crop of 1842 was set down by the committee of merchants as worth two and a half million dollars.

Pork, Bacon and Lard, formed another important item of St. Louis exports, but the report furnishes us with no data of the shipments at St. Louis.

Beef. This article forms a heavy item of internal commerce. It is stated by houses engaged in the purchase of hides, that from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand hides were shipped from St. Louis during 1843. This item is set down as equal to one million of dollars. To these, add corn, beeswax, beans, butter, oats, oils, tallow, and a variety of other articles, which constitute important items of this trade; and also furs, skins and peltries, and the products of the American Fur Company, which alone employs a capital of half a million of dollars, giving employment to several steamboats, and several thousand men, and several other companies, each having large capitals, and employing a large number of men, ranging the country from the British Possessions to the Mexican Provinces, and from the States' boundary to the Pacific, bringing the fruits of their trades to St. Louis, for sale or shipment.

Another important item of exports is made up of horses, mules, neat cattle, live hogs, etc., transported on the river. In 1841, there were fifteen hundred horses, two thousand three hundred mules, and six thousand neat cattle, sent to the south. The increase since that period has been large, but we have no means of ascertaining the exact amount.

The mineral resources of Missouri are known to be immense. The lead sent forward from St. Louis in 1843 is set down at six hundred and nine thousand one hundred and eighty-six pigs, and three thousand six hundred and twenty-four boxes of bar lead. To which may be added a large amount from manufactured shot, white lead, and lead pipe, all of which is the product of the Galena mines, and the mines on the Missouri river. The mines in Missouri south of St. Louis, are to be added to the above, and are estimated to produce about one quarter the amount produced at Galena, and make the value of the lead and copper trade equal to from one and a half to two millions of dollars.

The St. Louis Republican, of March 7, 1846, furnishes us with some important evidence of the extent of the trade concentrating at St. Louis— its connection with other points, east, north, west and south, by means of the different rivers-the shipping trade of that port-and the number and tonnage of the steamboats which were employed during the year 1845. The editors of the Republican clearly show, what it is their object to, by the details of their commerce, that St. Louis, in every respect, "whether it be the number of vessels and tonnage it employs, the number of trips made, the amount of merchandise imported and exported, or any other element of public utility and general necessity, is as important to the nation as any other port, whether situated on the seaboard, the lakes, or inland; that its protection and preservation is not merely a matter of local and private concern, to the people of St. Louis or the surrounding country, but that it is a subject in which the nation is interested, to as great an extent as it is in the protection of any portion of the commerce of the country, or any harbor within her jurisdiction; and that it is, therefore, a legitimate object of expenditure by the general government."

By a regulation of the city government, there is an officer duly commissioned and qualified, called the harbor-master, to whom is assigned the

duty of designating the position which boats shall occupy at the wharf, the collection of the wharfage dues, &c. He is further required to keep a register of the boats arriving, their tonnage, where from, and their departure. From his books and monthly returns, the editors of the Republican prepared the annexed statements, which may, therefore, be relied on. During the year 1845, there were two thousand and fifty steamboat arrivals in the harbor of St. Louis, with an aggregate tonnage of three hundred and fifty-eight thousand and forty-five tons, and three hundred and forty-six keel and flat-boats. The monthly list is as follows:

The trade of the city during that year, was carried on by two hundred and thirteen steamboats, with an aggregate tonnage of forty-two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two tons, viz :—

117

Oregon,

Orpheus,

182 Swiftsure, 3,
117 Sam Seay,

199 Yucatan,

141

191

Zanesville Packet,

74

The above statement embraces only steamboats, barges and keels being omitted, many of which are towed by steamboats, and in which a large amount of freight is transported.

From the same report, we have compiled the following table of the places from whence these vessels came, showing the arrivals from each quarter for each month, as follows:

In

N. Orleans. Ohio riv.

Ill. riv.

January,

Up. Miss. Missouri. Oth. p'nts.

17

5

15

15

5

8

February,

13

13

20

12

2

7

March,...

27

67

11

8

April,.....

24

39

36

75

23

10

May,

35

49

52

102

June,...

27

66

July,....

16

58

August,

20

44

26

63

25

22

September,.....

25

38

22

19

October,.......

22

45

13

16

November,

21

74

20

24

December,.....

3

5

1

From the foregoing, it appears that, during the year 1845, there were two hundred and fifty steamboat arrivals at St. Louis, from New Orleans; four hundred and six from different ports on the Ohio river, including arrivals from the Cumberland and Tennessee; two hundred and ninetyeight from ports on the Illinois river; six hundred and forty-seven from ports on the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri, not including

the daily trip of the Alton packet; two hundred and forty-nine from ports on the Missouri river, and one hundred and sixty-eight from other points, chiefly from Cairo, and intermediate ports between that point and St. Louis.

In her commerce, St. Louis presents a spectacle which, we believe, is not equalled by any other interior port in the world. Five great arteries, or highways, of inland commerce, all centre at that point; and, although the settlement of the country cannot be said to be half a century old, nor the trade more than twenty-five years, yet she requires the equivalent of two thousand vessels to carry it on. What other inland city can exhibit such a commerce-all dependent on it-all profiting as it prospers, and all affected by whatever injures it? This trade, it has been shown, reaches into five distinct channels-employs two hundred and thirteen vessels, exclusive of barges, keel and flat-boats, forming a tonnage of fortytwo thousand nine hundred and twenty-two tons, which, estimated at an average cost of fifty dollars per ton, gives a total value of two millions one hundred and forty-six thousand one hundred dollars. This is the mere cost of the vessels.

But these vessels do not ply from point to point without a purpose. They carry thousands of persons, travelling for business or pleasure, and they transport freights of many times more value than the vessels themselves. The persons who travel on them, and the commodities they carry, are subject to the delays, danger and expense which arises from the insecure condition of the harbor, at the termination of their voyage.

There is no custom-house regulation for the port of St. Louis, by which absolute certainty may be attained in estimating either the number of passengers who arrived in these boats, or the amount of freights which they carried. By the city ordinance, the harbor-master is required to keep a record of the imports and exports of a number of articles of commerce, but every effort has been found to be unavailing to make these reports correct. Of the exports, it has been found impossible to make a return under existing regulations. Boats receive freights until the very moment of departure; and, as they are under no obligation to give a statement of what they have on board, no correct account can be obtained. The imports are principally made up from the manifests of the boats upon their arrival, but these are necessarily imperfect, for there are many articles carried for which no bill of lading is executed, and in numerous instances freight is transported without the officers knowing of what it consists. Notwithstanding these imperfections in the returns, the editors of the Republican furnish a list of the imports into St. Louis for the last two years, by boats, as they appear on the harbor-master's books.

The foregoing is not only imperfect in reference to the importations by the boats, but it includes none of those articles which are brought to the city by land. But it affords some evidence, and from the number, character and quality of the articles, an estimate may be formed, how far the commerce of St. Louis is identified with the commerce of the nation, and with the foreign trade.

* Incomplete.