NAfUEAL WATERWAYS IN THE UNITED STATES — HABTS, 553 



this country, and although primarily for producing electric power, 

 it has, incidentally, helped the navigation of the river materially. 



The commerce on this part of the Mississippi has not kept pace 

 with the industrial development of the region through which it 

 passes. The main reason for this is said to be that the commerce 

 consisted principally of forest products, and as these diminish in 

 supply there is nothing that fully takes their place. The commerce 

 of this part of the river in 1912 was as follows: 



Designation. 



Tons. 



Ton-miies. 



Valuation. 



Logs 



Rafted lumber, shingles, etc 



Miscellaneous freight 



United States material 



Total 



82,476 



10,918 



1,265,589 



471,311 



37,214,964 



3,718,643 

 13,469,619 

 3,506,680 



?;403,216 



155,452 



25,693,493 



425,490 



1,830,294 



57,909,906 



26,677,651 



(P. 2385, Rept. of Chief of Engineers, 1913.) 



This tonnage is 12 per cent less than that of the year before, and 

 its value is 31 per cent less. Although the freight rates by water are 

 only about two-thirds of those by rail, the disadvantages of inade- 

 quate terminals, the difficulty of transfer of freight, and risk are 

 together apparently greater than the advantage of the lower rates 

 afforded by the river. There has been a decrease in commerce on 

 this portion of the river since about 1890, as is shown by the following 

 table : 



Commerce of the upper Mississippi River {Annual Repts. Chief of Engineers) . 



1890 4,200,000 tons (approximate), mainly logs and lumber. 



1895 2,975,000 tons. 



1900 2,900,000 tons (approximate). 



1905 4,534,539 tons. 



1910 1,916,904 tons. 



1912 1,830,294 tons. 



A comparison of the shipments by rail and river at St. Louis has 

 been made by St. Louis Merchants' Exchange, and by five-year 

 periods is as follows (p. 295, " Transportation by water," Commission 

 of Corporations, Pt. II) : 



From the foregoing it will be seen at a glance that the river com- 

 merce at this point is not encouraging for the future of river improve- 

 ments. The signs all point to the fact that the facilities offered for 



