The effect of railroad development upon the internal commerce of the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1831-1886

Transportation has been a very important factor in the settlement and determination of the economic institutions of the South. In colonial days the plantation was established along the banks of the streams in the tidewater region. These natural highways were followed to the fall line, and even beyond the fall line navigable streams were all-important during colonial days. As settlements advanced beyond the mountains, direction of the flow of streams tended to turn the pioneer towards the Southwest. As the cotton belt spread westward transportation facilities favored New Orleans and Mobile both as ports of egress for this great article of trade from the plantations and as ports of entry for the distribution of planters' supplies. From about 1825, after the opening of the Erie Canal, Charleston and Savannah came to feel commercial pressure from New York and the North Atlantic ports on the one hand and New Orleans and Mobile on the other. Building of railroads from these Southeast Atlantic ports into the Tennessee and Ohio valleys was for the double purpose of diverting commerce from New Orleans and the North Atlantic ports. It is the purpose of this study to give an account of the struggle of the South Atlantic ports for their share of the commerce of the Mississippi ValleyHistor