Taming Great Distances.

Even in 1783, when the Mississippi River formed its western border, the United States was a huge country. The nation doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Farmers traveling west in search of land, merchants looking for better means of transporting their goods, and politicians dreaming of better communications among the expanding population all needed canals, roads, and bridges. The country was still mostly wilderness, and the population small (about six million), but restless, energetic, confident Americans set to work building the infrastructure of a new nation.

Canals.

Water had always presented an alternative to land travel, especially in colonies such as Virginia where an extensive network of rivers connected towns and plantations to the seaports. Throughout the settled regions of America, rivers provided the primary means for transporting produce and goods from inland farms to eastern seaports. As settlements expanded beyond the reach of...