great game. If Pennsylvania promoted a Lancaster Turnpike,
Baltimore threw out her superb Baltimore-Reisterstown boulevard,
though her northern road to Philadelphia remained the slough that
Brissot and Baily had found it. If New York projected an Erie
Canal, Baltimore successfully championed the building of a
Cumberland Road by a governmental godmother. So thoroughly and
quickly, indeed, did she link her system of stone roads to that
great artery, that even today many well-informed writers seem to
be under the impression that the Cumberland Road ran from the
Ohio to Washington and Baltimore. Now, with canals building to
the north of her and canals to the south of her, what of her
prestige and future?

For the moment Baltimore compromised by agreeing to a Chesapeake
and Ohio canal which, by a lateral branch, should still lead to
her market square. Her scheme embraced a vision of conquest regal
in its sweep, beyond that of any rival, and comprehending two
ideas worthy of the most farseeing strategist and the most astute
politician. It called not only for the building of a transmontane
canal to the Ohio but also for a connecting canal from the Ohio
to the Great Lakes. Not only would the trade of the Northwest be
secured by this means--for this southerly route would not be
affected by winter frosts as would those of Pennsylvania and New
York--but the good godmother at Washington would be almost
certain to champion it and help to build it since the proposed
route was so thoroughly interstate in character. With the backing
of Maryland, Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and probably
several States bordering the Inland Lakes, government aid in the
undertaking seemed feasible and proper.