1 82 : The Atlantic 



ticipated in the settlement of Ohio, one group coming from Pennsyl- 

 vania to make up an important cultural and industrial element of the 

 city of Cincinnati and another group settling in Erie, Ashtabula, 

 Cleveland, Sandusky, having passed through the valley of the Mo- 

 hawk. Once having started, successive waves of migration carried 

 them to St. Louis in the south and Milwaukee in the north. Migrants 

 arriving in Canada by way of the St. Lawrence either proceeded west- 

 ward through the lakes or along the route marked out by the early 

 fur traders. 



In all of this it is interesting to observe that there is a tendency 

 for migration both on sea and on land to follow bands of latitude. 

 The migrants that came to northern ports in general continued their 

 movement in the same band of latitude by utilizing natural features 

 of the continent that would help their progress. I would not inter- 

 pret this to mean that their movement was rigidly determined by 

 geographical circumstances. 



It may be quite as real to point out that such movement may have 

 persisted because it gave the settlers a natural chance to select lands, 

 crops and methods of cultivation and to develop industries that were 

 somehow akin to their knowledge and experience in the home coun- 

 try. We have already seen how the German population moved, keep- 

 ing in general to types of territory that they knew how to cultivate 

 and to industries with which they had had previous experience. On 

 the other hand, the Scandinavian migrants have found Michigan, Wis- 

 consin, Minnesota congenial to them and here have participated in 

 the development of agricultural and dairying industries. Even such a 

 small group as the Icelanders, who have come to America in rela- 

 tively small numbers and at quite different periods, have somehow 

 elected to settle in the Dakotas and across the border in Canada. 



The process of settlement by a combination of geographical cir- 

 cumstance and cultural interest has gone on in many forms in most 

 states of the union throughout the history of the continent. The pat- 

 tern is very complicated and it is new as well as old. For example, in 

 quite recent times there has grown up in Tarpon Springs, in Florida, 

 a colony of Greek sponge fishermen. Their methods of conducting 

 the industry are modern and mechanized but many of the traits of 

 their personal and community lives are clearly of Mediterranean ori- 

 gin, modified here and there by American practice. 



The historic map of America is indeed a monument to the settlers' 

 divided interest. The Spanish found a New World but they did not 



