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increased, and, consequently, the aggregate business done must have presented a much enlarged margin over 1834.

"In 1836, the steamboat association was dissolved; the number of steamboats increased; so did the business. There is no way, without endless labor, of determining the amount of business done, or the capital employed; but as speculation was rife, and bank bills plenty, and everybody getting rich, a greatly increased business to the west took place that year, of passengers, merchandise and provisions.

"I find the same difficulty for the years 1837 and 1838, with regard to the number of boats and capital employed, and amount of business done, in those years. But, as a great revolution in the trade of the country had taken place, and a general suspension of specie payments by the banks occurred in May, 1837, a less number, or, at least, no greater number of passengers crossed the lakes, in either '37 or '38, than in 1836; and a great decrease of goods going west, also had a tendency to diminish the business of those years. In all probability, could the business of either of those years be ascertained, it would prove to be less than was done in 1836."

"In 1839, another association was formed by the owners of the different steamboats; but, as I had nothing to do with it, I cannot give much detail or amount of business done by it. The increase of business to Chicago and ports west of Detroit, by this time had become so large, that a regular line of eight boats, varying in size from 350 to 650 tons each, was formed to run from Buffalo to Chicago, making a trip in every sixteen days. The increase in the business was by emigrants with their household furniture and farming implements, and others going west, and not from any freight from Lake Michigan, as the rapidly increasing population of that section of the country required provisions to be imported into, rather than exported from it.

"In 1840, the steamboat association was kept up, and embraced more boats than the one of 1839. This year I again became secretary, and can, therefore, state something more specific about the business than I have done since 1834. This year, the number of boats on the lakes was 48, of various sizes, from 150 to (one of them only) 750 tons, and cost in the construction $2,200,000. Some of these boats were run, and others laid up. The business this year west of Detroit reached the sum of $201,838 62; this amount of business is made up (with the exception of some $12,000 or $14,000 paid by government for transportation of troops) by passengers, and freight of merchandise, going to the different towns, (I cannot say ports, for there is none that a boat can enter with safety,) on the borders of Lake Michigan; and passengers and produce, of which latter, there was a good deal this year from the same quarter.

"In 1841, the same arrangement existed among the steamboats. The boats were run in the same manner as in 1840, with this exception; six boats of the largest class ran from Buffalo to Chicago, making fifteen day trips, and one to Green Bay a part of the season. The Chicago and Green Bay boats earned, this season, the sum of $301,803 29. From the increased quantity of agricultural productions brought from the shores of Lake Michigan this season, also a good many tons of lead and shot from the mines in that section of country, now, for the first time, in any considerable quantity, seeking a market by the lake route-and the very large increase of fashionable travel from New Orleans to the Northern States, during the hot season of the summer months-this route being preferred in consequence of its being more speedy, less expensive, more healthy than the lower route, and affording the traveller a view of the magnificent scenery of the islands and shores of the Great Lakes-I estimate that three-fourths of the business done by the Chicago and Green Bay boats this year is made from legitimate business west of Detroit, and amounts to $226,352 46. The price of passage and freight from Buffalo to Chicago, this and two or three years prior, has been, for cabin passage, found, $20; steerage passage, $10; and for freight, 75 cents per 100 pounds for light, and 50 cents per 100 pounds for heavy goods, excepting for a month or so at the close of the season, when freights alone are usually higher. When the business first commenced westward of Detroit, the price of cabin passage and found, to any place on Lake Michigan, was $30, and freights in proportion.

"I would here remark, that so far as steamboats are concerned, owing to the entire want of harbors around Lake Michigan to afford them protection, their whole business is now confined to the western shore of that lake. During the past season, in midsummer, two or three boats touched at Michigan City and St. Joseph. With these exceptions, Milwaukie, Racine, Southport, and Chicago, are the places where they have regularly done business.

"I have not been able, neither is it possible, to show the annual increase of business west of Detroit, since the year 1834, but I have been able to exhibit, and very correctly, too, the astonishing increase in business in that quarter from that time to the close of 1841, and it is found to have grown, in the short period of seven years, from the trifling sum of $6,272 65, to the magnificent amount of $226,352 46.

"I shall now call your attention to the commercial business done by sail craft on the same lakes.

"I estimate the number of sail vessels owned on Lake Erie and the Upper Lakes, at 250, varying in size from 30 to 350 tons; the largest one being an old steamboat converted into a sail craft. The smaller sized ones are employed in wood, lumber, and stone business, and confine their operations principally to rivers and short trips, while the larger ones are employed in freighting produce, merchandise, and other property, the whole length of the lakes.

"The cost of these vessels varies from $1,000 to $14,000. I have taken $5,000 as a fair average, which will show that there is employed in sail vessels a capital of $1,250,000. These vessels will earn annually from $500 to $6,500 each. I average them all at $3,000, which will show an amount of business done of $750,000. Very many thousands of dollars of this business is made from freight west of Detroit; but how much, I am unable to say.

"The amount of tonnage on these lakes I am unable to furnish you with, and it would require much time to obtain it from the different custom-houses.

"Hitherto I have confined myself to our domestic trade, performed by steamboats and vessels owned on Lake Erie and the Upper Lakes. But a full view of the whole commerce of the Great Western Lakes cannot be shown without adverting to what I may term a foreign or auxiliary trade, of great and growing importance. I now have reference to the business done by vessels owned on both sides of Lake Ontario, which pass through the Welland Canal, and push their trade to the extreme end of Lake Michigan.

"With the exception of Lake Erie, which is partially furnished with harbors, constructed by individual enterprise, and appropriations by Congress, the Upper Lakes are almost entirely destitute of these indispensable requisites for the safety of commercial interests engaged in that great and growing trade.

"With here and there a lighthouse above Detroit, everything remains almost in the same state it was found by the commercial pioneers when they first broke their way through Lake Michigan."

Passing from this view of the Commerce of the Lakes to the close of 1841, Mr. Barton proceeds to give an exhibition of its present condition and importance, confining his remarks, however, mainly to the movement of the trade in the year 1845, although he furnishes statistical tables which include the years 1843 and 1844. That year (1845) was selected by Mr. Barton, as he informs us, as one quite as unfavorable to the business, as either of the two previous years; owing to the diminished receipts from the Western States of the more valuable agricultural productions, flour, wheat, pork, corn, and many other articles.

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My purpose is to present to you as far as it is possible to do so, a full, fair, and not exaggerated statement of this business; and will include an account of the number, tonnage, and cost of the steam and sail vessels employed in 1845, the gross amount in value of property transported therein, the losses in life and property, the number, tonnage, cost and description of vessels built that year, the number of persons who crossed these lakes, as well as exhibit to you some of the

difficulties and hazards under which it is prosecuted, owing to the want of good harbors and other facilities for its protection and safety.

"I have a familiar and personal knowledge of the commerce of our Western Lakes, obtained by a connection with the business of thirty years, and collection and careful preservation of yearly statistics in relation thereto. Yet with all this personal knowledge and careful collection of statistics, I am not able, neither is any person, to give a perfect and exact account of the amount of this business, as it greatly exceeds all the facts and figures that are ever made and collected together. "This arises from many causes; in some great degree from the manner in which our custom-houses do their business. The principal part of the business of the lakes, being of a coasting character, vessels are not required to report on their manifests their cargoes precisely, as in cases of foreign voyages; and much business is done between ports within the same district, where reports of cargo are not required, and between various ports on the different lakes, which, if reported, the amount cannot ever be ascertained; thus placing it beyond the power of any person to arrive at a full knowledge of what is done. To change or alter the manner of doing business at the custom houses, the voyages being so short, in a great many cases thirty hours being all the time required to perform a voyage on Lake Erie, would greatly embarrass the business, cause great loss and detention, without affording much, if any greater protection to the government against smuggling, or be productive of any other positive good.

"Notwithstanding all the difficulties attending the acquiring a full knowledge of the entire amount of the commerce of the Western Lakes, sufficient authentic facts can be ascertained, to show the business is great and constantly increasing, and is of sufficient consequence now, to entitle it to the just and favorable notice of the government, in constructing harbors, deepening channels, and building lighthouses and beacons for the preservation and safety of the lives employed, amount of capital invested, and great value of property yearly transported on these lakes."

Buffalo being the great port of delivery for western products seeking an eastern market, as well as shipping port for merchandise, manufactured articles, emigrants' furniture, &c., &c., passing to the Western States, Mr. Barton consulted the canal office in that city for the amount of such business done upon the Erie Canal to and from Buffalo, as well as to ascertain the states, territories and countries from whence the business comes and goes. By the canal regulations, the accounts are required to be kept in such manner as will specify the property, and places where it comes from or is going to.

This will show an important branch of the lake commerce, perhaps the largest, but far from being all. Much passes on the railroad between Buffalo and Albany; via Erie, through the Pennsylvania Canal; Cleveland and Toledo, through the Ohio and Indiana Canals, and Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad; Monroe and Detroit, by the Michigan Railroad; and yet more through the Welland Canal to Canadian markets; and to New York, via the Oswego Canal; the whole of which, could it be arrived at, would increase the quantity greatly.

These canals and railroads not merely carry off the down commerce of the lakes, but, like the Erie Canal, they furnish a very large amount of up commerce. All, however, fall very far short of furnishing statements of the entire amount of the business. Take Buffalo, for instance, with a resi dent population of 30,000, with all the seamen, boatmen, emigrants, travellers, and others, passing there, who are fed by supplies from the Western States, received via the lakes, of which no account is, or can be kept. So with regard to the immense quantities of lumber, in all its varieties, and other building materials; the many thousands of bushels of mineral coal

used there for fuel and manufacturing purposes, and western lead, of which ten to fifteen hundred tons are annually used in our white lead factories and shops. So also, the salt, merchandise, and the varied descriptions of manufactures made at Buffalo, sold and shipped to the Western States, all contributing to swell the aggregate of this commerce.

Mr. Barton furnishes two tables from the canal office books at Buffalo. The first shows the kind and amount of property first entered or cleared on the canal from Buffalo, bound towards tide-water, and the places from whence it came. The second exhibits the kind and quantity of property received at Buffalo via the canal, and its places of destination.

The tables of Mr. Barton designate the quantity of each article shipped at Buffalo, for Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, Canada, and New York; and the quantity received at Buffalo, from those States. From these tables, which occupy more space than we can well spare, we have compiled aggregate statements of the amount of business, shipped from Buffalo on the Erie Canal, in the years 1844 and 1845, as follows:

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These tables exhibit the commerce of the lakes passing through Buffalo, for the years 1844 and 45, up and down on the Erie Canal. They are made from forms in the canal office. They illustrate, in some degree, the singular and diversified operations of commerce. There was received at Buffalo, from Ohio, during the year 1845, and passed towards tide-water for a market, 881,155 pounds of stone, lime and clay; and, during the same time, the canal delivered at that city, which were shipped to Ohio, 900,540 pounds of the like kind of property. The same with regard to mineral coal, and many other articles.

The last item in the tables, sundries, is very comprehensive, and embraces all unenumerated articles paying the same rate of toll, a few of which are hemp, beef and mutton tallow, lard and essential oils, lake fish, broom-corn, cranberries, medicinal and other roots, apples, and many others.

Fluctuations in a variety of articles of the same kind appear, being greater one year and less the next. Flour and wheat, for instance, in 1845, is much less than in 1844. The reason assigned for that by Mr. Barton, is this: the sudden rise in value which wheat and flour took early in September, 1844, brought nearly the whole crop into market from the West, that year. The crop of 1845, in Ohio, from whence we have heretofore drawn our largest supplies, was extensively injured by the drought, and her exports much reduced. The same cause prevented much of the prolific crop of Michigan being converted into flour, we being short over 100,000 barrels from that State, although we have a slight increase in wheat. The like cause affected the fruit crops in all the West, they being importers of green and dried fruits, instead of exporters; likewise, with regard to butter, cheese, clover and grass-seed, all were affected by the same cause. The unusually fine navigable condition, and early opening of the rivers leading from the valley of the Miami and the Wabash, the great pork region of the United States, in February, 1845, long before the lake route could be used, caused the great bulk of that article to descend the Mississippi. Corn being a cheap article, and as expensive to transport as wheat, could not appear in kind, but came forward in the shape of domestic spi. rits, in largely increased quantities. In addition to all, after the grain crops had been gathered in, in the Western States, the extremely boisterous navigation of the lakes, during the most part of last fall, did allow only time enough to get a small portion to market.

The quantity of furniture gives a better idea of the course of western emigration than anything else.

By the tables of Mr. Barton, one important fact is shown. They desig. nate a number of the states and territories, and their productions, which participate largely in this commerce. To those named may be added Massachusetts, which, by her great Western Railroad, connecting with the Erie Canal, is very deeply interested, and so are all the other New England States in a lesser degree, in exchanging their varied manufac tures for the agricultural products, and minerals of the Western States. The State of Louisiana already finds a great and rapidly increasing market through this commerce, for the consumption of her sugar and molasses. As cotton factories grow up around these lakes, the cotton-growing States will see that article traversing our great western waters; and the British possessions and fisheries around the St. Lawrence will consume large quantities of American provisions received through this channel. In view

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