"In the half century following the War of 1812, America went canal crazy, and a network of four thousand miles of artificial waterways was built in the eastern half of the country so as to provide a safe, adequate, and reasonably cheap system of transportation. These canals helped end the isolation of great sections of the country, not only opening a market for the farmer, back-country mills, and factories, but also providing employment for thousands of men - owners, captains, boaters, lock tenders, and weighmasters - most of whom were hard drinking and violent tempered, and often the prey of harpies and their criminal consorts. Life on the canal was seldom placid, and these men regarded themselves a breed apart from the rustics with whom they came into daily contact...." [from the dust jacket]. This book is generously illustrated.
Chapters: 1. How and where it began/ 2. Conecticutt River Canals/ 3. The Blackstone and other Yankee canals/ 4. Down Chesapeake way/ 5. The Dixie canals/ 6. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal/ 7. The James River and Kanawha Canal/ 8. The Delaware and Hudson Canal/ 9. The Lehigh Valley Canal/ 10. The Morris and Delaware Division Canals
The early paper money of America : an illustrated, historical, and descriptive compilation of data relating to American paper currency from its inception in 1686 to the year 1800
