INTRODUCTION. 



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As demonstrative of the nature of the receipts of grain at Montreal, it is necessary to state, that 

 of the 4,970,09!) bushels of wheat received during 1863, 1,901, 641) bushels were from Milwaukie, and 

 1,079,772 bushels from Chicago. Of the corn received in 18G3, nearly all of it was imported from 

 Chicago, as there was shipped from that port for Kingston not less than 698,375 bushels, where it was 

 transferred to barges and towed down the St. Lawrence to Montreal. Of the exports of grain at 

 Montreal, the oats and barley are nearly all shipped to the United States. 



The chief grain-shipping point on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario is Toronto, whercfrom the 

 following table shows the shipments of flour and grain in 1863, with the ports of destination: 



Shi/rmcnts of jlour and grain from Toronto in 1863. 



Besides the above, there were shipped 92,936 bushels of oats all to Oswego. 



From the foregoing table it will be seen that of the 1,949,193 bushels of flour and grain of all 

 kinds exported from Toronto, only 811,251 bushels were shipped to Canadian ports. 



So important has the grain trade of the northwestern States become to the Canadians, that it has 

 stimulated the construction, by English capitalists, of the Great Western railway from Detroit river to 

 Lake Ontario and Niagara river, and the Grand Trunk railway from Detroit river to Quebec and 

 Portland. To cheapen the transportation of grain, lines of propellers are established, and constantly 

 run during the season of lake navigation, between Lake Michigan ports and Ports Sarnia, and Colling- 

 wood, on Lake Huron, where produce is transferred to cars, which are run across from Lake Huron 

 to Lake Ontario, where it is again transferred to propellers or sailing vessels, which ply, in connexion 

 with the railroads, between Montreal and Lake Ontario ports. Besides the advantage of cheapening 

 freights, it is claimed that this repeated overhauling of grain, particularly in hot weather, is highly 

 effective in preventing it from becoming heated or musty, as is often the case during hot weather, when 

 it is confined closely in the holds of vessels during long passages. 



DIEECT TRADE BETWEEN THE LAKJES AND EUROPE. 



During the past ten years various attempts have been made to establish a direct European trade 

 with the lakes, via the St. Lawrence river ; but it has been more successfully prosecuted in the lumber 

 and stave than in the grain trade. The first direct shipment of grain from the lakes to Europe took 

 place in 1856, when the schooner Dean Richmond cleared at Chicago for Liverpool with a cargo of 

 wheat ; but, of about 125 vessels which have cleared from lake ports for the Atlantic ocean since that 

 date, only three or four have been loaded with grain. This failure to establish a direct European grain 

 trade, has been discouraging to merchants, and has led many to despair of ultimate success; but the 

 chief obstacle seems to be the uusuitableness for ocean navigation of the light-draught schooners which 

 are necessarily employed in order to cross the St. Clair flats and pass through the canals. The want 

 of return cargoes to the lakes has also been a serious detriment to the direct trade, and it is only in 

 seasons of extreme depression in the lake trade, that vessel-owners are willing to embark in such long 



voyages. 



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