8 
Edith M. Southall 
boats came into general use, thus greatly increasing the facilities 
for river transportation. Roads also played their part in this 
industrial development. In 1817 The Cincinnati and Hamilton 
Turnpike Company was incorporated, also The Cincinnati and 
Dayton Turnpike Company. At this time there were roads con- 
necting Cincinnati with Detroit, Mich., Vincennes, Ind., New 
Orleans, La., Greenville, O., Louisville, Ky., Chillicothe, O., 
Williamsburg, Ky., and Pittsburg, Pa. 
Demand for manufactures. Cincinnati was primarily impelled 
to become an industrial center by the growing demand for manu- 
factured articles on the part of the farmers. The rich areas of 
the Miami region were becoming thickly settled, and the regions 
along Zane’s Trace were rapidly developing; consequently the 
farmers needed various articles. It was an expensive and diffi- 
cult task to transport manufactured articles across the Appa- 
lachian mountains. Accordingly, Cincinnati began to supply the 
home demand in different parts of Ohio and Indiana, since access 
to Cincinnati was easy by way of the Ohio and the roads mentioned 
above. 
Grovjth during 1820 to 1840. This was a period of very rapid 
progress. The population increased five-fold; in twenty years 
Cincinnati grew from a town of about 10,000 inhabitants into a 
city, with a population as large as that of Springfield or Youngs- 
town today. In those early days this was an unparalleled growth. 
Influence of canals. In 1840 the value of Cincinnati's manu- 
factures was $16,366,443.^ This industrial progress was largely 
the result of the building of canals, connecting Cincinnati with 
the East. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, joining Lake 
Erie and the ocean. In 1830 the Miami Canal, which was to con- 
nect Cincinnati and Toledo, reached Dayton;^ in 1845 it reached 
the lake. Between 1830 and 1840 there were constructed 
also the Ohio Canal, connecting Lake Erie and Portsmouth, 
and the Whitewater, which connected Harrison and Cincinnati. 
These canals furnished an easy and reliable means of communica- 
tion. At that time there were no railroads in the West. Rivers 
were the chief means of transportation, and Cincinnati exceeded 
all other Western cities in the number of her boats. Vessels ply- 
® Ohio Statistics, 1880, p. 768. 
9 The Ohio Gazeteer, Columbus, 1839, p. 258. 
