Farmers in the Midwest in the early 19th century were in an economic bind. Their main markets were the East Coast cities, but to reach them they had to ship bulky products — wheat, flour and pork — on flatboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, then by ocean ships. The vast quantity of products arriving within a few months glutted the market and depressed prices.
The building of the canal system enabled farmers to ship north to the Great Lakes and via New York’s Erie Canal to the East Coast. Because private capital was scarce, most canals were built by state governments. It was the first major example of government public works funding, but drove several states to the brink of bankruptcy. The revenue from canal tolls was never enough to service the debt, or even maintain the system where flooding breached canal banks and damaged locks. By the Civil War, state legislatures were abandoning their support for maintaining the canals. State enterprise had opened up new markets, but intervention had come at a cost.
Historian and travel writer Dr. David Mould, Professor Emeritus of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University, has traveled widely in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Born in the UK, he worked as a newspaper and TV journalist before moving to the U.S. in 1978. He has more than 30 years experience as a university teacher, graduate program director and academic administrator, and has worked as a freelance video and radio documentary producer. Since the mid-1990s, he has worked as a consultant, trainer and researcher for UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID and other international and government agencies. His travel essays and articles have been published in Newsweek, Christian Science Monitor, Times Higher Education, History News Network and other print and online outlets. He has published three books on travel: History and culture — Postcards from the Borderlands (Open Books, 2020), Monsoon Postcards: Indian Ocean Journeys (Ohio University Press, 2019) and Postcards from Stanland: Journeys in Central Asia (Ohio University Press, 2016).
