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CHAPTER I
COLONIAL PROPOSALS AND PRECEDENTS FOR IMPROVING THE
POTOMAC AS A ROUTE TO THE WEST
The American colonies of the seventeenth century were, for all
intents and purposes, American only in that they were in the same
hemisphere. Communication among these early English settlements was
nearly non-existent, and travel from any one of the colonies rarely was
directed anywhere but east to England. Without the expansion into and
exploitation of the optimistically generous colonial land grants, however,
the American colonies would soon have become liabilities to their
promoters. Thus by the early eighteenth century, colonial explorers had
penetrated beyond the Appalachian Mountains, and fur traders and land
speculators had begun to advance ideas to tap the anticipated riches held
by the interior.
Proposals to improve communication in America were based upon a
combination of a general understanding of the techniques which had
evolved in England, and, more frequently, upon common sense when infor-
mation from England was unavailable. Had colonial Americans relied
exclusively on common sense, they might have been better off in estimating
the difficulties to be overcome in improving American communication.
Americans received just enough information about English internal improve-
ment projects to be tantalized by the possibilities but not enough to be
accurately informed about the problems. Added to the lack of knowledge of
English problems were those which were unique to America such as an
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