k State built the Erie Canal (Taylor, 1951). The New York State action was soon emulated by other state governments, as it became apparent that the federal government was not likely to underwrite canal development in time to be of optimal help (Goodrich, 1948). The development of the steamboat made it both feasible and economical for water-borne traffic to travel upstream as well as downstream (Hunter, 1949). By 1827, the governor of the State of Georgia complained that wheat from central New York was being sold in Savannah at lower prices than was wheat from central Georgia (Morison, 1965). A combination of canal traffic and lake steamers made it possible for a traveler "to secure fairly comfortable transportation from Massachusetts to Michigan for less than $10" (Billington, 1974, p. 289).
The canal-lake transportation combination caused many migrants to shift their destination to the more northern areas of the west, because the transportation was both cheaper and safer that along either
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