The Paths of Inland Commerce; A Chronicle of Trail, Road, and WaterwayHulbert, Archer Butler
History
The Paths of Inland Commerce; A Chronicle of Trail, Road, and Waterway
Hulbert, Archer Butler
Transportation -- United States -- History
From New York Baily returned to Baltimore and went on to Washington. The
records of all travelers to the site of the new national capital give
much the same picture of the countryside. It was a land worn out by
tobacco culture and variously described as "dried up," "run down," and
"hung out to dry." Even George Washington, at Mount Vernon, was giving
up tobacco culture and was attempting new crops by a system of rotation.
Cotton was being grown in Maryland, but little care was given to its
culture and manufacture. Tobacco was graded in Virginia in accordance
with the rigidity of its inspection at Hanover Court House, Pittsburgh,
Richmond, and Cabin-Point: leaf worth sixteen shillings at Richmond was
worth twenty-one at Hanover Court House; if it was refused at all
places, it was smuggled to the West Indies or consumed in the country.
Meadows were rapidly taking the place of tobacco-fields, for the
planters preferred to clear new land rather than to enrich the old.
At Washington Baily found that lots to the value of $278,000 had been
sold, although only one-half of the proposed city had been "cleared." It
was to be forty years ere travelers could speak respectfully of what is
now the beautiful city of Washington. In these earlier days, the streets
were mudholes divided by vacant fields and "beautified by trees, swamps,
and cows."
Departing for the West by way of Frederick, Baily, like all travelers,
was intensely interested upon entering the rich limestone region which
stretched from Pennsylvania far down into Virginia. It was occupied in
part by the Pennsylvania Dutch and was so famous for its rich milk that
it was called by many travelers the "Bonnyclabber Country." Most
Englishmen were delighted with this region because they found here the
good old English breed of horses, that is, the English hunter developed
into a stout coach-horse. Of native breeds, Baily found animals of all
degrees of strength and size down to hackneys of fourteen hands, as well
as the "vile dog-horses," or pack-horses, whose faithful service to the
frontier could in no wise be appreciated by a foreigner.
This region of Pennsylvania was as noted for its wagons as for its
horses. It was this wheat-bearing belt that made the common
freight-wagon in its colors of red and blue a national institution. It
was in this region of rich, well-watered land that the maple tree gained
its reputation. Men even prophesied that its delightful sap would prove
a cure for slavery, for, if one family could make fifteen hundred pounds
of maple sugar in a season, eighty thousand families could, at the same
rate, equal the output of cane sugar each year from Santo Domingo!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account