To George Washington from Robert Fulton, 5 February 1797
From Robert Fulton
London Feby 5th 1797
Sir
Last evening Mr King presented me with your Letter aquainting me of the Receipt of my publication on Small Canals, which I hope you will Soon have time to Peruse in a tranquil Retirement from the Buisy operations of a Public Life;1 Therefore Looking forward to that period when the whole force of your Mind will Act upon the Internal improvement of our Country, by Promoting Agriculture and Manufactures I have little doubt but easy Conveyance, the Great agent to other improvements will have its due Weight And meet Your patronage.
For the mode of Giving easy Communication to every part of the American States, I beg Leave to draw your Particular attention to the Last Chapter on Creative Canals; And the expanded mind will trace down the time when they will penetrate into every district Carrying with them the means of facilitating Manual Labour and Rendering it productive—But how to Raise a Sum in the different States, has been my Greatest difficulty. I first Considered them as national Works.2 But perhaps An Incorporated Company of Subscribers, who Should be Bound to apply half or a part of their profits to extension would be the best mode. As it would then be their Interest to Promote the work, And Guard their emoluments.
That Such a Work would answer to Subcribers appears from Such Information as I have Collected; Relitive to the Carriage from the Neighbourhood of Lancaster, to Philadelphia. To me it appears that a Canal on the Small Scale might have been made to Lancaster for 120 thousand £ and that the Carriage at 20 shillings per ton would pay 14 thousand per Annum, of which 7,000 to Subscribers and 7,000 to extension By this means in about 10 Years they would touch the Susquehanna, and the trade would then so much increase as to produc[e] 30,000 per Annum, of Which 15,000 to Subscribers, the Remainder to extension; Continuing thus till in About 20 Years the Canal would Run Into Lake Erie. Yielding a produce of 100,000 per Annum or 50 thousand to Subscribers, which is 40 per Cent: hens⟨e⟩ the Inducement to Subscribe to such undertakings.
Proceeding in this manner I find that In about 60 or 70 Years Penselvania would have 9360 Miles of Canal, equal to Bringing Water Carriage within the easy Reach of every house, nor would any house be more than 10 or 14 Miles from a Canal:3 By this time the whole Carriage of the Country would Come on Water even to Passengers—and following the present Rate of Carriage on the Lancaster Road,4 it appears that the tolls would Amount to 4,000,000 per Year—Yet no one would pay more then 21 Shillings and 8d. per ton—whatever might be the distance Conveyed, the whole would also be pond Canal, on which there is an equal facility of conveyence each way. having made this Calculation to Show that the Creative System, would be productive of Great emolument, to Subscribers, It is only further to be observed that if each State was to Commence a Creative System, It would fill the whole Country, and in Less then a Century bring Water Carriage within the easy Cartage of every Acre of the American States, Conveying the Surplus Labours of one hundred Millions of Men.
Hence Seeing that by System this must be the Result, I feel anxious that the Public mind may be awakened to their true Interest: And Instead of directing Turnpike Roads towards the Interior Country, or expending Large Sums in River navigations—Which must ever be precarious and bad, I Could wish to See the Labour, and funds applied to Such a System As would penetrate the Interior Country And bind the whole In the Bonds of social Intercourse.
The Importance of this Subject I hope will plead my excuse for troubeling you with So Long a Letter, And in expectation of being Favoured with your thoughts on the System and mode of Carrying it into effect.5 I Remain with the utmost Esteem And Sincere Respect your most Obedient Servant
Robt Fulton
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. GW had written Fulton on 14 Dec. 1796 to acknowledge receipt of his Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation (see Fulton to GW, 12 Sept. 1796, n.2; see also James Madison to GW, 1 Dec. 1796; and GW to Tobias Lear, 14 Dec. 1796). GW sent that letter to Rufus King, U.S. minister to Great Britain, for forwarding (see GW to King, 22 Dec. 1796; and King to GW, 6 Feb. 1797).
2. The “Last Chapter” refers to Fulton’s letter to Pennsylvania governor Thomas Mifflin, which appears in the Treatise after the numbered chapters and concludes the printed text (see Fulton to GW, 12 Sept. 1796, and n.1 to that document). In the letter to Mifflin, Fulton described the benefits of canals over turnpike roads. He advocated for “national works,” whereby government funding (raised through imposts) and tolls would finance the construction and extension of canals. Fulton called this proposal a “progressive and creative system” (Fulton, A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation … [London, 1796], 132–43).
3. Pennsylvania in the 1790s saw the incorporation of the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation and the Delaware and Schuylkill Navigation companies. These canal companies sought to construct one canal to run up the Schuylkill River and Tulpehocken Creek and connect to the Susquehanna River via its tributary, and another canal that would stretch from Norristown, Pa., to the Delaware River. They conceived this network with the objective of creating a connection to Philadelphia that would link the Schuylkill Valley in the east to the Susquehanna Valley in the west. Work remained unfinished until 1826, when seventy-seven miles of the Union Canal was completed. A more ambitious undertaking involved the construction of the Pennsylvania Mainline Canal, completed in 1835, which connected the eastern part of the state to the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. Soon, several hundred miles of canals traversed Pennsylvania and connected with those in other states (see , 3–5, 58–97, 160–97).
4. Fulton refers to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike (see Richard Peters to GW, 26 Jan., and n.1 to that document).
5. No reply to Fulton from GW has been found.