trade is also an important item in the lake commerce. The number of passengers, in all directions, is stated at 250,000; which, at $5 each as average charges, gives for its value, $1,250,000. The number of mariners employed was 6,972. The aggregate population depending on the lakes for means of communicating with a market, in 1846, was 2,928,925. These facts, in reference to the comme merce of the lakes, (says the Report,) and Western rivers, justify the following conclusions: 1st. That the net moneyed value of the commerce of the lakes and Western rivers, including the passenger trade, amounted, for the year 1846 Of the lakes, to.. Aggregate..... $63,164,910 183,609,725 .$246,774,635 2d. That the population depending upon the lakes and upon the Western rivers as a means of communicating with a market, for the year 1846 was, For the lakes.. Aggregate... .$2,928,925 6,576,027 .$9,504,952 3d. That the number of hands employed in this commerce as mariners, exclusive of shore hands, for the year 1846 Of the Western rivers, i. e. the Mississippi, and its direct and indirect tributaries, it appears from the official returns of the treasury department, that the steamboat tonnage for the year 1842, was 126,278; and for 1846, 249,055. It is supposed that there are 300,000 tons of other boats (not steamboats) employed on these rivers, which, added to the steamboat tonnage, gives for the year 1842, an aggregate of 426,278 tons. The flat-boat navigation is supposed to carry to market, in one year, 600,000 tons of produce, while the steamboat freight amounted to 1,262,780 tons, or a total merchandise transported to and from New-Orleans on the Western rivers, (exclusive of the way-trade,) for 1842, of 4,862,780 tons. The probable money value of this commerce, for the same year, can be stated at $50,506,903; and for 1846, according to a statement from the This treasury department, $62,206,719. includes, of course, only the direct river And it may be added that the total amounts commerce, and not that immense amount of which have been appropriated and expended commodities interchanged between place and for lake harbors, and for the improvement of place on the Western rivers, and which the Western rivers, from the year 1806, forms no part of the New-Orleans commerce. when these appropriations by the general Of this latter, the total net value can be government commenced, up to, and includstated for 1846, at $148,306,710-the floating the last appropriations of 1845, areing value cannot be less than double this amount. The passenger trade, too, is very great, and is supposed to have yielded for 1846 $3,191,982, making the total commerce of the Western rivers, $151,498,701. The steam tonnage for 1846, is stated at 249,054 tons. The total cost of the river craft, engaged in this trade, was $12,942,355, and sustained at an expense of $20,196,242 per annum. The number of hands employed (not shore employées) was 25,114. These amounts the Bureau considers too small, or at least not at all exaggerated; and that if $183,609,725 be assumed as a reliable exposition of Western commerce for 1846, instead of $151,498,701, it will more nearly approximate to the truth. The total population depending upon the Western rivers as a means of communication with a market for the year 1846, was 6,576,027-the rate of increase 1840 to 1845 having been about 5 per cent. The Mississippi, with its tributaries, which traverse every section of this immense valley, furnish 16,674 miles of good steamboat navigation, thus affording great natural facilities for the development of its unlimited resources. For the lakes.. For the Western rivers.. Aggregate.. For the lake harbors... Aggregate... 6,972 25,114 .32,086 $2,790,500 2,758,500 $5,549,300 The tonnage of Lake Champlain is stated at 3,192 tons, and the value of the export and import trade for 1846, $11,266,050. The total amount appropriated for the improvement of its harbors is $191,500. The ton nage of Lake Ontario is stated to be 65,636, of which 42,325 tons are British, and 25,311 American. The export and import trade for 1846 is stated at $14,025,907, and the total amount expended for its harbors, $608,902. On Lake Erie, the total amount expended for harbor improvements is $1,348,249, and the total amount of its commerce (exports and imports) in 1846, $94,358,350. total amount of expenditures on Lake Michigan for harbor improvements, is $604,447; amount of commerce not known. For Chicago, however, it amounted, in 1846, to $3,027,150. The The total amount of American lake tonnage is 106,836 tons. The total of British lake tonnage is 46,675, making a combined tonnage of 153,411 tons. LAKE AND VALLEY TRADE.- EXTENT OF OUR INLAND TRADE; TRADE AND TONNAGE LAKES, 1846, 1850, AND 1860; STEAM TONNAGE, TRADE AND NAVIGATION, WESTERN RIVERS; POPULATION OF LAKE COUNTRY, AND COMMUNICATION WITH MISSISSIPPI AND THE ATLANTIC; EXTENT OF LAKES; AMERICAN AND BRITISH MARITIME POWER ON LAKES, ETC. 1850.-At the last session of Congress, Colonel Albert, being called upon to report such information as could be had by the Engineer's Department, in regard to the lakes, presented a document of great interest and value, which, being official and of latest date, will form the groundwork of our present remarks. The value of lake commerce in 1841, was: Imports. .$33,483,441 Or, dividing this amount by two, since the exports of one place are the imports of another, we have $32,913,011, as the floating value of lake commerce in 1841. TRADE OF LAKES, 1846-EXPORTS AND IMPORTS. having increased, since 1841, in very nearly the precise ratio of the exports and imports. The whole number of clearances and entries upon the lakes, was, in 1846, 15,855, and the number of tons of merchandise carried, 3,861,088, also an increase of over seventeen and a half per cent, per annum, since 1841. It ought to have been observed above, that in the list of lake ports, and the amount of their trade, the following were omitted as not ascertained-Black Rock, Silver Creek, Ir ving, Portland, Huron, and Dunkirk, on Lake Erie; St. Joseph, Grand River, Kalamazoo, New Buffalo, Michigan City, Mouth of Calumie, Little Fort, Southport, Racine, Milwaukie, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc, upon Lake Michigan. .$180,555 2,735,091 39,206 212,926 The value of this American shipping, in .9,502,980 1846, is estimated by one account $5,341,800, and by another, $6,000,000. It may be safely 20,342 put down at $7,000,000, including the value 606,863 of British vessels employed by us. The annual expenses upon all this shipping, including interest and insurance, is very near $2,000,000. .48,989,116 380,475 715,467 819,584 12,559,110 5,943.127 .9,519,067 The passenger trade of the lakes amounts to about 250,000 per annum in numbers, and cost of carriage, perhaps, $1,250,000. 8,706,348 The number of mariners employed, 6,972. 6,373,246 If we suppose that the same ratio of increase has been observed since 1846, we may state the commerce of the lakes, as compared now with 1841, as follows: 215,040 137,770 .3,927,150 $123,829,821 Or, dividing, as in 1841, by two, we have a total of $61,914,910, having nearly doubled in five years, or, to be more accurate, increased seventeen and a half per cent. per annum. The registered, enrolled, and licensed tonnage of the lakes, was :— Tons merchandise carried British commerce employed. Passengers carried. Receipts from passengers. tons... $105,255,347 185,017 6,536,844 51,000 10,200,000 3,400,000 425,000 2,335,000 10,500 The Buffalo Advertiser has, however, fur nished the following as the British Tonnage on Lake Ontario.-The comparative increase of steamers, propellers, and other vessels, owned on Lake Ontario, and employed on the inland waters of Canada, during the season of 1846 and 1847, was as follows: 1846. 1847. 67. 57 14 ..13 2 2 5 5 .110. 94 300 ..300 .498. 63,346. ments of progress at work, it cannot be un- COMMERCE OF LAKES, 1860. .$213,507,385* 367,055 Value of American shipping on Lakes.. 14,208,000 If we compare the results as furnished with those from the western rivers, some .471 instructive comparisons may be made. 56,380 There were built on Lake Erie, during 1848, and to be in commission in 1849, the following steamers, viz.: At Sandusky, the Alabama of 1,200 tons; at Buffalo, the Keystone State, of 1,354 tons; at Detroit, the May Flower, of 1,300 tons; at Cleveland, the of 1,300 tons; at Newport, the Atlantic, of 1,000 tons. And the following propellers, viz. at Cleveland, the -, of 450 tons, and the Troy, of 350 tons; at Buffalo, the of 450-in all, 7,404 tons. TOTAL TONNAGE AND VALUATION. 45,067 tonnage of steamers, valued at....$3,380,000 161,832 In addition, it is estimated that in 1842 there were 4,000 boats of other kinds, flatboats, etc., employed, with an aggregate tonnage of 300,000 tons, making the whole tonnage for that year 426,278 tons. It is supposed that the flatboats carried about 600,000 tons, and the steamboats 1,262,780 tons, making a total of merchandise transported on the western rivers, in 1842, of 1,862, 780 tons. $7,868,000 Estimating these tons as equally valuable In order to form any estimate of what the with those of the lakes, and it is thought they value of the lake commerce, ten years hence, are more so, and we have lake tonnage both say in 1860, will be, it is necessary to con- ways, or duplicate enumeration, 3,861,088, sider the nature of the country which is divided by two, 1,930,544, worth $64,913,910, tributary, "the region whose intercourse is or $32 07 per ton: therefore the 1,862,780 facilitated by this commerce, the productive- tons of the river trade with New-Orleans will ness of the soil of the adjacent states; the be $69,739,354, for 1842. This is Col. Alextent of that soil, and extent of lands yet bert's calculation. The New-Orleans returns, unoccupied; the population depending upon however, show a receipt at that city, in 1842, the lakes, as a means of communicating with of 45,716,045, and in 1846-47, of 90,033,256 a market already great and daily increasing; tons, being a little less than double in four the agreeableness of the climate and its gen-years; but taking the average receipts from eral salubrity; the character of the population, and the foreign emigrant, to whom the lake region is so great a favorite; the cheapness of the land," etc. etc. With these ele The net value is alone involved in this amount that is, half the aggregate value of the exports and imports; since the exports of one place are imports of another. 1842 to 1845, viz.: 54,184,484, and compar- By another estimation, based upon the increase of tonnage upon western rivers, which, from 1842 to 1846, was twenty-four per cent., and supposing the same increase preserved since, we would have the value of river trade in 1849, $218,400,000, or, including passengers, about $225,000,000 net, or a floating trade of $450,000,000 annually; that is, adding up the exports and imports of all the va its commerce, are questions of some importance, but in the discussion of which the imagination is not unapt to run wild and become bewildered. Even sober reason seems elevated upon the wings of fancy. Upon the calculation of Col. Abert, the valley contains 666,666 square miles of good arable land. To people this region with the average of the fertile parts of Europe, 110 to the square mile, there would be a total of 73,333,260 inhabitants; with the density of France, 165.1 to the mile, it would be 110,066,556 ; and of Great Britain, 222.6 to the mile, 148,399,851. Immense periods may be required to produce this, but the result is more than practicable, even with great prosperity. If however, the advances for the next twenty years are equal to those of the last six or eight, five per cent., we shall have, in 1870, 17,775,272 inhabitants in the great valley. The productions of these people will follow some fixed relation to their numbers; and if the productiveness of the region be considered, Col. Abert's calculation, upon the basis of Professor Tucker, will appear reasonable, viz.: as 8 is to 5: i. e. to every five per cent. increase in population, there will be an 8 per cent. increase in production, reversing Mr. Malthus' rules. Taking the mean of the figures, found by the two estimates of western commerce we have given for 1849, the amount for 1850 will be at least $250,000,000. Col. Abert estimates $274,000,000, and calculates the increase at eight per cent., viz. : Commerce Great West, 1850. 66 66 66 66 1860. 66 1870. $274,459,816 ..494,027,668 .889,249,802 The figures seem prodigious, but, governed by the light of the past, it may be questioned whether we have a right to doubt. The most sober-minded and skeptical reader will not, however, venture to fix the population of the valley, in 1870, at less than 15,000,000, and its commerce at 500,000,000, being little less than the whole Union now. The probable navigation by steam on the western waters of the Mississippi, is estimated by Col. Long, of the engineers: MILES WESTERN STEAM NAVIGATION. St. Francis.. .80 Big Black .180 Neosho.. ..110 Tallahatchee. 60 Yallabusha. 250 Big Sun Flower. 245 Little Sun Flower. 60 Big Black.. .150 Bayou de Glaze. 5 Bayou Carre. 60 Bayou Lafourche. Add increase since. Total, 1850. 177,278 608,116 126,094 .723,119 212,267 250,263 93,069 .23,045 .2,313,251 1,256,625 .3,569,876 The estimate is made upon an annual increase of five per cent. per annum, which was about maintained from 1840 to 1846. The number of American steamboats on the upper lakes, above Niagara, was in 1847, 62; propellers 18, barks and brigs, 59; schooners, sloops and scows, 319-the average tonnage of steamers being 400, propellers 328, brigs and barks 230, schooners 152, sloops, etc., 46. There were on Lake Ontario, at the same time, 8 steamers of average 877 tons, 10 propellers of 275 tons, 186 sailing vessels of 114 tons; on Lake Champlain 3,192 tons, not enumerated. The whole amount expended by government, from 1806 to 1845, upon improvements of the $5,549,300 The great lakes are connected with the Valley of the Mississippi by 1. Illinois and Michigan Canal, 96 miles long, 60 feet wide, and 6 feet deep; locks, 17; total lockage, 158 feet. It connects the Chicago, which empties into Lake Michigan, with the Illinois at La Salle, 213 miles from the Mississippi. The Illinois is navigable all the year in flatboats, and four months by steam (the ice season being excluded.). 2. Wabash and Erie Canal.-This extends from Lafayette, about 378 miles above the Wabash mouth, where it enters the Ohio, to Toledo, on the Maumee, adjacent to Lake Erie, and is 187 miles long. It is intended to complete the canal from Lafayette to the Ohio River. At a place called Junction, this canal intersects the Miami Canal from Cincinnati. It is probable the Wabash and Erie Canal is now complete to Terra Haute, on the Wabash. The Muskingum improvement extends to the Muskingum River, at or near Zanesville, and is 91 miles long. 3. Sandy and Beaver Canal, connecting .60 Kiamichi. 150 Boggy. 150 Bayou Pierre 175 Atchafalaya.. 30 the Beaver River with the lake from the Ohio. 4. Mahoning Canal, being a cross canal of 83 miles long. There is a canal called the Beaver and Erie, 136 miles long, connecting with the Ohio 28 miles below Pittsburgh The connection with Lake Ontario is by the Welland Canal in Canada, and with Ontario and Champlain by the New-York canals. The points of union of these canals, then, with the Mississippi, are as follows: mouth of Illinois on the Mississippi, 40 miles above St. Louis; mouth of Wabash on the Obio, 130 miles from the Mississippi; Cincinnati, on the Ohio, 550 miles from Mississippi; Portsmouth, on the Ohio, 589 miles from Mississippi; mouth of the Hocking, on the Ohio, 756 miles from Mississippi; Marietta, on the Ohio, 783 miles from Mississippi; at mouth Little Beaver, on Ohio, 924 miles from Mississippi. In addition to these numerous canals, there is a rail-road in partial completion from St. Joseph's, on Lake Michigan, to Detroit, 200 miles long. The Mad River and Erie road extends from Sandusky on the lake to Dayton, Ohio. The connection of this road with the Little Miami at Springfield, completes the line from Cincinnati to Sandusky. The great Erie Canal connects Buffalo on Lake Erie with Albany on the Hudson, and is 363 miles long, etc. There are several branches. The branch from Syracuse to Os wego on Lake Ontario; the Black River Canal; the Champlain Canal, to Whitehall, at the head of Lake Champlain, 65 miles long. Thus is the Hudson River at Albany connected by this canal and its tributaries, with Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain. The canal also connects with the Atlantic by the Chenango Canal from Utica to the Susquehanna, and thence by Pennsylvania canals, or from Rochester, by the Genesee Valley Canal, to the head of boat navigation on the Alleghany River, and thence to the Mississippi. From Montezuma, on the Erie Canal, 205 miles west of Albany, there is a connection with Philadelphia by the Seneca Lake and Canal, Chemung Canal, Williamsport Railroad, 73 miles, Susquehauna Canal, Harrisburg, etc., rail-roads, 107 miles. Total dis tance, 360 miles. From the Erie Canal at Montezuma, there is a connection with Baltimore by the Cayuga Lake, by the Ithaca and Oswego Rail-road, by the river Susquehanna, thence by rail-road or water, etc., to Baltimore. A rail-road is now in operation from Buffalo |