7652. RIVERS, Highways of commerce.—
The principal connections of the
western waters with the Atlantic are three:
the Hudson River, the Potomac, and the Mississippi
itself. Down the last will pass all
heavy commodities. But the navigation
through the Gulf of Mexico is so dangerous,
and that up the Mississippi so difficult and
tedious, that it is thought probable that European
merchandise will not return through that
channel. It is most likely that flour, timber,
and other heavy articles will be floated on rafts,
which will themselves be an article for sale as
well as their loading, the navigators returning
by land, or in light bateaux. There will, therefore,
be a competition between the Hudson
and Potomac rivers for the residue of the commerce
of all the country westward of Lake
Erie, on the waters of the Lakes, of the Ohio,
and upper parts of the Mississippi.—
Notes on Virginia. Washington ed. viii, 261.
Ford ed., iii, 98.
(1782)
