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Rh cost money, and money was a scarce article. In summer the river was very low, and one party of pioneers, at least, spent one-third of the entire time of journey from Connecticut to Marietta, Ohio, in coming down the Ohio from near Pittsburg. It took half as long to come those two hundred miles by river as to come all the way from Connecticut to the Ohio in a cart drawn by oxen. Moreover, even as late as the time of the starting of a regular line of steamer packets from Pittsburg to Cincinnati (1796) the passengers were assured in an advertisement that, in addition to being provided a place to sleep and something to eat, they would have each a loophole from which to shoot! The coming of steam navigation revolutionized river travel as later it revolutionized land travel.

This series of monographs will treat of the history of America as portrayed in the evolution of its highways of war and immigration and commerce. The more important highways, both land and water, will be specifically treated with reference to the national needs which they temporarily or