INTRODUCTION. 



clvii 



The following table shows the exports of flour and grain from New Orleans to foreign countries 

 for a series of years : 



TABLE O. 



Exports of flour and grain from New Orleans to foreign ports. 

 (Compiled from official documents.) 



A comparison of the foregoing tables with those illustrating the grain trade of the lakes and of the 

 Erie canal, demonstrates the revolution that has taken place in the grain trade of the west. The trade 

 and commerce of the Mississippi river, so far as relates to grain and other produce, has not kept pace 

 with the development of the territory through which it runs, and for which it is the natural highway 

 to the ocean. The old theory that &quot; trade will follow the rivers &quot; has in some respects been disproved. 

 The artificial channels of trade, canals and railroads, have tapped the west and carried its products east 

 ward across the continent. The grain trade of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and even the greater 

 portion of that of Indiana and Ohio, have been diverted almost entirely to the lakes, the Erie canal 

 the St. Lawrence river, or the six great trunk lines of railroads that lead from the heart of the west to 

 the seaboard. The Mississippi river has been bridged at Rock island, and another bridge is just being 

 completed at Clinton, farther up. The lines of railroads which extend from Lake Michigan to this river 

 are being pushed forward with great rapidity to the Missouri river, and into Kansas and Nebraska, and 

 there is every probability that the grain of these frontier States will also find a market by way of the 

 lakes. Even now grain is being received t Chicago from Kansas and Nebraska via the Missouri river, 

 the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. As an outlet 

 to the ocean for the grain trade of the west, the Mississippi river has almost ceased to be depended 

 upon by merchants. There are several reasons for this change : 



First. The risk of damage to grain and flour that may be shipped during the summer months 

 through the southern latitudes of the Gulf of Mexico, as compared with the transportation by the 

 northern routes, viz., around the lakes and through the Erie canal, or via the St. Lawrence river. This 

 applies particularly to corn, which is more liable to become heated than any other kind of grain. 



Second. The uncertainty of river navigation during the summer months, in droughty seasons, and 

 the vexatious and ruinous delays that are apt to occur in consequence. 



Third. The speedy transportation by railroads and canals on the northern route, as compared with 

 transportation by river to New Orleans, and thence by ocean ships around the Atlantic coast. 



Fourth. The superior advantages which New York during the past ten or fifteen years has attained 

 as an importing point, as compared with New Orleans, thus offering greater inducements to ocean 

 shipping to trade with New York. 



Fifth. The rapid growth of the cotton, sugar, and tobacco trade at New Orleans, to the exclusion 

 of almost every other branch of trade and commerce. 



A glance at the table of receipts of grain at New Orleans during the six years previous to the 

 blockade of the Mississippi river, as compared with the great movement of grain during the same 

 period eastward by the Erie canal and the St. Lawrence river, shows clearly the diversion which has 

 taken place in this trade. The entire receipts of grain in New Orleans in 1860 amounted to only 



