Especially was communication between the Ohio Valley and the outside world difficult and expensive. The natural outlet for the surplus of this valley was the Mississippi River. During the Revolutionary War, the Spanish government had given the people of the colonies the right of free navigation of the river and a brisk trade had sprung up between the western settlements and New Orleans, but in 1784 Spain had put an end to this trade by withdrawing the right of free navigation. The people of the West, enraged at being deprived of what they considered their natural right, protested furiously and appealed to Congress for protection, but their appeals were unavailing and the river remained closed for more than a decade. The only market left to the western farmers was the cities on the eastern coast. Peltry, ginseng and whiskey were almost the only products that would pay their cost of transportation to Philadelphia, and the proceeds derived from the sale of these were sufficient to purchase only a few things of prime necessity such as salt, gunpowder, and some indispensable articles of iron. Even this small trade of the West was crippled when the new government placed an excise tax on whiskey, and the resentment felt against the federal authorities for their apparent disregard of the economic interests of the western people blazed forth in open rebellion. The commercial isolation of the Ohio Valley ended, however, in 1795, when the national government, spurred to action by the threats of secession and clamor for protection coming from the western farmers, secured a treaty with Spain opening the Mississippi River to navigation. The successful conclusion of the negotiations was hailed with great rejoicing in Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Fleets of flat-boats loaded with tobacco, pork, flour, grain and whiskey began to move down the river. In 1799, more than a million dollars worth of goods were received at New Orleans from the country up the Mississippi. In October, 1802, the Spanish Intendant at New Orleans, acting on his own responsibility, suddenly withdrew the "right of deposit" at the city, and contrary to the provisions of the treaty, he refused to assign an equivalent establishment at any other place on the banks of the river. The western people were wild with rage. It was necessary to send troops to Kentucky to prevent an armed expedition against the Spanish province. Fortunately, the Spanish government disavowed the action of the Intendant and in April, 1803, the river trade was again restored. Desirous of avoiding such difficulties in the future, Jefferson pushed the negotiations already begun with Napoleon, to whom Spain had ceded her claims to Louisiana, for the purchase of New Orleans and the territory through which the river flowed from the possessions of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. The negotiations ended in October, 1803, with a wholly unexpected result--the purchase of the entire Louisiana province.