Statement showing the principal articles, their quantity and value, imported coastwise into the port of Toledo during the year ending December 31, 1851.

Statement of the principal articles, their quantity and value, exported coastwise from the port of Toledo during the year ending December 31, 1851.

No. 14.-DISTRICT OF DETROIT.

Port of entry, city of Detroit; latitude 42° 20', longitude 83° 02'; population in 1830, 2,222; in 1840, 9,102; in 1850, 21,019.

The district of Detroit has the most extensive coast-line of any lake district not bordering on Lake Superior, and embraces all that portion of Michigan known as the Southern Peninsula. Commencing at the western line of Ohio, it extends thence northerly along Lake Erie, up the Detroit river, Lake St. Clair and St. Clair river, to Lake Huron, up that lake northwestwardly to the island and straits of Mackinaw, and southwardly, with a little westing, to the Indiana line, not far from the head of Lake Michigan-a distance, following the sinuosities of the shores, which does not fall very far short of a thousand miles.

It has fifteen ports, none of which have any present importance, with the exception of Detroit and Monroe; although it is more than probable that within a few years several of them may rival the most promising harbors and ports in the West. There is, probably, no State in the Union which surpasses Michigan in its commercial advantages, or which, if properly fostered and developed to the extent of its vast internal resources, it will not ultimately equal or exceed in all the actual realities of progress and prosperity. She has more natural harbors, involving but little expense or labor to render them available in all seasons to all classes of shipping, than any other State bordering on the lakes. The extent of country enclosed within her extensive coast-line comprises 39,856 square miles, some of it the best and most fertile land of the West, watered by numerous lakes and streams-many of the latter navigable, and very extensively used for lumbering purposes, which is the principal occupation and interest of the inhabitants of the northern section of the State.

Among these rivers are the Raisin, Huron, Rouge, Clinton, Black, Saginaw, Thunder Bay, Manistee, White, Maskegon, Grand, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph's-the six last named flowing into Lake Michigan, and the rest into Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, and the Detroit and St. Clair rivers.

Although scarcely one third of the above area is under successful cultivation, yet Michigan is already known, throughout the country, as a large exporter of the choicest wheat and flour. It may indeed be said, without fear of contradiction, that for two seasons past the quality of Michigan wheat and flour has been, on the average, equal if not superior to that of any other State; her exports of flour amounting to 500,000 barrels, and of wheat to 1,000,000 bushels, in round numbers. Monroe, the easternmost of her ports, is a terminus of the southern Michigan railway on Lake Erie, about 40 miles south of Detroit, and is situated at the lower falls of the river Raisin, with a population of about 5,000 souls. There is a daily line of steamers connecting it with Buffalo, and the harbor is accessible for vessels of the largest class.

Unfortunately, no special returns, showing the commerce of Monroe, are at hand. It is, however, a point rapidly increasing in importance, and must be eventually the depot for a very large amount of trade. The returns from the district of Detroit, which have been received, show the coastwise business only of that port; so that Gibraltar and Trenton,