CHAPTER XXII.

Early land laws injudicious. Sold in very large tracts.-Few purchasers.— Settlement of the country retarded.-Laws modified.-Sales in small tracts. -Population multiplied.-State improvements advanced.-Commerce of little value for want of a market.-Produce of the country consumed in the expense of transportation.—Miami Exporting Company got up.-Its objects. -Introduction of barges.-Schemes to improve the navigation of the Falls -Canal attempted on the Indiana side.-Operations of the Branch Bank of the United States at Cincinnati.-Tyrannical proceedings of the Agent of the parent Board.-Immense sacrifice of private property.

THE plan originally adopted by Congress, for the sale of their land in the Western Territory, was injudicious, and calculated to defeat its own object. The first ordinance passed for that purpose, proposed to sell it in tracts of two millions of acres; the second, in smaller tracts of one million. Under that ordinance, the contract of the Ohio Company, on the Muskingum, and that of Judge Symmes and his associates, between the Miamies, were made; the former for two millions, the latter for one million of acres. By a subsequent ordinance, passed in May, 1785, seven ranges of townships, of five miles square, were surveyed on the Ohio river, and the Pennsylvania line, which were divided and offered for sale, in quarter townships; first at Pittsburgh, and afterwards in Philadelphia.

In May, 1796, an act was passed, calculated, in a small degree, to accommodate the people, and accomplish the object of Congress. That law directed the Surveyor General to cause the public lands to be divided into townships of six miles square; and one-half of those townships, taking them alternately, to be divided into sections of one mile

square, and the residue into quarter townships of three miles square.

In the year 1800, another law was passed, ordering a portion of these lands to be sub-divided, and sold in half sections, of three hundred and twenty acres. When this law came into operation, Land Offices were established at Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Marietta, and Steubenville, and a large quantity of the richest and most productive soil was brought into market. The character and value of Western lands, and the mildness and salubrity of the climate, were then becoming generally known, and understood. A permanent peace with the Indian tribes had been established, and public attention, throughout the Atlantic States, had been directed to the Ohio.

Anterior to that time, the tracts of land, offered for sale by the government, were so large, that men of limited means were unable to purchase. The scheme which had been established, was better calculated to meet the views of speculators, and advance their interest, than it was to relieve the poor, industrious laborer, who by the decree of the Fates was compelled to eat his bread in the sweat of his face. The smallest tract that could be purchased was a section, of six hundred and forty acres. A fractional section lying on a river, or on the boundary of a separate district, containing a smaller quantity than six hundred and forty acres, could not be sold, but in connection with the adjoining section.

Although this approximation towards the accommodation of the industrious poor was of great importance, yet it was not sufficiently so, to advance the settlement of the Territory, with much rapidity. But the act passed at a subsequent session, which ordered the sections and half sections to be subdivided and offered for sale in quarter sections, at two dollars per acre, on a credit of five years, was of vastly more importance, as it enabled multitudes to become freeholders, and independent cultivators of their

own domain, who, otherwise, must have been hirelings to the wealthy, or have swelled the ranks of the idle and the dissipated. It also encouraged and increased emigration to the western country.

Under these meliorations of the rigor of the land system, large portions of the most fertile soil in the Territory, which, until then, had been placed beyond the reach of the most numerous class of emigrants, were offered for sale on such easy terms, that purchasers flocked to the country from every part of the Union; and from that time the Miami settlements, in common with other portions of the eastern district, began to populate rapidly; so that, in less than three years thereafter, a Convention was in session, forming a Constitution for the State of Ohio. The rapidity with which the Territory was settled and improved, from that period, has perhaps never been equalled, in any age or country.

One of the greatest embarrassments, under which the people of the West labored at that early period, arose from the difficulty of conveying their products to market, and of procuring such foreign articles in return as were required for use and comfort. No artificial roads had been made; canals had not been thought of; the natural impediments in the rivers of the country, rendered their navigation difficult and hazardous at all times; always tedious, and often impracticable; and when the water was at its most favorable stage, the distance of the principal market, the imperfect means of transportation, and the low price of produce were such, that a large portion of the avails of a cargo was consumed by the expense of taking it to market. The only watercraft in use were pirogues, flat-boats and keel-boats, moved by oars and setting-poles-"ratem conto subigit." The average time required to make a trip to New Orleans and back to Cincinnati, was six months. The craft made use of were necessarily small, and the cargoes proportionably light; and when they arrived at New Orleans in flat-boats,

which could not be taken back, the boats were abandoned, and the hands returned by land, most generally on foot, through a wilderness inhabited by Indians, of seven or eight hundred miles. Pirogues and keel-boats returned loaded with such articles as the market of New Orleans afforded. Under such disadvantages, the commerce of the country was nominal, and nothing but necessity prompted the inhabitants to engage in it. The farmer had no motive to increase the product of his fields, beyond the wants of his family, and of emigrants, or "new comers," as they were called, who might settle in his immediate neighborhood.

For many years, these emigrants created the only demand which existed in the interior settlements, for the surplus products of agriculture. Corn and oats rarely commanded more than ten or twelve cents per bushel; they were frequently purchased at eight cents, and wheat from thirty to forty cents. The average price of good beef was one dollar and fifty cents per hundred, and pork sold from one to two dollars, according to quality. At such prices it is evident, that following the plough was not the road to wealth; and yet the farmers lived independently, and enjoyed as much real comfort as they have at any period since. They were content with the plain healthful food produced by their own hands, and the simple, comfortable dress they were enabled to acquire. On every farm was to be seen a small flock of sheep, and, generally, a patch of flax, and in the cabin always a spinning wheel, and occasionally a loom. They did not crave luxury or show, because they were not enjoyed by their neighbors; and they were content to live and appear in the same style, as others did with whom they associated. But those days of simplicity have passed away; and it is for the moralist to decide whether the change be for the better or the worse.

During this period of depression, when the produce of the country would not defray the expense of transportation to a distant market, the project of the Miami Export

ing Company was got up. The plan was first suggested by Mr. Jesse Hunt, an experienced merchant and pioneer. For the purpose of eliciting information, he proposed the question to the merchants of Cincinnati, and the farmers of the neighborhood, whether a plan could not be devised, which, with the aid of corporate powers, would enable them to make such arrangements, as would put it in their power to reduce the difficulty and expense of transportation; so far as to make it an object to collect the produce of the country, and ship it to New Orleans. The enquiry resulted in a general belief, that a scheme could be devised for that purpose, and successfully executed. As soon as it was ascertained that this was the prevailing opinion, and that the farmers were disposed to join the association, Mr. Hunt, with the aid of some friends, drafted the plan of a charter, and submitted it to the consideration of those with whom he had consulted.

Although there was a strong hope, that the plan would succeed, and the interesting purpose of the association be accomplished, yet there was some doubt on the subject; in consequence of which the provision was introduced, on which the banking powers of the company were founded; with a distinct understanding, that if, after a fair experiment, it should be ascertained that the shipment of produce could not be successfully carried on, the capital might be employed in banking operations. The experiment was fairly made, and proved to be a failure.

When the charter was before the Legislature, there was no motive for concealing the intention of the company, in case their first and main object should fail. At that time, there was not a bank in the country; no prejudice existed against such an institution; it was not believed, that a cash capital could be raised, sufficient to constitute one; and there was no reason to think, that if a bank charter had been asked for, it would have been denied. It was the opinion of many that the exporting plan would fail; and