WATEE AND COMMERCE 155 



on Green Bay to the private wharves of the steel plants. 

 These boats are built for this service and carry no other 

 freight. Other lines of boats run through Lakes Huron, St. 

 Clair, and Erie to Cleveland and other ports on Lake Erie, 

 where the iron ore is either smelted or shipped to inland 

 points, such as Pittsburgh. Other important articles of com- 

 merce on the Great Lakes are coal, grain, and lumber, which 

 are shipped to many thriving cities located on these lakes. 



Many of the industries of the Lake ports depend largely 

 upon the materials which are brought by water, and many 

 citizens are there because of the opportunities afforded them 

 by the industries which depend wholly or in part upon this 

 commerce. It is true that these cities might be able to exist 

 without the Lakes, as other cities do, but they doubtless 

 would be different in many respects, and it is quite possible 

 that they might not have been established or that they might 

 be at different places and engaged in different activities. 



169. Origin of lake cities : Chicago as a type. The first 

 white settlers and travelers in the region of the Great Lakes 

 were the French. They came into the country by way of 

 the St. Lawrence River and early discovered the Great 

 Lakes. As they pushed their explorations farther west they 

 adopted the Indian canoe as their chief means of travel, and 

 the most important roads for them, as for the Indians, were 

 the rivers and lakes (fig. 79). When they had discovered the 

 Mississippi River and formed settlements and military posts 

 upon it, their route from Canada to the Mississippi was 

 through the lakes to the shore of Lake Michigan, then up 

 some stream emptying into the lake, and across the country 

 to another river down which they might float to the Missis- 

 sippi. There were several such routes in use. One of them 

 crossed the present site of Chicago. When traveling by this 

 route the voyageur paddled his canoe to a point near the 

 south end of the lake, where he entered the Chicago River. 

 He followed the south branch of this stream to a point 



