Title: The West
Subtitle: its commerce and navigation.
Description: James Hall was an early writer in Cincinnati. This is both a description of commerce on western rivers at the time of writing, in the late 1840s, and background history. Topics covered in the book include:

-The river network in the west, and connections to New Orleans and the eastern states
-Floods of the Ohio River, and effects on Cincinnati
-Sandbars, and efforts to bypass or remove them
-The Louisville and Portland Canal
-Upper and lower rapids of the Mississippi
-Steamboats; history, expenses, improvements, explosions
-Value and types of commerce on western waters
-Western cities: manufactures and trade
-Cincinnati: manufacturing, trade
Subjects: Commerce, Description and travel, Steam-navigation, Public lands, Navigation à vapeur, Conditions économiques
Places: United States, Ohio River, Mississippi River, Cincinnati (Ohio), Mississippi River Valley, West (U.S.)
Time periods: 1800-1850