270 On American Gypsum, 



state, by the way of Seneca lake and Newtown. Should 

 our northern, ever be connected with your southern 

 waters, by means of a canal, from the head of Sene- 

 ca lake, to the Susquehannah, at Newtown, not on- 

 ly plaster will be transported that way, but a great 

 quantity of salt, as well as all the produce of a very 

 great portion of the Genesee country. So that the dis- 

 covery of plaster on our lakes, will be the means, not 

 only of enriching the lands of Pennsylvania, but also 

 of promoting improvements, which will turn the pro- 

 duce of the most fertile and best cultivated portion of 

 the western part of New York state, from Canada, to 

 Pennsylvania. — On the subject of a canal, from the 

 head of Seneca lake to the Susquehannah, I refer you 

 to two letters, page 119, published in a pamphlet en- 

 titled, *' Letters addressed to the people of Pennsylva- 

 nia, respecting the internal improvement of the com- 

 monwealth, by means of roads and canals," by W. J. 

 Duane.* 



Respectfully and truly yours, 



Philip Church, 

 Hon. Richard Peters. 



* Internal Improvement ; by Roads, and Water Trans/iortation. 

 These all important auxiliaries to the business and piosperity of 

 our country, do not depend, for their permanent usefulness, on cir- 

 cumstances, to which transportation on the ocean is subject. They 

 are under our own command ; while the navigation of the ocean is 

 under the control of the most powerful at sea. The demand for 

 them is often the greatest, when external commerce is interrupted. 

 Our foreign trade, so far as it depends on our own ships, is now 

 nearly annihilated, by the amlntion, jealousies, and injustice, of two 

 great nations, who, through ages, have been in conflict for predomi* 



