It is not easy for readers in the twenty-first century to grasp the importance of rivers for Americans in the nineteenth century. Rivers became their interstate highways. Whether navigating the Hudson River in New York, piloting the Mississippi River, or traveling the Missouri River to discover the West, explorers, pioneers, and settlers used rivers to reach their destinations. Canoes, keelboats, flatboats, and finally steamers were their primary means of travel. The cities in what was called the Great Valley—from Pittsburgh to St. Louis to New Orleans—and Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville,
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