is rafted or transported from the interior, and at great cost. I have known the timber on land fifteen miles from the sea, sell for $200 per acre, thence hauled three miles to a saw mill, and from that four miles to the ship yard, on tide water, and where a ship of four hundred tons could be floated to the sea only during the high spring tides. This was in New Hampshire. This timber in no respect was superior to that which we have, in quantities apparently inexhaustible, on the banks of our streams that are navigable at all seasons. I have no knowledge of the Mississippi above Cairo, but recently I passed through a forest of white oak immediately back of Mills' Point, which would furnish the timber for the navy of christendom. This oak district, as I understand, commences below Randolph and extends up as high as Columbus. Between these points ships of any burthen can be built and sent to sea at almost any period of the year. The banks of the Ohio, the Tennessee and the Cumberland, are skirted with the best kinds of ship timber, and these rivers, for hundreds of miles, are navigable at seasons of the year when the produce of our country is ready for market. The ship Minesota, recently built at Cincinnati by Captain Deshon, and under direction of one of the best eastern architects, recently passed us, on her way to Liverpool. She is pronounced by competent judges to be equal in every respect, to any merchant vessel now on or off the stocks on the eastern seaboard. The estimate of comparative cost of our upper Ohio built ships, and those built at the east, is a saving of about twenty per cent. in first cost, and from fifteen to twenty per cent. more in the freight to New Orleans. For instance, the Minesota, of say eight hundred tons, would take a downward freight of five thousand dollars. The cost of towage would be, say one thousand dollars, and this would be more than saved in cost of re-shipment at New Orleans. We have these advantages— The cheapest timber, iron, hemp and provisions; easy navigation; saving of cost of re-shipment, and heavy charges at New Orleans; absence of risk-of damage to perishable freight exposed to the sun in a hot climate; saving of time, interest and insurance. Shippers of corn, flour, meat, and tobacco only, will fully appreciate the advantage of sending these staples to a distant market, and through an inter-tropical climate, in vessels clean, fresh and cool, and in the shortest possible time. If I am correct in these general views, here is an opening for an immensely valuable business to our men of capital and enterprise, and of vast importance to our country. No small part of the timber in the English dock yards has been transported from Canada, Norway, and the Baltic, and from fresh water streams. The ships built therefrom, are provisioned with our meat and bread. Let us build the ships here-load them with our products, and sell ship and cargo abroad. We shall find the demand unlimited, and we shall, to the extent we go into the business, take labor from less profitable employments, and create an additional home market for our agriculturalists. My object will have been gained if the foregoing hasty and crude suggestions induce some competent persons to take up the subject, and give us the practical information desired. The commencement of ship building on the Ohio, was at Marietta; to obtain the history of its progress there, information was solicited from Dr. Hildreth, who has favored me with the following letter, which will doubtless interest you. Louisville, May, 1848. S. Yours, [Copy.] HAM. SMITH, Esq., Louisville, Ky., MARIETTA, (OHIO,) MAY 12, 1848. DEAR SIR-Your favor of 10th ultimo, has been received. The object is a very laudable one and should be advocated and encouraged by all good citizens of the Valley of the Ohio. Ship building in a region where oak timber is so abundant and cheap, one would suppose might be conducted with profit, compared with that business on the Atlantic coast east of the mountains. The early settlers of Marietta, seeing no good market for their surplus produce, the transport being too expensive for the conveyances then in use, turned their attention to ship-building -thus furnishing the mode of sending their produce to a foreign market, and turning their useless forests to a good account, instead of burning up the lumber in log heaps. It was commenced as early as the year 1800, when the brig Arthur St. Clair of 110 tons was built, loaded with pork and flour and conducted to the ocean by Com. Abra. Whipple. The Spaniards then possessed the shores of the Mississippi, and threw many obstructions in the way of navigation. The experiment was successful and profitable to the owners. In 1801, the ship Muskingum of 230 tons and brig Eliza Green, 126 tons, were built and loaded with produce, making good voyages. In the year 1802, the brig Dominic, 100 tons, built or owned by H. Beauverleapett and D. Woodbridge; schooner Indiana 75 tons, brig Marietta 150 tons, and brig Mary Avery. In 1803, two schooners, Whitney, of 75 tons each; brig Orlando 150 tons. In 1804, ship Temperance, 230 tons, and schooner Nonpareil of 70 tons, and brig Ohio 150 tons. In 1805, brig Perseverance 160 tons. In 1806, ship Rufus King 300, John Atchison 320, Tuscarora 320, with brig Sophia Green 100 tons, and two gun boats of 75 tons each. In 1807, the ship Francis 300, Robert Hale 300, brig Rufus Putnam, brig Golata 140 tons. In 1808, schooner Belle, 100 tons. In 1809, the schooner Adventure, 60 tons. In 1812, schooner Maria, 75 tons. The embargo of Thomas Jefferson, in 1808, put a stop to ship-building in Marietta, as the sale of vessels was dull. The larger portion of the vessels were owned by Thos. Lord and B. I. Gilman, two enterprising merchants of Marietta. They were usually sold or built on contract for merchants in Philadelphia or New York, but often made their first voyage to the West Indies or Europe to dispose of the cargoes. Some of them took out cotton for the planters on the Mississippi, and as they had no steam cot ton presses in those days to condense the bags to a moderate bulk, the price of freight per pound to Liverpool, was enormous. From 1812 to 1844 ship-building was not resumed in Marietta, but from 1823 to 1838 the building of steamboats was carried on regularly by James Whitney and others, numbering nearly forty vessels, some of a large class. In 1844, a company was formed for building ships, and up to 1848 constructed three ships and two schooners; and Mr. N. L. Wilson, of Marietta built one ship of 300 tons, loaded her with produce in 1846, and sent her to Ireland. On her return she was sold at a fair price in Philadelphia. Before the invention of steam boats on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, several of the early built vessels were torn, or greatly damaged in their descent to the ocean—some on islands, sandbars, or rapids at Louisville. They can now be towed down safely, but the cost takes away a large share of the profit on building. Several vessels were built at Pittsburgh, and one or two at other places on the Ohio, before 1806. The commanders and sailors to man the vessels, as well as the riggers, came from the Atlantic cities. The cordage, cables, &c., were made at Marietta, and in 1806 supported three large rope-walks. The growth of hemp was greatly encouraged, and was one of the staple articles of agriculture in the rich bottoms of the Ohio, as late as 1810 and 1812. No finer locust or oak timber can be found in the United States than grows on the borders of the Ohio. Very respectfully, yours, S. P. HILDRETH. COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES WITH ALL NATIONS. THE following letter from the Hon. Zadock Pratt, to the editor of the Merchants' Magazine, will fully explain the object and value of the following tables. We have omitted the table of exports and imports for the nine months ending the 30th June, 1843: PRATTSVILLE, New York, April 25, 1848. FREEMAN HUNT, Esq.-Dear Sir:-As your Magazine has become the accredited repository of statistical information on all topics of commercial value, I take the liberty of sending you an interesting statement, which was prepared for me at the Treasury Department of the United States, in continuation of my report on the Bureau of Statistics. It presents, as you will observe, a complete view of the value of our export and import trade with each foreign country for the last five years, clearly showing the comparative importance of our trade with each country, as well as its fluctuations. By the recapitulation, you will notice that for three years out of five, the balance of trade was in favor of the United States-that is, our exports exceeded our imports. The information embraced in this statement will be found to possess great practical value to merchants, manufacturers, and indeed all classes of intelligent men who take an interest in the development of our varied commercial and industrial resources. No statesman can legislate understandingly without such i nformation. I take great satisfaction in contributing to the pages of a journal in which every thing of value that appears finds an enduring record, and thus becomes matter of present and future reference. With my best wishes for the continued usefulness and prosperity of the Merchants' Magazine, I am yours truly, ZADOCK PRATT. Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States, from the 30th June, 1843, to the 30th June, 1847. IN THE YEAR ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1844. |