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103 GettinG estabLished 1820–1826 While George was in London, a signal event occurred that would define Louisville’s development and, indirectly, his opportunities over the next two decades. On Christmas Day 1819 a special canal commission established by five states bordering the Ohio River (Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania , Virginia, and Kentucky ) voted to build the Louisville and Portland Canal. That action ended a rivalry dating to 1804 between factions in Indiana and Kentucky over which side of the falls should be canalled.1 Louisville was an entrepôt, a necessary evil for exporters from Pittsburgh , Cincinnati, and the agricultural inlands that had to transship their goods around the falls on their way to New Orleans and European markets . The advent of the canal, the widest such cut engineered in America up to that time, changed everything. Previously, there had been two choices: stevedores could off-load cargoes from upstream paddle wheelers and keelboats in Louisville, cart them a few miles west, and reload them onto downriver vessels; or experienced pilots could attempt to navigate through the chutes, water conditions permitting. With the canal came two important new industries: commission merchants (wholesalers) and shipbuilders. They were followed by banking and insurance interests. The old frontier town was growing into a mercantile city. When George left for London, the town was in the grip of the Panic of 1819. The panic—actually a recession, in modern terms—followed a boom period after the War of 1812. The government had eased lending restrictions ; disbursed millions of acres of land to settlers who could not pay for it; and, in a classic monetary gaffe, suspended the issuance of specie (hard money—gold or silver). The government had borrowed heavily to finance the War of 1812, and repayments forced a contraction of the economy. The inability of Louisville’s merchants and developers to arrange credit dried up business activity. President James Monroe’s approval of the canal project, however, provided the stimulus the town needed. During its subsequent construction, the federal government’s commitment proved inad- 104 GeorGe Keats of KentucKy equate, so private investment was brought in from Philadelphia and the East, as well as locally. Having left Liverpool on 1 February 1820, George likely arrived in New York by the end of the second week of March.2 By 1820 a six-day stage had been established between Philadelphia and Louisville, so he probably arrived back in Kentucky before 1 April. Coincidentally, George carried the first news of the death of King George III, which had occurred on 29 January, the day after he departed London. Armed with his £700 capital, George was able to rejoin the firm of Prentice and Bakewell, this time as an equity partner, and continue its mill development. The company provided him with a house on the grounds, compensation of 20 percent of the profits, and a one-third ownership in the mill portion of the enterprise. His mill was due to come online just as the town’s economy was perking up. A young Englishman, Holliday W. Cood, worked in the mill as a clerk. Daniel Smith became an additional partner.3 Within weeks of George’s return, he received a letter (now lost), ostensibly from John but actually written by Charles Brown, requesting£200 for John’s trip to Italy.4 Brown’s letter referred to the poet’s hemorrhagic attack and was likely posted before the end of March. George replied on 18 June 1820, leading with: “Where will our miseries end?” Later he noted, “I have an offer for the Boat which I have accepted, but the party who lives at Natchez (300 miles only near New Orleans) will not receive information that I have accepted his offer for some weeks.”5 This illiquid investment in a boat continued to hang over George. Five months later he wrote to John, “Again and Again I must send bad news. I cannot yet find a purchase for the Boat, and have received no intelligence of the man who offered the price I accepted, it was only 500 dollars more than the sum she cleared me last year. If I lowered the price 500 dollars it would be as difficult of Sale. I hope to be able to send you money soon until I do I shall be fast approaching the blue devil temperament. Your inevitable distresses are subject of conversations to us almost every day.”6 This steamboat remains one of the unknowns in George’s...

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