TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 255 



handling, and by remarkably low freight rates. In 

 1920, the rate on iron ore from the head of Lake 

 Superior to points on Lake Erie was $1.10 a ton, 

 and on copper $.35 a hundredweight; while the rates 

 on grain from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan 

 points to the eastern lake terminals prevailed be- 

 tween three and four cents, with occasional descents 

 below, and ascents above these points according to 

 fluctuations in the demand for cargo space.^ 



Not only has the extension of the facilities of the 

 United States post-office to the rural portions of the 

 State greatly alleviated the isolation and monotony 

 of rural life, but it has also materially affected rural 

 market conditions. On December 21, 1920, the post- 

 office department reported 1,800 rural mail routes 

 in operation in Michigan. Their mileage was 49,545. 

 There were also 147 star routes, aggregating 1,565 

 miles in length. During the fiscal year of 1920, 

 the rural mail routes in Michigan carried approxi- 

 mately 5,121,780 pieces of parcel mail, weighing 

 an approximate aggregate of 18,765,876 pounds. It 

 is manifest that the service put at the disposition 

 of the farming population by the post-office has been 

 availed of to a very considerable extent. There was 

 a time M'hen outlying communities received their 

 letters and papers by a weekly carrier on foot, sledge 

 or horseback, a service in which the Indian had fre- 

 quently an important part, as he made the long 

 difficult journey from Detroit to the Straits of 



* "Annual Kept, of the Lake Carriers' Assoc, 1920," 

 Detroit, 1920, 214, 217. 



