than in 1856. The railroads also delivered considerable quantities. with the great winter harbor of Portland, in the state of Maine. To give effect to this great system of communication, the whole system of tolls upon inland navigation has been abandoned. The whole line of navigation from Chicago to the Atlantic is now free from tolls and lake dues, the ports of Sault Ste. Marie and Gaspe have been made free ports, and it open. A reciprocity treaty between Canada and the United States was adopted in 1854, which continued in force till March 1866, when, as the two contracting parties could not agree on terms for its renewal, it expired. This treaty designated a number of articles which were to be free from duty, and also granted some concessions in regard to the fisheries in return for some privileges which Canadians received here. The treaty went into operation in the latter part of 1854, and the trade was affected by it as follows: 1860, 18,667,429 22,706,328 23,851,381 The rapid settlement of the west attracted the attention of the Canadians, and they began early with some energy to take measures that should give them their share of it. The St. Lawrence river was for them the only outlet, and to make that serviceable, extensive works were necessary to pass around the rapids, and make navigation practicable is probable many more will be thrown from the lakes to the sea. The Welland canal, passing around the Falls and connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario, was constructed, with other necessary works, completing, in 1846, a system, at a cost of $20,000,000. The tolls on these works were considerable, and duties on goods imported into Canada from the United States were so high as to check trade-the more so that similar duties were imposed in the United States on Canadian goods. In 1850 the navigation laws were repealed, opening the canals and rivers to foreign vessels. The difficulties in the of navigating the St. Lawrence have way since that date been, to a great extent, removed. Many light-houses have been constructed, the system of pilotage has been revised, a service of tug-boats, of great power, and working at moderate rates, has been organized, and the depth of water between Quebec and Montreal has been increased by dredging, so as to permit the passage of vessels drawing eighteen feet six inches. With these changes and improvements a new element has been introduced. The The exports of United States produce to construction of railways had begun to occupy Canada have been in this period of eighteen the attention of the public mind in Canada. years nearly $73,000,000 less than the imIn 1849 an act of the Colonial Legislature ports from Canada. But there have been was passed guaranteeing 6 per cent. on half exported to Canada, in the same time, about the cost of all the railways seventy-five miles $82,000,000 of foreign goods first received in extent. Three years later the Grand at our own ports, so that the balance of the Trunk line, from Montreal to Toronto, and trade was about $9,000,000 in our favor. from Quebec to Riviere-du-Loup, was incor- The domestic exports are composed of the porated as a part of the Main Trunk line, produce shipped from the American lake and the line from Quebec to Richmond had ports, and entered at the Canadian ports. been commenced. In 1853 the amalgamation of all the companies forming the Main Trunk line was completed, under a Parliamentary sanction with powers to construct the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence, and thereby connect the lines west of Montreal with those leading to Quebec and Port land. By the aid of all these enterprises combined, there is now in operation in Canada 2,093 miles of railway, including 1,112 miles of the Grand Trunk, the whole connected 1861, 18,883,715 22,745,613 23,062,933 18,652,012 21,079,115 19,299,995 1863, 28,629,110 31,281,030 24,021,264 1864, 26,567,221 1865, 1866, It will be noticed that on the expiration of the treaty in March, 1866, there was a very manifest effort to crowd Canadian goods into our markets, the imports from Canada being nearly $16,000,000 more than in any former year, while the Canadians were not disposed to take so many of our goods as usual. This matter, however, speedily regulated itself, and the trade is now very nearly what it was before the treaty was annulled. The efforts of Canada to obtain the trade, and cause it to pass down the St. Lawrence, had to overcome, however, the climate, to be The progress of the city has been as folsuccessful; for four months in the year that lows:outlet is ice-bound, while the ports of Lake Ontario are never closed by the ice, and offer railroad connection with New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, the former for export and the latter for supplies of manufacture. CHAPTER II. RIVER CITIES-ATLANTIC CITIES. THE development given to the lake cities by the canal and railroad construction, was participated in to as great an extent by the river cities, the course of whose trade flowed downward toward New Orleans as an outlet. PITTSBURG is situated at the point where the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany forms the Ohio river, which thence flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The origin of the place dates from its occupation by the French as a post, and its growth is due to its commanding position. It is 301 miles east by north from Philadelphia, and is 130 miles from Lake Erie. The traveller descends the river 450 miles to Cincinnati; 583 to Louisville, Kentucky; 977 to Cairo, where the Ohio pours into the Mississippi; 1,157 to St. Louis, and 2,004 miles to New Orleans. That vast valley collects in its course the produce coming right and left by streams, canals, and railroads, to deliver it at New Orleans, whence ascend the merchandise, tropical products, and materials of manufacture, to be distributed at the commercial and manufacturing ports. The position of Pittsburg was the most important, commercially, until the opening of the Erie canal. Its resources were highly favorable to ship-building, and it supplied the first boats that descended the Ohio. The Population. Value of manufactures. 1816, 6,182 $1,896,366 1836, 15,481 15,575,440 46,601 55,287,000 49,220 70,000,000 86,235 111,881,000 1850, 1860, 1870, CINCINNATI was located at the mouth of the Licking river in 1788, in the centre of an area which commanded the commerce of the Miami, the Wabash, the Scioto, the Muskingum, and the Kanawha rivers. These streams delivered large quantities of produce to foster the trade of Cincinnati, which grew with great rapidity, corresponding mostly with New Orleans, to which its merchants sent the produce, and made purchases of goods in the eastern states, which came up the river from New Orleans by a long voyage, charged with heavy expenses for freight, insurance, etc. The exchanges ran on New Orleans against the produce sent down, and these credits were the means of payments for goods. The opening of the Ohio canal to the lakes, to correspond with the Erie canal to tide-water, gave a new outlet for produce of the northern part of Ohio by way of Cleveland, and also a better channel for the receipt of goods. The net-work of railroads has still further multiplied the means of communication. Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, are almost equidistant from Cincinnati, which by the same means has its markets extended in a broader circle west. The progress of the city has been as follows:— 218,900 312,978,665 127,459,021 193,517,690 These figures give the rapid growth of the city since the railroads have opened a broader field from which to draw the materials of trade in exchange for merchandise demanded by the growers. commerce and ship-building prospered largely during the war of 1812, but after the peace it declined. Since that period manufactures have taken the place of commerce, and it ranks next to Philadelphia as a man- LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, was a port early ufacturing town. The population in 1800 in 1781, and it made little progress as a was 1,565, and in 1816 it was incorporated city. Its population grew but to 600 in as a city with about 6,150 inhabitants. 1800, and was only 4,012 in 1820. The The population of Pittsburg in 1870 was difficulties of navigation were a drawback 86,235, while Alleghany City, across the upon its commerce, until the Portland canal, river, had 53,181, and other suburbs really two miles long, which had been authorized forming part of the city, about 75,000 in 1804, around the falls of the Ohio, was more, making a total of about 210,000. opened in 1830. The cost of the work, $600,000, was paid, one-third by the United States, and the balance mostly in eastern | against the difficulties inherent in barge cities interested in getting goods up the and keel boat navigation. In 1817 the river. A bridge over the Ohio was built in General Pike, the first steamboat, arrived at 1836, at a cost of $250,000. The city was St. Louis. That event marked a new era, incorporated in 1828, and its population and in 1822, the population being 4,598, the was then 10,336. In 1836 the population city was incorporated. It was not until the was 19,967, and the annual amount of busi- settlement of the north-western states, under ness transacted was $29,004,202. In 1840 the influence of the canals and railroads, that the population was 21,210, and in 1850 it the prosperity of St. Louis became marked. had again doubled, reaching 43,194. In 1836 the sales of merchandise in St. ST. LOUIS was occupied as a French trad-Louis were given at $6,335,000; in 1858 the ing post in 1763, and the town was laid out in the following year, with the name of St. Louis, in honor of that Louis XV. who had so little claim to saintship. The first impulse to its growth was, however, the annexation of Louisiana to the United States, when emigrants poured into the new country, bringing with them a spirit of enterprise which soon made visible effects upon St. Louis, the commerce of which struggled lows: Pittsburg. Total local insurance was $31,800,232. The population of the city, which had been 63,491 in 1848, rose to 151,780 in 1860, and the city valuation was $78,463,375. The settlements of the upper Mississippi, east and west, pour naturally an increasing trade into the city, and its railroad connections are now pushing out toward the Pacific. We may recapitulate the leading river cities as fol 1860. Settled. 46,401 115,436 21,210 43,194 16,469 77,860 21,974 105,221 *283,091 49,220 $27.960,600 $46,866,600 91,861,978 69,740 30,042,800 78,463,375 $247,234,753 $139,880,032 431,784 The numbers and wealth of the river cities | founded by the French in 1717, and passed have increased in a ratio, perhaps, larger than the lake cities. They divide with the latter the trade of country lying between the lakes and the Ohio river, drawing produce and shipping merchandise, while they have also a strong hold upon southern trade. The business of all those cities, as well lake as river, is but a reflection of the growth of the great seaports. The canals, streams, and railroads that pour forth their products in a southerly direction, and feed the river cities, combine with the other business points of the region to swell the trade of New Orleans, the common correspondent of all; the roads, rivers, and streams that deliver their trade in a northerly and easterly direction, glut the great trunk lines with the merchandise which they pour into Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. The city of NEW ORLEANS, at the Delta of the Mississippi, is commercially the second city of the Union, and in respect to the exports of domestic produce, it ranks first. Its position is very advantageous, and its growth has been proportional to the development of the country, the resources of which supply it with produce and depend upon it for merchandise in return. The city itself was into the hands of the Spanish in 1762. By them it was reconveyed to the French in 1800, and was sold by Napoleon to the United States in 1804. At that time its population, mostly French, was 8,056, and it was rapidly increased by the fact of annexation, which not only carried enterprising men thither, but settled the upper country, which was the source of trade. The city was chartered in 1805. In 1820 the population had increased to 27,176 persons, but the exports of the city still consisted mostly of the produce of the upper country, which a population, increased rapidly by the influence of war and speculation, had greatly developed, although the valley of the Mississippi had not yet attracted cotton planters. In 1830 the trade of the city marked a larger production of farm produce. In the succeeding ten years the migration from the Atlantic cotton states to the new lands of the valley produced a great change in the trade of New Orleans. The cotton receipts rose from 300,000 bales in 1830, to 954,000 in 1840, and tobacco from twenty-four to forty-three thousand hogsheads, and the sugar crop also had risen to 85,000 hhds. The exports were now swollen by the sales of cotton and tobacco, 1870, This table embraces the official figures for population, trade, and valuation. The most marked feature is the small amount of imports as compared with exports. This we shall find to be the reverse with the trade of New York; the trade of the two cities for the past year having been as follows: Imports. New York. New Orleans. $14,993,744 107,657,042 127,942,781 exporter, has large sums due it, for which it draws to meet what it owes to the west for produce. This state of affairs is the basis of bill operations. Firms being connected, one at Liverpool, one at New Orleans, and one at New York, the New Orleans house buys cotton for shipment to England, and draws for it at sixty days on the New York firm; the bill being discounted, places him in funds to pay for the cotton, which will arrive in Liverpool in thirty days. The New York firm draws a sterling bill against it at sixty The exports from New York, exclusive days, and, with the proceeds, meets the bill of specie and foreign goods re-exported, were drawn on it from New Orleans. The $185,740,061, the imports exceeding this by sterling bill is then met by the sales of cotton $129,459,961, while at New Orleans the ex-four months after it was bought. In the cess of exports was $82,564,902. These mean time, the bill on New York passes into figures represent the course of trade. The the hands of the western debtors of New receipts from the interior at New Orleans rose from $96,897,873 in 1850, to $172,952, 664 in 1859. The vicissitudes of the war made great changes in the commerce of New Orleans, yet these receipts in 1870 were about $33,000,000 greater than in 1859. Sugar and molasses were $9,945,245; cotton was $120,000,000; rice, $869,340, while farm produce, minerals, &c., made up, together, a little more than $75,000,000. The lighter merchandise which forms the sum of imports into New York, instead of going round by way of New Orleans, goes across the country on railroads. It follows, that when the west sends forty millions of produce to New Orleans for sale, and has purchased an equal amount of goods in the east, that its money is in New Orleans and its debts in New York. It draws upon New Orleans then to pay New York. New Orleans being so large an York, who send it thither in payment of goods purchased. The sterling bill is sold to the New York importer, who remits it abroad in payment of goods imported. The receipts of cotton and sugar have been very large of late years, but the quantities of western produce resulting from the more rapid settlement of the land under the influence of the railroads, have also greatly increased. In 1840, the value of cotton, sugar, and tobacco received was $36,124,275, leaving but $9,591,770 for western produce. In the year of famine the aggregate receipts at New Orleans rose to $90,033,251, of which $42,599,361 was western produce. In 1857, those articles were valued at $49,009,976; flour and grain counting in that year for nearly $15,000,000. By means of time bills, New Orleans thus furnishes a large capital to dealers; and in years of economy and re |