Part 5
However, notwithstanding this measure appeared to be beneficial to the interest of the union at large, it was not until after the revolution, by which the present federal constitution was established, that it was acceded to on the part of all the states. Pennsylvania in particular, conscious of her being a principal and central state, and therefore likely to be made the seat of government if this new project was not carried into execution, was foremost in the opposition. At last she complied; but it was only on condition that the congress should meet at Philadelphia until the new city was ready for its reception, flattering herself that there would be so many objections afterwards to the removal of the seat of government, and so many difficulties in putting the project into execution, that it would finally be relinquished. To the discriminating judgment of General Washington, then president, it was left to determine upon the spot best calculated for the federal city. After mature deliberation he fixed upon a situation on the banks of the Patowmac River, a situation which seems to be marked out by nature, not only for a large city, but expressly for the seat of the metropolis of the United States.
In the choice of the spot there were two principal considerations: First, that it should be as central as possible in respect to every state in the union; secondly, that it should be advantageously situated for commerce, without which it could not be expected that the city would ever be distinguished for size or for splendour; and it was to be supposed, that the people of the United States would be desirous of having the metropolis of the country as magnificent as it possibly could be. These two essential points are most happily combined in the spot which has been chosen.
[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]
The northern and southern extremities of the United States are in 46° and 31° north latitude. The latitude of the new city is 38° 53´ north; so that it is within twenty-three minutes of being exactly between the two extremities. In no part of North America either is there a port situated so far up the country to the westward, excepting what belongs to Great Britain on the river St. Lawrence, its distance from the ocean being no less than two hundred and eighty miles. A more central situation could certainly have been fixed upon, by going further to the westward; but had this been done, it must have been an inland one, which would have been very unfavourable for trade. The size of all towns in America has hitherto been proportionate to their trade, and particularly to that carried on with the back settlements. This trade consists in supplying the people of the western parts of the United States, or the back settlements, with certain articles of foreign manufacture, which they do not find any interest in fabricating for themselves at present; nor is it to be supposed that they will, for many years to come, while land remains cheap, and these articles can be imported and sent to them on reasonable terms. The articles chiefly in demand consist of hardware, woollen cloths, figured cottons, hosiery, haberdashery, earthen ware, &c. &c. from England; coffee, rum, sugar[8], from the West Indies; tea, coarse muslins, and calicoes, from the East Indies. In return for these articles the people of the back settlements send down for exportation the various kinds of produce which the country affords: wheat and flour, furs, skins, rice, indigo, tobacco, pitch, tar, &c. &c. It is very evident, therefore, that the best situation for a trading town must be upon a long navigable river, so that the town may be open to the sea, and thus enabled to carry on a foreign trade, and at the same time be enabled, by means of an extensive water communication in an opposite direction, to trade with the distant parts of the country. None of the inland towns have as yet increased to a great size. Lancaster, which is the largest in all America, contains only nine hundred houses, and it is nearly double the size of any other inland one. Neither do the sea-port towns flourish, which are not well situated for carrying on an inland trade at the same time. The truth of this position must appear obvious on taking survey of the principal towns in the United States.
Footnote 8:
Sugar is not sent very far back into the country, as it is procured at much less expence from the maple-tree.
[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]
To begin with Boston, the largest town north of New York, and one of the oldest in the United States. Though it has a most excellent harbour, and has always been inhabited by an enterprizing industrious set of people, yet it is now inferior, both in size and commerce, to Baltimore, which was little more than the residence of a few fishermen thirty years ago; and this, because there is no river in the neighbourhood navigable for more than seven miles, and the western parts of the state of Massachusets, of which it is the capital, can be supplied with commodities carried up the North River on much better terms than if the same commodities were sent by land carriage from Boston. Neither does Boston increase by any means in the same proportion as the other towns, which have an extensive trade with the people of the back settlements. For the same cause we do not find that any of the sea-port or other towns in Rhode Island and Connecticut are increasing very fast; on the contrary, Newport, the capital of the state of Rhode Island, and which has a harbour that is boasted of as being one of the best throughout the United States, is now falling to decay. Newport contains about one thousand houses; none of the other towns between Boston and New York contain more than five hundred.
[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]
We now come to New York, which enjoys the double advantages of an excellent harbour and a large navigable river, which opens a communication with the interior parts of the country; and here we find a flourishing city, containing forty thousand[9] inhabitants, and increasing beyond every calculation. The North or Hudson River, at the mouth of which New York stands, is navigable from thence for one hundred and thirty miles in large vessels, and in sloops of eighty tons burthen as far as Albany; smaller ones go still higher. About nine miles above Albany, the Mohawk River falls into the Hudson, by means of which, Wood Creek, Lake Oneida, and Oswego River, a communication is opened with Lake Ontario. In this route there are several portages, but it is a route which is much frequented, and numbers of boats are kept employed upon it in carrying goods whenever the season is not too dry. In long droughts the waters fall so much that oftentimes there is not sufficient to float an empty boat. All these obstructions however may, and will one day or other, be remedied by the hand of art. Oswego river, before it falls into Lake Ontario, communicates with the Seneka river, which affords in succession an entrance into the lakes Cayuga, Seneka, and Canadaqua. Lake Seneka, the largest, is about forty miles in length; upon it there is a schooner-rigged vessel of seventy tons burthen constantly employed. The shores of these lakes are more thickly settled than the other part of the adjacent country, but the population of the whole track lying between the rivers Genesee and Hudson, which are about two hundred and fifty miles apart, is rapidly increasing. All this country west of the Hudson River, together with that to the east, comprehending the back parts of the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and also the entire of the state of Vermont, are supplied with European manufactures and West Indian produce, &c. &c. by way of New York; not directly from that city, but from Albany, Hudson, and other towns on the North River, which trade with New York, and which are intermediate places for the deposit of goods passing to, and coming from the back country. Albany, indeed, is now beginning herself to import goods from the West Indies; but still the bulk of her trade is with New York. Nothing can serve more to shew the advantages which accrue to any town from an intercourse with the back country, than the sudden progress of these secondary places of trade upon the North River. At Albany, the number of houses is increasing as fast as at New York; at present there are upwards of eleven hundred; and in Hudson city which was only laid out in the year 1783, there are now more than three hundred and twenty dwellings. This city is on the east side of the North River, one hundred and thirty miles above its mouth. By means also of the North River and Lake Champlain a trade is carried on with Montreal in Canada.
Footnote 9:
Six inhabitants may be reckoned for every house in the United States.
But to go on with the survey of the towns to the southward. In New Jersey, we find Amboy, situated at the head of Raritan Bay, a bay not inferior to any throughout the United States. The greatest encouragements also have been held out by the state legislature to merchants who would settle there; but the town, notwithstanding, remains nearly in the state it was in at the time of the revolution: sixty houses are all that it contains. New Brunswick, which is built on Raritan River, about fifteen miles above its entrance into the bay, carries on a small inland trade with the adjacent country; but the principal part of New Jersey is naturally supplied with foreign manufactures by New York on the one side, and by Philadelphia on the other, the towns most happily situated for the purpose. There are about two hundred houses in New Brunswick, and about the same number in Trenton on Delaware, the capital of the state.
[Sidenote: VIEW OF THE TRADING TOWNS.]
Philadelphia, the largest town in the union, has evidently been raised to that state of pre-eminence by her extensive inland commerce. On one side is the river Delaware, which is navigable in sloops for thirty-five miles above the town, and in boats carrying eight or nine tons one hundred miles further. On the other side is the Schuylkill, navigable, excepting at the falls, for ninety miles. But the country bordering upon these rivers is but a trifling part of that which Philadelphia trades with. Goods are forwarded to Harrisburgh, a town situated on the Susquehannah, and from thence sent up that river, and dispersed throughout the adjoining country. The eastern branch of Susquehannah is navigable for two hundred and fifty miles above Harrisburgh. This place, which in 1786 scarcely deserved the name of a village, now contains upwards of three hundred houses. By land carriage Philadelphia also trades with the western parts of Pennsylvania, as far as Pittsburg itself, which is on the Ohio, with the back of Virginia, and, strange to tell, with Kentucky, seven hundred miles distant.
Philadelphia, however, does not enjoy the exclusive trade to Virginia and Kentucky; Baltimore, which lies more to the south, comes in for a considerable share, if not for the greatest part of it, and to that is indebted for her sudden rise, and her great superiority over Annapolis, the capital of Maryland. Annapolis, although it has a good harbour, and was made a port of entry as long ago as the year 1694, has scarcely any trade now. Baltimore, situated more in the heart of the country, has gradually drawn it all away from her. From Baltimore nearly the entire of Maryland is furnished with European manufactures. The very flourishing state of this place has already been mentioned.
[Sidenote: VIEW OF TRADING TOWNS.]
As the Patowmac river, and the towns upon it, are to come more particularly under notice afterwards, we may from hence pass on to the other towns in Virginia. With regard to Virginia, however, it is to be observed, that the impolitic laws[10] which have been enacted in that state have thrown a great damp upon trade; the Virginians too have always been more disposed towards agriculture than trade, so that the towns in that state, some of which are most advantageously situated, have never increased as they would have done had the county been inhabited by a different kind of people, and had different laws consequently existed; still however we shall find that the most flourishing towns in the state are those which are open to the sea, and situated most conveniently at the same time for trading with the people of the back country. On Rappahannock River, for instance, Tappahannock or Hobb’s Hole was laid out at the same time that Philadelphia was. Fredericksburgh was built many years afterwards on the same river, but thirty miles higher up, and at the head of that part of it which was navigable for sea vessels; the consequence of this has been, that Fredericksburgh, from being situated more in the heart of the country, is now four times as large a town as Hobb’s Hole.
Footnote 10:
For some account of them see Letter XIII.
York River, from running so closely to James River on the one side, and the Rappahannock on the other, does not afford a good situation for a large town. The largest town upon it, which is York, only contains seventy houses.
Williamsburgh was formerly the capital of the state, and contains about four hundred houses; but instead of increasing, this town is going to ruin, and numbers of the houses at present are uninhabited, which is evidently on account of its inland situation. There is no navigable stream nearer to it than one mile and a half, and this is only a small creek, which runs into James River. Richmond, on the contrary, which is the present capital of the state, has increased very fast, because it stands on a large navigable river; yet Richmond is no more than an intermediate place for the deposit of goods passing to and from the back country, vessels drawing more than seven feet water being unable to come up to the town.
[Sidenote: VIEW OF TRADING TOWNS.]
The principal place of trade in Virginia is Norfolk. This town has a good harbour, and is enabled to trade with the upper parts of the country, by means of James River, near the mouth of which it stands. By land also a brisk trade is carried on with the back parts of North Carolina, for in that state there are no towns of any importance. The entrance from the sea into the rivers in that state are all impeded by shoals and sand banks, none of which afford more than eleven feet water, and the passage over some of them is very dangerous from the sand shifting. Wilmington, which is the greatest place of trade in it, contains only two hundred and fifty houses. In order to carry on their trade to North Carolina to more advantage, a canal is now cutting across the Dismal Swamp, from Norfolk into Albemarle Sound, by means of the rivers that empty into which, a water communication will be opened to the remote parts of that state. Added to this, Norfolk, from its contiguity to the Dismal Swamp, is enabled to supply the West Indian market with lumber on better terms than any other town in the United States. It is in consequence increasing with wonderful rapidity, notwithstanding the disadvantages it labours under from the laws, which are so inimical to commerce. At present it contains upwards of five hundred houses, which have all been built within the last twenty years, for in the year 1776 the town was totally destroyed by orders of Lord Dunmore, then regal governor of Virginia.
Most of the rivers in South Carolina are obstructed at their mouths, much in the same manner as those in North Carolina; at Charleston, however, there is a safe and commodious harbour. From having such an advantage, this town commands nearly the entire trade of the state in which it is situated, as well as a considerable portion of that of North Carolina. The consequence is, that Charleston ranks as the fourth commercial town in the union. There are two rivers which disembogue on each side of the town, Cooper and Ashley; these are navigable, but not for a very great distance; however, from Cooper River a canal is to be cut to the Santee, a large navigable river which runs a considerable way up the country. Charleston has unfortunately been almost totally destroyed by fire of late, but it is rebuilding very fast, and will most probably in a few years be larger than ever.
The view that has been taken so far is sufficient to demonstrate, that the prosperity of the towns in the United States is dependant upon their trade, and principally upon that which is carried on with the interior parts of the country; and also, that those towns which are most conveniently situated for the purpose of carrying on this inland trade, are those which enjoy the greatest share of it. It is now time to examine more particularly how far the situation of the federal city is favourable, or otherwise, for commerce: to do so, it will be necessary, in the first place, to trace the course of the Patowmac River, on which it stands, and also that of the rivers with which it is connected.
[Sidenote: PATOWMAC RIVER.]
The Patowmac takes its rise on the north-west side of Alleghany Mountains, and after running in a meandering, direction for upwards of four hundred miles, falls into the Chesapeak Bay. At its confluence with the bay it is seven miles and a half wide; about thirty miles higher, at Nominy Bay, four and a half; at Aquia, three; at Hallowing Point, one and a half; and at Alexandria, and from thence to the federal city, it is one mile and quarter wide. The depth of water at its mouth is seven fathoms; at St. George’s Island, five; at Alexandria, four; and from thence to Washington, seven miles distant, three fathoms. The navigation of the Patowmac, from the Chesapeak Bay to the city, one hundred and forty miles distant, is remarkable safe, and so plain that any navigator of common abilities, that has once sailed up the river, might venture to take up a vessel drawing twelve feet water without a pilot. This could not be said of any other river on the continent, from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. In its course it receives several large streams, the principal one of which falls in at the federal city. This river is called the Eastern Branch of the Patowmac; but it scarcely deserves that name, as it extends no more than thirty miles up the country. At its mouth it is nearly as wide as the main branch of the river, and close to the city the water is in many places thirty feet deep. Thousands of vessels might lie here, and sheltered from all danger, arising either from freshes, or from ice upon the breaking up of a severe winter. Thus it appears that the federal city is possessed of one essential qualification for making it a place of importance, namely, a good harbour, from which there is a ready passage to the ocean; it will also appear that it is well situated for trading with the interior parts of the country.
[Sidenote: WATER COMMUNICATIONS.]
The water in the Patowmac continues nearly the same depth that it is opposite to the city for one mile higher, where a large rock rises up in the middle of the river, on each side of which there are sand-banks. It is said that there is a deep channel between this rock and the shore, but it is so intricate that it would be dangerous to attempt to take a large vessel through it. The navigation, however, is safe to the little falls for river craft, five miles further on; here a canal, which extends two miles and a half, the length of these falls or rapids, has been cut and perfected, which opens a free passage for boats as far as the great falls, which are seven miles from the others. The descent of the river at these is seventy-six feet in a mile and quarter; but it is intended to make another canal here also; a part of it is already cut, and every exertion is making to have the whole completed with expedition[11]. From hence to Fort Cumberland, one hundred and ninety-one miles above the federal city, there is a free navigation, and boats are continually passing up and down. Beyond this, the passage in the river is obstructed in numerous places; but there is a possibility of opening it, and as soon as the company formed for the purpose have sufficient funds, it will certainly be done. From the place up to which it is asserted the passage of the Patowmac can be opened, the distance across land to Cheat River is only thirty-seven miles. This last river is not at present navigable for more than fifty miles above its mouth; but it can be rendered so for boats, and so far up that there will only be the short portage that I have mentioned between the navigable waters of the two rivers. Things are only great or small by comparison, and a portage of thirty-seven miles will be thought a very short one, when found to be the only interruption to an inland navigation of upwards of two thousand seven hundred miles, of which two thousand one hundred and eighty-three are down stream. Cheat River is two hundred yards wide at its mouth, and falls into the Monongahela, which runs on to Pittsburgh, and there receives the Alleghany River, united they form the Ohio, which after a course of one thousand one hundred and eighty-three miles, during which it receives twenty-four other considerable rivers, some of them six hundred yards wide at the mouth, and navigable for hundreds of miles up the country, empties itself into the Mississippi.
Footnote 11:
For a further description of these Falls see Letter XXXI in Volume II.
If we trace the water communication in an opposite direction, its prodigious extent will be a still greater subject of astonishment. By ascending the Alleghany River from Pittsburgh as far as French Creek, and afterwards this latter stream, you come to Fort le Bœuf. This place is within fifteen miles of Presqu’ Isle, a town situated upon Lake Erie, which has a harbour capable of admitting vessels drawing nine feet water. Or you may get upon the lake by ascending the Great Miami River, which falls into the Ohio five hundred and fifty miles below Pittsburgh. From the Great Miami there is a portage of nine miles only to Sandusky River, which runs into Lake Erie. It is most probable, however, that whatever intercourse there may be between the lakes and the federal city, it will be kept up by means of the Alleghany River and French Creek, rather than by the Miami, as in the last case it would be necessary to combat against the stream of the Ohio for five hundred and fifty miles, a very serious object of consideration.
[Sidenote: RIVERS AND LAKES.]