Phil Lord wrote:

> However, you may be at the margins of profitability for potash and other products if taken all the way to Schenectady. Cost was based on days spent paying boatmen, so the further away the market, the less profit. Kingston, Ontario, was an viable alternate, when there wasn't warfare or embargo to deal with.

Far be it from me to argue with Phil on this point, but I'd suggest that
there is a rather higher degree of probability that prior to 1808 any
agricultural produce in western New York state was either a) consumed
locally -- often by new settlers or b) shipped to Kingston and down the
St. Lawrence.  There is substantial evidence of American vessels landing
cargoes in Kingston in this period in the customs records, not to count
all the goods that weren't subject to duties (most of the local
produce).

The Embargo and Non-intercourse acts changed the dynamics and the Erie
Canal finished the job, but in the period you were discussing the
principal outlet for western NY was Montreal.

Walter Lewis
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