Rural Economy in New England 307 



only port of New England of any considerable size at the end of the 

 eighteenth century. Concerning this port an observing traveler had 

 remarked that its growth was much slower than that of other eastern 

 seaports, and had attributed this circumstance to the fact that its 

 trade with the "back settlements" was less than that of such cities 

 as Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia.^ A considerable portion 

 of the inhabitants of Boston as well as of other ports, such as Salem, 

 Providence, New Haven and New London, were engaged in occupa- 

 tions quite independent of commerce with the back-country. They 

 caught fish and exported them, and were engaged in carrying the 

 products of the Southern states to foreign countries. 



The Waterways. 



We naturally look first for indications of internal trade to the water- 

 ways, which have always furnished the cheapest method of transpor- 

 tation. There were three large rivers running in roughly parallel 

 courses from north to south, which furnished a means of communi- 

 cation between the inland towns of New England and its seaports. 

 Near the western boundaries of Vermont, Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut, flowed the Hudson. The few towns nearest this river in 

 the two latter states sent small quantities of beef, cheese and grain 

 to New York, to be consumed there or trans-shipped to the West 

 Indies. From southern Vermont, potash and other timber products, 

 maple sugar, furs, bar-iron and nails, live cattle and horses, and some 

 dairy produce and provisions came overland to Troy in New York 

 state and thence were carried down the river.- The towns of Albany 

 and Hudson also served as collectors of these products and distrib- 



' See Weld, Travels, I. 55. The following table shows the growth of popula- 

 tion in these four cities 1790-1810: 



Increase 

 1790 ISOO 1810 Percent 



Boston 18,000 25,000 33,000 94. 7 



Philadelphia 28,500 41 ,200 53,700 88 . 4 



New York 33,000 60,400 94,000 184.8 



Baltimore 13,500 26,500 35,600 163 . 7 



Boston had, it is true, increased somewhat faster than Philadelphia in the 

 period 1800-1810. This was probably due to the larger share which the former 

 port had in the carrying trade in the years preceding the Embargo and the Non- 

 Intercourse Acts. 



^ Lambert enumerates oak and pine staves, lumber, maple sugar, wheat, flour, 

 butter and cheese, salt beef and pork, pot- and pearl ashes, horses and oxen as 

 the commodities shipped from this region. Travels, II. 502-503; Mass. Hist. 

 Soc. Coll., II. 9: 138. 



