1838.] 



FARjVl KRS' REGISTER. 



5 



est outlines to ihe li)ci of socieiy, wiil> m rapiility 

 litile If^s that) that of thought i'sell ! ! Tlie iilli- 

 ma(e consequences cannot be apprei-iaKHl at prc- 

 Fiint; l)iit we may sak'ly roiiclude tiiat the b-pcv- 

 olcnt aiiihor of our oxisteiic.e did not endow the 

 mind of jna/i with such extraordinary powers of 

 invention, wilhout the design ot'linal advantaire to 

 liis physical wants, his social reiaiious, and his 

 spiritual nature. 



Ions In euccessdil operation, furnished up with the 

 (aris which were oriifinally employed hy the ad- 

 vocates ol' similfir eiiierprif-'es in this country; and 

 it is not easy to chanjxe a hahit ol' ihinkiiiir which 

 has been lonir established, and to which the mind 

 has V)ecome attached by the indulfrence. 



But when we estimate the probable consetjuen- 

 ces, and value of an improvement adapted to the 

 p.eculiar condition and jirand divisions of this 

 country, we must view the subject in an asfject 

 diiferenl from that of a work connectinjr two lakes 

 or towns, where the trade already is, and where 

 theconsequences of their connexion may be de- 

 termined from existinir facts. liere ihiiiirs are dil- 

 iereiii; the improvement creates the trade, and the 

 traile which it. creates su[)ports the work that 

 brought it into existencf;. 'I'he value of a work 

 liere^depends on the place to which it reaches but 

 in a secondary desiree; the primary considerations 

 beintj, nearly always, the character of the soil 

 through which it passes, and the length of the line 

 of the imfirovemenl. 



The Erie canal is not stipported hy the trade of^ 

 the lakes; and until the last year, the influence of 

 that trade on the revenue of the work was tiardly 

 appreciable. 



Fn 1835, when that line paid into the treasury 

 of New York nearly one million three hundred 

 thousands dollars, the tonnage of western produce 

 comipir from other states to BiiflTalo, and that 

 passing up the canal to the lake, was but six per 

 cent, of the whole tonnage constituting the trade 

 of the work. The residue— namely, the 94 per 

 pent. — was made up along the line of the canal' 

 tural, manulactunng and mercantile interests, of jtself, and consisted of the produce of farms which, 

 cutting oti' the eight hundred thousands tons of I were chiefly brought into cultivation by the im- 

 produce and merchandise that annually pass j provement of the forests to which it became the 

 through it; of destroying the improvement that j out-let, of the mines which owe to il their value, 



THE TUADK FROM TIIK W KST, BY THE JAMKS 

 RIVKR AiVD KANAWHA IM PRO VKMENT. 



Extract from the Report of the Chief Engineer, 

 Charles Ellett esq., to the late General Meeting 

 of the Company. 



It is not my intention to indulge at this time in 

 any general reflections on the probable result and 

 prospective advaiitaaes of the imiirovement. In- 

 deed it would be as unnecessary as it would be ditB- 

 culi, to attempt an examination of all the influ- 

 ences which a work of this nature exercises over 

 the prosperity of a state. It would be to trace the 

 consequences of a general difl'usion of wealth and 

 coniniercial prosperity through every department 

 ot' business and every branch of trade. If we 

 were anxious, we might arrive at a more accurate 

 and useful result, by considering the present con- 

 sequences of a stoppage of some irreat work in 

 active operation — as, Icjr instance, the Erie canal 

 of New York; by reflecting on the consequences 

 to the emporium of that state, and to her airricul 

 manulitcturing and mercantile interests, 



created the line of towns and cities li-om Bufl'alo 

 to Albany, and that lorces every cultivated acre 

 north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi to 

 contribute to the growth of her wealth and power. 



During the last year a breach occurred on the 

 long level of that work, and the New York papers 

 inlormed us that before it was repaired seven miles 

 of canal boats collected near the tidjacent locks. 

 And now to stop the Erie ctmal would be more 

 withering to her prosperity than to close up the 

 "Narrows'"' which admits her Ibreiirn commerce, 

 and more latal io her advancement than any mis- 

 fortune she could experience, excepting the loss of 

 the energy and enterprise of her population. 



I am sensible that there are those who are suffi- 

 ciently aware of the importance of tiiat work to 

 the state by which it was made, and who can ap- 

 preciate the consequences of its destruction, but 

 who are disposed to doubt whether the James 

 river improvement can be regarded as an analo- 

 gous project. These will admit, what is undenia- 

 ble — that a considerable portion of the country 

 traversed by the latter work is quite as Jertile as 

 that which contributes to the trade of the firmer, 

 and that its mineral wealth is incomparably 

 greater; but, by over-estimating the influence of 

 the lake trade on the tolls of that improvement, 

 are brought to a false comparison. 



Notwilhstanding the rapid and unparalleled pro- 

 gress of internal improvements in this country, 

 our minds are still embarrassed by the mode of 

 considering the subject applicable to prominent 

 European examples. Works having there been 



and of the supplies of towns and cities^ on its 

 banks, the very foundations of many of which 

 were laid after the commencement of the construc- 

 tion of the work. 



I by no means desire to depreciate the value of 

 that western trade, which, notwithstanding its 

 present inferiority, I regard as by far the most im- 

 portant of the prospective resources of the rme,_ 

 and the city which it sustains. The increase of 

 its value in one year— the last year— was 71 per 

 cent, over that of the precedinii, and there is eve- 

 ry rea.«on to believe that the rate of its increase 

 vvill continue to be progressive. The great conn- 

 try surrounding the lakes and the tributaries ol'tlie 

 Ohio has but begun ro receive the population 

 which it is capable of sustaining, and has hardly 

 begun to send off the surplus produce which is not 

 reqiiired for the supply of the emigrants. 



The hundred thousands persons who annually 

 go westward by the packets on the Erie canal, 

 and the unestimated thousands who cross the 

 Allechany by some other route, are almost lost in 

 the forests and prairies. They are now but seed- 

 ing the ground; and we may ask in admiration, 

 what wiTi be the efl'ect of the Erie canal ten years 

 hence, when the country is in some measure pop- 

 ulated, and the reaping shall commence— and the 

 splendid schemes of improvement now in contem- 

 plation or in progress, leading from the interior of 

 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Canada, 

 have becrun to pour the produce of those states, 

 destined for the city of New Y''ork, into the lakes'? 



The trade of the Ohio, which is one of the ob- 



