8' NEW TEACKS IN NORTH AMEEICA. 



Qearly all taken up, either from the GoTeriinient under the 

 Homestead Act^ or by small pm'chasers from the original 



w 



great land-owners. The effect of this influx of small farmers 

 into Missotni is well shown by the com market receipts. In 

 1860 (before the war) the com receipts amounted to 4,250,000 

 of bushels. In 1863 (during the war) they fell to less tlian 

 1,000,000. In 1865 (after the war) they again rose to 

 3,000,000; and in 1866 they reached the unprecedented 

 amount of 7,233,671 bushels. 



There is scarcely an industry which has not made almost 

 as rapid growth. The quantity of machinery and iron goods 

 now manufactured at St. Louis is enormous. The flour trade 

 is probably the largest in the States ; next in importance 



come the 



many other ma 



tures are rapidly increasing in numbers and importance, as 

 railway extension and the advance of settlement westward, 

 enlarge year by year the market to be supplied by them. 



St. Louis is not, however, the commercial capital of Mis- 

 souri only, she is also the ^eat trading centre of the Missis- 

 sippi valley. More than 260 river steamers are employed 

 in her carrying trade ; and I have counted sixty of these 

 curious three-storied structures, combining the hotel abore 

 and the merchant ship below, lying along the quay. These 

 boats ascend the Mississippi 740 miles, to St. Paul, and descend 

 it to its mouth, 1,212. They go up the Missouri 685 miles 

 to Council Bluff, and traverse the upper part of the river for 

 1,166 miles farther. The Ohio Eiver takes them to Pitts- 

 burgh, 1,195 miles distant, and its branches are navigable 

 still farther up, into the oil regions of Pennsylvania; and 

 although the contemplated canal, which is to connect the 

 waters of the Upper Mississippi with the Great Lakes, is not 

 yet in being, still the navigable portion of the Father of 



