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Yes, tariffs would apply above the City of St Louis, MO. DL’s theory is that the riverboats carrying the cargo would stop short of the U.S. border, discharge their cargos to hundreds of waiting wagons. These would then smuggle the goods into MO, KY and other points North. Thus avoiding the tariffs. There would be not legal way to bring those goods into the United States from the Confederacy unless the U.S. tariff was paid.

DL’s theory is that the riverboats carrying the cargo would stop short of the U.S. border, discharge their cargos to hundreds of waiting wagons. These would then smuggle the goods into MO, KY and other points North. Thus avoiding the tariffs.

As he has stated time and time again. Apparently the idea of what smuggling the goods across the border in small batches would do to the price of the goods, compared with just paying the tariff, hasn't occurred to him.

The extraordinary system of rivers flowing through the Midwestern states allowed merchants, miners, planters, and hunters to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one — the Mississippi — and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city—New Orleans.

The original levees surrounding this city below sea level were erected in 1718, the date of the foundation of the city, and they were vastly expanded to accommodate trade. It was in New Orleans that the barges from upstream were unloaded and their cargoes stored, sold and reloaded on ocean-going vessels. New Orleans was, in many ways, a key pivot of the American economy.

By 1860, New Orleans in terms of tonnage had become the forth largest port in the Union. The port city was a series of docks and warehouses stretching for miles that served as the staging and organizational point for the flow of wheat, flour, furs, corn, tobacco, minerals, and cotton flowing from Southern and Mid-western states and territories to the European markets.

Yes, tariffs would apply above the City of St Louis, MO. DL’s theory is that the riverboats carrying the cargo would stop short of the U.S. border, discharge their cargos to hundreds of waiting wagons. These would then smuggle the goods into MO, KY and other points North. Thus avoiding the tariffs. There would be not legal way to bring those goods into the United States from the Confederacy unless the U.S. tariff was paid.

That is one possibility and not the most likely one. Several Northern newspapers had pointed out that it makes no sense to have a high tariff when this will simply cause traffic to go south. They articulated the position that if the South would allow low tariff goods, they must also do, and some communities even said that if the Southern tariffs were allowed to stand, they would refuse to collect any more at their own ports.