On the other hand, Baltimore was
interested in the development of the Susquehanna's navigation, for
this river had its outlet in Chesapeake Bay, near enough to
Baltimore to make that city its entrepot; and it tapped the great
valley of Pennsylvania as well as the growing agricultural area of
south-central New York, which was not tributary to the Erie Canal.
But it was not possible to expect New York, Pennsylvania, or even
that part of Maryland interested in the Potomac to aid these
ambitions of Baltimore; and that city found itself at a disadvantage
and Maryland's interests were divided. [Footnote: Hulbert, Historic
Highways, XIII., 69 et seq.; Mills, Treatise on Inland Navig.; see
chap, xvii., below.]
Meantime, Virginia, anxious to check the western exodus from the
interior of her state, established a state fund and a board of
public works for the improvement of her rivers, including the
project of connecting the James and Kanawha. [Footnote: Babcock, Am.
Nationality (Am. Nation, XIII.
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