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Constance G. Eirich 
miles wide on the west and 8 miles wide on the east. Naturally 
Ohio urged the boundary of her proviso’^ which placed these 
advantages in her domain. The limits which Michigan proposed 
would have made her a larger state than Ohio and one of the 
largest in the Union at that time ; Ohio would then be one of the 
smallest of the western states. Furthermore, Michigan would 
have a longer coast line than any other state of its size; Ohio, 
being on one of the smallest of the Great Lakes, would have very 
little coast line. Hence it seemed equitable to give Ohio all the 
coast line that was possible even at the expense of Michigan. 
If Michigan did lose Maumee Bay she still had a good harbor on 
Lake Erie. At that time, Ohio was considered the key to the west 
because of her location between the new and the old country, 
and her accessibility to old centers of settlement, hence the com- 
mercial interests of Ohio, as well as of the country at large, de- 
manded that Ohio should have as many lake ports as possible. 
Prospective Canals 
Associated with the Maumee harbor is perhaps the most impor- 
tant factor in the boundary dispute — the influence of the canals. 
The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, stimulated the western states 
to open up their interiors by canals, that they might profit through 
this waterway to the east. The stimulus was first felt by Ohio 
because of its nearness to the western terminus of the Erie Canal. 
The long lake frontier on the north, the narrow width between 
Lake Erie and the navigable Ohio on the south and east, and the 
interior rivers, suggested the feasibility and advantages of an ex- 
tensive system of artificial waterways. At this time, too, steam- 
boats were operating on the lakes and rivers, greatly enhancing 
the value of Maumee Bay as well as developing the full usefullness 
of the interior water ways, both as avenues of immigration and 
means of trade. 
The next influence bearing on the boundary question was the 
Miami-Erie Canal which was to connect the Ohio River at Cin- 
cinnati with Lake Erie. This canal was contemplated about 
1825 and begun in 1830 though not completed until 1845, almost 
eight years after the boundary was fixed, that is, in 1837, the year 
Michigan was admitted as a state. It was the anticipated advan- 
tages of the canal which affected the boundary question. The 
