Mississippi Missouri, and their respective tributaries. Your memorialists would suggest, that one important consideration influencing the Legislature of New York in the construction of the aforesaid improvement, was the strong belief in the practicability of the improvement of this river, and the knowledge of its importance in reference to the trade of the Mississippi valley. The language of the directors of the rail-road company in their report, is, "that the committee for investigating the subject became fully satisfied that in the Allegany river the State of New York possesses a source of internal navigation unequalled, during its continuance, for cheapness, security, and expedition; that its waters, gathered among its sources in Pennsylvania, become swelled by the various branches it receives within our limits, to a deep, smooth, and capacious river, flowing over a pebbled bottom, unobstructed by rocks or sand-bars, with a uniform descent from our State line, (192 miles,) to the great western emporium of Pittsburg; that the navigation of this stream remains open frequently until mid-winter;. that it invariably opens within the first ten days of March, and often before that time, and always remains open, and perfectly available for the purpose of descending navigation, for at least six, and frequently for ten and twelve weeks in the spring; and, finally, that merchandise placed on its banks may be delivered in the warehouses of Pittsburg, in three days from the State line, and at an expense not exceeding fifteen cents per hundred pounds. It must be apparent, (the report continues,) how important it is to this State, and particularly to the merchants of our commercial metropolis, to have this navigation, aptly termed the key of the Mississippi,' placed within their reach. Opening, as it does, into the immense basin drained by that mighty river, it will enable our own metropolis to pour through its deep, safe, and rapid channel, in the early spring, a portion of the supplies for a population already exceeding three millions of souls." Of no less importance would the improvement of the Allegany be to the State of Pennsylvania-through which it chiefly passes-by opening for settlement extensive tracts of vacant lands adjacent to the river, in insuring to Pittsburg (her manufacturing emporium) the trade of the northeastern section of the Union, in the increased commerce upon the lines of the canal and rail-road completed, and in progress, that unite her eastern border with this river at Pittsburg, at Portsmouth, at Franklin, and at Warren; from the numerous navigable streams that reach far into the interior, and flow into the Allegany, which would become the avenues of more extensive trade; and from the general wealth which would be created by an enlarged market for the mineral productions (coal, salt, and iron ore) that extensively abound in the western part of this State.

Your memorialists feel confident in the belief, that the feasibility of rendering the river navigable for regular steam navigation, is sufficiently established to warrant your honorable bodies in making an immediate appropriation for its improvement. Already various steamboats have frequently ascended the river-some to Franklin, (115 miles,) some to Warren, (180 miles,) and one to Olean, (a distance from Pittsburg of 250 miles,) without obstruction or injury. In the different surveys made of the river, by competent engineers, as that of Judge Geddes, in the summer of 1826, under the authority of the State of Pennsylvania; again, in 1828, by Edward F. Gay, Esq., also of Pennsylvania; and in the same summer by Col. Kearney, United States topographical engineer, in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, they all agree in their observations as to the general features

of the river, and in the fact that it can be rendered navigable for steamboats at a small expense; also, in the mode by which the improvement might be effected.

The Allegany, for a greater part of its course, flows not through a valley, like most other rivers, but through a great ravine, from 100 to 400 feet below the common bed of the adjacent country. Another peculiarity of this stream, is, the regular succession of alternate ripples and deep pools. The ripples are generally short, and the descent inconsiderable, over which the water flows with a smooth but rapid current, though not so swift but that a steamboat of light draught and ordinary power can ascend them without difficulty, as has been done repeatedly. The current in the pools is very gentle at low water, but during high water it becomes very nearly uniform. Although the river seems to have worn for itself its present depressed bed, by cutting through various horizontal strata of rock; yet there are no rocks, strictly so called, in its channel-nothing but round pebbles. The ripples are composed exclusively of these, apparently scooped out of the pools above. No river is, therefore, better adapted to improvement, by artificial means, than the Allegany, either by a succession of low dams and locks, or by merely concentrating the channel upon the ripples, so as to give sufficient depth. of water at all seasons for steamboats. It is, indeed, a remarkable fact, that the Allegany should pursue an even course through so mountainous a country from Olean to Pittsburg, (250 miles,) with the average descent of ely about two and a half feet per mile, without one perpendicular fall or inpediment that cannot easily be removed, and would seem to indicate the design of nature that its bed should yet become the resort of extensive trade from all parts of the Union.

Your memorialists are aware of the objections to local improvements by the General Government; but they present this subject to the consideration of your honorable bodies, with the fullest persuasion that it can be regarded in no other light than as a work of great national importance; and one which, upon its completion, cannot fail to "promote the public welfare, and facilitate the common defence." To establish its public utility, it need but be stated that the Allegany, upon improvement, will become the connecting link in the great chain of communication between the Hudson and the Mississippi, the northeastern and southwestern States-a communication more direct, safe, and expeditious, than can elsewhere be found; that all of the New England States, the States of New York and Pennsylvania, and all those bordering upon the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi, and the navigable waters communicating with them, comprising at least twenty of the States and Territories of the Union, are directly interested, and would be extensively benefitted by this improvement.

Improve the Allegany river to Olean, and from that point a water communication is obtained of over 12,000 miles, far into the heart of the most fertile country on the globe; upon whose plain, as has been forcibly stated, "Europe might comfortably seat all of her nations." Communicating with fertile a country, so boundless in extent, its resources now but partially developed, it would be impossible to estimate the vast amount of trade that would flow through this source into the Mississippi valley, from all of the commercial towns upon the Atlantic border, and the return supplies that they would derive of all the necessary products of the earth, for their ever increasing population. The public utility of this improvement is then evident. That it would facilitate the common defence, in time of war, in the transportation of troops, clothing, supplies, and munitions of war, is

equally evident. And this consideration alone is sufficient, in the opinion of your memorialists, to warrant the General Government in an appropriation for the improvement, from a proper regard to the prudent maxim, "in peace we should prepare for war;" and from the experience we obtained of the want of such a communication during our last war, in the vexatious delays and immense expense we were subjected to in the transportation of our troops, &c. from Pittsburg to the northern frontier, which was, as has been ascertained, not less than $3,000,000.

Never, perhaps, has the spirit of enterprise so universally pervaded our whole country as at the present period. States vying with each other in the construction of works of internal improvement, rail-roads and canals are traversing the Union in every direction, by means of which the most remote portions are brought in almost immediate vicinage; a greater community of interest, by the increased commerce, is thus created; sectional asperities are removed, and the general wealth of the republic vastly augmented.

Your memorialists would notice a few of these contemplated improvements, which have a bearing upon the subject of the Allegany river. The New York and Erie rail-road, from the Hudson to this river, and the Gennesee Valley canal, have already been noticed. The State of Massachusetts has projected a rail-road from the city of Boston to unite with the New York improvements, by which the New England States would come in for a participation of the advantages of the Allegany. A rail-road is in contemplation to extend from the city of Charleston, South Carolina, to Cincinnati, Ohio, which will there intersect the line of communication of which the Allegany is a part. The great rail-road from New Orleans to Louisville, Kentucky, through the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky, one of the most stupendous projects of the age, which is now in progress, will, upon its completion, and upon the improvement of the Allegany river, in connexion with the New York and Erie rail-road, complete a chain of internal communication from the city of New York to New Orleans---a distance of three thousand miles, unsurpassed in extent, expedition, and magnificence, by any other of like nature in the world; and, as estimated, would bring these two great commercial emporiums within but one week's travel of each other. The completion of these different improvements may be safely counted upon within a very few years. It is impossible, in this brief space, to enumerate the advantages that would then result to the Union at large, by the improvement of this one avenue, the facilities it would afford to general commerce, the wealth it would create, or at all estimate the vast amount of trade that would find its way through its channel. This must continue to increase with the same wonderful rapidity that has marked the development of the resources of the plain of the Mississippi, and its unparalleled augmentations in wealth and population.

Your memorialists would call the attention of your honorable bodies to the fact, that the country bordering upon the Allegany river is rich in mineral products; there being in this section very numerous and extensive beds of bituminous coal, salt, and iron ore; all of which are articles of increasing demand in the eastern section of our country, and from which their supplies would chiefly be drawn.

Such is the present abundance of our national treasury, that the small diversion of sufficient to improve the Allegany river would not be felt

and, compared with its importance in case of war alone, the expense should not be regarded as the least objection. We have the sanction of frequent precedents of appropriations for similar improvements; they are regarded by the people in a favorable light, as an unfailing source of increased wealth to every department of industry; facilitating trade, opening the sequestered portions of the country, developing their resources, and as affording the strongest ligaments to unite us together as a nation, by making the interests of the most remote sections emphatically ONE. The subject of the improvement of the Allegany river between Pittsburg, in the State of Pennsylvania, and Olean, in the State of New York, is respectfully submitted with the confident hope that the wishes of your memorialists will be granted, by a liberal appropriation for that purpose, and thereby add to the happiness and prosperity of a very large portion of your fellowcitizens. And your memorialists will ever pray, &c. N. W. GOODRICH, and 25 others.