Outline of the Development of the Internal Commerce of the United States

Rivers, rough wagon roads and coastal shipping shape this account of how trade developed within the United States between 1789 and 1900. Thurman William Van Metre begins with farmers struggling to get surplus crops to market, when transport costs could consume much of their value. He follows the commercial importance of the Mississippi, the growth of New Orleans and the arrival of steamboats, showing how access to markets connected western settlements with eastern merchants.

Presented as a doctoral thesis in 1913, the study combines economic history with accounts of particular routes and regions. Its discussion reaches the freight wagons serving New Mexico and Utah, California's shipping links and the exchange of farm products, raw materials and manufactured goods between sections of the country. Readers interested in transport and economic policy will find attention to public canals, early railways, private corporations and the government support that helped build trading networks.