The most striking feature with regard to Detroit, in a commercial point of view, is her admirable location, which const.i.tutes her the metropolis of a vast region, than which no city off the seaboard can boast one equally grand or important. The region embraces a circuit of some three thousand miles, composed of land and water, which both seem to vie with each other in contributing to the material prosperity of our city, while every interest involved is benefited in some degree by her. In the far north, where the rugged coast of the upper peninsula is lashed by the waters of the monarch of lakes, Detroit enterprise a.s.sists in redeeming the hidden treasures of the earth from their state of profitless inertion. There is not a hardy delver in the mines who is not familiar with the skill of Detroit machinists, nor an echo in all the majestic wilds skirting that n.o.ble expanse of waters, that has not been awakened by Detroit steamers. Further down upon the limpid waters of Lake Huron, where the army or rather the navy of fishermen set their nets for the capture of the finny tribes, here, too, our city possesses an interest almost as direct as if the canvas of their tiny crafts were spread within sight of her spires, the product comprising one of the most important staples in her multiform commerce. Last, but not least, is the great lumber region with which the prosperity of Michigan is so largely identified. The population of this region, as well as of the others we have referred to, raise almost literally nothing for their own consumption, their respective pursuits being inconsistent with that of tillers of the soil, so that in addition to the usual stores required by farmers, they have to purchase their breadstuffs and similar supplies. The bulk of these are bought of our dealers, this being not only the most convenient, but the cheapest and best market, as is amply proven by experience.

Under the appropriate head will be found a complete and authentic statement of the commerce of the Saut St. Mary Ca.n.a.l, by which it will be seen that the aggregate value of the upward-bound freight is estimated at $5,298,640. The up-freight nearly all carried by steamers, of which the number running the entire season was seven, three from Detroit, one from Chicago, and three from Cleveland. The Detroit boats have generally been loaded to their utmost capacity, while we have the word of the Cleveland captains to the effect that two-thirds of their cargoes are usually taken on at this port. We must therefore be clearly within bounds in claiming that three-fourths of the above amount is part and parcel of the commerce of our city which would show our Lake Superior exports to be $3,960,000. In seasons in which the crops of our Canadian neighbors partially fail--a common occurrence within the past few years, but which we hope may never occur again--they naturally become our customers; and since the partial destruction of the wheat crop in Ohio last summer by frost, there have been considerable shipments of breadstuffs to Cleveland, Toledo, Sandusky, etc., which may very properly be included in the home traffic.

The shipments of flour and grain for the supply of our home trade by lake craft, from the opening of navigation for the year 1859, as appears by the books of our Custom House, are as follows:

Flour. Wheat. Corn.

Port Huron 10,885 253 6,916 Saginaw 3,790 30 Cleveland 6,155 28,057 1,146 Thunder Bay 106 Green Bay 175 Northport 175 Sandusky 705 Huron, O. 660 Toledo 665 616 Lake Superior 11,321 Other American ports 245 Malden 1,289 160 14,548 Chatham 3,671 1,736 Wallaceburg 705 G.o.derich 318 1,274 Saugeen 168 Bayfield 200 Other Canadian ports 1,330 95 749

There were also 7,446 bushels oats to Port Huron, and 588 bushels do.

to other ports, beside 3,400 bushels corn, and 11,962 bushels oats which were included in the heavy shipments to Lake Superior. We give the places for which vessels cleared; many of the shipments were for intermediate ports. Besides the flour and grain there were large shipments of pork, b.u.t.ter, lard, meal, etc., etc.

The above were all by water. There were in addition large local shipments to various points on the Great Western, the Detroit and Milwaukee, and other roads, that may with equal propriety be regarded as pertaining to the home trade.

The article of corn is one to secure customers, for in Canada it is not essential there should be short crops there. Large amounts are taken for the supply of the numerous distilleries on that side. A single house in our city has sold the past year 100,000 bushels for that purpose.

During the year commodities have been interchanged by lake craft between Detroit and no fewer than sixty-three lake and river ports, to say nothing of the hundreds of towns and cities on the various railroads that are daily trading with us. We have not included those ports to which the bulk of our surplus produce is forwarded, but only such as come strictly within the scope of our subject. There are few places where trade develops statistics of similar character, or anything approximating thereto, while there are plenty of cities of no inconsiderable pretensions, and even great advantages, that would think themselves made if they possessed one-fourth the commercial facilities we enjoy.

Within the past year, by the opening up of new and most important channels of railway communication, our position with respect to the great railway system of the continent, is rendered all that could be desired. In that regard it is indeed difficult to point out how any improvement could be made. With respect to our local advantages, however, admirable as they are, there is yet much in store for us. The signs are far more favorable than at any former period for the rapid settlement of the State, as well as for the more adequate development of her resources. We are constantly receiving intelligence that some new source of wealth has been revealed within our borders, or that one previously discovered is likely to surpa.s.s the expectations at first entertained. These events must not only tend directly to hasten the settlement of the State, but also add in a still greater ratio to her commercial importance and her wealth.

If we were to fail to refer, in this connection, to the law pa.s.sed by our legislature last winter, providing for the reclamation of the "swamp lands," technically so called, and inaugurating an admirable system of State roads throughout all the upper portions of the State, we should be ignoring decidedly the most pregnant of the signs of promise. In adopting so well-timed and beneficent a measure, our law-givers have proved themselves worthy guardians of a commonwealth whose interests so plainly bespeak a much greater degree of wise legislation than has heretofore been wielded for her benefit. Next in importance to these wholesome measures, is the law providing for the appointment of Commissioners of Emigration--one resident here, and the other stationed in New York. Those seeking homes in the West have only to be made aware of the unequaled inducements presented by our State, to secure immense accessions to our population.

Detroit does not alone reap the benefit of her advantageous position.

It is shared by all interests, but perhaps by none others to so great an extent as the tillers of the soil. It is a most significant fact that breadstuffs and provisions not unfrequently bring as high prices here as in New York, giving producers all the advantages at home of a seaboard market, and virtually putting the cost of shipment into their pockets. Thus a farmer whose land possesses a nominal value of ten or twenty dollars per acre, can enjoy all the pecuniary advantages of a location near one of the largest eastern cities, where farms are valued at one to two hundred dollars per acre. This fact alone should go very far toward transforming our northern wilderness into cultivated fields.

As a matter of interest, and to some extent of curiosity, we present a comparative statement exhibiting the ruling prices of extra Michigan flour twice a month throughout the year, in Detroit, New York and Liverpool, and also the prices in the latter market, for the corresponding dates in the year 1858:

Liverpool, '58. Liv'L, '59. N. York, '59. Detroit, '59.

Jan. 1st. 5 76a6 74 4 80a5 04 4 95a5 15 5 00a5 12 " 15th. 5 76a6 24 4 80a5 04 5 60a5 85 5 00a5 12 Feb. 1st. 5 76a6 24 4 80a5 04 5 90a6 40 5 75a6 00 " 15th. 5 52a6 00 4 80a5 04 5 90a6 25 6 25a6 50 Mar'h 1st. 5 52a6 24 4 80a5 04 6 30a6 50 6 25a6 50 " 15th. 5 52a6 24 4 80a5 04 6 50a6 75 6 50a6 75 April 1st. 5 28a5 52 4 80a5 04 6 30a6 75 a6 75 " 15th. 5 28a5 76 4 80a5 04 6 00a6 60 a6 50 May 1st. 5 28a5 52 5 04a5 28 6 25a6 75 a6 50 " 15th. 5 28a5 52 6 00a6 24 7 30a7 85 a8 00 June 1st. 5 04a5 28 a5 76 7 00a7 40 a7 50 " 15th. 5 04a5 28 a5 76 6 70a7 05 7 12a7 25 July 1st. 5 04a5 28 a 6 00a6 50 a7 25 " 15th. 5 08a5 40 5 04a5 28 5 45a6 00 7 00a7 12 Aug. 1st. 5 28a5 40 4 80a5 52 4 90a5 50 4 75a4 87 " 15th. 5 04a5 28 5 04a5 52 4 30a4 65 4 50a4 75 Sept. 1st. 5 16a5 40 5 04a5 52 4 40a5 00 4 62a4 75 " 15th. 5 16a5 40 4 80a5 52 4 65a4 85 4 25a4 50 Oct. 1st. 5 04a5 28 5 28a5 76 4 75a5 10 4 62a4 75 " 15th. 5 04a5 28 5 28a5 76 4 80a5 20 a4 75 Nov. 1st. 5 04a5 28 5 52a6 00 5 00a5 30 a5 00 " 15th. 4 80a5 04 5 76a6 24 5 24a5 45 a5 12 Dec. 1st. 4 80a5 04 6 76a7 00 5 45a5 65 a5 12 " 15th. 4 80a5 04 6 76a7 00 5 48a5 65 a5 12

The Detroit mills manufacture excellent flour, and it is to be regretted that they are not capable of making a much larger quant.i.ty of their well-known brands. There are six flouring mills of different capacities in the city, and although they are generally at full work such is the demand for flour they make, that they are very often not able to supply their customers. These mills ought to be enlarged, or others built. Detroit, the commercial metropolis of a great wheat-growing State, should be capable of manufacturing an immense quant.i.ty of flour. The increased expenditure of money, in the purchase of wheat, would be very beneficial to the trade of the city.

For the last fifteen years, the exports of breadstuffs from the United States have fluctuated very much. In 1846 they amounted to nearly twenty-eight millions of dollars, and rose in 1847 to sixty-nine millions. In 1848 they fell to thirty-seven, and in 1852 to twenty-six millions. In 1853 they amounted to nearly thirty-three millions, and in 1854 they rose to about sixty-millions, but fell in 1855 to about thirty-nine millions, and again rose in 1857 to seventy-seven millions. In 1858 they again declined to about fifty millions. We cannot accurately detail the exports of 1859, but they have been very light on account of fall in the European market, after the termination of the war in Italy. During these years there were various causes for the remarkable fluctuations which we have noted; namely, famine in Ireland, the Crimean war, and the failures of the harvest at home and abroad, nor have these exportations been regularly divided or spread over the various months of each year. They have increased or diminished according to the European demand, governed by the supply at home and regulated by advices from the other side of the Atlantic. It is likely that the export of breadstuffs in 1860 will be very considerable.

Michigan possesses many advantages over her sister States, and these enable her to bear up against monetary panics better than they. Her immense length of lake coast is indented with excellent harbors, which invite commerce from every quarter, and furnish excellent outlets for her surplus produce or mineral wealth. The great and diversified resources of the State support her in the evil day, and bring her through a commercial crisis in safety. From the ushering in of the year to the close, there is not a day in which the marts of commerce are not enlivened by the contributions of grain or live stock from our fields, fish from our lakes, lumber from our forests, or ores of various kinds from our inexhaustible mines.

According to the census returns of 1840, the State of Michigan produced 2,157,108 bushels of wheat, there were 190 flouring mills at work, employing 491 hands, and producing 202,880 barrels of flour annually. In 1853 this State produced 7,275,032 bushels of wheat, there were 245 flouring mills at work, employing 604 persons, and manufacturing 1,000,000 barrels of flour in a year. It will be seen that the flouring mills have increased greatly both in number and capacity since 1840, and that very large quant.i.ties of flour are now manufactured in the interior of the State, a circ.u.mstance which partly accounts for the comparatively small quant.i.ty of wheat that is now exported. The number of flouring mills have doubtless increased since 1853, and as steam power has been applied in many instances their manufacturing capacity must now be very great. Farmers are beginning to understand the importance of disposing of their produce near home, and having the surplus exported in a manufactured state, instead of sending away the raw material; the bran and "shorts" being very valuable for mixing with the food of horses, cattle, and swine. A flouring mill is a great benefit in a rural district, it furnishes the farmer with a home market, and when he receives the price of his produce, there are many domestic wants which must be supplied, and on this account we always see stores and mechanics' shops cl.u.s.tering around a mill, and villages springing up in places where the solitude of the forest was, until lately, unbroken by a sound. It is evident that the mill power of Michigan is increasing rapidly, and that in future the greater part of the surplus grain crop will be exported in a manufactured state.

In former years the prices of grain in the United States were controlled by the European markets, and consequently the grain trade of the Western States was governed by the produce merchants in the Atlantic ports, but lately the whole order of things seems to have been reversed, as breadstuffs of every kind were dearer in the Western than in the Eastern markets. There were several reasons for this anomaly. On account of the ravages of insects, and other causes which we have alluded to, farmers were induced to place very little reliance on the wheat crop, and many were driven into other branches of husbandry, and in some places wheat became scarce. Add to this the rapid increase of the population which created a local demand for all kinds of food, and caused immense quant.i.ties of breadstuffs to be required in places where a few years before there was no market for anything. The rapid and extraordinary growth of Detroit and all the Western cities, and the formation of new settlements, created a home market for Western produce, for the population of cities being consumers of the fruits of the land, instead of producers, have always a wonderful effect on the markets of their localities, and the pioneers in the forest or prairie must for a time depend on the older settlements for subsistence.

From a defective system of agriculture the soil of the old States has been deteriorating for several years. In Ma.s.sachusetts the hay crop declined twelve per cent. from 1840 to 1850, notwithstanding the addition of 90,000 acres of mowing lands and the grain crop depreciated 6000 bushels, although no less than 6000 acres had been added to the tillage lands of that State.

In 1840 the wheat crop of New York was about twelve and a quarter millions of bushels, and only nine millions in 1850, a decrease of 25 per cent., while the Indian corn in the same State increased during the same period from about ten to twenty millions of bushels. The harvest of 1859, found several parts of the country entirely dest.i.tute of flour, and the farmers with a fixed and firm determination never again to allow themselves to run out of the staff of life.

The number and capacity of the flouring mills have increased considerably since 1853, so that it is probable that there are at present more than three hundred of them at work in the State, and the number of hands employed by them cannot be much less than twelve hundred. It is probable that they are now capable of manufacturing 1,25,000 barrels of flour annually, and this quant.i.ty would require 5,625,000 bushels of wheat. Add to this the large quant.i.ty of seed required for sowing an increased breadth of land, and the portion of the crop kept for domestic use, and the result will be sufficient to explain the reason why so little wheat has been exported from Michigan this season. There are about 50,000 families in this State who depend on agriculture for subsistence; all of these had suffered more or less inconvenience from failure of the wheat crop, and the high price of flour for the last few years, and it is no wonder that they should endeavor to secure a full supply of wheat or flour of the produce of the late harvest, and a very large portion of the crop was disposed of in this way.

Since the Reciprocity Treaty came into operation, there has been considerable exportation of flour from Detroit to Canada on account of the repeated failures of the wheat crop in that country, and thus a new market for Michigan produce has been opened near home.

Some of these sources of demand are trifling when standing alone, but the aggregate makes a very large amount. It is considered that about half the produce of the wheat crop still remains in the hands of the farmers and may be expected to reach the market gradually.

Michigan wants woolen and cotton, and various other factories to provide employment for the over-crowded population of her cities and villages, and to open a market for all her produce. The farmers of Great Britain and Ireland could not pay the high rents and taxes which are imposed on them, were it not for their proximity to the great manufacturing cities of England. The cotton factories of Manchester, the woolen factories of Leeds and Huddersfield, the hardware works of Birmingham and Sheffield, and the potteries of Staffordshire, employ hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, who consume the fruits of the soil, and create a steady demand for the farmer's stock and grain. All these manufactures were fostered by protective laws until they had attained a magnitude and importance which enabled them to protect themselves by the wealth of their proprietors and the excellence of their products. Large cities always afford a market for farm produce, and on this account exert a very beneficial influence on agriculture. The population of London is about two and a half millions, and they are possessed of so much wealth, and are so fastidious in their requirements, that almost every part of the world contributes to supply them with the necessaries or luxuries of life.

The rapid growth of the cities of Michigan afford a home market for the fruits of the soil. A great deal of land in the old settlements of this State has been exhausted by a too frequent repet.i.tion of the wheat crop, and is now being employed as pasture for sheep and cattle. After remaining in gra.s.s for a few years, this land will be in excellent condition for producing wheat, especially when fertilized with that plentiful supply of barn-yard dung which the raising of stock always produces.

There are some varieties of wheat which are much better suited to the climate and soil of Michigan than others, as they are in a great measure able to withstand the combined attacks of wheat insects and the various diseases to which the plant is liable. These are now fast supplanting the worn out grain, and as every malady has its cure or preventive, it is probable that the introduction of the best kind of seeds, the alternation between gra.s.s and tillage, and the supply of rich manure which the raising of stock creates will have a very great tendency to improve the wheat crop of this State.

It is remarkable fact although the wheat crop has rather declined in the majority of States, the corn crop has steadily increased in all of them. Thus in 1840, the entire corn crop of the United States amounted to 400,000,000 of bushels; in 1850 it was nearly 600,000,000, of bushels. The crop of 1855 was between 7 and 800,000,000 and that of 1858 was fully 800,000,000 of bushels. Taking into consideration the large breath of land planted in 1859 and the damage by frost, we might with safety set down the crop as amounting to 800,000,000 bushels.

Last year our importations from Indiana were large, but since the new crop came in, that State has been shipping largely toward the Ohio river, and we get comparatively little. The immense distilleries of Cincinnati consume a very large quant.i.ty of corn annually, and Indiana is beginning to find a good market in that quarter. The demand for Michigan corn is always active on account of its excellent milling qualities, and on this account it generally sells from wagons as high, or a shade higher than the outside figure for Western corn from store.

The corn crop of Illinois has been much injured by the frosts of June and July, and on this account the receipts in Chicago up to this date have been much lighter than usual. The European potato crop has been greatly damaged by rot, and it is probable that a large export of corn will take place from this country in order to supply a deficiency occasioned by this failure. It is said that several New York capitalists have gone west and purchased corn and provisions, storing them up until next spring, antic.i.p.ating at that time a considerable advance in price. The generality of farmers have sorted their corn carefully this year and used up the unripe and inferior part for feeding hogs and cattle: there is a large quant.i.ty of very good corn in the country, which will no doubt command a good price in the spring.

Indian corn is one of the staple productions of Michigan, and can be raised with success in any suitable soil in the lower peninsula.

According to the statistics of 1850 this State produced nearly 6,000,000 of bushels that year. It is probable that the census of the present year will show a vast increase in the amount. In 1850 the value of this crop in all the States amounted to nearly $300,000,000, being about equal to the united values of the wheat, hay, and cotton crops, and it has perhaps doubled since that date. In fact the value of the corn crop to Michigan and all the other States can not be estimated, as it is much used for the food of man and all the domestic animals, and to it the American farmer is indebted for much of his prosperity, for without it he would not be able to bring his cattle and hogs into the market at the right time and in proper condition.

Heretofore the amount of pork packed has always been insufficient to meet the demand, and the deficiency has been supplied by importations from other cities, chiefly from Cincinnati. This season not only has there been a considerable increase in the number packed, but the market opens a great deal duller than last year, when the Canada trade and the building of the Detroit and Port Huron link of the Grand Trunk Railway induced a fair demand.

Cincinnati is the greatest provision market on the continent or in the world. At that place speculation has been quite rife for the past two or three years, operators obtaining a controlling interest in the stock for the purpose of putting up prices. Last year the plan did not work well, owing to various causes, one of which was the small number of works in progress, such as railroads, etc., the supply of the laborers upon such works, being the life of the provision trade.

Heavy losses were sustained, but it is said that the sufferers were a different cla.s.s from that regularly engaged in the trade. This season the speculative fever has again prevailed. The issue has yet to be revealed.

Last year nearly 1,000 head of cattle were slaughtered here, all of which were forwarded to Lake Superior as soon as packed. The price of mess beef has ranged from $8.50 to $12.00. About the first of July prices reached their highest point. During the fall the range has been from $8.50 to $10.00.

When the marshy lands, skirting our watercourses in St. Clair, Macomb, Wayne, and Monroe counties, shall have been drained, (which will, no doubt, be consummated at no distant day,) a large tract will be rendered available for grazing, which will prove equal for that purpose to any in the Union. b.u.t.ter and cheese will then become a leading article in our commerce.

Potatoes const.i.tute another of our staple products, and, in seasons of scarcity elsewhere, large purchases are made for shipment, but being generally based on present demand, they can hardly be called speculative. The crop of 1857 was rather meagre, and last spring and summer prices ruled high, going up to $1.20 for a short time in June.

Last year we had an abundant crop, since which, under a limited export demand, prices have ruled low. The receipts at this point, from all sources, did not vary greatly from 175,000 bushels, of which 80,500 bushels were exported, chiefly to Ohio and the upper country.

It is claimed, that southern Michigan produces more fine fruit than any other locality of the same extent in the United States, if not on the globe. At the same time almost every quarter of the State is constantly improving both in quality and quant.i.ty. This fact is creditable to the sagacity of our agriculturists, for probably in nothing else can an equal amount of profit be realized with the same outlay.

Our market is not an important one for live stock, much of the greater share of the receipts by rail being through freight. Our wholesale market is mainly governed by that at the East, buyers for shipment are always on the look-out, and whenever anything can be purchased that affords even a moderate margin, it is promptly taken. Extra cattle are always sought for by our butchers, and command full rates. A spirit of emulation on the subject of fine stock is pervading the minds of our farmers, and, as a consequence, its quality is rapidly improving. At the last State Fair, the display of cattle was such as to elicit the admiration of good judges from abroad. There are so many interests claiming the attention of our agriculturists, that the idea of becoming famous as to _quant.i.ty_, is perhaps precluded; if so, they may well rest content in the attainment of high rank in point of _quality_.

The raising of fine sheep is constantly attracting more and more attention, and from the progress already made by our State, she bids fair at no distant day to take a position in advance of all her sister States.

The year 1859 opened with rather flattering prospects for wool-growers. The last year's stock was nearly exhausted before the new clip came into the market. Prices of woolen fabrics were advancing, and bid fair to rule high. On the eve of the wool season prices declined in the Eastern markets, although there was no particular reason for this unfavorable turn. It was considered at the time, that the fall in prices was occasioned by a regular combination among buyers to break down the market. The news of the pa.s.sage of the Ticino by the Austrians, and the actual commencement of hostilities in Italy, arrived in this country before the wool was brought into the market, and this circ.u.mstance was seized on as a pretext for lowering the price of the new clip. Buyers were very industrious in circulating reports that a general European war was commencing, and, as it was not known how affairs would terminate, it would be unsafe for American buyers to make investments in the wool trade, except at prices that would leave a large margin for profit. It was fortunate that farmers did not take the same view of transatlantic complications, for they refused to sell except at remunerating prices, a decision which caused some of the Eastern buyers to retire from the market in disgust.

Almost the entire press of Michigan supported the views of the farmers on this occasion, and declared that they could see no reason why the war in Italy should affect the prices of wool in America, especially as all the domestic clip, and a very large quant.i.ty of foreign wool would be manufactured in this country. Michigan produces excellent wool. There are numerous flocks of French, Spanish, and Saxon Merinos in this State, which have been selected or bred with the greatest care, and the wool produced by them cannot be surpa.s.sed in any of the Western States. There are also flocks of coa.r.s.e-wooled sheep which produce heavy fleeces, and when fattened for the butcher make excellent mutton. In 1840 the wool clip of this State was about 150,000 lbs., in 1850 something over 2,000,000 lbs., and 1859 it amounted to nearly 4,000,000 lbs. It will be seen by these figures that it has nearly doubled during the last nine years. There are but few woolen manufactories in Michigan, and the most of the wool clip of this State is purchased by Eastern manufacturers. A considerable portion of it goes to Boston and other parts of Ma.s.sachusetts. We want a large woolen factory in Detroit, where everything that is necessary for its operation can be easily procured. We want more manufactories of every kind in Michigan.

Our city is largely interested in the shipping business, and its trade gives employment to a larger number of side-wheel steamboat lines than any other three cities on the entire chain of lakes. During the last season, the following regular lines of steamers were in successful operation:

Detroit and Cleveland.

Detroit and Toledo.

Detroit and Sandusky.

Detroit and Saginaw.

Detroit and New Baltimore.

Detroit and Maiden.

Detroit, G. Bay and Buffalo.

Detroit and Lake Superior.

Detroit and Port Huron.

Detroit and Chatham.

Detroit and Wallaceburg.

Detroit and Gibraltar.

Two of the above routes sustain opposition lines, and to the list might be added the line of lake steamers to Buffalo, and the line to G.o.derich, which though not run last year, will probably be in successful operation the coming season, making in all sixteen lines.