Your opinion on why New Salem died

[Gene C]

Gene said, "The river was not good enough for year round navigation, and the cost to make it that way was to expensive and not practical."

Petersburg is two miles north of New Salem on the very same river. If the river had anything to do with the death of New Salem, Petersburg would have the same problem.

Not necessarily.....(see post 3 & 4) and Petersburg also grew due to its advantageous placement on the river compared with New Salem.

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William Herndon said "to the south-west, lay a strip of timber called Clary's Grove. The boys who lived there were a terror to the entire region."
Let me ask you, "would you like to live in such a place?"

If the Clary Grove Boys were so mean and tough, why didn't they just go down the road another two miles and intimidate everyone in Petersburg?