Just about every city, town, village, and hamlet in the mid-19th-century U.S. could boast of at least one newspaper and one general store, fancy-goods store, hardware store, or whatever. Most of them, including so-called pharmacies, carried a huge variety of wares, virtually everything that urban or rural folks needed. Fishing tackle, too, of course....how did two Yankees...convince a Louisville merchant...to carry their “basket” fly reel in numbers large enough to warrant paying for a newspaper advertisement?
For example:
Clarksburg, WV, 1853
Wheeling, WV, 1857
Fayetteville, NC, 1859
Glasgow, MO, 1859
St. Cloud, MN, 1858
Where did all that stuff come from? In colonial times, most of it came from England. Merchants would advertise long lists of the wares in the shiploads they had just received. By the mid-19th-century, the country was manufacturing infinitely more domestically. But the factories were concentrated in the northeast, and the wholesalers were located in cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
Naturally, the manufacturers and wholesalers sought to expand their markets. How better to do that than by advertising in every newspaper in the country? The wholesalers included tackle makers.
For example:
Sumter, SC, 1854
Baton Rouge, LA, 1854
Most of the larger establishments sent agents to the larger cities to stock up on wares for the next season. Their subsequent ads usually led off with "Just Received!" or similar announcements, which were followed by lists of huge varieties of goods. When warranted, the ads even pushed brand names. All those roads, canals, and railroads were not built just for the convenience of passengers.
Clarksburg, WV, 1853
Cleveland, OH-1860
