UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



39G9 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



Canada extends nearly as far south as the 

 latitude of Chicago, but the Great Lakes pre- 

 vent entrance to it from the west, except in 

 three places. The Sault Sainte Marie bridge 

 forms the connecting link between the United 

 States and Montreal, while the narrow waters 

 between lakes Huron and Erie are tunneled at 

 Port Huron for a line from Chicago to Toronto, 

 and at Detroit for a line from Chicago to Buf- 

 falo. 



Most of the cities in the northern Mississippi 

 Valley were located with reference to river 

 transportation. Thus, Saint Louis was placed 

 by Laclede in 1764 as a center for the fur trade, 

 the site chosen being a commanding bluff near 

 the mouths of the Illinois and Missouri rivers. 

 This location has made Saint Louis a great 

 commercial center, both by river and by rail- 

 road. Cincinnati occupies a somewhat similar 

 position with reference to the Ohio and its 

 tributaries. Saint Louis and Cincinnati, to- 

 gether with Louisville, are the principal com- 

 mercial centers toward the South. In like 

 manner, Kansas City and Omaha developed at 

 the convergence of river valleys, notwithstand- 

 ing some of the rivers are not navigable, since 

 e valleys afford easy routes for railways. 

 The "Twin Cities," Minneapolis and Saint 

 Paul, grew up, the one because of water power, 

 the other at the head of ordinary navigation on 

 the Mississippi. These cities on the Mississippi 

 and Missouri are the gateways toward the 

 West, since to each of these the railways con- 

 verge and from each they again diverge into 

 the territory beyond. 



In the West. In the western portion of the 

 United States, which is in the main a lofty 

 table-land, there are few inland waterways. 

 The rivers entering San Francisco Bay are 

 navigable for some distance; below Stockton 

 and Sacramento they carry considerable traffic, 

 in >pite of sarid banks due to hydraulic mining 

 (see subhead Metals, above). The one water- 

 way of real importance, however, is the Co- 

 lumbia River. This is navigable by seagoing 

 vessels to Portland, and by river boats to Lew- 

 iston, except for one break at The Dalles, where 

 a canal rounds the rapids. The railways in the 

 West are consequently masters of the transpor- 

 tation situation. Moreover, railways there are 

 unavoidably expensive to build and to operate, 

 because of the rugged surface and the great ele- 

 vation of the mountain passes. The lowest 

 is about double the highest cle- 

 >n on any railroad crossing the Appala- 

 ns. The result of these conditions is high 

 374 



freight rates, which serve to limit many in- 

 dustries. 



Denver, the one great city of the Western 

 plains, was at first merely an outfitting station 

 for mining camps, but has now become the 

 principal railway center adjacent to the Rocky 

 Mountain region. On the high plateau between 

 the Rockies and the Sierras the principal com- 

 mercial center is Salt Lake City, reached from 

 the East by several railways, while from it other 

 lines radiate to Butte, Portland, San Francisco 

 and Los Angeles. Spokane holds a somewhat 

 similar position in the Upper Columbia basin. 



On the Pacific slope, the coast line is singu- 

 larly straight and unbroken, and good harbors 

 are few. West of the coast range are San 

 Diego, on a small but safe harbor; Eureka, on 

 Humboldt Bay, adjacent to the principal red- 

 wood district ; and San Pedro, or Port Los An- 

 geles, an artificial harbor called from the city 

 of that name. Los Angeles itself is an inland 

 city opposite the San Bernardino Pass, which 

 leads over into the Imperial Valley, and this in 

 turn forms a natural route toward the Gulf of 

 Mexico. From Los Angeles three railroads ex- 

 tend to San Francisco, one along the sea and 

 two through the great San Joaquin Valley. 



The coast range is pierced by waterways at 

 only three places in the United States at the 

 Golden Gate, the Columbia River and Puget 

 Sound. San Francisco, located on the Golden 

 Gate, has a harbor larger and more easily acces- 

 sible than the harbor of New York. It i.s tin- 

 second greatest city of the Pacific Coast; and 

 now that the Panama Canal is open, it is also 

 likely to become a port of call on the northern 

 route from the Panama Canal to Japan. Port- 

 land is a river port, like New Orleans, and now 

 that the troublesome bar at the mouth of the 

 Columbia has been removed by jetties, Port- 

 land will no doubt play a somewhat similar 

 part in commerce (see JETTY). It has the great 

 advantage that the Columbia, unlike the Mis- 

 sissippi, runs with, and not across, the general 

 course of commerce, and it is already an im- 

 portant grain and lumber port. It is reached 

 by railroads from San Francisco and Puget 

 Sound, while from the east branches of th< 

 Northern Pacific and Great Northern descend 

 tin Columbia Valley. The spacious and secure 

 harbors on Puget Sound, however, arc the chief 

 rivals of Sm lYancisco for Oriental commerce. 

 On Puget Sound are the terminals of the three 

 northern transcontinental railroads. These 

 ports are favored by their location, in that 

 they stand opposite the lowest, narrowest and 



