; and 
 lines of communication were opened, to an extent, which in- 
 cluded an expenditure of over twenty millions, in Pennsylvania 
 alone. 
 
 Examples as well as interest have had their joint influence, in 
 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, and several of the 
 south-western states, — and, at last, in portions of New-England ; 
 and public works of all kinds, for the advancement of the best 
 interests of the people, are in progress, which no one would have 
 anticipated thirty years since, would have been undertaken for a 
 century and a half from that period. 
 
 It is interesting to look back to the time, when the first great 
 movement was made in England, for the construction of better 
 meansof transportation, than were offered by common roads, and 
 mark the slow, but gradual influence of the Duke of Bridge- 
 water's bold experiment, not only in that country, but this. As 
 wild and extravagant as was his undertaking considered, the 
 effect was felt, even here, for Franklin was desired, by a gentle- 
 man of Philadelphia, to send him all the reports and such other 
 information, as could be collected, in relation to that work, and
 
 20 
 
 stated as a reason for so singular a requisition, for tliat period, 
 " that the people were canal mad."* 
 
 Under the excitement thus produced, a canal was projected 
 from that city to the Susquehanna, and a survey of the route 
 actually commenced, under the direction of the illustrious Rit- 
 tenhouse; but the difiiculties which preceded the Revolution, 
 becoming more intensely absorbing, the plan was abandoned, 
 the mania died away, and was not again revived until after the 
 lapse of nearly seventy years, when the work was earnestly began 
 and unremittedly prosecuted, to the Ohio river. 
 
 The next earliest suggestion, in relation to extensive lines of 
 communication between the Atlantic ports and the western 
 rivers and lakes, was made by Washington, soon after the close 
 •of the French war, which ended in 17G3 ; and so great were his 
 exertions, that a bill was obtained for rendering the Potomac 
 navigable to Wills's Creek ; but the contest for national inde- 
 pendence paralyzed all such pacific measures [for the benefit of 
 the colonies. Still the patriot soldier never forgot his favorite 
 project ; and, on receiving the news of the preliminaries of peace 
 being signed, he left the American camp at Newburg, accom- 
 panied by Gov. George Clinton, to explore the interior of New- 
 York ; and from the following extract of a letter to the Marquis 
 de Chastellux, it will be perceived how deeply he was impressed 
 with the very remarkable geographical characteristics of the 
 country; the peculiar facilities which were presented for the 
 extension of trade, and how clearly the future purposes to which 
 they would be rendered subservient, as well as the brilliant des- 
 tinies of the far-off west, were revealed to his luminous and 
 capacious mind. " I have lately made a tour through the lakes 
 George and Champlain, as far as Crown Point ; then returning 
 to Schenectady, I proceeded up the Mohawk River to Fort Stan- 
 wix, crossed over to Wood Creek, which empties into Oneida 
 Lake, and affords the water communication with Ontario. I 
 then traversed the countrj, to the head of the eastern branch of 
 the Susquehanna, and viewed Lake Otsego and the portage be- 
 tween that lake and the Mohawk River, at Canajoharie. 
 Prompted by these actual observations, I could not lielp taliing a 
 
 ' Seo Franklin's Life and Correspondence, by Sparks.
 
 21 
 
 more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland 
 NAVIGATION of these United States, and could not but be struck 
 with the immense diffusion and importance of it, and with the 
 goodness of that Providence, who has dealt his favors with so 
 profuse a iiand. Would to God we may have avisdom to 
 IMPROVE them ! I shall not rest contented until I have explored 
 the Western country, and traversed those lines which have given 
 bounds to a new empire."* 
 
 In conformity to the intimation above given, Washington made 
 a journey to Pittsburg, in 1784, over the route which he had 
 pursued in the disastrous campaign of General Braddock, and 
 on his return presented to the Governor of Virginia a full report 
 of his views in relation to the importance of opening an inter- 
 course with that region of country, and distinctly and forcibly 
 recommended the immediate commencement of works for im- 
 proving the navigation of the Potomac and James rivers, by locks 
 and canals, past the most diflkult portions of their channels, so 
 as to render them navigable for boats, and establish a better 
 communication with the Ohio river. After alluding to the nat- 
 ural desire of Pennsylvania and New- York, and the measures 
 which each would inevitably adopt to secure the business of the 
 West, he magnanimously remarks : — " I am not for discouraging 
 the exertions of any State to draw the commerce of the Western 
 country to its seaports. The more communications we open to 
 it. the closer we bind that rising world to our interests, and the 
 greater strength we acquire by it. Extend the inland navigation 
 of the eastern waters — connect them, as near as possible, with 
 those which run westward — open these to the Ohio — open also 
 such as extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie, and we shall 
 not only draw the produce of the western settlers and the fur 
 trade of the lakes also to our ports — thus adding an immense 
 increase to our exports, and binding those people to us by a 
 chain, which can never be broken."* 
 
 Thus all the great routes of the lakes and western waters, 
 which have been completed, or are being opened, were distinctly 
 pointed out by Washington as early as the close of the revolution- 
 ary war. Like Peter the Great, of Russia, his conceptions of the 
 
 * See Washington's Correspondence, by Sparks.
 
 22 
 
 future magnitude and grandeur of the republic, and the impor- 
 tance of canals and other methods for developing its immense 
 natural resources, were as vivid as they were enlarged and patri- 
 otic; and so confident was he then, of their ultimate construc- 
 tion, that the power and the means of that greatest of sovereigns 
 were only required to have been at his command, to have insured 
 their prompt completion. 
 
 Feeble demonstrations were made in several sections of the 
 Union, to carry into effect that system of intercommunication 
 which had been considered by the most enlightened men of 
 Europe and this country, to be indispensable to the progress of 
 the arts of civilization and the general prosperity, wealth, and 
 power of nations. In the United States, as well as Great-Britain, 
 notwithstanding the insurmountable objections of the accom- 
 plished engineer of the Bridgewater Canal, founded on scientific 
 principles and the most conclusive practical illustrations, it was 
 first attempted to render our rivers navigable, by clearing out the 
 obstructions of shoals, reefs and bars, building dams and jetties, 
 and locking round rapids and falls ; in which futile endeavors to 
 accomplish the desired object, large sums were expended on the 
 James, Potomac, Susquehanna, Schuylkill, Hudson, Mohawk, 
 Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, which only went to prove 
 the truth of Brindley's remark before a committee of the House 
 of Commons, — " That rivers, above the point of their natural 
 sufficiently perfect channels for all the purposes of navigation, 
 were only to be considered as feeders for canals." The utter 
 failure of nearly all these improvident labors, to meet the exi- 
 gencies of the increasing interior transportation of the country, 
 becoming, at last, apparent, more enlarged views of the subject 
 began to be entertained ; and especially after the able and in- 
 structive report which was made to Congress by the Hon. Albert 
 Gallatin, during the administration of President Jefferson. Still, 
 no decisive movement was made, on the part of the National or 
 State governments, to execute any of the great works which had 
 been so clearly and satisfactorily recommended to the considera- 
 tion of the respective legislatures of earh, as well as to the intel- 
 ligence and interests of the people. The burthen of the public 
 debt precluded the action of Congress, and numerous causes were 
 combined, which prevented that of the States. The chief of
 
 23 
 
 which, however, was founded on the erroneous assumption that 
 such undertakings were to be considered merely as pecuniary 
 speculations; and when a certain, immediate and ample interest 
 for the money expended was not fully apparent, the subject 
 claimed but little attention, and was summarily disposed of, 
 without regard to the general benefit, which was to be derived by 
 all the various branches of industry. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 11. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER IVO. IV. 
 
 Buffalo, Nov. 28, 1S38. 
 To the Secretary of the State of 3Iassachiisctts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — The only proper manner in which improved 
 facilities of intercourse should be considered, is that in wiiich 
 the old and ordinary highways have been regarded. When the 
 population was thinly scattered through a wilderness, a bridle- 
 path, which the Indians had used, or a route designated by spot- 
 ted trees, subserved all the purposes of the adventurous pioneers 
 of agriculture ; but as settlements increased, and villages appear- 
 ed, the wants and comforts of the inhabitants proportionably mul- 
 tiplied, and the necessity of more perfect means of travel caused 
 broader roads to be cleared ; and with the progress of industry 
 and affluence, it finally became indispensable that they should be 
 passable for wheels as well as sleds, and be capable of use at all 
 seasons of the year ; their surfaces were, therefore, graded, 
 bridges constructed, and their condition generally amended, in 
 the ratio of the purposes for which they were required. During 
 all this time, it never entered into the mind of a single individual, 
 that a revenue was to be derived from the amount of money ap- 
 propriated for such objects; but, so far from it, taxes were ex- 
 pressly levied on the several towns and counties for maintaining 
 those common and important avenues, and penalties imposed for 
 any neglect of their condition, which might endanger the lives 
 or the property of the citizens, who had a right to pass over them 
 freely. 
 
 At last, when other methods of rendering the intercourse be- 
 tween various sections of the country more certain, expeditious,
 
 25 
 
 and economical, were found to be necessary, instead of consider- 
 ing a canal as only an infinitely superior kind of highway, and 
 as indispensable to the augmented number and more advanced 
 state of the population in the domestic, moral, social, industrious 
 and commercial relations, as was the, mere trail of the savage to 
 the early emigrants into the forest, it was, by some inexplicable 
 perversion of the long established principles and uniform customs 
 of the country, looked upon as rather a new field for individual 
 enterprise, where capital was to be invested on the expectation 
 of gain, — as in navigation, commerce, or manufacturing estab- 
 lishments. The natural consequence of this erroneous aspect of 
 the subject was, that all the preliminary inquiries and calcula- 
 tions were instituted to ascertain what income could be realized, 
 rather than the more correct and important investigation, for 
 establishing this simple fact;— ivill the public good he subserved, 
 in proportion to the amount of the expenditure to be incurred. 
 This having been established, the course was definite, and the 
 duty of vigorous action as imperative, as the demand was just 
 and urgent. 
 
 These strange and deleterious notions, which, unfortunately,^ 
 too commonly prevailed in this country, were difficult of eradica- 
 tion. But such an inversion of the power to be applied, which, 
 when requiring the mightiest, the least is sought, is an anomaly 
 of the moderns, and of recent and limited occurrence. Among 
 the ancients, and in continental Europe, the great works, which 
 were required for the benefit of the whole people, were under- 
 taken and executed at the expense of the nation. The canals of 
 Babylon and Egypt, the artificial harbors of the Greeks and Car- 
 thagenians, the acqueducts and roads of the Romans, and simi- 
 lar structures in Italy, France, Holland and Russia, are the en- 
 during monuments of their past or present power, affluence and 
 intelligence. When some public structure or improvement was 
 suggested, the question asked, by such men as Themistocles, 
 Adrian, Hannibal, Sully, Calbert, Peter and Napoleon, was not, 
 — What will he the cost? but others, more grave and pertinent; 
 Is it necessary, and can it he accomplished? 
 
 Finally, however, reason has re-assumed her empire, and 
 whatever is required to be done for the general weal, is consid- 
 ered as being within the peculiar province,, and to belong exclu- 
 4
 
 26 
 
 sively to the national or state authorities. This is not only 
 proper, for the reasons which have been alleged, but to prevent 
 monopolies that may become onerous to the people, as well as 
 having a direct tendency to retard, rather than accelerate, the 
 march of improvements. For when pecuniary advantage is the 
 least object of consideration, and while the benefit of every citi- 
 zen and the universal prosperity of the country are the grand 
 results to be attained, tlie works themselves are the alternate 
 cause and effect of that enterprise and industry, which rendered 
 their establishment necessary, as well as being perpetual sources 
 of accumulating means for their rapid extension and multiplica- 
 tion. Yet it required a reach of intellect, a.n unwearied perse- 
 verance and a moral firmness of no ordinary character, to induce 
 the first great experiment in this country. So little was the sub- 
 ject of internal improvements and the science of civil engineer- 
 ing understood, so general the doubts as to the practicability 
 and expediency of their being rendered available, and so strong 
 and uncompromising the prejudices in favor of individual, rather 
 than public expenditures, for such pnrposes, that it was many 
 years, after the project of the Erie Canal had been presented, 
 before it found sufiicient favor to receive the sanction of a ma- 
 jority of the Legislature. Indeed, such was the indifference, or 
 ignorance, which prevailed, that, when the independent, truth- 
 seeking and intrepid Forman, as leader of the forlorn hope, in 
 the House of Representatives of the State of New- York, offered 
 a resolution in February, 1808, — " That a committee shonld be 
 appointed to take into consideration the propriety of exploring, 
 and causing a. purvey to be made for a Canal hchocen the tide, 
 waters of the Hudson River and Lake Eric," — it is notorious, 
 that "the proposition was received with such expressions of sur- 
 prise and ridicule, as are due to a very wild and foolish project, 
 and was only finally sanctioned, upon the ground that it could do 
 no harm, and might do some good;"* and the trifling sum of 
 six hundred dollars was all that could be procured for such a 
 vast labor, and it was not until Apnl, 1817, that a bill was 
 passed, authorizing the commencement of the Erie and Cham- 
 plain Canals. 
 
 " Gordon.
 
 '27 
 
 Then, indeed, there was an action and a zeal, worthy of the 
 momentous occasion and the ajre, — for a master spirit led on, 
 and the abundant resources of the State were directed to the 
 accomplishtnent of the noble work, in a manner unparalleled in 
 the history of nations; and the whole line of the two canals, ex- 
 ceeding 430 miles in extent, was completed in eight years. But, 
 at one period, so powerful was the opposition to the prosecution 
 of the labor, that fears began to be entertained that it would be 
 suspended, even when nearly half finished. 
 
 The practical results were so triumphantly beyond the favora- 
 ble calculations of the most sanguine, that not a single man is 
 now to be found who does not glory in this magnificent memorial 
 to the meritorious and ever to be honored patriots, who fearlessly 
 braved every difficulty, which was to be encountered, during the 
 progress of the herculean undertaking. 
 
 The consequences to the nation, of this successful experiment, 
 are beyond the grasp of the human intellect. It has established 
 a new era in our destinies, and thrown an arch across the abyss 
 of time, by which we have immediately attained a position, that 
 otherwise could not have been reached until after the revolution 
 of centuries. 
 
 The number and extent of the radiating and tributary chan- 
 nels which have been, or are being formed, since the gates of 
 this Eastern Mississippi were thrown open to navigation, strik- 
 ingly indicate the immense area of territory, in which it is found 
 to be the most direct, commodious and cheap avenue for trans- 
 mitting the multifarious and increasing articles of interchange, 
 between the ocean and the interior. If the states and territories 
 now embraced within the mighty sweep of that genial influence, 
 which this national thoroughfare has so broadly diff'used, looked 
 silently on while the work was steadily advancing, amidst the 
 doubts and fears of the many, as to that splendid result, which its 
 (ew earliest champions had predicted, they instantly perceived 
 the far-reaching advantages when it was consummated ; and 
 with that confidence and energy, which is inspired, when some 
 new and astonishing, yet unverified truth or fact, has been con- 
 firmed by the most full, complete and incontrovertable illustra- 
 tion, at once and unhesitatingly entered the same useful and 
 honorable career. Although their means were not so easily
 
 28 
 
 obtained for prosecuting such laborious and expensive public 
 works, as were afforded by the sufficient and readily convertable 
 resources of New-York, they boldly created them, by a direct 
 appeal to the intelligence of the people, who cheerfully acceded 
 to the imposition of a tax, for that special purpose. 
 
 The aggregate length of the various canals for connecting the 
 Ohio with Lake Erie, exceeds a thousand miles ; and that in 
 Illinois, which will open a direct channel from Lake Michigan 
 to the Mississippi, is of such enlarged dimensions as to permit 
 the passage of large vessels, being ten feet deep. 
 
 The lines of rail-road which arc in progress, are fifteen hun- 
 dred miles in extent. Large portions of all these works have 
 been completed, and the whole of them will be, in a few years, 
 involving an expenditure of $48,000,000. 
 
 The territory included within the bounds of Ohio, Indiana, 
 Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, contains 2S0,0C0 square 
 miles, and is twice as large as the Kingdom of France, and six 
 •times as extensive as England. The population now amounts to 
 about 3,000,000, and if it shall increase in the same ratio during 
 the next twelve years, there will be more than C,COO,000 in 1850, 
 which will furnish a tonnage, in exports and imports, of 
 $200,000,000. But should the ratio of increase be only that of 
 the average of all the states, there will be 90,000,000 in a cen- 
 tury from this time. 
 
 To form some near estimate of the increasing resources of the 
 West, it is sufficient to state, that from an assessed value of the 
 country beyond the Alleghany Mountains, in 1798, wealth has 
 been created within the forty years that have since elapsed, to 
 the amount of $1,200,000,000.* 
 
 But the state of New-York has not halted in its majestic 
 march of improvement; and while others have been emulous to 
 imitate the first grand and decisive step, which was so success- 
 fully taken, its career has still been onwards, and the prospective 
 route is lengthened and expanded beyond the ken of even those, 
 who, from the advanced watchtowers of intelligence, have the 
 most commanding prospect of that yet more glorious way, which 
 looms in the receding distance. 
 
 * I am indebted for these slatistical details to the very able report, made 
 to the Legislature of New-York, last winter, by the Hon. S. B. Ruggles.
 
 29 
 
 Since the Champlain and Erie Canals were finished, others 
 have been made from Syracuse to Oswego, situated at the con- 
 fluence of the river of that name with Lake Ontario, — from Sen- 
 eca and Cayuga Lakes to the Erie Canal, in Montezuma; which, 
 inckiding those lakes, and the Cliemung canal, forms a line of 
 navigation of about a hundred and forty miles ; — from Seneca 
 Lake to the Chemung river, a tributary of the Susquehanna, — 
 from Crooked to Seneca Lake, — from Utica through the vallies 
 of Oriskany, Sauquoit and Chenango to the Susquehanna, — and 
 from Rondout, near the Hudson, ninety miles above New-York, 
 to Honesdale, from whence it is connected by a rail-road to the 
 coal mines of Carbondale ; and those from Black River to the 
 Erie Canal at Rome, and from Rochester up the rich valley of 
 Genessee river, to the Alleghany, are being constructed. The 
 aggregate length of these canals is between six and seven hun- 
 dred miles. That of the Black River makes the navigation of 
 the Erie Canal available for a large portion of the north-eastern 
 part of the State, including Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence, and 
 Oneida counties. 
 
 There has already been, and will be expended by this State, 
 on all these avenues of trade, 819,000,000, and by private com- 
 panies about $4,000,000, making 23,000,000. 
 
 Oswego is a flourishing town, of about six thousand inhabit- 
 ants, and having the most commanding position on Lake Ontario 
 for a commercial emporium, it must become a place of very con- 
 siderable consequence. Owing to the measures which the na- 
 tional government has taken, to render the harbor commodious 
 and safe, it will be the chief entrepot for the imports and exports 
 of a large portion of the population on the American coast of the 
 lake, as well as of Upper Canada, bordering thereon ; and by the 
 Welland Canal there is a communication for brigs and schooners 
 with the three other great lakes. So considerable, already, is 
 the demand for the means of transportation on Lake Ontario, 
 that there are, at least, twenty steam-boats and more than a hun- 
 dred other vessels. Seventy schooners are owned in Oswego, 
 which find constant employment so long as the lake is nav- 
 igable. 
 
 The Oswego river, having for its sources Oneida, Skeaneate- 
 les, Owasco, Cayuga, Seneca and Crooked Lakes, and there
 
 30 
 
 being a descent of about one hundred and twenty feet, a large 
 portion of whicli being within the town, the water power for mills 
 and factories is of great capacity and value, and is now exten- 
 sively employed. 
 
 The distance from Oswego, by the canal, to its junction with 
 Erie, at Syracuse, is only thirty-eight miles, and from thence to 
 Albany about one hundred and ninety. 
 
 This beautiful town has grown up within the last ten or fifteen 
 years, but the site was early selected as a military post, and is 
 notorious for being one of the most important on the north- 
 western frontier during all the Indian and French wars, that of 
 the revolution, and the last with Great-Britain ; for it was the 
 only point on the lakes to which there was nearly a complete 
 water communication with the Hudson River, afforded by Oswego 
 River, Oneida Lake, Wood Creek and the Mohawk. On the 
 opposite heights, at the entrance of the harbor, are the remains 
 of the fortifications which were erected by the French and 
 British armies, during the long and desperate struggle, of those 
 two rival nations, for supreme power, over the colonies of North 
 America. 
 
 The Chemung Canal is becoming of infinite consequence, as a 
 coal field has been opened in an extensive valley in Pennsylvania, 
 distant only twenty-three miles from the Chemung Canal, of an 
 inexhaustable extent, which affords a bituminous species, that is 
 of surpassing excellence. General Swift, formerly chief of the 
 corps of United States Engineers, and now one of the most able 
 and eminent in the civil department of that science, resides at 
 Geneva, on Seneca Lake, and informed me a few days since, that 
 the coal combines, in a more eminent degree, all the valuable 
 qualities of the anthracite and best bituminous kinds of any 
 which he has ever seen ; and as fuel, and for all the purposes of 
 furnaces and forges, it has been fully tested, and is pronounced 
 incomparably superior to that of any other location yet discovered 
 in the United Stales. 
 
 Although there is, as yet, a land transportation of twenty-three 
 miles to the canal, the coal has been delivered at Geneva for five 
 dollars per ton ; but a rail-road will be finished next summer be- 
 tween the mine and the canal, which will so much reduce the 
 expense, that it may be afforded at three dollars per ton, to all the
 
 31 
 
 settlements situated on the shores of Seneca Lake ; and when 
 the Erie Canal shall have been enlarged, there is no doubt but 
 that this coal can be sent to the Atlantic ports and sold as cheap^ 
 at least, as that imported from Great-Britain. 
 
 In addition to all the public works which have been named', 
 two main lines of rail-road iiave been projected between the 
 Hudson and Lake Erie, one extending from Albany to Buffalo,. 
 and the other from a point on Hudson River, twenty-four miles 
 north of the City of New-York, to Dunkirk and Portland, its 
 two western termini, which is five hundred and five miles in 
 length, and it is estimated that it will cost $6,000,000. The 
 portions of the former between Albany and Utica, Syracuse and 
 Auburn, Rochester and Batavia, and Lockport and Buffalo, are 
 opened, being nearly two-thirds of the whole distance. 
 
 But a still more gigantic work has been undertaken, — the 
 enlargement of the Erie Canal, by which its capacity will exceed 
 that of the present at least seven fold, being seven feet deep, and 
 seventy wide, with double locks of augmented dimensions, 
 which will furnish the means of convenient transportation, for not 
 less than ten millions of tons annually ; and the enlarged size 
 of the boats, by which it can be navigated, will immediately reduce 
 the cost of freight nearly one half; and it is contemplated that 
 ultimately the tolls will be so much lessened as to ainount to only 
 four cents on a barrel of flour from Buff'alo to Albany, instead of 
 thirty-two cents, which is now paid. 
 
 Many of the new locks and other structures of masonry, have 
 been commenced, and the workmanship is superior to any I have 
 ever seen. The aqueduct across the Genessee river, at Roches- 
 ter, will be a truly Roman work. The engineer is entitled to 
 the highest commendation for the plan, and the masterly manner 
 in which it is being executed. It admirably combines strength 
 and durability of material with scientific construction, elegance 
 of form and artistical perfection, in the preparation and symetri- 
 cal arrangement of the ponderous marble blocks of which it is 
 composed. 
 
 It has been determined that the enlargement shall be effected 
 within five years, and the estimated expense is $15,000,000. 
 
 Thus the amount which the State must expend under existing 
 laws, will be $20,000,000, and with the sums which must be
 
 82 
 
 paid for taking the private rail-roads for public use, — and which 
 eliould most certainly be done, and for improving tlie present 
 canals, will make the enormous sum of 5*40,000,000 ; and yet 
 such will be the surplus revenue from the canal fund and tolls, 
 beyond the annual interest, on the money borrowed, that it will 
 form a sinking fund, which will be sufficient to pay off and reim- 
 burse the whole principle antl interest, in twenty-seven years. 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER NO. T. 
 
 Buffalo, Dec. 11, 1838. 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — As it was intimated, in my former communica- 
 tions, that other highly important lines of navigation had been 
 commenced, and were to be ultimately opened, between Lakes 
 Erie and Ontario, and from the latter to Hudson River and Lake 
 Champlain, it is proper that a more detailed account of the man- 
 ner in which those objects are to be accomplished, not only 
 within the territory of the United States, but through the adjacent 
 colonial possessions of Great-Britain, should be given. 
 
 These several works will vastly extend the sphere of commer- 
 cial enterprize, by diminishing the expense of transportation, 
 giving a much broader diffusion to the products of the country 
 bordering on the great lakes, as well as increasing the number 
 of the chief and direct sources of its imports on the Atlantic 
 coast. 
 
 In the expectation of diverting a large portion of the trade 
 which the Erie Canal had concentrated at the city of New- York,, 
 towards Montreal and Quebec, a company was formed in the 
 Canadas, which has been aided by the local and national gov« 
 ernments, for constructing ship canals, that would obviate the 
 impediments occasioned by the Falls of Niagara, and the Rapids 
 of the St. Lawrence, to a Uee intercourse between tide-water 
 and the upper lakes. 
 
 The first of these grand avenues for trade, which has been 
 undertaken and completed, is the Welland Canal. It com- 
 mences at Port Colborne, in Graverly Bay, about fifteen miles- 
 5
 
 34 
 
 weat of Fori Erie, and extends nearly due north to Chippewa 
 River, which it crosses eight or ten miles above the town of 
 Chippewa, and is continued to Fifteen-mile Creek, at the mouth 
 of which it debouches into the harbor of Port Dalliousie, on Lake 
 Ontario. The nearest approach to Niagara River is at a point 
 in Thorold, west of the Falls, and distant five miles therefrom. 
 
 This canal admits the passage of vessels of more than a hun- 
 dred tons; but its location is not considered the most eligible 
 which could have been selected, and it is not of sufficient 
 cnpacity to accommodate steam-boats, and fully subserve all the 
 great purposes of its construction ; still there is considerable 
 transportation upon it; but the greatest portion of the products 
 which descend tlirough this channel, instead of reaching Mon- 
 treal, as was anticipated, are landed at Oswego, and from thence 
 are sent to the Hudson River, by the Oswego and Erie Canals, 
 although there is now a direct steam-boat conveyance from 
 Kingston to Montreal by the Rideau Canal. 
 
 This last named new channel of communication has been 
 formed, by the construction of a canal from Kingston to Bytown, 
 on the Ottawa River, a distance of one hundred and twenty-six 
 miles; and from thence the obstructions of falls and rapids of 
 the river have been obviated by the Grenville, Blondeau, Carrillon 
 and La Chine Canals. The locks are thirty-three feet wide, and 
 one hundred and liiirty-three feet long. 
 
 The Rideau Canal is a stupendous work. It was commenced 
 under Wellington's administration, and cost the British govern- 
 ment six millions of dollars. A distinguished Engineer* of the 
 United States has stated, that the works at the various falls are 
 some of the finest specimens of hydraulic architecture, on the 
 continent of America. At Bytown are eight consecutive locks, 
 of from ten to eleven feet lift. But the most remarkable work 
 which has been achieved, is at Jones's Falls, consisting of a 
 dam, sixty-two feet in height and four hundred long, in solid 
 masonry, and is among the most perfect in existence. 
 
 It is by this route that all the supplies destined for the upper 
 province are sent from Montreal to Kingston, and the occupation 
 of the Canadian Vcyageur, has, therefore, ceased ; his celebrated 
 
 • Cajjlaiii W G Williams. Toixifraphical Kii^rineer
 
 35 
 
 boat song is no longer heard on that vast expanse of waters, which 
 for more than two centuries were his exclusive realm, — its hila- 
 rious echoes have died away, amidst the isles and forests of those 
 interminable lakes and rivers, which had been so often traversed 
 by his light and rapid bark ; and the rush of the fiery steam-boat 
 now startles the wild and wondering Iroquois, in bis solitary 
 cabin, as it sweeps majestically through the foaming cataracts of 
 the broad, deep, and furious Ottawa. 
 
 A much more important project has been undertaken by the 
 colonial government, for rendering the St. Lawrence navigable 
 from Kingston to Montreal, by the large steam-boats which are 
 employed on Lake Ontario. To accomplish this, canals are to 
 be made round the rapids of the Long Sault, Cotteau de Lac, 
 and from La Chine to the harbor of Montreal. The former is 
 nearly completed. It commences at Dickinson's Landing, a 
 hundred miles below Kingston, and extends to Cornwall, a dis- 
 tance of eleven miles. The canal is ten feet deep, one hundred 
 feet wide at the bottom, and one hundred and forty at the surface 
 of the water. The locks are finished, and are the largest on this 
 continent, being fifty feet wide, and one hundred and ninety-six 
 feet long. They are formed of blocks of a superior quality of 
 compact black marble, which is obtained in the vicinity of the 
 line of the canal, and, when polished, is nearly as beautiful as 
 that from the remarkable quarries of Kilkenny, in Ireland. There 
 has been expended on this grand work one million five hundred 
 thousand dollars ; and I was informed by one of the superin- 
 tendents, that it will require about two hundred thousand dollars 
 more, before it can be opened for navigation. 
 
 The second canal will be sixteen miles in length, and the 
 third nine. They are to be of the same capacity as that which 
 has been described. From Montreal to Kingston, by this route, 
 is two hundred miles, which requires only thirty-six miles of 
 canal to render the St. Lawrence navigable for steam-boats, 
 throughout its whole extent, and will open a direct communica- 
 tion between Quebec and all the towns on its banks and the 
 shores of Lake Ontario and the Niagara River, as high as 
 Q,ueenstown, a distance of more than six hundred miles. 
 
 But, on the American frontier, a still more imposing line of 
 navigation, than either of those which have been named, will be
 
 36 
 
 opened between the lakes and the ocean, by the construction of 
 ship canals from the Niagara River to Lake Ontario, and from 
 Oswego to the Hudson. 
 
 Among the works of internal improvement which were em- 
 phatically recommended to the immediate attention of Congress, 
 in the memorable report of Mr. Gallatin, a large canal, for giving 
 freedom to the commerce between Lakes Ontario and Erie, was 
 deemed of the very first consequence; and the subject has never 
 ceased to command the profound consideration of that numerous 
 population, which will be immediately benefited by its construc- 
 tion, and of the national government. 
 
 The waters of the great lakes above the falls of Niagara, in- 
 clude an area of 150,000 square miles, and presents a coast with- 
 in the United States 3294 miles, and on the Canadian shores 
 of 2425, — developing, in the aggregate, a line of navigation 5719 
 miles in extent, which is nearly double that of the distance be- 
 tween our Atlantic ports and those of Europe. Even the portion 
 within our own territory is nearly three times as long as the whole 
 sea coast from Passamaquoddy to the western bounds of Louisia- 
 na. The Niagara ship canal, with those from Oswego to the 
 Hudson, and from Chicago to Peru, at the foot of the rapids of 
 the Illinois river, would afford a steam-boat inland navigation 
 from the city of New-York to New-Orleans, which would not ex- 
 ceed in distance the route by sea. What an indissoluble golden 
 chain will thus be formed for binding the several States of the 
 Union more firmly together. Interest, and the facilities of inter- 
 communication, will break down the barriers of dissimilar cus- 
 toms, obliterate sectional prejudices, and induce a more lofty and 
 enduring patriotism among the citizens of the north and south, 
 the east and the west. All will perceive, that to insure general 
 prosperity, and give strength and grandeur to the republic, they 
 must cease to entertain jealous and selfish opinions, and become, 
 in the broadest and most compreliensive acceptation of the terms, 
 harmonious co-laborers, and ardent fellow citizens of this vast na- 
 tional family of freemen, whose noble efVorts are strenuously di- 
 rected to the advancement of civil liberty, the augmentation of 
 liuman happiness, and the fullest development of all the ener- 
 gies of man, when left unrestrained in the illimitable exercise of 
 his most exalted faculties.
 
 37 
 
 As ihe construction of a canal round the Niagara Falls has 
 been properly considered a national work, surveys were directed 
 to be made in 1835, under the direction of the Chief of the To- 
 pographical Engineers ; and that duty was performed in a most 
 thorough, skillful and highly satisfactory manner, by Captain Will- 
 iams, of that very useful and important corps.* I have not seen 
 any report on hydraulic engineering, in which is concentrated a 
 greater fund of information in relation to that subject, or where 
 more scientific and practical intelligence has been displayed, than 
 in the means devised for obviating the stupendous impediments, 
 which the bold and extraordinary features of the various routes 
 present ; and especially in surmounting, by a line of enormous 
 double locks, a perpendicular height of over three hundred feet, 
 between the two levels of the termini, and more than two thirds 
 of which occurs in a horizontal distance of less than a quarter 
 of a mile. The report is accompanied by several beautiful maps 
 and plans, which were executed by Captain Williams's accom- 
 plished assistants, Lieutenants Drayton and Reed. This able 
 and meritorious oflicer examined and surveyed four main routes. 
 The first, commencing at Porter's store-house, near old port 
 Schlosser, is continued near the bank of Niagara river to Lewis- 
 ton ; the second, beginning as above, and passing up Gill Creek, 
 descends the ridge south of the village of Lewiston, and termi- 
 nates at the mouth of four-mile Creek ; the third ascends Cayuga 
 Creek, and crossing the ridge at Pekin debouches at the mouth of 
 Twelve-mile Creek ; and the fourth commencing at the mouth of 
 Tonnawanda Creek, ascends tlie same to Pendleton, and descends 
 at Lockport to the valley of Eighteen-mile Creek, which it keeps 
 to its mouth. There are variations indicated, as practicable and 
 worthy of notice in several of the routes. Captain Williams 
 seems to consider that the second is the preferable ; but there 
 are so many conditions of a commercial as well as a military 
 character to be taken into view, that the subject should be pro- 
 foundly investigated in all its aspects and bearings, before any 
 route is decided upon. The expense of such a grand public un- 
 dertaking should not form one of the elements in estimating the 
 relative merits of either ; but that selected, costwhat it may, which 
 
 • 1 am indebted to Captain Williams for most of the facts in relation to 
 this subject-
 
 38 
 
 will best subserve the purposes of its projection, not only as res- 
 pects the interests of these sections of country, which are most 
 immediately to be benefited, but of the whole ofthe union. 
 
 In the event the Tonnawanda and Lockport line should be se- 
 lected, the canal should be constructed entirely distinct from the 
 existing one, if it is practicable ; so that the different kinds of 
 navigation, peculiarly adapted for each of those channels of com- 
 merce, should not be impeded or jeopardized in any portion of 
 their several routes. 
 
 Captain Williams has recommended that the locks should be 
 two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, and the canal ten feet 
 deep and one hundred and ten feet broad at the surface of the wa- 
 ter. 
 
 The maxium expense he estimates, at the comparatively small 
 sum of only about five millions of dollars. 
 
 As the subject has been frequently brought before Congress, 
 and several able reports favorable to the views which have been 
 so long entertained, by the most enlightened advocates of an en- 
 larged system of internal improvements, it is confidently believed 
 that its merits are, at last, so well understood, that another session 
 will not be allowed to pass without the necessary appropriations 
 being made, for the commencement ofthe work, as early as next 
 summer ; in which event the very intelligent officers ofthe Topo- 
 graphical corps will have an opportunity of evincing their practi- 
 cal skill, as well as their scientific attainments, in executing a 
 work which cannot fail of redounding to their credit, for th.e 
 genius and talents which must be employed, and to the honor of 
 the nation, for its wisdom and munificence in projecting and com- 
 pleting an artificial channel, that will surpass in grandeur and 
 importance the celebrated canal, which, during the reign ofthe 
 Pharaohs and Ptolomics, united the waters ofthe Red Sea with 
 those of the Nile. 
 
 The extensive and very useful services which the Topograph- 
 ical Engineers have rendered to the State and National gov- 
 ernment.*?, have not been sufiiciently appreciated, or the meritori- 
 ous character of that band of well educated, laborious and efti- 
 cicnt oflicer.«<, so well understood as is desirable, fur warranting 
 the endowment of all the means which are indispensable for a 
 full development of a comprehensive civil and military establish-
 
 89 
 
 ment, thai embraces the widest range of important duties, of any 
 which has been organized since the foundation of the government. 
 It has been too limited in the number of officers and the diversity, 
 of objects, which should be included in the field of their labors. 
 
 Besides such explorations and surveys as are necessary for the 
 specific purposes connected with the defence of the country, 
 the various lines of communication, aflforded by roads, railways, 
 and canals, and the location of works for improving the harbors 
 on the sea-coast and the lakes, and the navigation of rivers, the 
 construction and pu'olication of maps, of every portion of the coun- 
 try, based on accurate trigonometrical principles, and the erection 
 of all the hydraulic and architectural works, other than such as 
 belong to fortifications, should be added to the duties of the corps, 
 while geology should form a distinct department of it, as that 
 science embraces one of the most .e;ctensive, interesting and use- 
 ful branches of natural history, from its immediate connection 
 with the arts, and offering numerous great sources of national 
 industry, prosperity and wealth. 
 
 Give to this corps ample moral and physical means for render- 
 ing it capable of accomplishing all the purposes which may prop- 
 erly be ranged within its broad sphere of action, and the benefi- 
 cial result will be as far-reaching and conspicuous, as they will 
 be astonishing and glorious to the nation. Hitherto the officers 
 have been engaged in reconnoisances and surveys, and have not 
 been favored by opportunities of carrying into effect, the various 
 extensive plans for public works, which they have industriously 
 matured; but that they, will be as eminent, in the actual illus- 
 tration, as they have been exact in preliminary investigations, 
 ingenious in theoretical modes of construction, perfect in the 
 details of plans and accurate in estimates, we have the most com- 
 plete assurance, from what they have, thus far, been permitted to 
 perform. 
 
 But, above all things, when the time for construction comes, 
 may the preposterous notions, so prevalent in this country, as to 
 the management of grand schemes of improvement and all public 
 and private works, be abandoned. By some unaccountable and 
 irrational process, a conclusion has been reached, that when a 
 road is to be made, a bridge or any vast edifice created, or any 
 other remarkable and expensive object is to be achieved, there
 
 40 
 
 must be a board or committee constituted, consisting of a num- 
 ber of members, which are multiplied in proportion to the im- 
 mensity of the plan which is to be carried into effect, notwith- 
 standing the experience of all time fully demonstrates, that there 
 never was any thing pre-eminently well done, when more than 
 ONE mind was employed. The Parthenon, the Apollo, and the 
 Principia were each the results of one gifted man. Every great 
 truth, fact, discovery, invention, deed, or act, which is most 
 memorable in the annals of the world, is to be traced to one 
 genius. Combinations of men never make a single stride in 
 mental advancement. It is for physical operations alone that 
 men should be brought to act by multitudes. Neither the Na- 
 tional Academy of France, or the Royal Society of London, have 
 added a page to the volume of knowledge. They have but re- 
 corded the labors of individuals, and have become eminent, not 
 by their associated efforts, but by the splendor thrown over them 
 by such mighty men as La Place and Newton. All the artists of 
 the age could not have executed the frescoes of the Vatican, or 
 the cartoons of Raphael. What union of genius could have elab- 
 orated the immortal poem of Milton, or the dramas of Shaks- 
 peare? Whatever there is in science, letters, and the arts, that 
 commands universal admiration, Ox\e man achieved. Columbus 
 imagined and discovered a new world, Gallileo extended our 
 vision into the unexplored infinities of the heavens, and Locke 
 flashed a vivid ray of light through the dark and bewildering 
 labyrinths of the human understanding. In fact, whenever 
 many men have been employecjl to do that which it was desirable 
 should be best done, the invariable consequence has been, that 
 it has been done in the worst possible manner. If among them 
 there was an individual capable of executing the work, he was so 
 circumscribed, or impeded in his movements, that his energies 
 were prostrated, and he became as imbecile and useless, as the 
 inert mass, of which he was but a mere component part. lie may 
 have been endowed like a god, but was incapable of indrpetuhnt 
 action, and his genius, and talents, and skill, and erudition were 
 unavailable and worthless. As well might we fasten the Jessies 
 of an eagle to a Promethean bolt, in a rock of the mountain, and 
 then bid the noble bird mount into the cmperion. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 11. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER NO. VI. 
 
 Buffalo, Dec. 22, 1838. 
 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — The reasons for enlarging the Oswego Canal, to 
 the Hudson, to the size of that vvliich has been proposed, be- 
 tween Lakes Erie and Ontario, are so powerful, that it will cer- 
 tainly be done, after that shall have been completed, either by the 
 United States or this State, — when the main line from Buffalo is 
 being developed, to the capacity that has been determined on, to 
 its junction with the Oswego canal, at Rome. 
 
 These canals, besides avoiding the delay and expense of trans- 
 shipment of the imports and exports, of the ports on the upper 
 lakes, will save an artificial navigation, on the line of the Erie 
 Canal, of two hundred miles, and only increase the actual dis- 
 tance fifteen miles; and it has been ascertained that even in 
 its present condition, it does not cost as much, by thirty per cent, 
 to transport goods over this route and the Welland Canal, from 
 New-York to Cleveland in Ohio, as through Buffalo, by the Erie 
 Canal. In confirmation of this fact, it is stated, in the luminous 
 report made to Congress last winter, by the Hon. A. P. Grant, 
 as chairman of the committee on roads and canals, that from an 
 estimate laid before the committee, it appeared that, of the 
 twenty-five thousand tons of merchandize, which was shipped 
 from New- York west, in 1S35, and passed through Oswego and 
 Buffalo, four-fifths took the latter route. Had the whole passed 
 6
 
 42 
 
 either port, the different rates charged on each would have been 
 as 8600,000 to $365,000, leaving a result in favor of Oswego 
 
 of s-ia.-j.ooo. 
 
 But there is another very imposing view, in which the Niagara 
 ship canal is to be considered, as connected with the contem- 
 plated line of communication, by a canal, or rail-road, and pos- 
 sibly both, from Ogdensburgh on the St. Lawrence to lake 
 Champiain; and froin whence the products of the West can be 
 sent to all parts of Vermont, New-Hampshire, Maine, Massa- 
 chusetts and Connecticut, if those states are roused to a just con- 
 ception of their vital interests, by a broad development of the 
 natural and artificial means, which are at their command, for 
 opening such extensive markets for their articles of domestic 
 industry, the fisheries, and of foreign importations, as can be 
 profitably exchanged, for those of that immense region, to which 
 they may be directly and cheaply transported. 
 
 Ogdensburg now has a transportation line of schooners to 
 Chicago, in Illinois, and the intermediate ports; and Oswego 
 carries on a very considerable trade with the upper lakes, 
 through the Welland Canal ; although it but indifferently an- 
 swers the great purpose for which it was formed, from a defect 
 in its capacity, and the delays which are occasioned in conse- 
 quence of the accidents to which it is liable, from the imperfect 
 manner in which the work was executed. 
 
 Ogdensburg has, within the immediate surrounding country, 
 invaluable sources of wealth, which will render that town the 
 most eminent for its extent of business and population, of any, 
 between Montreal and Oswego, should neither of the new chan- 
 nels of transportation be formed ; but if all are completed, its 
 rapid rise, in commercial prosperity and consequence, is beyond 
 all doubt. The harbor is excellent, and may easily be rendered 
 more capacious and secure, at but little expense, when compared 
 with the business, which will be there concentrated, in the pro- 
 gress of events, which are daily becoming of greater import, with 
 the general march of internal improvements. 
 
 The town is situated at the mouth of the Oswegotchee River, 
 directly opposite Prescott, and about sixty miles below the en- 
 trance into the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario, one hun- 
 dred and ten from Oswego, one hundred and seventy from Roch-
 
 43 
 
 €ster Landing, near the mouth of Genessee* River, and two hun- 
 dred and sixty from Lewiston on the Niagara. 
 
 The Oswegotchee has numerous tributary streams, which ex- 
 tend into St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Herkimer, and Ham- 
 ilton counties ; and between four and five miles above Ogdens- 
 burg it receives the waters of Black River, which is twenty-four 
 miles long, and varies in breadth from a quarter of a mile to 
 three. It is navigated by steam and other boats, and thus be- 
 comes a very convenient means of communication with a large 
 tract of country. Below the junction of the outlet of Black Lake 
 with the Oswegotchee, there are two rapids and a very consid- 
 erable full, near the mouth of the river, which furnish most val- 
 uable hydraulic powers, that are already used to a considerable 
 extent ; there being two large flour, two grist and two saw-mills, 
 three founderies, extensive distilling and tanning establishments, 
 machine and other factories. 
 
 Ogdensburgh was the site of a garrison, in the old colonial 
 and Indian wars, and remains of the fort and stone barracks, 
 erected by the French, are to be seen, at the entrance of the 
 harbor. It was also an important military post, during the last 
 war with Great-Britain ; but, at its close, did not contain more 
 than three hundred inhabitants, and there are now more than 
 three thousand. 
 
 The county of St. Lawrence is very prolific in mineral treas- 
 ures ; besides numerous quarries of free and lime stone, and 
 marble, there are extensive lead mines in Rossie, near the upper 
 end of Black Lake. Two veins have been opened, which I ex- 
 amined. They run vertically through hills of granite, and are 
 from two to three feet thick, descending indefinitely. The ore 
 is in chrystals, mixed with white granular lime-stone, which is 
 easily crushed, by iron cylinders, and the lead obtained by wash- 
 ing. The smelting works, erected within two years, have yielded 
 a hundred tons of the purest lead, in pigs, per month ; and the 
 quantity can be increased to a vast amount, as there is a stream, 
 which falls into Black Lake, that affords ample water power, for 
 
 * In a former letter, I stated, that Genessee meant Pleasant Valley ; but 
 Ho-non-de-uh, a young and well educated Seneca chief, informs me 
 that Genessee is pronounced by the Indians Jo-nes-he-yu, and the word is 
 derived from Gats-he-nas-he-yu, and means a Good Fu/Zc?/— having a refer- 
 ence to the fertility of the soil, as well as the beauty ot the scenery.
 
 44 
 
 all the various processes of preparing the lead for market. It is 
 chiefly sent to Albany. 
 
 In the towns of Waddington, Norfolk, Fowler, Brasher, Ros- 
 sie, and many other places, are inexhaustable deposites of iron 
 ore, where large furnaces are in operation ; and in Canton, 
 about twenty miles southeast from Ogdensburgh, a rich copper 
 mine has been recently discovered, which will soon be wrought, 
 and there are indications of other deposites of that important 
 metal, — which is only second to iron in its general use, for me- 
 chanical and other purposes. 
 
 At present, the Atlantic imports and exports of Ogdensburgh 
 are by the River St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to Oswego, 
 and from thence by the canal line to Albany; but the canal, 
 from Rome to Carthage, on the Black River, is to be continued 
 to this town. 
 
 Waddington is a flourishing town, eighteen miles below Og- 
 densburgh. Opposite the village, is Ogden's Island, containing 
 nine hundred acres of land, equal to any in the state, for wheat, 
 and all other products of northern agriculture. Mr. Ogden has 
 a beautiful mansion on this picturesque river isle, and cultivates 
 a large farm, in such a superior manner, as renders it a model of 
 husbandry, to the surrounding country. He has raised sixty 
 bushels of wheat to the acre, by adopting the most approved En- 
 glish system of tillage. He is zealously devoted to rustic labors, 
 — the most honorable in which man can be engaged, and from 
 the numerous useful experiments he is continually making, is 
 doing much for the benefit of the country. 
 
 That there will be a canal or rail-road, — and that soon, from 
 Ogdensburgh to Lake Champlain, is as certain as the existence 
 of that natural receptacle, for a large portion of the imports and 
 exports which are to be exchanged between the Atlantic and 
 Mediterranean ports of the West. 
 
 By the annual report of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund 
 of this State, for 1H37, it appears that the amount and value of 
 the property transported on the canals during that year were as 
 follows : — 
 
 Products of the Forest 018,741 tons, and valued at 86,146,716; 
 Agriculture 208,042 tons, and valued at §16,201,331; Mines, 
 &'c. 168,000 Ions, and valued at 83,134,766; Manufactures,
 
 45 
 
 81,735 tons, and valued at $6,390,4So ; Merchandize, 94,777 
 tons, and valued at $^23,935,990; total tons, 1,171,290; total 
 value, §55,809,288; while the amount that descends the Missis- 
 sippi and its vast tributaries to New-Orleans is only about 
 670,000,000. 
 
 Tlie tolls on the a'jove amounted to $1,292,623 38. 
 
 The numerous natural and artificial lines of intercommunica- 
 tion, which 1 have attempted, but very imperfectly to describe, 
 and which concentre in the valley of the Hudson, exhibit the 
 wonderful influence which the construction of the Erie Canal 
 has already produced. If the shores of this western Pactolns do 
 not glitter with tlie golden sands, which rendered the oriental 
 river celebrated in antiquity, there must be an amount of wealth 
 upheld and floated on its waves, which will surpass in value the 
 most precious tribute, that ever entered the imperial gates of 
 commerce. What an exciting and glorious spectacle do the 
 public works and enterprize of this peculiarly favored State pre- 
 sent. The prospective results, from the mighty causes which 
 are and soon will be, in full action, are far beyond what the 
 most gifted human prescience can prognosticate ; not merely as 
 relates to this rich section of country, and its appendant regions, 
 but to the whole Republic. The magnificent revelations of com- 
 ing years, will be such as no other age or nation has experi- 
 enced. We have been wrapt in wonder at the astonishing exhi- 
 bitions, which genius, intelligence and industry have presented 
 in our day ; but the next generation will look back upon what 
 has been done, and is doing, with an amazeinent, which will 
 be as much greater, as the extent of population and its ad- 
 vancement in all the arts of civilization, will exceed what now 
 exists. 
 
 Will not the States of New-England make a prompt, generous 
 and determined eff'ort, to participate in the advantages of that 
 immense trade, which has been brought to their very borders? 
 The distance from Boston, Portsmouth and Portland, to Chicago, 
 in Illinois, is about 1,340 miles, over which an uninterrupted 
 line of communication, by steam and canal boats, has been com- 
 pleted, except for the comparatively short distance of 160 miles. 
 But in a few years this medium of transit will be extended to St. 
 Louis, which will increase the length of actual inland navigation
 
 46 
 
 to 1,670 miles, save the small margin between the Hudson and 
 Lake Champlain, and the Ocean. 
 
 Thus nature and the enterprise of other slates have left but 
 onc-tinlh of the entire route to be completed, and that, too, 
 devolving on a peo|)le, whose means are vastly niore ample, than 
 were at the cotnmand of their adventurous fellow-citizens in the 
 west ; and who, too, have been celebrated for their daring spirit 
 of adventure, in all other branches of human industry. In com- 
 merce, navigation, and manufactures, and whatever enlightened 
 intelligence and physical skill can achieve, they have displayed a 
 boldness of purpose, and an energy of chaiacter, which have 
 rendered all the maratime portions of the globe their tributaries, 
 and caused the rude products of every clime to receive an addi- 
 tional value, and become new sources of wealth, by their unri- 
 valed mechanical ingenuity and untiring labor. How is it that 
 they are so far in the rear of the age, and, until a recent period, 
 have been inactive, — yes, and worse, — uninterested spectators of 
 that sublime movement, in which all the most civilized nations 
 of the earth are zealous participants? Is it that they have been 
 so long accustomed to look forth upon the deep, and seek in dis- 
 tant trans-marine regions for employment of capital, and an ex- 
 citement to vigorous and successful action, that the iininense 
 territory, which extends far beyond their bleak hills and was so 
 long a wilderness, has not claimed that deep and merited atten- 
 tion, which its present resources and future importance so impe- 
 riously demands? Or can it be that so rapid has been the 
 change of its natural features, and so magical the celerity with 
 which the game-grounds of the Indian have been converted into 
 luxurious fields, and the wild and trackless range of the lone- 
 wandering hunter reared into populous and flourishing states, by 
 that unhalting and freedom-seeking Saxon race, which first 
 leaped upon the rugged shores of New-England, that the real 
 fact of such a marvelous change and such stupendous results has 
 been produced, was cither too generally unknown, or the advan- 
 tages which might be derived discredited? 
 
 But at last Massachusetts has turned her eagle gaze westward, 
 and has entered the brilliant career of internal improvements in 
 such a liberal and zealous manner, as gives the most cheering 
 assurance, that whatever the general interests of the citizens
 
 47 
 
 require, will be inevitably accomplished by their own individual 
 exertions and the efficient co-operation of the government. Like 
 a Grecian competitor at the Olympic games, that Commonwealth 
 runs no ordinary race, when the prize is worthy of her prowess, 
 energies and skill; for on the hazardous result she boldly pledges 
 her fortune and her fame. 
 
 Already four lines of rail-road have been commenced, which 
 radiate from the capital of the State, and the aggregate portions 
 which have been completed, exceed one hundred and eighty 
 miles in length. That to Providence has been extended through 
 Rhode-Island to Stonington in Connecticut, a distance of ninety 
 miles. The eastern line has reached Salem, and within two 
 years will touch the bounds of New-Hampshire, when it will cer- 
 tainly be prolonged to Portland, Augusta and Bangor, in Maine. 
 The north-western route has been opened to Lowell and Nashua^ 
 and is to pass up the right bank of the Merrimac to Concord, and 
 probably from thence to near the confluence of White and Con- 
 necticut Rivers ; for there are now constantly employed nearly a 
 hundred wagons, drawn by eight horses, and carrying four tons, 
 between the towns on the eastern flank of the Green Mountains 
 and Boston, on that route of travel, as I ascertained, last autumn, 
 while passing over it. 
 
 Branches have been made from the Providence route to Ded- 
 ham and Taunton, and a company has been incorporated for 
 continuing the latter to New-Bedford. From the Lowell line, 
 another has been constructed to Haverhill, on Merrimac River, 
 which is destined to pass on to Exeter and Dover, if not beyond. 
 
 The Great Western Rail-road, for connecting the Erie 
 Canal with Boston harbor, has been completed to Worcester, and 
 next autumn will enter the valley of Connecticut River, at 
 Springfield, and the following year he opened to the confines of 
 New- York, and probably be finished to Albany. 
 
 This is the last link in the lengthened chain of intercommu- 
 nication, whose terminating rings are secured to the peir-heads 
 of Boston harbor, and of the port of St. Louis. It unites the 
 ocean with the waters of the Mississippi, and demands the united 
 favor, patronage, and energetic co-operation of the people, and 
 the government of the State, to bring it to an early and success- 
 ful conclusion. Next year there will remain but about sixty
 
 48 
 
 miles to complete, — a large portion of which, is in the progress 
 of gradation. From the bounds of Massachusetts to Albany, 
 there are thirty miles which will require the generous exertions 
 of the citizens of New-York to execute ; and from the spirit 
 which has already been evinced, we have the fullest assurance 
 that the work will be undertaken and finished, as soon as the 
 rails are laid from Springfield to the bounds of Massachusetts ; 
 and, in 1S40, we sliall be united, forever, with the perpetually 
 expanding West ; and Boston become the second maratime em- 
 porium, for all the States which touch the great lakes. 
 
 The grandeur, present importance, and future influence of 
 such a vast line of internal commerce, can only be but partially 
 estimated, even when the elements, which enter into the calcula- 
 tion are so numerous, apparent, and incontrovertible, as has been 
 unfolded, by the most detailed and exact official data. 
 
 How imposing is the subject, in whatever aspect or relation it 
 is considered. In this single route the six New-England States, 
 with New-York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Mis- 
 souri, and the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa, are directly 
 interested. It is their chief and common channel of intercourse 
 for the people, and the reciprocal interchange of the products of 
 all and each, with each other. Thus twelve of the twenty-six 
 States, and two out of the three remaining territorial govern- 
 ments which compose the Union, are participants in the count- 
 less, measureless, and unceasingly augmenting benefits of this 
 wonderful national highway. It is the most remarkable com- 
 mercial avenue that ever was opened by man. There is no par- 
 allel in the proudest days of antiquity ; and instead of the possi- 
 bility of its being ever rivaled in any country, it will, itself, be 
 triplicated in extent ; for the true and ultimate terminus is to be 
 on the shores of the Pacific Ocean; and the splendid Alexandria, 
 of the Columbia River, will become the entrepot for the products 
 of this vast continent, of China, and India, and of Europe and 
 Africa, 
 
 These numerous Iradc-connccted States and Territories con- 
 tain an area of about 473,01)0 square miles, which is nearly half 
 of the whole territory of the United States, embraced in the 
 States and organized territorial governments, and include a pop- 
 ulation, which cannot now be less than 7,000,000.
 
 49 
 
 But what is of still much greater consequence in the examina- 
 tion of this subject, the character, industry and intelligence of 
 the inhabitants are not to be forgotten, but kept conspicuously 
 in view, as well as their various occupations. In the first place, 
 such as are farmers, have a soil and climate for furnishing all 
 the great staples of food, and the chief one for clothing,, which 
 are the best in North-America. From the longitude of Uticato 
 the Mississippi, there is not such a cattle, sheep, and wheat- 
 growing region on the north. 
 
 In foreign commerce, where has there ever existed such a 
 people as the hardy and adventurous navigators of New-England, 
 — the Carthagenians of modern times in ocean explorations. 
 They, also, are the fishermen of the nation. Not only the sea- 
 coast, from Cape May to Grand Menan, but Georges' and Grand 
 Banks, as well as all the capacious estuaries, gulfs and bays 
 which plunge into the continent as far as the frozen ocean, are 
 sources of those inexhaustible treasures of the deep, which make 
 up such an immense amount of the product of Yankee industry. 
 Besides all this, there are over four hundred whale-ships which 
 traverse the coasts of Africa, Brazil, Chili, and Peru, — the South 
 Polar Seas and the Eastern Archipelago, to the Island of Japan. 
 The capacity of the vessels employed in foreign commerce, the 
 coasting trade and fisheries in New-England, amounted, in 1834, 
 to over 700,000 tons, which was nearly one half of that of the 
 whole Union. Then tqere are the products of the manufactories, 
 which, in Massachusetts alone, amount to nearly $90,000,000 
 annually. 
 
 What cannot be accomplished by such a united mass of valua- 
 ble and various industry, as will co-operate to swell the business 
 of this ever-lengthening and wide-spreading channel of national 
 exchange? Like an ecliptic, it belts the physical sphere of the 
 Republic, and within which, nearly half the constellations that 
 fill the cycle of our political zodiac, will shed their effulgent and 
 cheering influence upon those, who enter this triumphant career 
 of commercial enterprise. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER IVO. Vll. 
 
 Buffalo, Dec. U, 1838. 
 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — There is yet anotlier line of transportation re- 
 quired from Springfield, up the valley of Connecticut River, as 
 far as Barnet, at least, if not to Lancaster, which is only second 
 to that of the Great Western route, and which cannot fail 4f com- 
 manding an early attention of the Legislature, and of the numer- 
 ous intelligent and enterprizing inhabitants, who are so directly 
 interested, in the establishment of a more expeditious and eco- 
 nomical mode of conveyance, for the products of their agricultural 
 and mechanical industry, and the great amount of imports which 
 are received in exchange therefor. 
 
 That important river which descends from the highlands of 
 Canada, between Vermont and New-Hampshire, and traverses 
 the whole latitude of Massachusetts and Connecticut, to Long 
 Island Sound, a distance of over four hundred miles, may be 
 appropriately called the Ohio of New-England ; for there is no 
 portion of its territory which presents such a continuous and 
 broad extent of fertile land, and offers, at the same time, such a 
 variety of soil, — from the rich alluvial intervals, to the spontane- 
 ously grass-growing acclivities of the opposite hill sides, for all 
 the purposes of northern agriculture. 
 
 It is also prolific in several valuable mineral productions. Be- 
 sides free-stone and granite of superior quality, for architectural 
 purposes, there arc depositcs of roofing slate, equal to the best 
 imported from Wales ; and there are many localities, where iron 
 ore is in suilicicnl abtuidjiucc, for autliorizin;:^ the erection of
 
 51 
 
 furnaces. That of Franconia, on a tributary of the Connecticut, 
 is of the very best kind, and sufficient to supply all the north- 
 western portion of New-England, and only requires the facilities 
 of a rail-road or canal, to render those works as important as any 
 in the Union. 
 
 Then there is the primeval forest trees, which majestically 
 clothe the flanks of the White and Green Mountain ranges, 
 those northern Alleghanies, which would find a most profitable 
 market as ship timber, and all other purposes, in the numerous 
 sea-ports which indent the navigation-thronged coast of the Pil- 
 grim's PROMISED LAND.* 
 
 For the foundation of manufactories, there is no such district 
 of country east of the Hudson. The whole prism of Connecticut 
 River is a mighty and perpetual hydraulic power, from its source 
 to Springfield. Already on its falls and tributary streams, nu- 
 merous establishments, for the fabrication of woolen, cotton, silk, 
 metalic, and other articles, are in successful operation ; and 
 make the valley what it can be, and must be, and will be, by a 
 canal through its entire extent, and the rapid prosperity of the 
 vigorous, enlightened, enterprizing, industrious and highly meri- 
 torious people, and the foundation and advancement of the towns, 
 which must rise into being and consequence, will be as remarka- 
 ble and interesting as has been so admirably illustrated at Woon- 
 socket Falls, Pawtucket, Providence, Waltham, Lowell, Dover, 
 Taunton, Chicopee, Cabot, Springfield, and the numerous other 
 important Birminghams, Leeds and Sheffields, which embellish 
 and diff"ase wealth along the various water courses of the north- 
 eastern states. 
 
 From the remarkable geographical features of the country east 
 of the Green Mountain range, and the position of the chief com- 
 mercial emporium of all the States north of New-York, those 
 natural facilities, which capacious vallies and the channels of 
 rivers present, for opening improved lines of intercommunication, 
 generally have a direction at right angles, to the lines of travel, 
 — which, as radii, extend from that mart through the intermedi- 
 ate region, to the extremes of its latitude, as far as its western 
 
 * New-England is thus desi^natpd by the agricultural patriarch, Evelyn, 
 in his incomparable wnrk on the Forest Trees of England, published dur- 
 ing the reign of Charles II.
 
 52 
 
 bounds. The construction of rail-roads and canals is, therefore, 
 difficult and expensive, when compared with like undertakings 
 in other more favored portions of the Union. But those very 
 obstacles render improved avenues still more necessary and im- 
 portant; for so great are the impediments interposed on the ex- 
 isting roads, that most of the products of agriculture, and all 
 those of the forest, mines and quarries, are excluded from the 
 markets of the sea-coast, in consequence of the enormous expense 
 of transportation, while the cost of the imports is proportionabiy 
 enhanced, from the same cause. In fact, the inhabitants in the 
 valley of the Connecticut River are farther from a market, tak- 
 ing into consideration the time and expense in accomplishing an 
 interchange of exports and imports, than those who reside in the 
 vicinity of the great lines of navigation, and are more than four 
 hundred miles from the city of New-York. 
 
 It must not, however, be inferred, that the natural difficulties, 
 which the mountainous and rugged surface of the north-eastern 
 states presents, are to be considered insuperable, or so appalling 
 as to discourage all attempts to surmount them ; for since the 
 science of topographical, hydraulic, and other branches of civil 
 engineering, have been brought into practical and skillful opera- 
 lion in the construction of roads, railways and canals, it has 
 been fully demonstrated with what admirable adroitness and 
 ingenuity, comparatively, level lines -of intercourse have been 
 perfected through all parts of our country, where it had been 
 deemed impossible, to avoid, or conquer the various and imposing 
 obstacles, which were to be encountered. 
 
 It has only been necessary, in executing the most difficult 
 work, to secure the services of competent talents, and furnish the 
 requisite means. And whether it was to trace the Sim[)Ion road 
 of Napoleon over the giddy height of the Alps, bid defiance to 
 the fury of a tempest, by the breakwaters of Cherbourg and 
 Plymouth, rear a granite Pharos on the EdJystone Rock, in the 
 midst of a stormy ocean, tunnel mountains, and span the pro- 
 foundest chasms, for the channels of canals, or the route of a 
 locomotive engine, or suspend an iron bridge from the lofty cliffs 
 which frown over the deep Anglesian Gulf, the labor was under- 
 taken with the same confidence of success, as in the erection of 
 agate-way, to a baronial castle. This has also been gloriously
 
 53 
 
 verified in our own State, by the construction of a naval dock, 
 which would have been honorable to Roman or Egyptian power; 
 and in the erection of the Western Avenue, the real Giant's 
 Crossway through the sea. 
 
 There is one other route which the citizens of the north- 
 western portion of the State will urgently and justly require to 
 be opened for their benefit, as well as that of the entire popula- 
 tion of the sea-coast. The rail-road to Lowell must be extended 
 to Fitchburg, on the north branch of the Nashua River, and 
 from thence, eitlrer through Ashburnhara, or Westminster, and 
 down the valley of Miller's River to Greenfield. 
 
 Massachusetts having fearlessly entered the wide field of inter- 
 nal improvements, there is no danger of a retrograde movement ; 
 so far from it, there are such potent reasons for a firm and for- 
 ward course, that all which is desirable, and in the power of 
 man to accomplish, will be done, to enable the people in every 
 part of the State, to participate in the advantages of the great 
 trade of the West, and those subsidiary facilities of intercourse, 
 which their agricultural, manufacturing and commercial interests 
 demand. 
 
 Maine, New-Hampshire and Vermont must follow the example 
 of the revolutionary Hercules, and place their citizens on an 
 equality with those who are resolutely prosecuting so many and 
 such glorious works, for the present and all future generations. 
 Those States require, and must have, a direct communication, 
 either by rail-roads or canals, between Portland and Lake Cham- 
 plain ; for on the shores of the latter is to be reared a vast entre- 
 pot, where will debouch one of the two grand artificial outlets of 
 the five immense Lakes, which New- York, ere long, will have 
 opened upon her own frontier. 
 
 The citizens of Maine, in an especial manner, cannot fail of 
 perceiving how immediately that State is to be benefited by such 
 a work ; as it will render Portland the maritime port for a large 
 portion of the exports and imports, which will pass that northern 
 channel, beyond the State of Vermont, as well as for a vastly 
 increased amount of those of the intermediate country. Even 
 under the imperfect means of transportation, which have hitherto 
 existed, that flourishing city has been the market for upper New- 
 Hampshire, the eastern towns of the northern portion of Vermont,
 
 54 
 
 and a part of Canada ; but the trade has not been deemed suffi- 
 cient to warrant the construction of oven a better common high- 
 way ; rather, the well established fact has not been duly and suf- 
 ficiently considered, that improved facilities of intercourse create 
 business, and often more than quadruple what previously existed. 
 This has been satisfactorily illustrated, by the introduction of 
 steam navigation, on the Hudson, the Sound, the Ohio, the Mis- 
 sissippi, and the Lakes, and the construction of canals and rail- 
 roads all over the United Slates. 
 
 But that erroneous supposition no longer forms one of the ele- 
 ments, for deciding on the course which it is now proper to adopt ; 
 for it is not merely the traffic between the two extremes and 
 along the intermediate country, through which the proposed 
 route will pass, that is to be estimated, but the immense com- 
 merce, which is to be added, by opening a communication with 
 that extensive line of navigation, which will be completed from 
 Lake Champlain to the Falls of St. Mary and the harbor of Chi- 
 cago. 
 
 On my return from the Niagara frontier, last autumn, I look 
 the steamboat route, from Lewiston, down Lake Ontario to 
 Rochester Harbor, Oswego, and Kingston, and the St. Lawrence 
 to Ogdensburgh and Montreal, and from thence to St. Johns and 
 Burlington, on Lake Champlain, and across Vermont to the Con- 
 necticut River, Concord and Boston, for the express purpose of 
 obtaining exact intelligence, in relation to the practicability and 
 importance of opening a communication, by canals or rail-roads, 
 from Ogdensburgh to Lake Champlain, and from thence into the 
 valley of Connecticut river, and on to Concord and Boston, and 
 easterly to Portland. 
 
 The ascent from Burlington, up the valley of Onion river to 
 Montpelier, is very gradual, as there is not a precipitous cascade, 
 in the whole distance, of any moment, and the natural facilities, 
 which the banks present, for a rail-road, arc such as admit of its 
 construction without encountering any very considerable acclivity, 
 or other impediment. The descent eastward, down the valley of 
 White River, from the culminating point, to the Connecticut in 
 Ncw-Harlford, is quite as favorable. There are other routes 
 which have been explored, across the Green Mountains, and 
 among lliem one through the valley of Lamoclle River, has been
 
 55 
 
 surveyed for a canal, which terminates at Barnet, a few miles 
 above the mouth of the Amanoosic. This line has been repre- 
 sented as offering peculiar advantages for a canal ; but the ques- 
 tion, as to which should be adopted, so far as relates to the route 
 of communication with Portland, mast, in a great measure, de- 
 pend on the point where that shall reach the Connecticut river. 
 Sufficient data cannot, however, be obtained for deciding on the 
 preference of any of the lines, until thorough reconnoisances 
 have been made, by intelligent engineers. 
 
 Within the last four years, while making tours to the grand and 
 sublime scenery of the White Mountain region, I have examin- 
 ed, in nearly their whole length, two lines, and deviations there- 
 from, from Portland to Connecticut River — a description of each 
 of which, was given to the editor of one of the newspapers in that 
 city, and published. 
 
 The northern route passes from Sebago Lake, up the Valley 
 of Crooked River to Bethel, on the Androscoggin River, which 
 has since been surveyed, and ascertained as practicable for a ca- 
 nal, and of course less difficult for a rail-road. From Bethel, the 
 line passes on the right bank of the Androscoggin, to the mouth 
 of Moose River, which nearly interlocks in a meadow, in front of 
 Bowman's log-house tavern, with Israel River, and down the lat- 
 ter to the Connecticut, in the town of Lancaster. 
 
 The other Line passes the White Mountain Range, from Con- 
 way, through the vallies of Swift and the north-eastern branch of 
 the Pamigewasset, into the valley of the main channel of that 
 prolongation of the Merrimac ; and from thence there are two 
 routes to the Connecticut, — one terminating near Haverhill, and 
 the other at the mouth of the Amanoosic. All these routes must 
 be exactly explored and surveyed ; but there is not a doubt that 
 both are practicable, and either infinitely superior, for a common 
 road, to the unamendable and terrific highway now traveled, that 
 passes the Notch, through the valley of Saco River — which is a» 
 bad even in winter, and worse in summer. 
 
 The means which Maine has at command, from her vast do- 
 main of wild lands, with such others as can be created, without 
 imposing any very onerous burthen on the people, are ample for 
 executing the important public works, which are so indispensable 
 to the prosperity of that extensive and rapidly flourishing State.
 
 56 
 
 In area, it is larger than the five other New-England States, as 
 it contains :5o,000 square miles, while they include 33,766 ; and 
 when the population becomes only as dense, as is now the case 
 in Massachusetts, it will amount to 3,150,000. The tonnage of 
 her vessels employed in foreign commerce, the coasting trade and 
 fisheries, is nearly double that of all the other New-England 
 States, — excluding Massachusetts, — and of that of Pennsylvania, 
 more than double that of New-York, and three times greater than 
 that of Maryland. 
 
 But the grand line of intercommunication from Portland to 
 Lake Champlaini, is not the only improvement which Maine 
 must undertake. A railroad will soon be required, to meet that 
 advancing from Boston to Portsmouth, and another to e.\tend it 
 to Brunswick, Gardiner, Augusta and Bangor. 
 
 If the Rip Van Winkles of the Northern Star,* cannot be 
 roused from their somnolency, the young, intelligent and enter- 
 prizing must muster in their strength, and form an elite band, as 
 patriotic and zealous as that which fearlessly breasted the Per- 
 sian invasion, and determined to place their wide extended com- 
 monwealth, on a level with the most active and successful in in- 
 ternal improvements ; for unless this is promptly and efficiently 
 done, Maine will continue to furnish emigrants to people the 
 western wilds, instead of in turn becoming an Eldorado of the 
 east. It has soil equal to that of any portion of the northern sec- 
 tion of the Union ; its coast is studded with embryo ports, and 
 her numerous rivers and lakes only require to be rendered sub- 
 servient to navigation, and manufacturing purposes, to develope 
 the abundant sources of prosperity and wealth, which have too 
 long been neglected, or inadequately appreciated. 
 
 The Granite State has not been indifferent to the general 
 movement throughout the land, in relation to internal improve- 
 ments ; and various routes have been explored, for canals and 
 rail-roads, which are well worthy of the patronage of one of the 
 earliest established colonies, and which was, at all times, con- 
 spicuous for the heroic part it took in the memorable Indian and 
 French wars, and especially tiiat which eventuated in the achieve- 
 ment of national independence. No braver or better troops ever 
 
 " The crest of the arms of Maine, is the Mrth Star.
 
 57 
 
 deployed, on the field of battle, than the New Hampshire regi- 
 ments ; or were sterner patriots, or more gallant soldiers to be 
 found, when any deed of desperate valor was to be done, than 
 Starks, Sullivan, Cilley, JMcClary, Read, and their numerous 
 companions in arms. 
 
 Energy is one of the eminent characteristics, of the citizens 
 of that state, and from the demonstrations which have already 
 been made, they and the legislature will not fail to discharge 
 their several duties in a manner worthy of their illustrious prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 As a son of New-Hampshire, and where my progenitor first 
 landed, as one of the persecuted exiles of England ; and where 
 many of his descendants, for five generations, have resided, I 
 feel a profound interest in the prosperity and the proverbially in- 
 dustrious, frank, hardy, bold and adventurous citizens of that an- 
 cient and venerated commonwealth ; and I confidently believe 
 that they will maintain that exalted reputation, which was pur- 
 chased by the best blood of their fathers, in the sacred cause of 
 freedom. 
 
 Connecticut has constructed several lines of canals and rail- 
 roads, and is now actively engaged on others, which sufficiently 
 evince the spirit that is abroad, in that striking example of the 
 ingenious, pains-taking, nomadic, and restless habits, of the 
 Universal Yankee Nation.* 
 
 Rhode-Island, — the first to establish manufactories, and sec- 
 ond to no other part of the United States, in commercial enter- 
 prize and navigation, — advanced shoulder to shoulder, with her 
 neighboring States, in the career of establishing improved lines 
 of intercourse. 
 
 You no doubt are glad that this closes the series of letters in 
 relation to internal improvements — as I leave to-morrow for Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN. 
 
 * So called by JefFereon.
 
 LETTER NO. VIII. 
 
 Hawthorn Cottage, Roxbury, Jan. 15, 1839. 
 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — I intended to have written, at least, one more 
 letter from Buffalo, for the purpose of adding some facts, which 
 should have been included, in the account of the Western States 
 and Territories, and of several of the lines of communication, 
 which will ultimately concentrate in the ports on Niagara River, 
 more fully to illustrate the importance of speedily completing the 
 Great Western Rail-Road, from Boston to Albany ; but indispo- 
 sition, and the necessity of my return, prevented me from doing 
 so, and I have, therefore, concluded to attempt to fill up the 
 various hiatuses, so far as it was practicable ; still the subject 
 will have been but very imperfectly presented, in all its interest- 
 ing and momentous bearings. 
 
 The canals and rail-roads, which have been projected, com- 
 pleted, or arc being constructed in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 
 are generally sufficiently well known, as well as the vast re- 
 sources and present condition of those powerful States; but 
 Michigan and the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa, being of 
 very recent origin, and their rapidly increasing population and 
 commercial consequence not so universally understood, it seems 
 proper that they should be succinctly described, from their inti- 
 mate connection, with the main avenues of intercommunication, 
 from the shores of the Atlantic, to the banks of the Mississippi. 
 
 The State of Michigan is formed of two vast peninsulas, which 
 are separated at their extremities, by the Straits of Michillimack- 
 inac. The most southern is bounded on the west by Lake
 
 69 
 
 Michigan, and on the east by Lakes Huron, St. Clair, and Erie, 
 and the outlets of the two former. That in the north extends 
 south-easterly, between Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. 
 The latter has, as yet, but a small population, which is chiefly 
 confined to the Sault of St. Mary, and the shores of Green Bay. 
 
 The settlement of Michigan has an antiquity as great as that 
 of some of the Atlantic States; for a military post was established 
 at Detroit, by the French Canadian government, as early as 16G3. 
 Being nearly surrounded by three of the great inland seas, and 
 traversed by numerous rivers, with a soil, which for fertility is 
 not surpassed by that of any other of the north-western states, 
 the southern peninsula is fast becoming important, from the 
 amount of its agricultural products, and the extensive commercial 
 operations of its numerous ports. It is only about one hundred 
 and sixty miles broad, in its greatest longitude, which makes the 
 distance, between the most interior town and steam-boat naviga- 
 tion, only about eighty miles. But these natural facilities have 
 not been sufficiently favorable to satisfy the requirements of that 
 industrious and enterprising population, which, within eighteen 
 years, has increased from nine to nearly two hundred thousand ; 
 and the government has wisely and promptly established a most 
 liberal system of internal improvements, — to carry which into 
 effect, a fund has been created, from the per centage received of 
 the United States, on all the public lands sold, the income from 
 banks, the tolls of the canals and rail-roads, and the whole of 
 the surplus revenue, from all other sources. 
 
 Three rail-roads and two canals have been projected across 
 the southern peninsula. 
 
 The route of the Southern Rail-Road commences on the navi- 
 gable waters of the River Rasin, near the shore of Lake Erie, 
 and extends, in a south-westerly direction, to New-Buffalo, on 
 the River St. Joseph, which falls into Lake Michigan, towards 
 its southern extremity, and nearly opposite the port of Chicago. 
 It is 183 miles in length, and the estimated expense is about 
 81,500,000. 
 
 The Central Rail-Road extends from Detroit to the village of 
 St. Joseph. It is 194 miles long, and will cost 62,000,000. 
 
 The Northern Rail-Road commences at Port Huron, at the 
 mouth of Black River, near the outlet of Lake Huron, and ter-
 
 60 
 
 minates at the rapids of Grand River, which are forty miles from 
 its mouth. 
 
 The Clinton and Kalamazoo Canal is intended to unite Lake 
 St. Clair with Lake Michigan. It commences at Mount Clem- 
 ens, and debouches into the mouth of Kalamazoo River. The 
 length is 210 miles, and the estimated cost 82,250,000. 
 
 The Saginaw, or Northern Canal, will connect the navigable 
 waters of Saginaw and Grand Rivers, — the former falling into 
 the capacious bay of that name, which opens into Lake Huron, 
 about half way between its outlet and the Straits of Michilli- 
 mackinac. The whole length of this line, including the im- 
 provements of the channels of Bad and Maple Rivers, is only 
 fifty-three miles, and the expense will not exceed $300,000. 
 
 The St. Mary's Canal is intended to obviate the obstruction 
 occasioned by the falls, to the navigation between Lakes Huron 
 and Superior, by the construction of a ship and steam-boat chan- 
 nel, which will extend the line of coast for all the vessels of the 
 Great Lakes, at least 1500 miles. The canal is to be ten feet 
 deep, fifty feet wide at the bottom, and one hundred at the sur- 
 face of the water, and the locks one hundred feet long and 
 thirty-two wide. The fall to be overcome, is only eighteen feet, 
 and the whole length of the canal will be less than a mile. 
 
 It is very desirable that the plan of this highly important work 
 should be revised, before any attempt is mac'e to carry it into 
 efiect ; for when the immense area of the lakes, which are to 
 be united, is considered, and the very limited extent of the canal 
 required to accomplish that object, there should be no error com- 
 mitted, in establishing the dimensions, as has been too frequently 
 the case in this country. The least cross-section of the canal 
 should be one hundred feet at the bottom, and one hundred and 
 fifty at the surface of the water, with a depth of twelve feet ; and 
 the locks two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. 
 
 Besides these extensive works, the State has undertaken to im- 
 prove the navigation of Grand, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph 
 rivers, which includes a distance of 280 miles. Thus this newly 
 created state, which was not admitted into the Union until IS3G, 
 with a population not one third as great as that of Massachusetts 
 has undertaken the construction of various lines of intercourse 
 whose aggregate length is 1109 miles, and involving an expen-
 
 61 
 
 diture of more than $8,000,000 — nearly two millions of which 
 have already been appropriated, although the act for establishing 
 a board of commissioners on internal improvements, was not pass- 
 ed until March, 1837. 
 
 In addition to the public works which are to be executed at 
 the expense of the State, twenty four companies have been incor- 
 porated, for establishing as many different lines of rail-roads, 
 whose united length is over one thousand miles, and the estima- 
 ted cost $6,800,000. 
 
 The Territory of Wisconsin now appears to rival Illinois and 
 Michigan, in attracting the attention of eastern emigrants, from 
 the salubrity of its climate, and the excellence of its soil. Lay- 
 ing between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, the numerous 
 rivers, which have their sources near the central meridional line, 
 and flow into those capacious receptacles, offer great facilities 
 for forming numerous navigable channels, which will unite the 
 ports open to steam-boats, on the east, with every portion of the 
 western bounds of the Territory ; and there being neither moun- 
 tains nor morasses to encounter, and the surface of the country 
 being so very universally level, that not only canals, but rail-roads 
 can be made at a small expense, compared with that which is un- 
 avoidably incurred in the Middle and Northern States, from the 
 ruggedness of their features. 
 
 As late as 1830 the whole population of the then connected 
 Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa was only 3065; but, in 1836, it 
 had increased to 22,000, and so great has been the tide of emi- 
 gration, within the last two years, that it is now estimated to 
 exceed 70,000. 
 
 The agricultural advantages, mineral resources, and general 
 character of the Territory, have been thus favorably described 
 by Mr. Featherstonhaugh, the Geologist of the United States, in 
 his report of an exploration in the North-west, during the year 
 1836 : — ** I have never seen acountry of such extraordinary min- 
 eral value, embracing, at the same time, a soil, a very great por- 
 tion of which, is of the first agricultural quality. It is one of the 
 finest demesnes that nature ever offered to man. But no asser- 
 tion can do justice to its surprising fertility, as it is capable of 
 raising any thing and every thing, susceptible of cultivation, with 
 the least degree of expense. The climate which is cold in win-
 
 62 
 
 ter, but dry and salubrious throughout the year, aids in justifying 
 the expectation that it will soon become one of the most popu- 
 lous, flourishing, powerful, and happy portions of the United 
 States." 
 
 The Territory of Wisconsin is embraced within the same par- 
 allels of latlitude as that portion of Massachusetts which is situa- 
 ted north of Boston, — the States of Vermont, New Hampshire, 
 and a large part of Maine ; but the climate in the southern 
 counties, is as mild as that of New-Jersey and Pennsylvania. 
 
 •Like the whole of that section of the United Stales between 
 the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, which is north of the forty 
 first degree of latitude, this Territory is diversified by numerous 
 lakes and ponds of the purest water, although the surface of the 
 country is not broken into hills and mountains, but is generally 
 undulating, and much of it is of the prairie formation.* 
 
 The chief ports on Lake Michigan are Green Bay and Mil- 
 waukee ; Kewaunee, Manitoowock, Sheboyagan, Racine, at the 
 mouth of Root River, and Pike, or South Port, are thriving villa- 
 ges. Surveys have been made by the General Government, and 
 plans niatured, for the improvement of all of these harbors, by the 
 construction of piers and break-waters j and light-houses have 
 been erected, at the entrance of several of them. 
 
 The town of Green Bay, including the villages of Navarino and 
 Astor, is situated at the head of Green Bay, on the right bank of 
 the estuary of Fox River. The French early established a mili- 
 tary post at this place, but it was never occupied as such by the 
 United States, until 1816. The harbor is excellent, and when 
 the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers are united, as they will be soon, 
 by the Portage Steam-boat Canal, which requires a cut of only 
 one mile and a quarter in length, it will become one of the most 
 important commercial entrepots on the upper lakes. 
 
 Milwaukee is at the mouth of the river of that name, and about 
 ninety miles south of Chicago. Four years since, it contained 
 only two log huts, and now it has a population of more than 4000. 
 The position is commanding, from the natural and artificial means 
 which can be employed to render it the most eligible port, for the 
 exports and imports of a large portion of the Territory. 
 
 • It is a remarkable fact, that there are scarcely any lakes or ponds soutii 
 of the forty first degree of north latitude, except "in Florida.
 
 63 
 
 A company has been chartered for constructing a canal from 
 Milwaukee to Lake Kuskenong, which will be only fifty-two 
 miles in length, and will open a water communication from 
 thence, down Rock River to the Mississippi, of more than 200 
 miles in extent. The estimated expense is $1,000,000, and most 
 of the stock has been subscribed. A rail-road will also soon be 
 commenced from Milwaukee to Port Hudson, near the mouth of 
 the Wisconsin River. It will pass through Madison City, which 
 is beautifully situated, near the lower end of the most northern 
 of the Four Lakes, and is the capital of the Territory, — Mound- 
 ville, Messer Grove, Dodgeville, the place of residence of the 
 Governor, and Wingville. The route is IGS miles in length. A 
 branch, fifteen miles long, has been projected from Dodgeville to 
 Helena, which is on the left bank of the Wisconsin River, and 
 about seventy miles from its confluence with the Mississippi ; and 
 a company has been formed for another branch, from Dodgeville, 
 which is to pass, south-westerly, through Mineral Point and Bel- 
 mont to Mississippi City, which is but a few miles above DuBuque, 
 in Iowa, on the opposite bank of the Mississippi River, and' is 
 the port, where nearly all the lead, of the celebrated mines of 
 that name, is shipped. The several lines of rail-road pass through 
 the richest agricultural parts of the territory, and the very centre 
 of the mining region. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER JVO. IX. 
 
 Hawthorn Cottage, Roxbury, Jan. 20, 1839. 
 To the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts : 
 
 Dear Sir, — In addition to the canals, in the Territory of 
 Wisconsin, which have been described, one has been projected 
 from Madison City to Arena, which is on the Wisconsin River, 
 and about seventy miles from its mouth. The length of this 
 canal will be between twenty and thirty miles. Another com- 
 pany has been incorporated for extending a canal from Kentucky 
 City, on the Wisconsin, to Marquette, on Lake Winnebaga, a 
 distance of eighteen miles. 
 
 But the most important navigable line of communication, after 
 the Portage Canal, for connecting the Fox and Wisconsin Riv- 
 ers, is that which has been proposed, from the mouth and up the 
 valley of Monitoowoc River to Lake Winnebago. The object of 
 this great work is to obviate the objections to the route from the 
 head of Green Bay to the Mississippi, as the navigation of that 
 large expanse of water is not only circuitous and difficult, but at 
 least two hundred miles out of the direct route of the steam-boats 
 and other vessels, which have an intercourse between the various 
 ports on Lake Michigan, and all those on the intermediate lakes, 
 to the Niagara River. 
 
 The mouth of the Monitoowoc River is ninety miles south of 
 the entrance into Green Bay. The length of the canal would 
 not exceed eighteen miles, and this steam-boat route, joining that 
 from Green Bay, in Lake Winnebago, the capacious natural 
 basin of both, would reach the valley of the Mississippi, four hun- 
 dred miles above the mouth of Illinois River, which will be the
 
 6b 
 
 outlet of the Chicago ship channel, and thus shorten the distance 
 of transportation several hundred miles, for the towns in a large 
 portion of Wisconsin and Iowa, on that river. 
 
 If this last named canal should be constructed, the ports of 
 Monitoowoc and Green Bay will not only be entrepots for the 
 country traversed by the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, a distance 
 of two hundred and forty-eight miles, but that on both sides of 
 the Mississippi, from the River des Moines to the Falls of St. 
 Anthony, — including a line of navigation, at least seven hundred 
 miles in length, and which will subserve a region, whose area, 
 exceeds 100,000 square miles. 
 
 The Territory of Iowa includes all that portion of the United 
 States, which lies north of the State of Missouri and between the 
 Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It was not organized as a sep- 
 arate government until last June. The settlements, which have 
 been commenced, are chiefly between the Des Moines and 
 Turkey Rivers, along the bank of the Mississippi ; but the great- 
 est population is in the region of the lead mines, and the town of 
 Du Buque is the central point, of the commercial business of the 
 territory. 
 
 The soil and climate have been represented as equal to any 
 portions of Illinois or Wisconsin, and by many travelers pro- 
 nounced superior to either. There has been a great accession 
 of inhabitants within the last two years; but most of the indus- 
 try, until very lately, has been directed to mining, as lead ore is 
 very abundant throughout a considerable tract of country. The 
 mines were discovered in 1780, by the wife of Peosta, a warrior 
 of the Fox tribe of Indians, and the first smelting works were 
 erected by Julien Du Buque, in 1788, who obtained permission 
 of the Indians for that purpose ; but dying in 1810,. his house 
 and. whole establishment was destroyed, and every vestage of 
 civilized life erased ; and as late as 1820, Mr. Schoolcraft found 
 great difficulty in obtaining permission to visit the mines, so 
 jealous were the Indians of the whites, and so fearful that they 
 would encroach upon their rights, if they should obtain a knowl- 
 edge of the abundant mineral treasure which their lands contained. 
 Since, however, the Indian title has been extinguished, by treaty, 
 these prolific beds of ore have been extensively wrought, and the 
 quantity of lead now obtained is enormous, for including that
 
 66 
 
 produced in Wisconsin, it has amounted to over .£30,000,000 in 
 a single year. 
 
 The rapidly increasing population and commercial conse- 
 quence of the Territory of Iowa may be estimated from the fact, 
 that in the year 1837 the number of steam-boat arrivals and de- 
 partures, at Du Buque alone, amounted to seven hundred and 
 seventeen. 
 
 Besides lead, the Territories of Wisconsin and Iowa are rich 
 in other useful minerals, which will either be found of great con- 
 sequence to meet the demands of the inhabitants, or increase the 
 variety and value of their products for exportation. There are 
 numerous indications of mines of copper, zinc, iron, and bitu- 
 minous coal ; lime, sand, and free-stone are profusely scattered 
 over the country. Cornelians and agates are found on the shores 
 of the Mississippi and the other rivers. 
 
 As much the largest portion of the lead of these territories and 
 Illinois is consumed in the northern Atlantic ports, for manufac- 
 turing purposes of various kinds, in naval and other architectural 
 structures, paints, aqueducts, and the infinite other uses to which 
 it is applied, the direction which it will ultimately take, for the 
 great eastern maratime markets, when the canals and rail-roads 
 shall have been completed from the Mississippi to Lake Michi- 
 gan, will be through the ports on Niagara River ; and the quan- 
 tity required for New-England will vastly augment the trans- 
 portation of the Great Western Rail-Road, from Boston to 
 Albany. 
 
 Missouri is the central point, — the grand keystone of the 
 Union. On the eastern side, it is laved by the broad, deep, and 
 ever downward-rushing floods of the American Ganges, while it 
 is traversed, in its whole western extent, by the mighty Missouri 
 and its numerous tributary waters. Possessing a soil of unri- 
 valed excellence, a diversity of climate and topographical fea- 
 tures, as remarkable as they are propitious to all those branches 
 of industry, which can be prosecuted in any of the middle states, 
 with inexhaustible mines of lead and huge mountains of iron ore, 
 of such eminent prolificness and superior quality, as no other 
 portion of the globe presents, this stale is destined to hold a most 
 commanding position, for participating in the internal commerce 
 of the nation, and St. Louis will certainly become one of the
 
 67 
 
 largest emporiums, — the future magnificent Delhi of the Re- 
 public. 
 
 All the multifarious products of those far-spreading western 
 regions, must take their various routes, through the infinitely 
 numerous lines of intercommunication, which have been describ- 
 ed, and finally be concentrated in the Golden Horn of the Nia- 
 gara, and from thence be floated, in accumulated masses, down 
 the Grand Highway of the Erie Canal, to the Hudson, or, ulti- 
 mately, by the more northern route, of the ship canal, Lake On- 
 tario, and the St. Lawrence, to Champlain and duebec. 
 
 A careful examination of the report of the Canal Commission- 
 ers of the State of New-York, has been made, for the purpose of 
 ascertaining, what portion of the articles, which are transported 
 on the Erie Canal, were of such a character, as that they could 
 be transferred to the rail-road, from Albany to Boston, and I 
 found they amounted to 380,000 tons, being more than one-third 
 of the whole ; and that the value was about §45,000,000, which 
 is more than four-fifths of the total amount of the imports and 
 exports of the West, that annually pass that channel. 
 
 More than half of the 1,171,296 tons, which made up the 
 freights of the season, consisted of the products of the forest, and 
 with those of quarries and mines amounted to 744,000 tons; but 
 their aggregate value was only $7,500,000. It will, therefore, 
 be perceived, that Boston may participate, largely, in the com- 
 merce with the West, through the medium of the Western Ra?l- 
 Road. 
 
 But there is another interesting aspect of this subject, which 
 merits special consideration, from the direct bearing which it 
 has, on the travel and transportation of the great thoroughfare, 
 which Massachusetts has undertaken to open, to the Hudson. 
 That river, as well as the Erie Canal, is closed, from about the 
 20th of November until the month of April, — a period of nearly 
 five months, when the only intercourse, between the city of New- 
 York, and that portion of the state, which extends north and 
 west from Albany, is by common roads and rail-ways. It has 
 been stated, that the line, of the last named mode of transporta- 
 tion, will be completed from Albany to Buffalo within two years ; 
 and when that from Boston to Albany shall be finished, a passage 
 can be performed, with ease, from Buffalo to Boston, in thirty-six
 
 68 
 
 hours ; and all the articles of export and import, of the whole 
 intermediate country, capable of being transported on rail-roads, 
 may be sent, to or from the latter city, during the long period the 
 navigation of the Hudson and Erie Canal are obstructed by ice. 
 It now requires from three to four days for passengers to reach 
 the city of New- York, from Albany ; but, by the Western Rail- 
 Road, they may leave the last named city at four o'clock in the 
 morning, be in Boston in season to take the afternoon train of 
 cars for Stonington, and reach New-York by seven o'clock the 
 next day. 
 
 The facilities thus afforded, will command all the travel, dur- 
 ing the winter, from that part of the state of New- York, Canada, 
 Eastern Vermont and Massachusetts, which now concentrates at 
 Albany, as the point of departure, for New- York. 
 
 While at Buffalo, I found that the travel, after the steam-boat 
 and canal navigation had closed, from the Northern part of Ohio, 
 Indiana, Illinois, the state of Michigan,W^isconsin, and even Iowa, 
 by the stage routes to that city, and from thence to New-York, 
 was very considerable, — all of which, in addition to that named, 
 will pass through this State, as the most expeditious and pleas- 
 ant mode of performing the journey. 
 
 Articles of merchandize, which are obtained in New- York, 
 and destined for Albany, as well as the whole country north and 
 west of that city, together with such products as it may be desir- 
 able to send from that vast region of country, may be transported 
 by the Western, Boston and Providence, and Stonington Rail- 
 Roads, and the' excellent lines of steam-boats from the two latter 
 ports, in nearly as short a period as by the Hudson river, w^hen 
 its navigation is open. 
 
 These are cheering inducements for the energetic prosecution 
 of the works of internal improvement in Massachusetts. There is 
 not only the certainty of an ample remuneration for the capital 
 and labor expended, but there is the still more important consid- 
 eration, that the interest of all branches of industry will be thus 
 most pre-eminently advanced. 
 
 The thrifty and exalted position in which this State and its 
 capital will be placed, by the completion of the Western Rail-Road, 
 is no longer a subject of question or doubt; and such will be the 
 rapidly increasing amount of travel and transportation, that a sec-
 
 69 
 
 ond track will be required in less than five years from the com- 
 pletion of the first ; and within ten after that shall have been laid 
 down, it will be found tiiat a Canal must also be constructed, to 
 accommodate that incalculable quantity of exports and imports of 
 the thronging population of the ever extending bounds of the Far 
 West, for which Boston will be the emporium. We shall only 
 have reversed the course which New-York has pursued. There 
 a canal was first formed; but although it accommodated the 
 transportation of merchandize and the products of the interior, it 
 did not sufficiently subserve the demands of the hurried and im- 
 patient owners of the cargoes of those multitudinous boats which 
 covered its surface, and the millions of other impetuous travelers, 
 who thronged the same line of intercommunication. Speed, and 
 certainty of reaching their several points of destination, were in- 
 dispensable to satisfy their hasty and restless dispositions — that 
 hurried and active movement which characterizes the American — 
 and a rail-road is now being run, parallel to the route of the canal, 
 for that purpose ; and scarcely had portions of it been opened to 
 the meteor flight of the steam-driven cars, before it was discov- 
 ered that each of these modes of conveyance were the cause, as 
 well as the effect, of the increased and increasing amount of trav- 
 el and transportation which they severally accommodated, and 
 that the canal was not sufficiently large to answer the grand ob- 
 jects of its construction, and the labor has therefore been com- 
 menced for more than quadrupling its capacity. 
 
 The data for ascertaining with considerable accuracy the popu- 
 lation of the United States at any not very distant future period, 
 having been furnished by the several enumerations of the people, in 
 decadal terms of years, it may be assumed, that in twenty-five from 
 this time, the census will amount to at least 30,000,000, and that 
 nearly one half the number will be contained within the states 
 and territories which participate in the navigation of the Erie Ca- 
 nal. At that time Boston will have a population of more than 
 200,000 ; and at the next duplication, which will be within half 
 a century, it will be augmented to 500,000, and that of the Union 
 to 60,000,000. Many of those who are now just commencing 
 the career of life, will be actively engaged in transacting the vastly 
 increased business of the country, at the expiration of the first 
 term which has been named, while the children, who at this mo-
 
 70 
 
 ment are crowding our primary schools, will, like us, at the termin- 
 ation of the second, be looking forward to still more wonderful 
 results, and many of them will witness the realization, before they 
 sleep with the generations that have preceded them. They will 
 be extending their more ample views beyond the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and contemplating new lines of intercourse between the 
 Pacific and the densely populated valley of the Mississippi, on 
 which will be borne the rich products of Asia and the Oriental 
 Isles. 
 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 LETTER NO. X. 
 
 Hawthorn Cottage, Roxbuuy, Jan. 15, 1839. 
 
 To the Secretary of the State of 3Iassachusctts : 
 
 Dear Sir,— One more short letter, and I shall have conclud- 
 ed a correspondence which I fear has already been extended too 
 far. In a conversation with Col. Beach of Gloucester, a few 
 days since, in relation to the importance of speedily completing the 
 Great Western Rail-Road, he communicated the following inter- 
 esting facts. 
 
 Before the construction of the Providence and Stonington 
 Rail-Roads, the whole number of halibut annually caught, and 
 brought into Cape Ann, did not exceed 2500, which were nearly 
 all sold fresh, for immediate consumpsion ; for not having been in 
 demand, when cured in any manner by salt, for the domestic or 
 foreign markets, but few were prepared for that purpose ; in fact, 
 so worthless were they considered, as salted fish, that the owners 
 of vessels employed in the fisheries, generally instructed the crews 
 to cut adrift all the halibut which were drawn up, and, every 
 year, many thousand had been thus turned back to the deep, with- 
 a fatal wound. But such was now the facility of transporting 
 i\\em fresh, to the New- York market, at least 16,000 were taken,, 
 and a large portion of them sent to that city, by the rail-roads 
 and steam-boats. The average weight of each being fifty pounds, 
 the whole quantity amounts to 800,000 pounds, and as the com- 
 mon price paid to the fishermen, is two cents per pound, this new 
 source of revenue yields an income of $16,000. 
 
 Formerly the halibut was only caught late in the spring, and 
 during the summer and autumnal months, on the South Shoals
 
 72 
 
 of Nantucket, along the coast of Cape Cod, in Barnstable Bay, 
 on Cashe's Ledge, and some other places, where they were most 
 abundant, at certain seasons of the year, and always in deep wa- 
 ter, being considered, as it is termed, a bottom fish ; but since 
 the demand for this American Turbot, as it may with propriety 
 be called, (for it much resembles that delicious fish, in form and 
 flavor,) has so vastly increased, the fishermen have made explora- 
 tions in search of other haunts, and, to their great astonishment, 
 found them in immense quantities on George's Banks, early in 
 March, and what was still more surprising, and a fact entirely 
 unknown to them, they appeared in extensive shoals, on the sur- 
 face of the water, like mackerel, and were taken with but three 
 or four fathoms of line, instead of from twenty to seventy, which 
 they had been accustomed to use, time out of mind, in the bottom 
 fishing. The Cape Ann vessels take from 200 to 500 each trip, 
 weighing from twenty to one hundred pounds. 
 
 Besides this novel and important branch of the fisheries of our 
 coast, that of cod and haddock has been so much extended, to 
 supply the New- York market, during the winter, cold spring and 
 autumn months, that over 100 boats are constantly employed, 
 and from 4,000 to 6,000 pounds are daily sent to Boston, and 
 from thence, by the rail-roads and steam-boats. 
 
 These fish were heretofore sold, by the fishermen, for sixty-six 
 cents per hundred pounds, and now they average $1 [33. This ad- 
 ditional demand, amounts to at least $S,000 for about six months, 
 which, with that obtained from the halibut, gives an increase to 
 the fishermen of the peninsula of Cape Ann alone, of $'24,000. 
 But the moral influence is still more important, for the winter has 
 ever been a period of leisure, to the largest portion of that hardy 
 and adventurous class of our fellow-citizens, and too much of it 
 was spent in a manner, which, while it exhausted their funds, that 
 had been so laboriously earned, induced habits of dissipation, 
 which were productive of most deleterious, if not ruinous conse- 
 quences to themselves and families. 
 
 Immense numbers of fresh fish are also sent, during the win- 
 ter, into the interior of New-England, New- York and. the Cana- 
 das; and when the Western Rail-Iloads shall have been com- 
 pleted to Lake Erie, the demand for the supply of the numerous 
 and fast increasing population on that long route, of over 500
 
 13 
 
 miles, will be enormous, as there is not a man, woman or child, 
 who has bathed in the cool green waters, or inhaled the refresh- 
 ing breeze, redolent of the ocean-shores of New-England, and 
 has removed into the far-oflf West, — and their name is legion, — 
 that will not rejoice at the sight of a car-load of salt water fish ; 
 for they recollect them, with as deep an interest, as did the 
 Israelites those of Egypt, during their long wandering in the 
 wilderness. 
 
 There are 19S vessels, 100 boats, and 1116 men engaged in 
 the fisheries of the district of Gloucester, and the value of the 
 salted and fresh fish, annually taken, is estimated at $440,340. 
 
 In addition to the facts obtained from Col. Beach, it may be 
 interesting to state, that even the boys of your city, are employed, 
 as well as a great number of men, in taking smelts in the har- 
 bor, Charles River, and the basin of the Western Avenue, 
 which are daily sent off, by the rail-roads, for the tables of the 
 whilom juvenile Yankee disciples of old Isaac Walton, who now 
 reside in New- York — thus showing that there is no employment, 
 however humble, or any branch of industry, however trifling, 
 which is not directly benefited by internal improvements. But 
 the whole extent of the fisheries, in all the various branches, 
 from the " catching" of a smelt, at the ends of the wharves, to 
 the " hilling" of a whale in the Pacific Ocean, has been won- 
 derfully encouraged and increased, from the facilities, which 
 have been given to transportation, by the navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi and all the western rivers and lakes, as well as the bays 
 and waters of the Atlantic States by steam-boats, and the con- 
 struction of canals and rail-roads, over the whole country. 
 
 At the close of the war, in 1815, the fishermen were almost in 
 despair; for the general peace of Europe had given freedom to 
 the navigation of all nations, and the competition which would 
 thus be produced with the bounties offered by France and Eng- 
 land to their own vessels, and the monopoly secured by the latter 
 to its American colonies in the West-India supply, seemed to 
 threaten an extinction of their vocation ; but this apprehension 
 was of short duration ; the demand for the supply of the ports on 
 our own coast, and the whole West, soon gave a new stimulus 
 to their enterprize, and ultimately more than replaced the loss of 
 the markets of Europe. From the vast number of quintals of 
 10
 
 74 
 
 (Ired fish and barrels of mackerel which have been annually 
 shipped to Albany, to be sent up the Erie Canal, that city is 
 now called New Bilboa* by our fishermen; and with Philadel- 
 phia, Baltimore and New-Orleans, afford better markets than all 
 the West-India Islands, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Medi- 
 terranean. 
 
 In 1804, the value of dried and pickled fish exported from the 
 United States, was $3,040,000, but in 1S22 only about $900,000, 
 and has averaged since not over 81,000,000, while the domestic 
 demand has so much increased that the quantity consumed of 
 salt and fresh is over $5,000,000. 
 
 The tonnage, engaged in the fisheries in 1822, was less than 
 80,000, and now it is nearly double that amount, and in which 
 the hundreds of boats that have been added are not included. 
 
 By the very interesting and highly valuable statistical report 
 which you made to the Legislature last February, it appears, — 
 
 That there were employed in Massachusetts, in the Cod and 
 Mackerel Fisheries, 1,290 sail of vessels, which required 11,146 
 hands, and that the quantity of fish taken was valued at 
 $3,208,559. 
 
 In the Whale Fishery there were 366 vessels, whose aggregate 
 tonnage was 113,417, and they were navigated by 8,980 men. 
 The oil imported was valued at $4,271,470. 
 
 Thus the Fisheries of this State give employment to 1650 sail 
 of vessels, besides many hundreds of boats, and 20,126 men and 
 boys ; and the annual value of the products of this extensive and 
 important branch of industry amounts to $7,480,029, which is 
 equal to the income from a capital of more than $124,000,000. 
 And all this is drawn from the inexhaustible treasures of the 
 deep, which will be annually and forever augmented in propor- 
 tion to the extension of the improved lines of intercommunica' 
 tion, which are being and will continue to be multiplied, with the 
 increase of population, and that of every kind of industry. 
 
 Still, this lucrative branch of maratime enterprize constitutes 
 but a comparatively small portion of the productive industry of our 
 State, which, exclusive of agriculture, the coasting trade, and 
 foreign commerce, amounts to more than $86,000,000, a large 
 
 * That Spanisli port was formerly one of the greatest markets for our 
 fibii.
 
 n 
 
 part of which is \ti rtlanufactured articles, that are sent to every 
 section of the Union. 
 
 These facts exhibit, in a most conclusive manner, the deep 
 interest which Massachusetts has, in the establishment of lines 
 of internal improvement, throughout every portion of its terri- 
 tory, and into the most distant regions of the republic. 
 Your friend and servant, 
 
 H. A. S. DEARBORN.
 
 ERRA TA 
 
 In Letter No. I, instead of " 15,000 acres," read " 18,000 
 acres," as the contents of Grand Island. 
 
 At the end of Letter No. V, for " emjiorcan," read ''empy- 
 rean."
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 P17 im4L C001 
 
 LETTERS ON THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS AND 
 
 3 0112 025333896