1820, and made an effort to learn a mechanical trade, with only partial
success. He, for a time, alternately taught a country school in winter,
and was engaged for the remainder of the year in internal commerce, as
master of a boat, or as forwarding clerk, in the then prominent houses of
De Graff, Walton & Co., and Cary & Dows, on the Mohawk river and Erie
canal. This early training in the elements of commerce and navigation was
the nucleus of his subsequent pursuits, and the foundation of his
commercial success, although his operations were not on the gigantic scale
of many others, who either amassed great fortunes, or sank into
bankruptcy; he managed his affairs with such prudence, sagacity and
integrity, that he never had occasion to compound with his creditors, or
even ask for an extension.

Mr. Scott was interested in the first line of canal boats that ran through
from Utica to New York. In the outset of Erie canal operations it was
supposed that canal boats could not sail down the Hudson, and the freight
was consequently transhipped at Albany. Experiment proved the fallacy of
this belief, and thenceforward canal boats ran through to New York. A new
line of steam tow-boats on the North river, called the Albany & Canal
Tow-Boat Company, was formed, and Mr. Scott was appointed principal
manager, first at Albany and then at New York.

In 1836, his health failed, owing to his close application to business,
and under medical advice he performed a horseback journey through
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. On his way westward he stopped
at Cleveland and was favorably impressed with what was then a small but
flourishing town. In 1837, he returned from his western journey and
resumed business, but again his health failed, and he was ordered to
permanently abandon Albany and seek a more favorable climate. Remembering
the advantages of Cleveland both for business and residence, he concluded