Rural Economy in New England 309 



stnicted in the years 1790-1810^ had made possible the passage of 

 small boats to the village of Barnet in northern Vermont, about 

 180 miles farther.^ The only vessels which could be used above 

 Hartford were flat-bottomed craft of 10 or 20 tons burden. These 

 floated downstream easily enough, but when going in the reverse 

 direction had to be slowly and arduously propelled by poling, with 

 only occasional aid from small square sails when the wind was favor- 

 able. According to Dwight^ there was at about this time a fleet 

 of fourteen of these boats which made regular trips between Hart- 

 ford and the head of navigation in Vermont. Each round trip re- 

 quired twenty-five days and only nine could be made in a season. 

 Potash and pearlash, staves, shingles, grain, beef, flaxseed and lin- 

 seed oil were brought down to Hartford, and rum, salt, molasses 

 and some drygoods, iron and tea were carried back. Heavy timber 

 was floated down in rafts.^ The total amount of this traffic in a 



' These canals were built around falls or rapids at South Hadley and Miller's 

 Falls in Massachusetts; at Water Quechee, now called Sumner's Falls, in Vermont; 

 and at falls in the town of Lebanon, New Hampshire, about three miles above 

 White River Junction. 



The canal at South Hadley was begun in 1790 and finished in 1795. It was 

 two miles long, twenty feet wide, but only three feet deep. Originally the dif- 

 ference in level between the ends of the canal was overcome by means of an in- 

 clined plane. The boats were drawn on a cradle up this plane by means of a wind- 

 lass operated by water power. Later, in 1805, a system of seven locks was sub- 

 stituted and the bed of the canal was deepened. The best description of these 

 works is to be found in Holland, J. G. History of Western Massachusetts. 2 

 vols. Springfield. 1855. I. 305-307. See also Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels, 

 II. 210, and Dickinson, Geographical and Statistical View, p. 30. 



The Miller's Falls canal in the town of Montague was completed in 1800. 

 It was almost three miles long, twenty feet wide, and contained ten locks. 

 The water from the river was diverted by means of a dam 17 feet high and 325 

 yards long. See Hayward, John. Gazetteer of Massachusetts. Revised ed. 

 Boston. 1849. pp. 421-422; Dwight, Travels, II. 335. 



At Bellows Falls a canal about one mile long was cut through solid rock at a 

 cost of $90,000. See Biglow, Timothy. Journal of a Tour to Niagara. Boston. 

 1876. p. 118. Biglow visited the place in 1805. See also Dwight, Travels, 

 II. 83-85. 



The two other canals were smaller works and were hardly in operation before 

 1810. They, as well as the others, are described in Bacon, Edwin M. The 

 Connecticut River. New York. 1906. pp. 310-324. 



2 Dickinson, Geographical and Statistical View, p. 26. 



'Travels, IV. 142-143. 



4 This list is from Kendall, Travels, III. 218. These are the commodities 

 most frequently mentioned in the advertisements of traders in the newspapers 

 published in such river towns as Springfield, Northampton, Greenfield, Walpole 

 and Hanover. 



