cxlvi 



I N T R O D IT C T ION. 



Total receipts of flour and wlicat at tide-water by the New York canals. 



The following is an exhibit of the total receipts of all kinds of grain at tide-water by the Erie and 

 Chamblain canals fora series of years: 



Total receipts of all kinds of grain at tide-water by the New York canals. 



Years Grain, bushels. 



1849 11, 986, 690 



1850 11, 585, 619 



1851 16, 762, 613 



1852 19, 583, 875 



1853 19, 316, 019 



1854 23, 796, 038 



1855 21, 613, 904 



1856 30,793 225 



Years. Grain, bushels. 



1857 16, 142, 310 



1858 23, 686, 374 



1859 18, 049, 798 



1860 41, 122, 100 



1S61 62, 275, 951 



1862 74, 811, 877 



1863 66, 713, 000 



The Mississippi river was the only outlet to the ocean for the entire northwestern territory, com 

 prising now the northwestern States, prior to the opening of the Erie canal in 1825, but the comple 

 tion of this great work rendered the country west of the lakes attractive to the enterprising popula 

 tions of the eastern States and of Europe, and the tide of emigration soon began to flow westward. 

 The construction of the &quot;Welland and other Canadian canals, a few years later, connected Lake Erie 

 with Lake Ontario, and thus opened another avenue to the seaboard by the St. Lawrence river. 



From that period do we date the rise and progress of the northwest, as well as of the internal 

 grain trade. Those counties in Ohio bordering on Lake Erie became settled first, and as late as 1835 

 that State was the only grain-exporting territory on the lakes, there having passed through the Erie 

 canal on that year 86,233 barrels of flour, and 1,354,995 bushels of wheat, all the product of Ohio. 

 Michigan began to be settled in the early part of the present century, but it is stated in a copy of the 

 Detroit Gazette, dated 1818, that &quot;from four to five hundred farmers, in addition to those already in 

 the Territory, would be needed to supply the demand for breadstuifs for local consumption.&quot; The 

 deficiency at that period was made up by shipments from Ohio. From 1825 to 1830 the population 

 of Michigan began to increase very rapidly, and in 1843 the exportation of grain from that State 

 embraced 106,181 bushels of wheat, 2,582 bushels of corn, 275 bushels of oats, and 263,083 barrels 

 of flour. 



It was not till about the year 1830, however, that the resources of the fertile territory lying 

 between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river began to be developed. The first shipment of grain 

 from Lake Michigan, of which there is any record, was made in the year 1836, when the brig John 

 H. Kenzie took on board at Grand Haven, Michigan, 3,000 bushels of wheat for the port of Buffalo. 



