The most interesting phase of this era is the connection between
western trade and the politics of the Mississippi Valley which
led up to the Louisiana Purchase. By the Treaty of San Lorenzo in
1795 Spain made New Orleans an open port, and in the next seven
years the young West made the most of its opportunity. But before
the new century was two years old the difficulties encountered
were found to be serious. The lack of commission merchants, of
methods of credit, of information as to the state of the market,
all combined to handicap trade and to cause loss. Pittsburgh
shippers figured their loss already at $60,000 a year. In
consequence men began to look elsewhere, and an advocate of big
business wrote in 1802: "The country has received a shock; let us
immediately extend our views and direct our efforts to every
foreign market."

One of the most remarkable plans for the capture of foreign trade
to be found in the annals of American commerce originated almost
simultaneously in the Muskingum and Monongahela regions. With a
view to making the American West independent of the Spanish
middlemen, it was proposed to build ocean-going vessels on the
Ohio that should carry the produce of the interior down the
Mississippi and thence abroad through the open port of New
Orleans. The idea was typically Western in its arrogant
originality and confident self-assertion. Two vessels were built:
the brig St. Clair, of 110 tons, at Marietta, and the Monongahela
Farmer, of 250 tons, at Elizabeth on the Monongahela. The former
reached Cincinnati April 27, 1801; the latter, loaded with 750
barrels of flour, passed Pittsburgh on the 13th of May.
Eventually, the St. Clair reached Havana and thus proved that
Muskingum Valley black walnut, Ohio hemp, and Marietta