Baltimore is likewise handicapped by its distance inland. Sailing-vessels, however, require only a short towage, the docks being scarcely a dozen miles from Chesapeake Bay. The harbor is deep and capacious. The Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railway systems have made Baltimore an important railway centre. The completion of the Gould railway system to the Atlantic seaboard has made the city second to New York only in the export of corn, wheat, flour, and tobacco. The most noteworthy local industry is the oyster product, which is the greatest in the world. Nearly ten thousand people are employed, and during the busy season—from September to the end of April—about thirty carloads of oysters a day are shipped.
CHARLESTON HARBOR
The yearly movement of marine freight, entering and clearing, aggregates about three million tons. In 1902 the clearing-house exchanges aggregated about two and one-quarter billion dollars.
Portland, Me., has good harbor facilities, but is distant from the great lines of traffic. Steamship lines, which in summer make Montreal a terminal point, occasionally make Portland their winter harbor. Newport News, Savannah, Charleston, and Brunswick are growing in importance as clearing ports for the cotton and produce from the region west of them. Norfolk obtains importance on account of the United States Navy-Yard; it is also the great peanut-market of the world.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
What are the requisites of a good seaport?
What is meant by the draught of a vessel?
For what purposes are pilots?
How are navigable channels marked and designated?