variably spent for manufactured and imported wares from eastern
cities. Large Conestoga freighters made regular trips from Philadelphia
to Pittsburgh bringing loads of hats, boots, powder, lead and clothing
which were distributed from the "Gateway of the West" among the towns
and villages down the river. Baltimore and New York also shared in the
western trade.

The internal commerce of the country in 1810, as in 1790, was greatly
handicapped by the high costs of transportation. Taking the country
over, the charges for transporting merchandise were $10 per ton per 100
miles and articles that could not stand this rate were shut from
market. Grain and flour could not bear transportation by wagon more
than 150 miles. The lack of commerce intercourse caused many sections
to develop local economic and political interests which endangered the
unity of the nation. "The question of the hour was plainly how to
counteract this tendency by a system of interstate commerce which
should unite them by a firm bond of self interest."[2] Gallatin's
report on internal improvements in 1808 reflects the plans and
ambitions that were in the minds of the commercial and political
leaders of the country, but unfortunately the foreign controversies in
which the United States became involved at that time prevented any
attempt to carry out his proposals.

[2] B. McMaster, _A History of the People of the United States_,
vol. iii, p. 465.

The war of 1812 brought a period of unsettled commercial conditions.
Domestic industry and trade were stimulated for a time, but a sharp
financial panic in 1814 caused a year of general depression. The return
of peace early in 1815 was followed by a quick revival of business, and
the next three years brought an era of prosperity to nearly everyone
except the manufacturers along the eastern coast, many of whom were
ruined on account of a deluge of importations from Europe.

Immigration to the West set in with renewed vigor after the close of
the war. The fertile soil of the Ohio Valley contributed an enormous
product of grain, tobacco, fruit and hemp which continued to find an
outlet down the Mississippi, and the farmers increased their purchases
of imports which flowed into Pittsburgh from the East. In 1811 Fulton's
invention was introduced in western waters, and in 1817 the first
steamboat voyage was made from New Orleans to Louisville. The effect of
this new engine of commerce on the Mississippi t