| lOC MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE
cut production costs tremendously. With this machinery the
Ellicott mills could turn out 320 barrels of flour a day and
the gain, by thus increasing production, was estimated at
$32,500 a year.7l
Likewise without use of public money the state aided en-
terprise through franchises. Although there had been some
stage coach lines before the war, these were usually confined
to the main route between Annapolis (or Baltimore) and Phil-
adelphia.72 After 1783 new stages lines sprang up in all parts
of the state, linking Annapolis and Baltimore ,7$ Annapolis and
Easton, Baltimore and Easton (by stage and boat),- Annapolis
and Frederick, and Frederick with points farther west.'a A
great variety of stage routes through to Philadelphia were es-
tablished during the postwar period. Several of these routes
utilized water transportation wherever possible: a favorite
route from Annapolis was by packet up the Chesapeake and
Delaware Bays and by stage across the peninsula from " French-
town " or Elkton to New Castle, Delaware, and thence to Phil-
adelphia.'"
One of the Baltimore-Philadelphia stage companies which
used a predominantly land route was that of Gabriel Peterson
Vanhorn who established his service in 1782.'° His route from
Philadelphia lay through Elkton, across the Susquehanna, and
over the post road to Baltimore. In 1785 Vanhorn petitioned
the Maryland legislature for the exclusive right to run stages
on the " great publick road " from the Susquehanna to the
Potomac River by way of Baltimore. The General Assembly
agreed that the " establishment of stage carriages on the said
public highway will greatly promote the convenience of the
citizens of this state by affording a constant, easy, and speedy
conveyance of passengers, and may otherwise be of great public
'1 Scharf, Baltimore, p. 374.
'91bid, pp. 310-11; the earliest stage line in Maryland began in 1757.
°$ A. Md. Gaz. Also Sept. 27, 1787 (advertisement) B. Md. Gaz., April 20,
1790
(advertisement).
°` A. Md. Gaz.. July 30, 1801, p. 3 (advertisement).
75 Griffith, p. 106; Sioussat, p. 758.
'° Ibid. See the "Philadelphia and Baltimore New Line " advertisement in
A. Md. Gaz., Aug. 25, 1791 and in the Md. J., Jan. 10, 1792 thanking the
public
and its patrons for the encouragement thus far given it.
11 Griffith, p. 97.
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