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the golden age of monopoly
The early years of the national life of the United States were
the golden age of monopoly. Every colony, as a matter of course,
had granted to certain men special privileges, and, as has
already been pointed out, the questions of monopolies and
combinations in restraint of trade had arisen even so early as
the beginning of the eighteenth century. Interwoven inextricably
with these problems was the whole problem of colonial rivalry,
which in its later form developed into an insistence on state
rights. Every improvement in the means of transportation, every
development of natural resources, every new invention was
inevitably considered from the standpoint of sectional interests
and with a view to its monopolistic possibilities. This was
particularly true in the case of the steamboat, because of its
limitation to rivers and bays which could be specifically
enumerated and defined. For instance, Washington in 1784 attests
the fact that Rumsey operated his mechanical boat at Bath in
secret ‘until he saw the effect of an application he was about to
make to the Assembly of this State, for a reward.’ The
application was successful, and Rumsey was awarded a monopoly in
Virginia waters for ten years.

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The first American cow pony was not without his cowboy. Though
the drivers were not all of the same type and though the
proprietors, so to speak, of the trans-Alleghany pack-horse trade
came generally from the older settlements, the bulk of the hard
work was done by a lusty army of men not reproduced again in
America until the picturesque figure of the cow-puncher appeared
above the western horizon. This breed of men was nurtured on the
outer confines of civilization, along the headwaters of the
Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James, and the Broad–the country
of the ‘Cowpens.’ Rough as the wilderness they occupied, made
strong by their diet of meat and curds, these Tatars of the
highlands played a part in the commercial history of America that
has never had its historian. In their knowledge of Indian
character, of horse and packsaddle lore, of the forest and its
trails in every season, these men of the Cowpens were the kings
of the old frontier.

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The first American cow pony was not without his cowboy. Though
the drivers were not all of the same type and though the
proprietors, so to speak, of the trans-Alleghany pack-horse trade
came generally from the older settlements, the bulk of the hard
work was done by a lusty army of men not reproduced again in
America until the picturesque figure of the cow-puncher appeared
above the western horizon. This breed of men was nurtured on the
outer confines of civilization, along the headwaters of the
Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James, and the Broad–the country
of the ‘Cowpens.’ Rough as the wilderness they occupied, made
strong by their diet of meat and curds, these Tatars of the
highlands played a part in the commercial history of America that
has never had its historian. In their knowledge of Indian
character, of horse and packsaddle lore, of the forest and its
trails in every season, these men of the Cowpens were the kings
of the old frontier.

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problem of improving the inland rivers, they faced a storm of
criticism and ridicule that would have daunted any but such as
Washington and Johnson of Virginia or White and Hazard of
Pennsylvania or Morris and Watson of New York
As energetic men all along the Atlantic Plain now took up the
problem of improving the inland rivers, they faced a storm of
criticism and ridicule that would have daunted any but such as
Washington and Johnson of Virginia or White and Hazard of
Pennsylvania or Morris and Watson of New York. Every imaginable
objection to such projects was advanced–from the inefficiency of
the science of engineering to the probable destruction of all the
fish in the streams. In spite of these discouragements, however,
various men set themselves to form in rapid succession the
Potomac Company in 1785, the Society for Promoting the
Improvement of Inland Navigation in 1791, the Western Inland Lock
Navigation Company in 1792, and the Lehigh Coal Mine Company in
1793. A brief review of these various enterprises will give a
clear if not a complete view of the first era of inland water
commerce in America.

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an association with some of their neighbors, for starting the
little caravan
‘In the fall of the year, after seeding time, every family formed
an association with some of their neighbors, for starting the
little caravan. A master driver was to be selected from among
them, who was to be assisted by one or more young men and
sometimes a boy or two. The horses were fitted out with
packsaddles, to the latter part of which was fastened a pair of
hobbles made of hickory withes,–a bell and collar ornamented
their necks. The bags provided for the conveyance of the salt
were filled with bread, jerk, boiled ham, and cheese furnished a
provision for the drivers. At night, after feeding, the horses,
whether put in pasture or turned out into the woods, were hobbled
and the bells were opened. The barter for salt and iron was made
first at Baltimore; Frederick, Hagerstown, Oldtown, and Fort
Cumberland, in succession, became the places of exchange. Each
horse carried two bushels of alum salt, weighing eighty-four
pounds to the bushel. This, to be sure, was not a heavy load for
the horses, but it was enough, considering the scanty subsistence
allowed them on the journey. The common price of a bushel of alum
salt, at an early period, was a good cow and a calf.

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York was similar to that projected for the Potomac
The system proposed for the improvement of the waterways of New
York was similar to that projected for the Potomac. A canal was
to be cut from the Mohawk to the Hudson in order to avoid Cohoes
Falls; a canal with locks would overcome the forty-foot drop at
Little Falls; another canal over five thousand feet in length was
to connect the Mohawk and Wood Creek at Rome; minor improvements
were to be made between Schenectady and the mouth of the
Schoharie; and finally the Oswego Falls at Rochester were to be
circumvented also by canal. All the objections, difficulties, and
discouragements which had attended efforts to improve waterways
elsewhere in America confronted these New York promoters. They
began in 1793 at Little Falls but were soon forced to cease owing
to the failure of funds. Under the encouraging spur of a state
subscription to two hundred shares of stock, they renewed their
efforts in 1794 but were again forced to abandon the work before
the year had passed. By November, 1795, however, they had
completed the canal and in thirty days had received toll to the
amount of about four hundred dollars.

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