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A. D. BLUE
Yangtse was not an easy river to navigate, and with its swift currents and shoals presented problems very similar to those on American rivers, in particular to the Mississippi. The Americans made good use of their experience in river navigation, and were also more willing to carry cargo on deck to speed up loading and discharging. They were more partial to paddle than to screw steamers, the former being better against strong currents and for reversing off shoals. This combination of factors gave the Americans a decided advantage in the early years, and the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, belonging to the famous American trading firm of Russell and Company, was the most important company on the river for the first fifteen years of foreign trade.
The 1860's on the Yangtse was in many respects a repetition of the 1840's and 50's on the coast. Great stretches of the river were still under Taiping control, and it was constantly patrolled by British warships. Lawlessness was common among Chinese and foreign traders alike, and shipping was liable to attack from rebels, Imperial war junks, and pirates indiscriminately. Many foreign ships were engaged in illegal and immoral trades, in flagrant disregard of treaty rights, let alone of the welfare and laws of China. This applies to the sailing ships and lorchas under foreign flags, rather than to the steamers run by the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, the other American companies of Heard and Olyphant, and the British companies of Jardine, Dent, and Lindsay. Opium trading had been legalised by the Treaty of Tientsin, and for the first decade or two at least 20% of the foreign imports into Hankow by the steamers was opium.
The salt trade was a government monopoly, and the most common illegal activity on the river was salt smuggling. Salt could be bought for the price of rice at Eching, eighteen miles above Chinkiang, and sold further up the river for at least double the price to the great detriment of the salt gabelle. Then there were foreign adventurers who supplied arms and ammunition to the rebels, and others who, if not actually smuggling themselves, convoyed native junks which were smuggling.
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The Shanghai Steam Navigation Company was formed by Russell and Company in 1862 with American, British, and Chinese capital, and performed valuable pioneer work in developing river