1788-1830 BY Hazel Yearsley Shaw, A.B., 1907 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1908...

With the opening of the great West, the Ohio River became the main route of immigration and commerce, and it is in a careful study of the various forms of craft which floated upon "La Belle Riviere" that we catch a glimpse of the rapid and almost marvelous economic development of the Ohio Valley. The Indian canoe, though sometimes used by travelers, was entirely inadequate for the purpose of commerce, and was never used, in any regular branch of trade. [1] The earliest improvement upon the canoe

The peace of 1783 left the Ohio and Mississippi country free from all other conflicts, but the unremitting hostility of the Indians. The right to navigate the Mississippi the great western waterway of export and to some extent of import, was denied to the Western settlers by the Spanish government. In the middle of the year 1787, the foundation of an intercourse with Kentucky and the settlements on the Ohio was laid, which daily increased. The arrival of a boat belonging to Governor Wilkinson, l

One of the greatest hindrances to the early settlement of the western territory was the continued hostility of the Indian tribes living in that portion of the country. The two leading causes of disquiet among the western people during the years 1787-1788 were due to this cause, and to the Spanish possession of the Mississippi. [125] At Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789, one treaty was made with the Iroquois, confirming the previous one of October 22, 1784, at Fort Stanwix, [126] and another with the

The application of steam power to the purposes of navigation, forms the brightest era in the history of the West. It was that which contributed more than any other single cause to the advancement of Western prosperity. The amount of produce raised for soncumption, and for export was very great, and the people were, therefore, liberally disposed to purchase foreign products. The amount of commercial capital employed, as compared with the population was great. The introduction of the steamboat ext

The primitive forms of craft continued in use, upon the Ohio River, long after the introduction of the steamboat. The business of the country was small, and a few boats served the purpose. It was only after the steamboats had become very common, growing in numbers with the country, that they absorbed the great part of the carrying trade. The lumber from the upper river was all rafted, and in the spring and early summer, when the water was high, the rafts were a leading feature of the river life.

As the population of the country rapidly increased, and the means of communication by water were improved, the resources of the country were developed, manufactures sprang up, and the commerce of the Ohio Valley experienced a remarkable growth. Many of the small river villages became large and thriving cities, and many parts of the country which had worn the face of a wilderness now became the center of a vast and increasing trade. During the year 1811, merchants of New Orleans advertised for sa

During the War of 1812, the tide of immigration westward was almost completely arrested, and many of the settlements already established were broken up by the savages. [487] The war being over, and the Indians being deprived of their distinguished British ally, [488] profound peace was soon restored to all our borders, from the northeast to the southwest. [489] Immigration now set more strongly toward the West, for having been so long kept back, and the country was peopled with a rapidity unpara

American State Papers, I., Foreign Relations, I; V., Indian Affairs, I.; XVI., Public Lands, I., Washington, 1832, 1833. Beck, Lewis M., A Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri. Albany 1823. Birkbeck, Morris. Letters from Illinois. Philadelphia 1818. Birkbeck, Morris. Notes on a journey in America. London, 1818. Brackenridge, H. M. Views of Louisiana together with a journal of a voyage up the Missouri River in 1811. Pittsburg 1814 Brown, Samuel R. Western Gazetteer or Emigrant's Direc

Hildreth, S. Prescott. Biographical and historical memoirs of the early pioneer settlers of Ohio. Cincinnati 1852. Hinsdale, Burke A. The Old Northwest, the beginning of our colonial system. Boston 1899. Howe, Henry. Historical collections of Ohio relating to its general and local history. Cincinnati 1847. Hulbert, Archer Butler. Historic Highways of America, IX. 1902-1905. Peck, J. M. and Perkins, J. H. Annals of the West. 1850. Sparks, Edwin Erle. The expansion of the American people, social a