For example, the failing economic viability of the town of Dorchester, the decreasing agricultural potential of lands adjacent to the river, and finally the slump of the phosphate industry. Depositing these relics on the river banks at river headwaters meant that they were no likely to present obstruction in the main shipping channel. It is also a useful predictive concept for riverine survey planning. These sites reveal diverse aspects of history on the Ashley river including settlement patterning and transportation networks. Wharves and workboats form an integral economic connection between the land and the inland waterway.
Steamboats link the rivers to estuarine and coastal trade.
The canoe trail interpreters focus on shipbuilding technology, architectural adaptations to the inland environment, frontier settlement and the local economy like the fur trade and phosphate mining.