may only have a ſhare in the trade of thoſe waters; yet there remains to us the immenſe trade of the lakes, taking Preſqu'Iſle, which is within our own ſtate, as the great mart or place of embarkation."[1]
It is exceedingly interesting to note that while Pennsylvania at this time only expected to share with her southern neighbors the trade of the Ohio Basin, she expected a monopoly of the trade on the Great Lakes. Of the latter trade she secured only a fraction, while of the former she secured practically a monopoly for half a century.
The route is more carefully outlined in the memorial: "It connects Philadelphia with Pittſburgh and all the Ohio waters, by the Schuylkill, the Swatara and Juniata branches of Suſquehanna, and the Kiſkeminetas branch of Allegheny, with the diſtance of five hundred and ſixty-one miles and an half . . and alſo Philadelphia and Preſqu'Iſle, uſing the ſame waters . . to the mouth of Kiſkeminetas, and then by the eaſy waters of Allegheny and French Creek. In this whole communication to
- ↑ Id., pp. 7–8.
