244 RURAL MICHIGAN 



had extended to Kalamazoo and to Hillsdale but could 

 not continue beyond these points. The sale to private 

 corporations was effected in ISiG, and six years 

 later, private enterprise had extended the central 

 and southern lines to Chicago, thus for the first 

 time given an eastern rail connection with Lake 

 Erie and the east. The Michigan Southern Kail- 

 road consolidated with the old Erie and Kalamazoo — 

 the first railroad opened in Michigan, — and with the 

 line joining Detroit and Toledo, the beginnings of 

 Michigan's present railway system were definitely 

 secured. Within three years after the Michigan 

 Central and the Michigan Southern railroads reached 

 Chicago in 1852, they were linked up with the New 

 York Central and the Erie railroads of New York 

 State by lines to the northward and the southward 

 of Lake Erie, thus giving southern Michigan an 

 eastern market and rail connection with the eastern 

 seaboard. 



The establishment of all-rail transportation be- 

 tween Chicago and the ocean, by its saving of time 

 and money, stimulated immigration into the North- 

 west. This and reduced freight charges increased 

 the aggregate of production, then chiefly agricultural, 

 in this region. Eingwalt, quoting Henry C. Carey, 

 ascertains the cost of traveling from New York to 

 Chicago in 1838 to have been $7-1.50. The Com- 

 mittee on Internal Improvement of the Michigan 

 Legislature stated (1837) that the rate for passengers 

 by stage in Michigan M-as six to eight cents a mile, 

 and for merchandise between Detroit and Marshall 



