82 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ments carried in the summer months the quantity discharged 
at points not reached by water, and it follows that during the 
seven months of navigation while the water channel was open 
and in competition with the four great lines of railway leading 
from Chicago to the east, there were shipped by rail not much 
over five per centum of the gross shipments east. 
“ The opening of a water route will stimulate the export of 
corn. From tables Nos. i and 3 it appears that from a pro¬ 
duct of 273,000,000 bushels in 1865, only 25,000,000 bushels 
were exported—less than one bushel in ten. These tables 
show, says the commissioner of agriculture, in his report for 
1865, p. 62, ‘how excessive charges for transportation are eat¬ 
ing out the substance of the west, reducing home prices and 
farmers’ profits, and consigning corn to the grate or furnace. 
It should teach the west to diversify its industry, and divert 
labor from wheat-growing to industries which make light pro¬ 
ducts.’ 
“ Having spoken so freely of the grain crop, it is impractica¬ 
ble to do more than refer to the other varied and great pro¬ 
ductions of the territory tributary to t]?is route, seeking an 
eastern route by water. It is thought that the western freights 
will approximate to the eastern freights. The opening of this 
route will furnish a western market for the great lumber dis¬ 
tricts of Michigan and eastern Wisconsin, for the coal and 
salt districts of the east, for lake Superior iron and for general 
merchandise. 
“ The following is a statement of the lumber trade of the two 
-ports of Milwaukee and Chicago: 
