London, England, to Thomas Mifflin, Philadelphia, Pa

"The letter is accompanied by a letter of introduction from Benjamin West and a 20th century typed paper by Reading Company secretary Jay V. Hare containing a transcription of the letters, and an essay describing the circumstances behind their creation and how they came into the custody of the Reading Company."@en
"Fulton recommends to Gov. Mifflin his system of narrow canals and inclined planes for the improvement of Pennsylvania, making the outlandish claim that they will enable goods to be shipped from Pittsburgh to Philadelpia for 21 shillings a ton. Fulton asks for a monopoly grant from Congress and a right to royalty payments as the condition for further describing his system. These ideas were published in England as A treatise on canals and were completely impractical, as Fulton had no engineering experience at this point."@en