Wheat which sold for from
twenty-five to thirty-seven cents per bushel in central Ohio in 1825
brought double the amount in 1832 when the canal began to be
effective; and it sold for a higher price a hundred miles west of
Pittsburgh than it did sixty miles to the east of that city, where
water transportation was lacking. [Footnote: Quar. Jour. of Econ.,
XVII., 15; Dial, in Ohio Archaeological and Hist. Soc.,
Publications, XIII., 479.] An example of the rivalry of the
followers of Adams and of Jackson in conciliating western interests
is furnished in the case of Ohio, just prior to the campaign of
1828, when each party in Congress persisted in supporting its own
bill donating lands for the canals of that state. Owing to the fear
of each that the other party would gain the credit of the measure,
both bills were passed, and Ohio received double the amount
originally asked. [Footnote: Benton, Abridgment, X., 197 n.] It was
small wonder that Indiana, Illinois, and other western states
memorialized Congress for aid in their own plans for canals.
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