310 Percy Wells Bidwell 



season was probably smaller than a fair-sized river steamer would 

 now carry in a few days.^ 



At Hartford the goods received from the upper river were trans- 

 shipped into small schooners and sloops and, together with more 

 provisions and small quantities of vegetables, were sent down the 

 river to New York and to the West Indies. These additional com- 

 modities seem to have been produced almost entirely by the farmers 

 in a few towns in the inmiediate vicinity of Hartford and Middle- 

 town, such as Farmington^ and Wethersfield. The towns lower down 

 the river had practically no share in this trade' except in furnish- 

 ing cargoes of wood for fuel. In 1789 the trafl&c on the lower river 

 had employed a fleet of about 100 vessels, of which 60 made voyages 

 to the West Indies and the remainder engaged merely in the coast- 

 ing trade.* The foreign branch of this trade was considerably dam- 

 aged by the restrictions of 1807-1808 and later by the War of 1812. 

 In 1815 the whole value of the exports from the Middletown cus- 

 toms district, which included all river ports, amounted to less than 

 $100,000.5 



The commodities brought up the river to Hartford were the same 

 as those carried on farther up the river, with the addition of a variety 

 of European dress goods and some other imported manufactures, 

 such as crockery, glassware, etc.® 



^ Some indication of the amount of this trafl5c may be gained from the figures 

 given by Dwight, Travels, I. 287, for the tonnage locked through the canal at 

 South Hadley, which amounted on an average to about 7,000 tons per season. 

 At the canal at Bellows Falls 4,300 tons paid tolls in 1803 and 5,460 tons in 1807. 

 Kendall, Travels, III. 217. 



* See Porter, Historical Discourse, p. 46. 



' Field says of the towns in Middlesex County that whereas they send "im- 

 mense quantities" of wood to New York and other towns, they export very little 

 beef, pork, grain and provisions, "the supply hardly sufficing for the consump- 

 tion of the inhabitants." Statistical Account of Middlesex, pp. 12, 14, 17. 



* Field, Statistical Account, p. 8. 

 » Ibid. p. 127. 



^ The general store in this region shows a far greater assortment of goods than 

 those in inland towns, but the staple commodities on which greatest emphasis 

 was laid were in all cases the same: Salt, sugar, molasses, rum and iron. A typi- 

 cal advertisement is that of Bolles, Savage and Co., appearing in the Middle- 

 town Gazette, Nov. 3, 1803. This firm has to sell 40 hogsheads of Muscavado 

 sugar, also a quantity of molasses and of Windward Islands rum. They have 

 "constantly on hand" iron, salt and other groceries for which they will receive all 

 kinds of country produce in pa)anent. Some of the commodities which they 

 offer to buy are flaxseed, oats, com, potatoes, rye-flour, and horses. There were 

 in this issue advertisements of 16 such general stores besides specialized dealers 



