504 GRAIN TRADE ROUTES IN UNITED STATES. 


The shifting of the wheat centre during the sixth decade 
from the middle to the north central States was due 
to, and in turn necessitated the use of, the eastern water 
route. 
uring the seventh decade of the present century the 
chief changein the movement of grain from the west to the 
seaboard was caused by the competition of the railroads with 
the inland waterways. This competition, which ultimately 
became serious and finally culminated in the diversion of the 
major part of the traffic to the railroads, first manifested 
itself on the eastern route. The north-central States had 
been rapidly covered with a network of railroads, and in 
1856 shipments of grain by rail began to be made from 
western cities to the Atlantic seaboard, though for a few 
years this competition was comparatively ineffective. 
Of the total grain traffic, the railroads competed most 
vigorously for the carriage of flour, maize, and oats. The 
flour traffic was more quickly absorbed by the railroads than 
was the wheat traffic, and in 1872 practically all (99°3 per 
cent.) of the flour was shipped east by rail. The railroads 
succeeded much better in moving maize than wheat, the 
proportion carried by rail aggregating 41:0 per cent. for 
wheat and 58:2 per cent. for maize. The cause for this 
difference lay chiefly in the geographical positions of the 
wheat and maize belts. 
The most important changes effected by the participation 
of the railroad in the eastern grain traffic were the extension 
of the grain area and the severance of its dependence on the 
lake region, and the creation of a direct route from the west 
to seaboard cities other than via New York cr New Orleans. 
The centre of the wheat area, which had moved from the 
middle to the north central States, then progressed from the 
north central to the north-western States, and a broad belt 
of fertile wheat land was cultivated in Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
and lowa; while the maize belt was rapidly extending in 
Mlinois and Missouri and States farther west. The produc- 
tion of cereals increased from 1,239,000,000 bushels in 1859 
(census of 1860) to 1,629,000,000 bushels in 1869 (census of 
1870), and whereas of the crop of 1859 only 1°8 per cent. was 
