BUILDING A
COMMERCIAL SYSTEM.
FRANK P. GOODWIN.
It is the purpose of this paper to trace
the commercial devel-
opment of the Miami Country1, from the
date of settlement to
the beginning of the steamboat era in
1817. It is presented as
a representative study of commercial
growth under economic
conditions that were colonial in
character. The history of the
locality has been used to illustrate
principles of early com-
mercial development common to the Ohio
Valley. Within
that region were five leading
communities each of which was
economically a colonial unit during the
early stages of its devel-
opment. They were the Pittsburg District, the Blue Grass
Region, the Marietta District, the
Scioto Valley, and the Miami
Country. Of the five, the Miami Country
most nearly presented
all phases of the subject in its
development. With the possible
exception of the Pittsburg District,
each had its economic basis
in agriculture, each developed as a
separate colonial unit, and in
each a chief town grew up that was the
commercial center of the
region. In addition to these
characteristics, the chief town of
the Miami Country, because of its more
favorable location and
natural advantages, became later the
metropolis of the entire
valley.
It would seem, therefore, that the Miami Country
would furnish the best view-point for
the study of commer-
cial development in the Ohio Valley.
When the period of retarded development
in the Miami
Country had come to an end in 1795 and
settlers commenced to
occupy the land, there soon began the
production of a surplus of
agricultural products for which they
were anxious to find a
market. This surplus was the basis of
the early commerce of the
The Miami Country includes the valleys
of the Great Miami and
Little Miami Rivers. It has an area of
about 5000 square miles, and em-
braces a large portion of southwestern
Ohio and a small bit of Indiana.
(316)
Building a Commercial System. 317
Miami Country; and the improvement in
means of transporta-
tion and the building of a commercial
system to meet the situa-
tion were two most important questions
that the pioneer farmers
and merchants had to meet.
Before taking up the commercial
development that followed
as a result of the rapid settlement
after 1795, some notice of the
beginnings of commerce during the Indian
Wars should claim
our attention. In the extension of the
frontier there have always
been a number of the well-to-do among
the settlers who were
prepared to buy some of the conveniences
of life even at frontier
prices. To accommodate such as these,
traders followed closely
the advance line of settlement as the
frontier was pushed
westward; therefore soon after the
founding of Columbia and
Losantiville, there were merchants in
the Miami Country who
were prepared to furnish to the army and
to the settlers whiskey
and tobacco and some of the more
necessary articles of eastern
and foreign production.
Although such commercial operations must
have been limited
because of the small number of
immigrants who were prepared
to indulge in the luxury of store goods,
there were several
merchants advertising groceries and dry
goods for sale in Cin-
cinnati before the time of Wayne's
victory. One enterprising
tradesman even considered that this
frontier community had so
far advanced in the scale of
civilization as to be a market for
imported wines.2 Another
advertised that he would receive corn,
beef, pork, butter, cheese, potatoes,
furs and skins at his store
in Columbia in exchange for merchandise,
groceries, etc.3
Beyond the sale of a few commodities to
the settlers under
the protection of the guns at Fort
Washington, there was no
opportunity for an extension of
commercial operations in the
Miami Country before the treaty of
Greenville. The interior was
still a wilderness without inhabitants,
either to furnish products
for exports or to demand imports. This
initial trade was prob-
ably much stimulated by the rush of
population to the Miami
Country following the treaty of
Greenville, as most of the immi-
2Centinel
of Northwest Territory, Nov. 29, 1793, Jan. 4, Feb. 22,
1794.
3Centinel of Northwest Territory, Nov.
30, 1793.
318 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
grants to that region landed at
Cincinnati, and perhaps not a few
of them bought some necessaries before
breaking into the wilder-
ness. It was also increased by the fact
that Cincinnati became
the grand depot for stores that came
down the Ohio bound for
the forts that were located near the
Indian treaty line.4
These pioneer merchants were usually
young men with
abundant energy and small capital. Such
a one would purchase a
stock of goods in Philadelphia or
Baltimore and transport it in
wagons over rough roads to Pittsburg at
a cost of from $6.00
to $10.00 per hundredweight. There he would buy a flat-boat
or a keel-boat, load his goods in it,
and float them down the river.
He was usually unacquainted with the
stream and if the water
was low he would be frequently in danger
from sand bars, snags
and other obstructions. If fortunate he
would reach Cincinnati
within fifteen or twenty days. Perhaps
he would stop there, or
maybe hire a team and haul his goods to
one of the inland
settlements then building.5
Having established himself, he would
advertise that he had
just arrived (usually from Philadelphia)
with a large assort-
ment of dry goods and groceries which he
would sell on very
low terms for cash only.6 He
usually found, however, that fron-
tier conditions were unfavorable to the
maintenance of cash
sales; yet the general impression
prevailed that these early
merchants made enormous profits and
generally were able to in-
crease their stock as rapidly as the
expanding business of the
country demanded. But this early trade
of supplying eastern
goods to settlers admitted of little
expansion, for any consider-
able commercial development must depend
upon the production
of a surplus of agricultural products.
As the Miami Country
was rich in agricultural possibilities,
the energetic pioneer farm-
ers did not keep trade waiting long for
those products that were
to furnish the basis of the early
commerce of the upper Missis-
sippi Valley.
After the demands of the home were met,
those farmers
who were near Cincinnati or some other
center into which the
4 Baily; Journal of a Tour, p. 228.
5 McBride; Pioneer Biography of Butler
County, I, p. 314.
6Centinel Northwest Territory, May 23,
1795.
Building a Commercial System.. 319
settlers were moving, found a limited
market among the new-
comers. A little later the surplus corn,
wheat, pork, whiskey,
etc., began to demand a larger market,
and no place in the Mis-
sissippi Valley could furnish such a
market as the entire region
was agricultural in character. The long
and expensive haul
prevented sending this surplus over the
mountains to the East,
and so the only outlet was by flat-boat
down the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi rivers to New Orleans, there to
be reshipped to the
Eastern seaboard or to a foreign market.
Kentucky had already developed a trade
of this character,
and by the close of the Revolution her
traders and farmers were
loading flat-boats with produce and shiping
it to New Orleans.
The attitude of Spanish officials toward
this trade was un-
settled and wavering. Special privileges
were granted to those
who knew how to get them, while others
found themselves at
a disadvantage. High tariff rates for
the privilege of deposit
and reshipment were the rule, and it was
not uncommon for
whole cargoes to be confiscated.
Of all the Kentucky traders James
Wilkinson was probably
the most unscrupulous and the most
successful. His successes
in 1787 and 1788 gave the Kentucky trade
a decided impetus, and
thereafter the westerners were ready for
almost any political al-
liance that would insure them the free
navigation of the Missis-
sippi. So strong had this feeling become
when Genet came to
America as French minister in 1793 that
George Rogers Clark
offered his services to lead an army
under the banner of France
down the Mississippi to help drive out
the Spanish. Clark's ac-
tion may have been prompted by personal
and even disloyal
motives because the Federal government
had not properly re-
warded him for past services, but the
movement hardly could
have gained the headway that it did had
not the free navigation
of the Mississippi been the paramount
question to the Western-
ers. Clark's plan came to naught, but it
probably influenced
our government to take more vigorous
action and thus hastened
the Spanish treaty of October 27, 1795,
which gave Americans
the free navigation of the Mississippi
and allowed them to use
New Orleans as a place of deposit and
reshipment.
The adjustment of this difficulty with
Spain was of much
320 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
importance to the older settlements
south of the Ohio, and it
came at an opportune moment for the
Miami Country. Two
months before that event, the Treaty of
Greenville had closed
the period of retarded development for
that region, and settlers
rushed in who were soon producing a
surplus that swelled the
volume of trade which drifted toward New
Orleans.
The Miami Country, however, had problems
for her own
people to solve concerning the marketing
of her produce, that
were geographically nearer, though not
more important than
the interference of Spanish officials.
In the first place, there
were no roads over which produce might
be transported; and in
the second, there was no commercial
system for the handling of
exports. The influence of these two
difficulties was to reduce
the price of the products of the Miami
Country, in common with
the rest of the Ohio Valley, to so low a
figure as in many in-
stances to prohibit their being sent to
market.
Lack of good roads was no doubt the most
serious difficulty
for those regions more remote from
navigable streams. As
centers of population grew, trails were
made which later were
developed into wagon routes, but it was
many years before
any of these were passable for loaded
wagons except in the most
favorable seasons. The forest must be
cleared, improvements
on the farms must be made, and
population must be increased
before highway construction could
proceed on any considerable
scale. Before 1809 roads had been
located connecting the prin-
cipal towns of this region, and four
principal routes extended
from Cincinnati out through southwestern
Ohio and one through
Kentucky to Lexington. One of these
roads led up the Ohio
to Columbia and front there through
Williamsburg, Newmarket
and Bainbridge to Chillicothe; another
led clown the river to
Cleves. Two roads led to the north; one
to Lebanon and the
other through Hamilton and Franklin to
Dayton. Dayton was
also connected with Springfield, Urbana
and Piqua. The road
to Hamilton followed the old military
trail used by St. Clair
and Wayne. From Hamilton a road led
northwest to Eaton
and another led eastward through Lebanon
to Chillicothe. Those
highways connecting points in the Miami
Country with Chilli-
cothe were of particular importance, as
they connected some
Building a Commercial System. 321
miles east of that point with the main
road to the East. This
was originally the trace located by
Ebenezer Zane in 1795,
extending from Wheeling to Maysville via
Zanesville, Lancaster
and Chillicothe.7
Mr. Archer B. Hulbert in speaking of
Zane's Trace, has
pointed out that early in the history of
western settlements there
was felt the need of a homeward track.
The old Wilderness Road
by which the early Kentuckians came in
answered that purpose
for the settlers from Virginia and the
Carolinas. When the men
from Pennsylvania and New Jersey moved
into Kentucky and
the Miami Country, they found easy
access into the country down
the Ohio, but navigation up stream did
not offer an expeditious
means of transportation back to the
seaboard. During the In-
dian wars it was far safer, however, and
land travel north of
the Ohio was not resorted to, although
at that time travel was
sufficient between Cincinnati and
Pittsburg to induce Jacob
Myers to put on a line of packet boats
that made the trip every
two weeks between those points. He
assured prospective pas-
sengers that no danger need be
apprehended from the Indians,
as every person on board would be well
under cover and made
proof against rifle or musket balls.
Each boat was armed with
six pieces each carrying a pound ball,
also a number of good
muskets and an ample supply of
ammunition.8
No sooner were the Indian wars over than
persons who went
East on business or pleasure began to
resort to land travel, and
on September 26, 1795, about a month
after the Treaty of Green-
ville was concluded, Israel Ludlow
advertised that a party would
set out about the middle of the next
month for Pittsburg.
They were to travel by way of
Chillicothe on the Little Miami
and Darby's Town on the Scioto and would
cross the Muskingum
at the mouth of White Woman's Creek or
Fort Lawrence. The
public was assured that from the best
information a road level
and pleasant could be had, which would
greatly facilitate inter-
course by land with the Atlantic States.9
As immigrants came in, it is altogether
probable that there
7Melish; Travels in the United States,
II., p. 209.
8Centinel of the Northwest Territory,
Nov. 23, 1793.
9Centinel of the Northwest Territory,
Nov. 23, 1793.
Vol. XVI.-21.
322 Ohio Arch.
and Hist. Society Publications.
was a rapid increase in the number of
such parties traveling to
the East; and to facilitate travel
between the western settlements
and the East, Congress, May 17, 1797,
authorized Ebenezer Zane
to lay out a road between Wheeling and
Maysville. Hulbert re-
marks that this little road was unique
among American high-
ways in that it was demanded not by wars
but by civilization,
not for exploration and settlement but
by settlements that were
already made and in need of communion
and commerce. That
it was of considerable importance in the
early development of
the Miami Country can hardly be
questioned.10
Although numerous roads had been laid
out in southwestern
Ohio before the War of 1812, no effort
had been made to im-
prove them, and they were impassable for
a loaded wagon the
greater part of the year. This condition
must have retarded the
agricultural development of the country,
and during the war it so
seriously interfered with the movements
of the northwestern
army as to bring about a proposal for a
series of military roads.
When the rage for turnpikes spread over
the East during the
latter part of the first decade of the
nineteenth century, the West
was too new and too sparsely settled to
be interested in it; but
when the great rush of population into
Ohio began after the
war and an increasing agricultural
product had to be marketed,
there had been an agitation for better
roads, and several turnpike
companies were chartered to build roads
connecting Cincinnati
with towns in the interior of the
State.11. In the advertisements
of new town sites, it was not uncommon
to see presented as one
of the advantages of the location that
the new town was on a
proposed turnpike road. Dr. Drake
remarked that the policy of
constructing from Cincinnati toward the
sources of the Miamis
a great road which should at all times
be equally passable, had
been for some time in agitation. He
further said, "The benefits
which an execution of this plan would
confer, cannot be fully
estimated, except by those who have
traveled through the Miami
Country in the winter season and have
studied the connections
in business between that district and
Cincinnati. The salt, the
iron, the castings, the glass, the
cotton and foreign merchandise
10 Hulbert; Historic Highways, II., p.
165.
11Cincinnati Directory for 1819, p. 76.
Liberty Hall, Feb. 5, 1816.
Building a
Commercial System. 323
of eight countries would be transported on this
road." But
those who hoped for
immediate improvement in road construc-
tion in the West were
doomed to disappointment as it was not
until early in the
thirties that turnpike construction was seriously
undertaken in Ohio.
Although the enabling
act permitting the formation of the
State of Ohio made a
partial provision for the building of a road
between Ohio and the
Atlantic headwaters, there seems to be no
evidence that the
Miami Country took any particular interest in
such a highway until
after the War of 1812. During the earlier
period the West was
too much interested in battling with the wil-
derness, in clearing
and planting and building cabins, and had
too little with which
to buy imports, to be deeply interested in
transmontane road
improvement. The same conditions that
prevented the
building of local roads prevented an interest
in road building of a
more national character; but with
the rapid filling up
of the Miami Country after the War of
1812, that section
was impressed with the need of high-
way improvement both
local and national; and although looking
forward to an
immediate establishment of steamboat navigation
to New Orleans, the
interest of that section in an improved road
to the East grew
rapidly.12. Said a contributor to Liberty Hall:
"We .
. . want no national or state aid in respect to
canals; but we do
want good roads to connect us more closely
and bring us nearer
to our Atlantic brethren, so they shall have
a more direct
intercourse with us and learn to estimate correctly
the fertility, the
wealth, and rapidly growing power of the West-
ern country. . . .Give us good roads over the mountains
and we shall grow up
to what is wanted of us.
We shall then settle
our country faster, and convert the Eastern
federalists into
democrats even faster than we do now, for the
bad roads prevent
many from coming to us. . . " 13
This lack of good
roads combined with the long journey
to New Orleans made
the cost of transporting goods to market
so high as
practically to prevent shipment from a large part of
12Drake; National and
Statistical View of Cincinnati in 1815, p.
148, 149.
13Liberty Hall. July
24, 1815.
324 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
the interior, thus precluding the
development of a surplus that
would otherwise have swelled the volume
of trade. It has been
estimated that in the early part of the
century the average cost
of transportation by land was ten
dollars per ton per hundred
miles, and that grain and flour could
not stand the cost of trans-
portation more than 150 miles at such a
rate.14 Taking into
consideration the cost of river
transportation and the cost of
marketing, it is doubtful if such
articles in the Miami Country
could have been hauled profitably more
than fifty miles to the
place of export.
Fortunately, we have preserved for us in
a few instances, a
record of what was actually charged for
transportation. It ap-
pears that in 1795 goods for the army
were being shipped from
Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton by
water in private boats
and that the rate was $1.10 per barrel
for flour, $1.30 per barrel
for whiskey, and 50 cents per
hundredweight for corn.l5 In 1799
the cost of transportation from
Cincinnati to Dayton was $2.50 per
hundredweight.16 In 1805 a
four-horse stage coach furnished
weekly service between Cincinnati and
Yellow Springs, in which
passengers were charged $5.00 per single
trip. Way passengers
paid at the rate of six cents per mile.
The line passed through
Hamilton, Franklin and Dayton, and two
days were required to
make the trip.17
In consideration of the great difficulty
of transportation, it
was not uncommon for corn and oats to
sell as low as
10 and 12 cents per bushel, beef at $1.50
per hundredweight, and
pork at $1.00 to $2.00 per
hundredweight.18 In 1806 one farmer,
Mr. Digby, well situated with an
improved farm about forty
miles northeast of Cincinnati, stated
that the price of produce
was so low and the price of labor so
high that very little profit
attended the most laborious exercise of
industry. Indian corn
carried so mean a value that he never
offered to sell it, and
14 McMaster; History of the People of
the U. S., III., p. 464.
15Centinel Northwest of the Territory,
April 4, 1795.
16 Curwen;
History of Dayton, p. 17.
17Western Spy, Aug. 21, 1805.
18 Burnet's Notes, pp. 396-400.
Building a Commercial System. 325
wheat made into flour sold for $3.00 per
barrel. Our farmer
could not wait for roads to be built,
and in consequence he was
about to abandon a system so little
advantageous and take to
grazing cattle, breeding hogs, and
rearing horses for distant
markets where money was to be obtained.
In fact, he had al-
ready attempted one such venture, having
sent his son with a
cargo of 200 live hogs to New Orleans. In the spring he pro-
posed taking a drove of cattle and
horses over the mountains to
Philadelphia and Baltimore.19
What Mr. Digby did or proposed to do,
other farmers were
doing. The prairies of the upper Miami
Country and the Scioto
Valley furnished pasture for droves of
cattle that were driven
over the mountains to Philadelphia or
Baltimore, and the mast of
the woods furnished free food for hogs
that were in some in-
stances driven northward to Detroit. It
was not uncommon
for cattle to be driven from the west
side of the mountains,
down into the Potomac Valley, there to
be fattened for eastern
markets, just as the cattle from the
Rocky Mountain region in
more recent years have been shipped to
the plains of Kansas
and Nebraska to be prepared for the
packing houses of Kansas
City and Chicago. In 1815 it was
estimated that the prairies
of Champaign and Greene Counties
furnished $100,000 worth of
cattle annually.20 Other sections of the West were
marketing
their live stock in the same way. In
1808 a traveler passed a
drove of 130 cows and oxen which were
being driven from the
neighborhood of Lexington, Kentucky, to
Baltimore.21. In 1817
Morris Birkbeck met a drove of very fat
oxen on their way from
the banks of the Miami to
Philadelphia;22 and as late as 1819
19 Ash; Travels in the United States,
II., pp. 226, 226.
Ash's contemporaries speak most
disparingly of his veracity, and
Thompson's Bibliography of Ohio calls
him a literary imposter who was
the first to discover that a book
abusing the people of the United States
would be profitable. Many of his
statements in regard to economic con-
ditions are so in accord with those of
more authoritative writers, how-
ever, that we feel safe in accepting
them.
20 Drake; Natural and
Statistical View of Cincinnati in 1815, p. 55.
21 Cuming's Tour, in Thwaite's Early
Western Travels, IV., p. 228.
22 Birkbeck; Notes on a Journel, p.
63.
326 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Jeremiah Butterfield of Butler County
drove a large number of
hogs through the woods to Detroit to
market.23
It was impracticable to feed all the
surplus product of the
farm to live stock and send it to market
on its own legs, and so
our farmers, in common with other
frontier communities of the
time, solved the problem of reducing
bulk and weight for pur-
poses of shipment by turning their grain
into whiskey and their
fruit into brandy. During this early
period a large number of
the well-to-do farmers each had his own
small still and thus
turned his surplus fruit and sometimes
grain into a marketable
product.24 Larger distilleries began to be
erected about the
time that water-power grist mills came
into use and whiskey be-
came an important article of export.
The region bordering immediately on the
Ohio and on the
Great Miami Rivers fared better. We
shall reserve the story of
Ohio River transportation for another
part of this paper but the
navigation of the Great Miami deserves
mention in this connec-
tion. The first flat boat that navigated
the Great Miami was built
by David Loury at Dayton in 1800 and
sent to New Orleans
loaded with grain, pelts and 500 venison
hams.25 From that time
till the completion of the canal between
Cincinnati and Dayton in
1829,
flat boats continued to navigate the Great
Miami River.
That stream was navigable during the
greater part of the year,
but boats were usually built and
launched with the spring floods
and loaded with flour, bacon, whiskey
and other staple products,
bound for New Orleans. It was not
uncommon for one of
the more prosperous farmers on the Ohio
or Great Miami
to load a flat-boat with his own
produce.26 These boats fre-
quently carried as much as 300 or 400
barrels and were five to
six days in passing from Dayton to the
Ohio River. In April,
1818, 1700 barrels of flour were shipped from Dayton to New
Orleans.27
23 McBride; Pioneer Biography, II.,
p. 169.
24Beers; History of Montgomery County,
p. 310.
25 Beers;
History of Montgomery County, p. 555.
26 McBride;
Pioneer Biography, II., p. 169.
27 Dana; Geographical Sketches of the
Western Country, p. 21.
Cutler; Description of Ohio, p. 47.
Curwen; History of Dayton, p. 19.
Building a Commercial System. 327
That the navigation of the Great Miami
was not all that
could be desired appears from the
narrative of Thomas Morrison.
He left Dayton with a boat load of
produce, November 17,
1822, and on the evening of the second day his boat struck a
rock and upset near Franklin, but he was
fortunate in saving the
cargo. The boat was repaired, but he did
not feel safe in con-
tinuing down the river with the full
cargo. Two wagon loads
were hauled to Cincinnati at a cost of
$1.00 per hundredweight,
put on another flat-boat and floated to
the mouth of the
Great Miami, while the balance was
floated to the Ohio. The
boat from Cincinnati was then lashed to
the one from Dayton
and they proceeded down the Ohio. In
1825 Mr. Morrison made
another trip to the South with a cargo
of flour; but this time
he hauled his flour from Dayton to
Cincinnati, floated his boat
empty down the Great Miami to its mouth,
ran her up to Cincin-
nati, and loaded there. 28
It has been shown that during the
earlier period of develop-
ment in the Miami Country disintegrating
trade conditions existed
to a considerable extent. The movement
of live stock over the
mountains or to Detroit and the
transportation of produce down
the Great Miami cannot be regarded
otherwise. But Cincinnati
was from the beginning the entrepot and
natural metropolis of
the entire Miami Country. As the city
grew and roads were im-
proved these disintegrating tendencies
were gradually over-
come, and by 1829 the completion of the
Miami Canal definitely
gave Cincinnati control of the entire
trade of the Miami Country.
Of little less importance than the lack
of roads was the
want of an organized commercial system.
It has already been
noted that a few well-to-do farmers met
this difficulty occasion-
ally by taking their own cargoes to New
Orleans, but the greater
number did not produce in sufficient
quantity to dispense with
the services of the middle man in
finding a market. Probably
the earliest exporters of the products
of the Miami Country were
the pioneer merchants before mentioned
who followed in the
wake of the settlers. It would appear
that Cincinnati did very
little exporting before 1800, when her
merchants seemed to have
28 Unpublished
MSS. of Thos. Morrison.
328 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
become active in the purchase of the
products of the Miami Coun-
try. From that time advertisements
similar to the following
appeared in increasing number:
"Wanted: A quantity of good
merchantable pork." "Wanted: A
quantity of corn-fed pork."29
"Good flour will be taken by the
barrel, whiskey and corn at
market prices." "The
subscriber will pay cash for 100,000 weight
of good corn-fed pork."
"Wanted: 5,000 bushels of wheat, at
50 cents per bushel."30 Advertisements
for contracts for future
delivery of wheat and pork were
frequent. Trade was prin-
cipally by barter. Store goods were exchanged for country
produce.31 This growing
commercial spirit was also evidenced
by frequent quotations of Cincinnati and
New Orleans prices in
the local papers.
The whole thing was new, the uncertainty
and dangers of
the Mississippi trade were many and
merchants and farmers were
looking for a more satisfactory way of
handling the increasing
surplus of agricultural products. There
was a want of compe-
tent information concerning the extent
and demand of the New
Orleans market, of means of exportation
by sea, and the best
destination of produce to be exported.
Sometimes there were
unusual profits, but frequently there
were heavy losses. It was
estimated that the Pittsburg district
alone lost $60,000 in the
Mississippi trade in 1801. Many embarked
in the trade who
were unacquainted with the navigation of
the river. They were
strangers to the climate and the
inhabitants, and were at a disad-
vantage because they were unfamiliar
with the language, customs
and government. The changing attitude of
Spanish officials was
another uncertain factor. When such
adventurers arrived at
New Orleans they were obliged to sell
for what was offered
them. On account of expense and risk of
probable sickness,
they could not remain long to hold their
produce for an advance
in prices, nor could they export on
their own account.32
Under such conditions the feeling grew
that a union of in-
terests was important for the promotion
of the Mississippi trade.
29 Liberty Hall, Nov. 10, 1807.
30 Liberty Hall, Aug. 6, 1808.
31 Ash;
Travels in the United States, II., p. 176.
32 The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette,
Oct. 20, 1802.
Building a Commercial System. 329
The Kentuckians, with Wilkinson as their
leader, had found
co-operation profitable as early as
1788. That was due, how-
ever, largely to the initiative of one
man who had secured a dis-
honest advantage by bribing Spanish
officials. Other places in
the Ohio Valley were now determined to
try to protect and fos-
ter the Mississippi trade by means of
co-operative exporting com-
panies, composed of merchants and
farmers who were interested.
The idea seems to have originated in Pittsburg.
On August 31, 1802, John Wilkins,
Jr., through the Pitts-
burg Gazette, issued an address to the
farmers, millers, traders
and manufacturers of the western
country, setting forth the dif-
ficulties of the Mississippi trade and
proposing the organization
of an exporting company in order to more
effectually meet
them.33 The Pittsburg
district soon acted upon the suggestion,
and in October a meeting of delegates
from the various sections
of the upper Ohio country met at
Pittsburg and organized such
an association known as the Ohio
Company. Ebenezer Zane,
who laid out the first road through
Ohio, was chairman of the
meeting.34
Near the close of the winter the idea
was taken up in Cin-
cinati, and Jesse Hunt, an experienced
merchant and pioneer,
suggested the formation of an exporting
company to handle the
entire exports of the Miami Country. The
organization was to
be known as the Miami Exporting Company
and was to be com-
posed of merchants and farmers of the
territory contiguous to
Cincinnati. The new company was
chartered to do an export-
ing and an importing business, and it
also was privileged to
engage in business as a banking
institution. The capital stock
was not to exceed 1,000 shares of $100
each. Members were to
pay $5.00 cash on each share, and the
balance might be paid
in produce at prices agreed upon. A
board of eleven directors
was elected by the members, and the
directors elected a president
whose term of office was for one year.
The president and direc-
tors received no pay for their services.
The business of the
company was entirely under their control
and it was their busi-
ness to build or purchase boats, employ
superintendents and
33 Western Spy and Hamilton
Gazette, Oct. 20, 1802.
34 Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette,
Nov. 10, 1802.
330 Ohio Arch. and. Hist.
Society Publications.
boatmen, transport to New Orleans,
produce entrusted to them,
sell it and make returns to the owners.
It was supposed that the
company would also attend to the
importing business of its mem-
bers. That there was an effort to
interest the entire Miami
Country in the enterprise, is shown by
the fact that every im-
portant center of population in that
region was represented on
the committee appointed to receive
subscriptions. In 1807 it
ceased to engage in the exporting
business but continued to do
business as a banking institution until
1822, when
it was carried
down by the financial crisis that began
in 1835. It is needless
to say that the exporting business
continued to grow without the
assistance of a co-operative company and
that commercial firms
continued to rise that met the demands
of the rapidly increasing
trade of the Miami Country.
While the formation of the Miami Export
Company was
doubtless suggested by the organization
of the Pittsburg com-
pany, its organization may have been
hastened by the closure of
the Mississippi by the Spanish intendant
at New Orleans early in
November, 1802. At any rate, the
Miami Country in common
with the rest of the eastern portion of
the Mississippi valley was
angry and alarmed about it. On January 19, 1803, the West-
ern Spy published an extract from a New
Orleans' letter dated
November 12, saying that the orders of the intendant were
rigidly enforced and that Americans had
nothing to hope from
his clemency. That the Miamese were
deeply interested in the
situation is shown by the fact that from
that time until the
following July, when the Western Spy
published in large type
the news of the purchase of Louisiana,
nearly every edition of a
Cincinnati newspaper contained some
communication on the
subject. An editorial spoke of the
furious injury which those
states bordering on the Ohio and
Mississippi must sustain by
such unwarrantable conduct.36 A
gentleman writing from
Natchez said, "The reptile
Spaniards act in a most hostile man-
ner towards our citizens and commerce. .. . I trust 700,-
35 Burnet's Notes on the Northwest
Territory, p. 397.
Western Spy, Feb. 23, 1903.
Ford; Cincinnati, p. 356.
36 Western Spy, Jan, 26, 1803.
Building a Commercial System. 331
ooo persons will not wait for Mr.
Jefferson to go through all
the forms, ceremonies and etiquette of
the courts of Spain and
Bonaparte, before they determine whether
it will be best to drive
the miscreants from these waters or
not."37
Along with these impassioned appeals to
violence were pub-
lished the more pacific communications
of Jefferson and others to
the Westerners advising them to remain
quiet and await the result
of negotiations then pending. They were
probably more willing
to do so when it was learned that the
right of deposit and re-
shipment was still open to those who
would pay six per cent.
of the value of the goods for the right
of deposit and an addi-
tional nine and a half per cent. for the
right of re-shipment.38
The whole thing was irritating, but
trade was not entirely
stopped; as exporters continued to
advertise for "corn-fed pork,"
"good flour," "good
whiskey," "country linen," "sugar," and
"good merchantable wheat."39
The opening of the Mississippi by the
purchase of Louisi-
ana and the admission of Ohio to the
Union doubtless greatly
accelerated immigration to the West and
did much to increase
the volume of exports; and by 1805 it
was estimated that 30,000
people a year were settling in Ohio.40 We have no statistics
of exports from Cincinnati before 1815,
but the following fig-
ures concerning the traffic on the Ohio
River may give some
idea of the New Orleans trade from above
the falls. From
November 24, 1810, to January 24, 1811,
197 flat boats and 14
keel boats descended the falls of the
Ohio, carrying 18,611 bar-
rels flour, 520 barrels pork, 2,373
barrels whiskey, 3,759 barrels
applies, 1,085 barrels cider, 721 barrels royal cider, 43 barrels
wine, 323 barrels peach brandy, 46
barrels cherry bounce, 17
barrels vinegar, 143 barrels porter, 62 barrels beans,
67 barrels
onions, 200 pounds ginseng, 200 gross bottled porter, 260 gallons
Seneca oil, 7,526 pounds butter,
180 pounds tallow, 6,475 pounds
lard, 6,300 pounds beef, 4,435 pounds
cheese 681,000 pounds
pork, 4,609 pounds bacon, 59 pounds
soap, 300 pounds feathers,
37 Western Spy, March 2, 1803.
38 Western Spy, Jan. 26, 1803.
39 Western Spy, Jan. 12, 19; Feb. 23;
March 9; July 6, 1803.
40 Espy; Memorandum of a Tour, p. 22.
332 Ohio Arch. and
Hist. Society Publications.
400 pounds hemp, 1,484 pounds thread, 154,000 pounds rope
yarn, 20,784 pounds bale rope, 27,700
yards bagging, 4,619
yards tow cloth, 479 coils tarred rope,
500 bushels oats, 1,700
bushels corn, 216 bushels potatoes, 817
venison ham, 14,390 tame
fowls, 155 horses, 286 slaves 18,000
feet cherry plank, 279,309
feet pine plank.41 It is
probable that almost the entire manu-
factured product as herein enumerated
came from the Lexington
District. That region may have furnished
the greater part
of the agricultural product, but the
rapidly growing Miami
Country doubtless furnished a large
proportion of the balance.
The development of the Miami Country and
this growing
export business soon brought about a
corresponding import busi-
ness, and very frequently both branches
of commerce were car-
ried on by the same firm. By 1805 there
were twenty-four
merchants and grocers doing business in
Cincinnati, and in
1809 upwards
of thirty merchants were selling from $200,000
to
$250,000 worth of imported goods.42
The prosperity of the region
and its advance in civilization is
evidenced by the fact that its
citizens were demanding some of the
luxuries of life. As early
as 1805, the merchants of this frontier
metropolis were selling
fine coatings and cassimeres, white and
colored satins, silk stock-
ings, silk and leather gloves, Irish
linens, Morocco and kid
shoes, umbrellas and parasols, and fine
wines.43
The wholesale business of Cincinnati
began not later than
1806. Dealers were then offering special
inducements to coun-
try merchants, in order to divert their
trade from Eastern markets
to Cincinnati. A credit of three and six
months was of-
fered, at an advance of 12/2 per cent. on
the Philadelphia price,
plus six cents per pound for carriage,
by the dozen or package.44
Others were offering to take at New
Orleans' market prices
three-fourths of the amount of the
purchase price in produce de-
livered at that point, and the balance
cash.45
41 Melish;
Travels in the U. S., II., p. 153.
42 Cincinnati Directory, 1819, p. 29.
Melish. Travels in the U. S., II.,
p. 124.
43Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury,
Nov. 5, 1805.
44 Liberty Hall, Aug. 4, 1806.
45 Liberty Hall, Aug. 11, 1806.
Building a Commercial System. 333
The difficulties encountered by these
early merchants can
little be appreciated by the merchants
of to-day. In order to
sell their goods they were compelled to
attend not only to the
ordinary duties of a merchant and to
incur ordinary responsi-
bilities and risks, but also they were
compelled to be the produce
merchants of the country as well. They
must take the farmers'
produce and send or convey it to New
Orleans, the only market
for the West. It was necessary for the
Western merchant to
buy pork and pack it, to buy wheat and
have it ground into flour,
to have barrels made to hold the flour,
and then to build flat-
bottomed boats and with considerable
expense and great risk,
float it down the Ohio and the
Mississippi to New Orleans.
Having arrived at New Orleans and
disposed of the cargo, the
dangers were not over, as there was the
long journey home. In
returning there was a choice of routes.
The merchant could
either return home by land, a distance
of 1,1OO miles over the
Natchez trace, 500 miles of which were
through the Indian
country, or go by sea to Philadelphia or
Baltimore and thence
home by land. The latter route was
frequently chosen when
the merchant wished to lay in a new
stock of goods.
One merchant of the Miami Country made
fourteen such
trips. On the first trip he had charge
of five flat-boats loaded
with produce. Thirteen trips were made
on flat-boats and one
on a barge. Eight times he traveled home
by land and was
usually about thirty days in making the
journey from New Or-
leans to Cincinnati. In the earlier
period there were neither
ferries nor bridges over any water
course from near Port Gib-
son in the present state of Mississippi
to Colbert's Ferry on the
Tennessee.
A large part of the imports continued to
come from Phila-
delphia or Baltimore until, and even
after, the introduction of the
steamboat. Once or twice in the year the
merchant would go
to Philadelphia or Baltimore to buy
goods. If, after selling his
produce at New Orleans, he did not go by
sea from that place,
he would start from his home and travel
on horseback, a distance
of 600 miles, or go by keel-boat to
Pittsburg and thence over
land to one of the coast cities. When
the goods were purchased
he must engage wagons to haul them over
a bad road to Pitts-
334 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
burg at a cost of from $6.00 to $10.00
per hundredweight; and
after a journey of from twenty to
twenty-five days over the
mountains, he must buy flat-boats or
keel-boats and employ
hands to take his goods to Cincinnati.
The round trip from
Cincinnati to Pittsburg usually consumed
about three months.40
This growing business soon brought about
the construction of
large warehouses near the river and
storage and commission
firms began to appear.47
This increasing demand for imported
goods first led to at-
tempts to avoid the high freight rates
across the mount-
ains by an improvement in the
transportation of goods from
New Orleans, and later it led to an
improved highway to the
West. This growing commerce called for
something better
than the broad Kentucky boat or New
Orleans' boat. Those
boats did very well for transportation
with the current, but they
could not be used in bringing goods up
stream. For this pur-
pose two classes of boats were used, the
keel-boat and the barge.
The keel-boat was a long, narrow boat
built on lines that adapted
it to navigation against the swift
current of the western rivers.
The barge was built like the keel-boat
but longer and broader.
It was from 75 to 100 feet long and from
15 to 20 feet wide,
with a capacity of from 60 to 100 tons.
The crew consisted of
from thirty to sixty men with oars.
Cordeling was resorted to
where possible, and setting poles came
into play in shallow water.
A barge generally carried two masts, but
occasionally it had
but one square sail. The introduction of
sails was probably
the greatest improvement in western
navigation before the intro-
duction of the steamboat. A small
quarter deck covered a little
cabin for the captain and afforded a
stand for the steersman,
while a small forecastle protected the
sleeping berths of the crew.
These boats made from ten to fifteen
miles per day against the
current and usually completed two trips
to New Orleans each
year.48 A traveler has left
us an interesting account of the meet-
46 McBride. Pioneer History of Butler
County, 1., pp. 316-319.
47 American Pioneer, I., p. 98.
48 American Pioneer, I., pp. 98, 99.
Cist's Cincinnati Miscellany, I.,
pp. 125, 128.
Building a Commercial System. 335
ing of one of these boats at Limestone
in 1817. It was loaded
with West Indian goods from New Orleans
and had been nearly
three months on the way, the men having
to pole up most of the
distance. The safe arrival being
considered a fortunate circum-
stance, the owners and crew were
manifesting their joy by firing
salutes from a small cannon and offering
libations of their favor-
ite whiskey till a late hour.49
The development of the barge and the
introduction of sails
became effective about 1801 and greatly
decreased the labor of
transporting freight from New Orleans to
Cincinnati. These
improvements were important to the West,
as the freight rate
was thereby reduced from $8 and $9 per
ton to $5 and $6 per
ton, which was below the average charge
for carrying freight
across the mountains. In 1807 two Cincinnati
firms, Baum &
Perry, and Riddle, Bechtle & Co.,
put on lines of barges between
Cincinnati and New Orleans, which
continued in commission till
1817. From that time, 1807, most of the
groceries and heavy
freight came to Cincinnati from New
Orleans instead of from
the Atlantic seaboard.50 Nor
was that all. There began a move-
ment of products of the Mississippi
Valley up the Ohio, such
as lead from Kaskaskia, cotton from
Tennessee, furs from the
Upper Mississippi, and sugar from
Louisiana.51 Thus was be-
gun that commercial communication
between the northern and
southern parts of the Mississippi Valley
that was to reach such
proportions after the coming of the
steamboat.
There is little evidence showing the
influence of the
War of 1812 on the commercial life of the
Miami Country, but
it is probable that the demands of the
northwestern army fully
compensated for any loss of the export
trade. Wheat was worth
621/2 cents per bushel in October, 1812, and rose to
$1.00 per
bushel by the middle of the following
December.52 John H.
Piatt, the principal western army
contractor, had frequent ad-
49 Palmer; Journal of Travels in the U. S., p. 66.
50 Burnet's Notes, p. 400.
51 Cuming's Tour, in Thwaite's Early
Western Travels, IV., p. 147
Melish; Travels in the U. S., II., p.
127.
52 Western Spy, October 24 and December
9, 1812.
336 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
vertisements in the Cincinnati papers
for pack horses, beef,
cattle, hogs, flour and whiskey.53
After the War of 1812 the growing
commerce of the West
is indicated by what appears to have
been a great extension of
the flat-boat business. Under the head
of Ship News, Cincin-
nati papers published the arrival and
departure of barges. The
following are some of the typical
notices of the time:
"Arrived on the 6th inst. the barge
Cincinnati from New
Orleans. Cargo, sugar, cotton and
molasses."54
"Arrived June 1, the barge,
Nonesuch, Captain M. Baum,
from New Orleans. Cargo, cotton and
sugar. Also, two large
keel-boats, cargo same."55
"Arrived on Wednesday last, the
barge Fox, Capt. Palmer,
from New Orleans to Messrs. Marsh &
Palmer; cargo, sugar
cotton and coffee."56
On the first anniversary of St.
Jackson's Day, Liberty Hall
published the following:
"Sailed for New Orleans:
Barge Nonesuch, 100 tons flour and pork.
Barge Cincinnati, 115 tons flour and
pork.
Barge Fox, 40 tons flour and pork.
10 to 12 flat boats, [each] carrying 300
to 400 barrels, have
sailed from Cincinnati within two
months, loaded with pork, flour,
lard and other produce."57
Some idea of the extent of the flat-boat
traffic may be ob-
tained when we learn that in 1816 the
steamboat Despatch passed
2,000
flat-boats in a voyage of 25 days from
Natchez to Louis-
ville. No count was kept of any boats
that passed in the night.
Timothy Flint is authority for the
statement that it was not
uncommon to see as many as 100 boats
rendezvoused at New
Madrid on a single evening. By 1817 it
was estimated that 500
persons every summer passed down the
Ohio from Cincinnati
53 Western Spy, September 12, November
15, 1812; February 20,
1813.
54 Liberty Hall, July 10, 1815.
55 Liberty Hall, June 5, 1815.
56 Liberty Hall, April 8, 1815.
57 Liberty Hall, January 8, 1816.
Building a Commercial System. 337
to New Orleans as traders and boatmen
and returned on foot.58
Frequently several boats would join
together and travel to New
Orleans as a fleet. James Flint records
that in 1819 he left
Cincinnati in a boat belonging to such a
fleet.59 Nor did the
coming of the steamboat put a stop to
the flat-boat trade. While
the new method of transportation soon
monopolized the up-
river traffic, a large part of the
produce of the country continued
to be floated to New Orleans in
flat-boats for many years after
the beginning of the steamboat era.
In 1817 this extensive flat-boat trade
was carrying down
the river for export from Cincinnati the surplus produce of
about 100,000 people situated in what
was then probably the
richest and most productive agricultural
section of the West.
Flour, pork and whiskey were the chief
articles of export. Dr.
Drake assures us that in 1815 the city
exported annually sev-
eral thousand barrels of flour to New
Orleans. Richard Fos-
dick had given the Miami Country its
first lessons in pork pack-
ing, and droves of swine were beginning
to move toward Cin-
cinnati for slaughter and shipment down
the river.60 Nor did
the commercial basis continue to be
entirely agricultural. Local
manufacturers were beginning to
contribute their share to the
commercial development. Within the
twenty-two years since
the treaty of Greenville, Cincinnati had
increased from a village
of 500 inhabitants to a city with a
population of about 7,000,
and a large proportion of the
inhabitants were engaged in manu-
facturing. The prinicpal business of
these artisans was to sup-
ply the local demand, but there had
begun a limited export of
manufactured goods to regions farther
west and south. Chief
among these were beer, porter, cheese,
soap, candles, spun yarn,
lumber and cabinet furniture.61
With the beginning of the steamboat era
in 1817, this study
ends. During the period under consideration,
the development
58 Birkbeck; Notes on a Journey, p. 102.
59 James Flint; Letters in Thwaite's Early Western
Travels, IX., p.
156.
61 Ford; Cincinnati, p. 328.
61 Drake; A Natural and Statistical View
of Cincinnati in 1815, p.
148.
Vol. XVI.- 22.
338 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
of Cincinnati was that of the chief town
of a rich and rapidly
growing agricultural region under
frontier conditions and prim-
itive means of transportation.
Throughout the entire period
she was easily the chief town of that
section, but she could be
no more. The coming of the steamboat
brought about the oppor-
tunity to do business with the rest of
the Mississippi Valley, and
Cincinnati soon held the proud
distinction of being the metropo-
lis of the upper portion of that
extensive region. In conclusion,
let us sum up what were the resources
and opportunities at the
command of Cincinnati for the beginning
of a new era.
She occupied a favorable site on a broad
circular plain
surrounded by hills with lateral valleys
situated so as to fur-
nish outlets both north and south, and
about midway between
Pittsburg and the mouth of the Ohio. She
was the metropolis
of the richest agricultural region of
the Northwest, a region,
parts of which already had a population
of nearly forty-five
inhabitants to the square mile.62 This
population was growing
rapidly and would demand an increasing
quantity of manufac-
tures and imported goods for which it
would be ready to ex-
change a large surplus of farm products.
It was a popula-
tion that was beginning to improve the
highways and build
substantial brick and frame houses and
discard the log cabins
of an earlier day. A newer West was
growing rapidly on the
lower Ohio and on the upper Mississippi,
and its inhabitants
would find Cincinnati a convenient
market in which to make
their purchases; but already they were
our competitors for the
sale of farm products. On the lower
Mississippi was a rich
agricultural region into which they were
soon to begin a great
rush of population; and it was in this
region that Cincinnati
was soon to find her best market for her
surplus flour, pork,
and whiskey, and also for her
manufactures. New Orleans was
a convenient port from which to export
the surplus which the
South did not take; and to New Orleans
our merchants went
for a large part of their foreign goods.
Raw material for
manufacturing purposes was convenient
and transportation was
cheap.
In addition to these advantages, Cincinnati was an
62 McMaster;
History of the People of the United States, IV., p.
523.
Building a Commercial System. 339
established community in the possession of a small amount of capital, her commercial life was well organized, and artisans of various trades composed a large proportion of her population. Her growth had been phenomenal throughout the flat-boat period, and with such an array of conditions favorable to com- mercial life, it is not strange that she was able to surpass all competitors during the steamboat era. Cincinnati, Ohio. |
|
BUILDING A
COMMERCIAL SYSTEM.
FRANK P. GOODWIN.
It is the purpose of this paper to trace
the commercial devel-
opment of the Miami Country1, from the
date of settlement to
the beginning of the steamboat era in
1817. It is presented as
a representative study of commercial
growth under economic
conditions that were colonial in
character. The history of the
locality has been used to illustrate
principles of early com-
mercial development common to the Ohio
Valley. Within
that region were five leading
communities each of which was
economically a colonial unit during the
early stages of its devel-
opment. They were the Pittsburg District, the Blue Grass
Region, the Marietta District, the
Scioto Valley, and the Miami
Country. Of the five, the Miami Country
most nearly presented
all phases of the subject in its
development. With the possible
exception of the Pittsburg District,
each had its economic basis
in agriculture, each developed as a
separate colonial unit, and in
each a chief town grew up that was the
commercial center of the
region. In addition to these
characteristics, the chief town of
the Miami Country, because of its more
favorable location and
natural advantages, became later the
metropolis of the entire
valley.
It would seem, therefore, that the Miami Country
would furnish the best view-point for
the study of commer-
cial development in the Ohio Valley.
When the period of retarded development
in the Miami
Country had come to an end in 1795 and
settlers commenced to
occupy the land, there soon began the
production of a surplus of
agricultural products for which they
were anxious to find a
market. This surplus was the basis of
the early commerce of the
The Miami Country includes the valleys
of the Great Miami and
Little Miami Rivers. It has an area of
about 5000 square miles, and em-
braces a large portion of southwestern
Ohio and a small bit of Indiana.
(316)