The West

By Hall, James

Subjects: Commerce, Navigation à vapeur, Conditions économiques, Public lands, Description and travel, Steam-navigation

Description: James Hall was an early writer in Cincinnati. This is both a description of commerce on western rivers at the time of writing, in the late 1840s, and background history. Topics covered in the book include: -The river network in the west, and connections to New Orleans and the eastern states -Floods of the Ohio River, and effects on Cincinnati -Sandbars, and efforts to bypass or remove them -The Louisville and Portland Canal -Upper and lower rapids of the Mississippi -Steamboats; history, expenses, improvements, explosions -Value and types of commerce on western waters -Western cities: manufactures and trade -Cincinnati: manufacturing, trade