Beschreibung:

THE CONNECTICUT RIVER -- DUNBAR, E. (SURVEYOR)
THE CONNECTICUT RIVER -- DUNBAR, E. (SURVEYOR) Map of the Connecticut River from Barnet, Vermont to Hartford, Connecticut by actual survey in 1825. Manuscript map of the course of the Connecticut river north from Hartford to the McIndoes Falls, near Newbury in Northern Vermont, ink and wash on paper, the ten sheets, forming a continuous survey of the river, "the contemplated improvements", its tributaries, obstructions, villages, roads, canals, and crossings, local administrative boundaries, overall 68 x 470cm. (lightly browned and spotted, mounted on linen, some tears along joins of sheets.) Later cloth portfolio, lettered on upper cover, (worn). An important survey of the Navigation of the Connecticut River drawn up to show proposed developments, dams, etc, particularly in the upper reaches in Vermont and Massachusetts. For the earliest settlers to New England, the Connecticut River provided an access to the heavily wooded interior. The river is navigable to Hartford and the first canal was built just North of the city at South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1795. As the various falls along the river became bypassed by canals, so the industrial economy of Massachusetts developed. This River map is an attempt to document intended developments on the navigation. The History of Canal building in America is interesting in that in 1808 there were 115 miles of canal, by 1850 there were 4,200 miles. The report on Roads and Canals by Albert Gallatin Secretary to the Treasury, submitted in 1808 pushed forward government plans to try and connect the Eastern Seaboard with the Great Lakes and considerable tracts of land were given over to build canals to ease navigation. The Erie Canal, one of the great feats of American canal construction opened in 1825.