Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-03-25
THE WABASH AND ERIE CANAL.

large and flourshng CITY.
TIE WABASH AND ERIE CANAL
While the several towns upon the Maui
NEE Rverare cl,ming for themselves the ben
efts which are to nccrue from the trade ofthc
Wabash and Erie Canal, it cannot be unfit
ting for us, modestly to urge our cl,ims in that
matter, setting firth, at the same time, the
reasons which induce us to believe that part,
Mt least, of TINT immense trade, which is to
flow through that great artery--the Maumee
Valley--will come to, and benefit the citizens
of our furnishing town. In the first pllce,
we are placed so FIR ont Of the course of that
part Of the trade Of the greut west, which is
to be carried on by the way Of Detroit and the
upper Lakes, that our business must be done
by vessels m,king this river the terminating
point of their voyage. This will lead the bu-
siness men of the upper M1umee to rely pure
y upon their own resources, in the shipping
business, the happy effects Of which reliance
are beginning even now to be felt at the towns
at the foot of the rlpids. In the next pllce,
it is proved by the experience of century,
as well as by every days observation, that
vessels suitable for the carrying trade of
Lake Erie, cln come up to the wharves of the
sever,l towns at the foot of the rapids, and
that too with grest ease and facility, and that
there are ncvep wanting vessels to do the
whole business of those towns.
| Again. Every days experience proves to
us that goods my be transported from Buff
10 to Miumee City, at the same prices per tor
or per barrel, for which they are cirred to
Manhattan or Toledo, thereby mixing saw.
ing to the shippers of goods to the west, of
the cost Of ut least fifteen miles of canal nav
igation, with its tolls.
The competition between the towns above
and those te,ow then, is reduced to compar-
ison between transportation on n canal and
Transportation on river navig ibTe to all in
tents and purposes of commerce, and it would
just as preposterous to assert that the goods
destined for the upper Wabash and Maumee
Vallies are to be re-shipped at Manhattan or
Toledo and tra;la. .,-ronsst
beside a nlvg lble river, as it would be to sup-
pose that Maumee and Perrysburgh are to
receive their goods ly tie same chan
mel, when'they have feet of stelmoolts and
schooners lying at their wharves, as they have
at present. Citizen Genet proposed to the
LegisIHtiIre of New York, to construct n ca
tpaI klbany to the city of New York, and
hiSeyen now sometimes thought expedient
by that body to authorize the const ructiois of
such a canal from Albany to some point lower
down the river; but while these things are in
agitation, the business is perccptibly removing
up stream from Albany to Troy, in spite of the
impediments to the navigation, and in very
few ye1rs undoubtedly the greater part of the
business of the Erie Canal win be done at
Troy-carred there by the saving which is
made in tolls and transportation on the best
canal in the world.
The towns at the foot of the rapids, have
also the advantage of those below in the prox-
unity Of their navigable water to those pllces
where the river can be bridget with safety
and without Injury to nrvigation. This car
not but have its effect in bringing grent public
improvements, as turnpikes, and rail roads to
these places. The impossibility of bridging
the difficulty Of farrying-the certlnty of
trans-sphirment. and the total prevention of
the ability of crossing the river for frequently
long periods every season, must present an in
eurmountable obstacle the Termination of lny
suchpubc work at any place below the foot
Of the rapids.
With regard to our means for commercial
transactions produced by the Wabash and Eric
Canal. we can say thlt at the least we are pit
ced on as favorable ground as any OF our
neighbors, having a termination equal un-
doubtedly as favorable to us us any that will be
made. This being the case we say, and bold
ly,that Alaumee is the piraal termn ltion ofthe
Wabash and Erie Canal and such being the
case, we have nothing to fear in the great
competition which is to arise for the trade of
the great West.
| The Monroe Bank. has taken advantage of
provision in its charter, and has suspended
payment for sixty days. Its officers express
the belief that the stoppag, is only tenn
porary, and that in a few days, the bank vii
be enabled to commence operations, without
Iii q 4. III. .