INTRODUCTION. 



cxlvii 



The first shipment of grain from the western shore of Lake Michigan, of which there is any 

 record, was made in 1838, consisting of only thirty-nine bags of wheat. This was the first shipment 

 of grain from Chicago, a port which in 1863 exported not less than 18,298,532 bushels of wheat and 

 flour, and 54,741,839 bushels of grain of all kinds. 



The first shipment of grain from Wisconsin was made at the port of Milwaukie in 1841, consist 

 ing of about 4,000 bushels of wheat, which was purchased on Canadian account and forwarded there. 

 The exports of grain and flour from this same port only twenty years later, amounted to 16,317,322 

 bushels, consisting chiefly of wheat. 



In 1848 the Illinois and Michigan canal, which connects Lake Michigan with the Illinois river, was 

 completed. This greatly stimulated the grain trade of the lakes, as it provided a water-course from the 

 heart of the fertile prairies of Illinois to the Atlantic ocean. 



The next great step towards the development of the grain resources of the lake basin was made 

 in the year 1849, when the era of railroad communication was inaugurated by the opening of the 

 Galena and Chicago Union railroad to Fox river, which was soon afterwards extended and completed 

 to the Mississippi. In 1852 the receipts of grain and flour by this railroad amounted to 1,658,725 

 bushels, and in 1863 there were received by the same road 11,395,649 bushels of grain of all kinds. 



The success of the Galena railroad soon stimulated other enterprises of the same nature, until 

 now the territory lying between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river is crossed by about fifteen 

 different lines. The same system of railroads is also being extended west of the Mississippi across 

 the States of Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, into Kansas and Nebraska, and it is not improbable that 

 but a few years will elapse before the grain product of these young frontier States will be as large as 

 that of Iowa or Minnesota at present. 



The number of miles of railroad built between 1850 and 1860, in six of the western States, was 

 9,119, as follows; 



The rapid progress of the grain trade of the northwest is fully demonstrated by the increase in 

 the commerce of the lakes. As late as the year 1845 the tonnage of the lakes consisted of only 380 

 vessels of all classes, with an aggregate tonnage of 76,000 tons, while at the close of the season of 1863 

 there were employed in the carrying trade of the lakes three-fourths of which consists of the trans 

 portation of grain 1,870 vessels of all classes, with an aggregate tonnage of 470,034 tons, valued at 

 $16,720,800. 



The following table exhibits the total tonnage of vessels engaged in the commerce of the lakes 

 during the past six years : 



Tonnage of the lakes during the past six years. 



Years. 



1858. 



Tonnage. 

 405, 301 



1859 392, 783 



1860 391, 220 



1801 389, 611 



1862 454, 893 



1863.. 470,034 



