Outline of the development of the internal commerce of the United States / 1789-1900

by Thurman William Van Metre

Means of cheap transportation, the lack of which had been so great an obstacle to internal development, had been or were being supplied to meet the requirements of the new conditions. The steamboat arrivals at New Orleans numbered a thousand each year. Water communication between the Atlantic Ocean and the very center of the United States was established when the Erie Canal connected the Hudson River to the waterway afforded by the series of great inland seas. There were 1,343 miles of canals in operation in all the United States, and 1,828 miles more were in the process of construction. Louisville was rejoicing in the completion of a canal around the falls of the Ohio; Ohio and Indiana were rapidly pushing the work on the canals that were to tap the regions hitherto tributary only to the Mississippi; the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal was being hurried forward to enable Philadelphia to recover the trade lost to the Erie; Maryland and Virginia were persistently going on with the building of the waterway westward from Chesapeake Bay. And meanwhile 44 miles of railway had been completed and were in operation, and to show that confidence in the new device was not lacking, 422 miles were in the process of construction and 697 miles more were already projected.

II

1830-1860

The years between 1830 and 1860 witnessed a remarkable expansion of the United States in area, population and wealth. By the annexation of Texas and by treaties with England and Mexico, nearly a million square miles of territory were added to the national domain and the western boundary was pushed to the Pacific Ocean. The total number of people increased in the thirty years from 12,866,020 to 31,443,321; the total wealth from about $2,000,000,000 to more than $16,000,000,000. It was a period of great prosperity for all branches of industry. As the tide of settlers swept over the fertile lands drained by the Mississippi River and Great Lakes, the agricultural production of the country increased with amazing rapidity. The production of corn in 1859 was almost 1,000,000,000 bushels; of wheat and oats 175,000,000 bushels each, and of cotton 4,300,000 bales, while the live stock of the country that year, including, among other animals, 25,000,000 cattle, 22,000,000 sheep and 33,000,000 swine, was valued at $1,000,000,000. The exploitation of the mineral resources of the nation was carried on more rapidly. From 300,000 tons of coal mined in 1830, the quantity grew to 13,000,000 tons in 1860; the iron mines turned out 1,000,000 tons of ore in 1860, the copper mines 7,000 tons and the lead mines 15,000 tons, while the production of gold in the far West, which began in 1849, averaged $55,000,000 annually during the following ten years. Manufacturing likewise grew in importance, the value of its products rising to nearly $2,000,000,000 in 1859. The tendency toward a territorial division of industry was accentuated during this period. Cotton cultivation became more than ever the dominant industry of the entire South; most of the manufacturing was done in the New England and Middle Atlantic States; the Northern Central States were devoted primarily to the production of grain and live stock.

The development of the country was accompanied by the construction of transportation facilities to care for the expanding trade. A large number of important canals were completed; the Ohio River was joined to Lake Erie; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were connected by a rail and water line; the Illinois River was connected with Lake Michigan at Chicago; the St. Mary's Falls Canal was built to aid the navigation of the Great Lakes, and many other waterways of lesser importance were constructed. Railroads grew rapidly in favor and as time went on they were built in increasing numbers and the construction of canals was practically abandoned. Before 1840 over 2,800 miles of track were laid and by 1850 the mileage amounted to 9,000. The decade from 1850 to 1860 was a period of extensive railway construction, especially in the Northern Central States, where more than 10,000 miles were built. Early in the decade the trunk lines of the Eastern States were pushed across the mountains and through railway connection was established between the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic Ocean. New York was connected with Chicago by a direct rail route in 1853, and with St. Louis in 1855, and in 1858 a railroad reached the Missouri River. In the South, roads were built into the interior from all the important cities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. In 1860 there was a total of 30,626 miles of railroad in the entire country.

With the growth of population and wealth, the diversification of industry and the development of canals and railroads, there was a great increase in internal commerce. The trade of this period consisted of a few well-defined currents flowing between certain sections. A large volume of products, mainly agricultural, went from the Central States to the East, and a traffic of less volume but of greater value moved in the reverse direction. There was a heavy internal movement from the Northern to the Southern States and a light movement from the South to the North. Aside from these movements, there was an over-land trade by pack-horse and wagon with the Far West which became of particular importance after the discovery of gold. For the sake of greater clearness, these different currents of trade will be considered separately in the order named.

1. TRADE BETWEEN THE EASTERN AND CENTRAL STATES

One of the notable features of the internal commerce following 1830 was the rise of the trade on the Great Lakes. After the opening of the Erie Canal there was a large migration to the lands around the lakes; in a few years thousands of acres of land were cleared and put under cultivation; the center of cereal production shifted westward; and hundreds of shiploads of grain were borne over the lakes toward eastern markets. Ohio was the first state west of New York to ship grain over the lakes. By 1835, Indiana and Michigan were sending grain eastward over Lake Erie; in 1836 the first shipment from Lake Michigan was recorded; in 1838 a shipment of 78 bushels of wheat from Chicago marked the beginning of the cereal trade of that city, and in 1841 the first exportation of Wisconsin wheat left the harbor of Milwaukee.

The growth of the lake grain trade was exceedingly rapid. As soon as the Ohio Canal was completed (1832) there was a diversion of traffic from the Mississippi River to Lake Erie, and as early as 1838, the receipts of western wheat and flour at Buffalo were larger than the receipts at New Orleans. The repeal of the English Corn Laws in 1846 gave a great stimulus to cereal production in the United States. As the population of the Central States increased and as canals and railroads were built to connect all parts of the cereal belt with the lake cities, the lake grain trade constantly swelled in volume. In 1860 the receipts of grain by lake at Buffalo, Oswego, Dunkirk, Ogdensburg and Cape Vincent amounted to 62,000,000 bushels. The shipment from Lake Michigan ports that year were 43,000,000 bushels, half of which came from Chicago alone.

Though grain and flour constituted the most important part of the eastbound lake traffic, there was at the same time a considerable trade in other commodities. Large quantities of pork, bacon, beef, lard, and other provisions were sent to Buffalo for distribution eastward; hides, wool, whiskey and live stock formed an important part of the traffic. Millions of feet of lumber were transported annually from Michigan and Wisconsin to all the other lake states; the shipment of copper from Lake Superior began in 1845, and the iron ore traffic began ten years later.