Part 21 (1/2)
Mineral Resources of the United States.
Outlines of Political Science--Chapters VIII-X.
CHAPTER XIX
THE UNITED STATES--THE BASIN OF THE GREAT LAKES AND THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
The princ.i.p.al agricultural region of the United States extends from the Appalachian ranges to the Rocky Mountains. A certain amount of bread-stuffs, meat, and dairy products are grown in nearly every part of the country for local use, but the grain, meat, and cotton of this region are designed for export, and are therefore factors in the world's commerce. The basin of the Great Lakes connects the Mississippi Valley with the Atlantic seaboard.
=The Basin of the Great Lakes.=--This region includes not only the Great Lakes and the area drained by the streams flowing into them, but also a considerable region surrounding that commercially is tributary to the traffic pa.s.sing over the lakes. This basin itself is a part of a trade-route destined very shortly to become one of the greatest highways of traffic in the world.
The lakes afford a navigable water-way which, measured due east and west, aggregates nearly six hundred miles. This route is interrupted at Niagara Falls and at St. Mary's Falls, between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. On the Canadian side, Welland Ca.n.a.l, Lake Ontario, and the St.
Lawrence connect Lake Erie with tide-water. In the United States the Erie Ca.n.a.l connects the lake with the Hudson River and New York Bay.
From the head of Lake Superior railway routes of minimum grades--the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific[51]--cross the continent to Puget Sound, the best harbor approach to the Pacific coast of the American continent. The harbors of Puget Sound, moreover, are materially nearer the great Asian ports than any other port of the United States.
The level margins of these lakes are roadbeds for many miles of railway track; in many instances the railways are built on the tops of terraces that once were sh.o.r.es of the lakes.
[Ill.u.s.tration: DULUTH]
_Duluth_, at the head of Lake Superior, became commercially important when the St. Mary's Falls Ca.n.a.l was completed. Much of the tremendous tonnage of freight pa.s.sing through the ca.n.a.l is a.s.sembled at this place.
The freight s.h.i.+pped consists mainly of farm products collected from an area reaching as far west as the Rocky Mountains. There is also a considerable s.h.i.+pment of iron ores obtained near by. _Buffalo_, at the lower end of Lake Erie, owes its activity to the trade in lumber, grain, and other farm products that come from Western lake-ports. It is the eastern terminus of the lake-commerce and the western terminus of the Erie Ca.n.a.l.
_Chicago_, at the head of Lake Michigan, has a very heavy lake-trade.
The mouth of Chicago River, the natural harbor of the city, has been improved by a system of basins and breakwaters. The river itself has been converted into a s.h.i.+p and drainage ca.n.a.l that is connected with the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. It is now an outlet instead of a feeder to the lake, and the city built about old Fort Dearborn has become the greatest railway centre in the world.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL VIEW OF LOCKS AND Ca.n.a.l, SAULT STE. MARIE]
_Milwaukee_ has a situation in many ways resembling that of Chicago, its harbor being the mouth of Milwaukee River. Like Chicago, it owes its importance to its lake-trade. _Detroit_ (with _Windsor_, Ont.) owes its growth partly to its strategic position on the strait connecting Lake Huron and Lake Erie, and partly for its position between the lakes. It is an important collecting and distributing point for lake-freights, and the chief centre of commerce with Canada. Several east-and-west trunk lines and local lines of railway have freight terminals in the city; it is also the centre of the most complete system of interurban electric railways in the world. _Port Huron_ (with _Sarnia_, Ont.) has a geographic position similar to that of Detroit, and is also an important lake-port. The St. Clair River is tunnelled at this point. _Cleveland_, _Toledo_, _Sandusky_, and _Erie_ contribute very largely to the lake-trade. _Grand Rapids_ is the business centre of furniture manufacture of the United States.
The great iron-ore ranges about Lake Superior have had much to do with the growth of the local lake-trade. This has resulted in the establishment of a large number of s.h.i.+pping-ports near the head of the lakes, and also a number of receiving ports on the south sh.o.r.es of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. Some of the latter have become also great manufacturing centres of structural iron and steel.
Various centres of industry at a considerable distance from the Great Lakes are contributors to their trade. Thus, on account of the low rate for grain between _Chicago_ and _New York City_--about 5-1/4 cents per bushel--there are yearly very heavy s.h.i.+pments of the grain designed for Liverpool. _St. Paul_ and _Minneapolis_ are also collecting and distributing centres of lake-freights. A considerable part of the business of the lake-region is carried on by the Canadians, who have improved their resources for production and transportation to the utmost.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Copyright, Detroit Photographic Co._
AURORA IRON MINES, IRONWOOD, MICHIGAN]
=The Northern Mississippi Valley Region.=--This region extends from the Appalachian ranges to the western limit of wheat and cotton growing. On the south it is limited by the cotton-growing region. Its boundaries are therefore climatic and commercial.
The surface is level; there is a rich, deep soil and an abundant rainfall. It has therefore become one of the foremost regions of the world in the production of corn, wheat, pork, dairy-stuffs, and general farm produce. The evolution of farming machinery is the direct result of topographic conditions. A level, fertile region naturally invites grain-farming on a large scale. This, in turn, must depend very largely on the ability of the farmer to plant and harvest his crops with the minimum of expense and time.
Hand-work in harvesting and planting has almost wholly given way to machine-work. Farming carried on under such conditions requires not only a considerable capital, but close business management as well. Some of the results have been very far-reaching. The machinery and other equipments require capital, and this in late years has been borrowed from Eastern capitalists. The prompt business methods of the money-lender brought about no little friction, and it is only within recent years that each adjusted himself to the requirements of the other.
The system of machine-farming to a great extent has prevented the subdivision of farms. As a rule, quarter and half sections represent the size of most of the farms, but tracts varying from five thousand to ten thousand acres are by no means uncommon. The chief drawback to this method in the case of wheat-farming, however, is the low yield per acre.
The average yield per acre for the United States, a little more than twelve bushels, is scarcely half the average yield in Europe. Although the farmer has done much to reorganize his business methods, he has done but little to maintain the productivity of his land.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WHEAT INDUSTRY--HARVESTING WITH McCORMICK SELF-BINDING REAPERS]