It is significant that the late financial revulsion, which fell with such crushing weight upon the shipping interest all over the country did not occasion the withdrawal of any of our steamboat lines, save one. As a still more striking fact, we may state that until last season none of the cities located in the vast region between the foot of Lake Michigan and the foot of Lake Erie, has for many years past supported a single line of steamers that did not make Detroit a terminus. Last year a line was put in successful operation between Buffalo and Cleveland, and another between the latter place and Toledo, but it ought to be added that both of these were established by Detroit enterprise.

In addition to the line above enumerated, we have daily lines of propellers to Ogdensburg, Buffalo, Dunkirk and to the Upper Lakes, which do an immense freighting business.

We are indebted to Captain J. H. Hall, the public-spirited proprietor of the Detroit shipping-office for following statement of the number of vessels that pa.s.sed Detroit in 1859:

_Number of Vessels pa.s.sing Detroit, 1859._

No. Times.

Steamers pa.s.sed up, 194 Propellers, " 492 Barks, " 273 Brigs, " 295 Schooners, " 1,811 ----- Total number up, 3,065

No. Times.

Steamers pa.s.sed down, 195 Propellers, " 503 Barks, " 284 Brigs, " 314 Schooners, " 1,825 ----- Total number down, 3,121

Greatest number pa.s.sed up in one day, eighty-five; greatest number down, seventy-three.

The number of entries and clearances reported at the Custom House during the year is as follows:

Arrived. Cl'd.

Jan. 48 70 Feb. 49 71 March 161 288 April 334 375 May 438 586 June 458 568 July 403 597 Aug. 461 519 Sept. 316 481 Oct. 288 319 Nov. 294 316 Dec. 45 71

During the past year the amount of total losses has been light, not greater, probably, than the number of vessels built, so that although the cla.s.sification is slightly changed, there is no material change so far as concerns the aggregate tonnage. Detroit owns, therefore, _nearly one-sixth of the entire tonnage of the lakes_.

As a matter of some interest we present a comparative statement showing the tonnage, steam, and total, of a number of the more important maritime places in the country, taken from the report of the Register of the Treasury on Commerce and Navigation:

Steam tonnage. Total tonnage.

New York 118,638 1,432,705 New Orleans 70,072 210,411 Philadelphia 22,892 219,851 Baltimore 18,821 194,488 Pittsburg 42,474 56,824 Cincinnati 23,136 26,541 Chicago 8,151 67,001 St. Louis 55,515 61,266 Boston 9,452 448,896 Buffalo 42,640 73,478 Detroit 35,266 62,485 Charleston, S. C. 8,230 60,196

The following exhibits the number and tonnage of vessels owned in this district--nearly all of them in this city--on the 31st of December, 1859:

Number Tons. 95ths Steamers 73 29,175 02 Propellers 32 6,090 81 Barks 4 1,337 08 Brigs 7 1,877 75 Schooners 131 19,671 56 Scows and all others 136 4,322 68 --- ------ -- Total 383 62,485 05 In 1857 301 52,991 50 --- ------ -- Increase in two years 82 9,493 50

The following was the aggregate tonnage of the lakes in December 1858:

AMERICAN.

69 Side-wheel steamers register tons 44,562 110 Propellers do. 45,562 70 Tugs (propellers) do. 6,880 46 Barks do. 18,788 79 Brigs do. 22,558 711 Schooners do. 166,725 109 Scows do. 11,848 ---- ------- 1194 Total 316,923

CANADIAN.

67 Side-wheel steamers, register tons 25,966 16 Propellers do. 4,631 4 Tugs (propellers) do. 388 19 Barks do. 5,697 16 Brigs do. 2,988 186 Schooners do. 19,311 13 Scows do. 609 ---- ------- 321 Total 59,580

The Michigan Central was the first railroad built in the State, and since its completion has been known as one of the best managed in the West. Its beneficial effects to the region of country through which it pa.s.ses, is incalculable. On its line, have sprung up a number of beautiful towns and villages as if by magic, while many of those that had an existence prior to its construction have grown into flourishing cities. Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Marshall, Battle Creek, Albion, Kalamazoo, Niles, and others that might properly be included, all located upon this road, are beautiful places, noted for their thrift and enterprise as well as for their rapid advances in all that pertains to well-regulated cities. Their commerce is rapidly increasing and the country along the entire route will vie with that traversed by the great thoroughfares of any of the older States along the seaboard.

The Central was commenced and partially built by the State, but in 1844, pa.s.sed into the possession of the company now owning it, who completed it to Chicago. A telegraph line has been in use for some years past along the entire line of the road, with an office at each station, by which means the exact position of each train may be at all times known at each and every point. To this admirable system may be attributed in a very great degree the extraordinary exemption of the road from serious accidents, while its advantages are very great in every point of view respecting the general management. The eastern terminus of the road being at Detroit, it has the full advantages of the numerous connections at this point, the Great Western and Grand Trunk Railways, the important steamboat route from Cleveland, the lines of Detroit and Buffalo propellers with their immense freight traffic, as well as the numerous other steamboat routes of which our city is the nucleus. At Chicago it has the advantages of connection with all the roads radiating from that flourishing city. Freight is now taken from Chicago to Portland without breaking bulk but once. An important "feeder" is the Joliet Cut-off, by means of which it has a direct connection with St. Louis, via the Chicago, Alton, and St.

Louis Railroad. An important arrangement was consummated last summer with the latter road, for the direct transmission of freight between this city and St. Louis. Fifty cars have been diverted to this route, under the name of the "Detroit and St. Louis Through Freight Line."

The time between the two cities is thirty-eight hours. The advantages of this line to shippers are very considerable, and the arrangement is adding, and will continue to add, materially to the commerce of our city.

A commendable progressive spirit has latterly been evinced by the managers generally, of our railroads, in the transmission of freight, especially live stock and grain. The improvement is a most grateful one to shippers, who have ordinarily quite enough anxiety and vexation to suffer in the fluctuations of the market and subjection to unlooked for and onerous charges, without having superadded unreasonable exposure and deterioration of their property while en route to market.

In this movement the management of the Central has fully sympathized.

Their stock and grain cars have received high commendations from those for whose benefit they were intended. The entire equipment of the road is such as to comport with them; the safety, comfort and convenience of the public, being constantly kept in view, regardless of the cost incurred.

The three staunch and magnificent steamers belonging to the company, the Plymouth Rock, Western World and Mississippi, owing to the hard times have been laid up at their dock since the fall of 1857, to the great regret of the public generally, as well as to the detriment of the business interest of our city. With the return of a more prosperous era they will doubtless be again placed in commission. The line formed by these boats is the most pleasant and expeditious medium of communication between the East and the West and Southwest, and cannot fail to be well patronized, especially now that the Dayton and Michigan Railroad is completed, which will bring a large amount of both freight and pa.s.senger traffic by way of Detroit that formerly sought other routes.

The rolling stock now on the road consists of ninety-eight engines, seventy first cla.s.s pa.s.senger cars, twelve second cla.s.s cars; twenty-nine baggage cars, and two thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight freight cars, making a total of two thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine cars and all of which were built in the company's own shops.

This road is one hundred and eighty-eight miles long, and has been in operation throughout its whole extent since November, 1858. It is deserving of the distinctive appellation of the _Back Bone Road of Michigan_, having been of incalculable value in developing the resources of the region through which it is located, decidedly one of the richest and most important in the West. The princ.i.p.al towns and cities upon its line are Pontiac, Fentonville, St. Johns, Ionia, Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. The growth of these places has received a great impetus since its completion, while numerous villages have also sprung into being as if by magic at various points along the line.

These changes are plainly visible in the improved trade of our city, and the increase from the same cause, must continue to be strongly marked. Last season over one-fourth of the wheat and wool received here was by this new route, and a number of vessels loaded at the company's n.o.ble and s.p.a.cious wharf for European ports direct.

Within the year past, the company have completed one of the finest railway wharves in the world. It is 1,500 feet long by 90 broad, the west end of which is occupied by the freight house, the dimensions of which are 450 by 132 feet.

One of the most important events to Detroit and the entire West, that has transpired for many years, is the completion of this great thoroughfare. The link from Port Huron to this city was opened to traffic on the 21st of November, since which date the businesses crowding upon it has fully equaled its capacity. It is the Minerva of railways, having reached at a single bound a condition of prosperity outrivaling many of the oldest established roads on the continent.

It possesses important advantages over any other road both for freight and pa.s.senger traffic. Being of uniform gauge, no change of cars will be necessary from Sarnia to Portland; and being also under the management of one corporation, it affords better facilities for the protection of pa.s.sengers and the preservation of their baggage than where they are required to pa.s.s over lines under the control of different and perhaps conflicting corporations. Having only one set of officers quartered upon its exchequer, it can afford to do business at lower proportionate rates, than a number of shorter lines, each having a different set to salary, while the delay and vexation which not unfrequently arise from short routes, being compelled to wait upon each other's movements, will all be avoided, which is certainly no small consideration both to pa.s.sengers and shippers.

The harbor of Portland is one of the finest and most eligible in the world, and our immediate connection with a point of such importance is of itself a matter deserving particular mention. Portland district, as appears by the official statement of the tonnage of the United States, made to June, 1857, then owned 145,242 tons of shipping, being the ninth port in the Union in point of tonnage; she is very largely interested in the West India trade, her annual imports of mola.s.ses exceeding those of any port in the United States. She offers, therefore, to the Western States, peculiar facilities for procuring at a cheap rate the products of the West Indies. The harbor is without any bar, and so easy of access that no pilots are required, and strangers, with the sailing directions given in the American Coast Pilot, have brought their ships into it with safety. There are no port charges, harbor dues, or light-house fees, excepting the official custom house fees.

The Grand Trunk Railway is likely to become the avenue through which an immense tide of immigration will pour into Michigan. It will be a favorite route for emigrants, who will thus avoid the rascally impositions of the swindlers and Peter Funks of New York, who have given that city an unenviable notoriety throughout the world. It is predicted that more immigrants will hereafter come by the new route than by all others put together. There is no valid reason why this prediction should not prove strictly true. This is therefore a matter likely to be of vast importance to our State, with a large share of her territory as yet an unbroken wild, offering tempting inducements to the hardy settler.

The completion of this stupendous bond of connection between the Eastern and Western States, Canada and Europe, will render markets available which were before difficult of access, and enable far-distant countries to exchange their products at all seasons. The Grand Trunk may be called the first section of the PACIFIC RAILROAD, as it already communicates with the Mississippi through Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin Railroads, and we expect to see the line completed from the Mississippi to California. It is not easy to form an estimate of the amount of traffic and intercourse that the 1,150 miles of Grand Trunk Railway will bring to Michigan and the neighboring States. A junction has been already formed with that model of western lines the Michigan Central by which freight and pa.s.sengers reach Chicago and the numerous lines which diverge from that great commercial city. It is probable that another junction will be made with the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway by means of a branch from Port Huron to Owa.s.so. In this case there will be a direct line across Michigan connecting with the Milwaukee railroads by the ferry across the lake, and penetrating into Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Oregon by lines which have not yet been traced on the railway maps of the United States.

The ostensible western terminus of this road is at Windsor, opposite our city, but it is practically as much a Detroit road as any that can be named. The connections with the other routes centering here is made by a number of ferry boats of the most staunch and powerful description. The receipts by this route of general merchandise consigned to the cities and points westward of us is immense, and it enjoys a large and growing local traffic.

The main line of the Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Railroad, which taps a rich and important portion of Michigan, is 461 miles in length. The business on this line has recently shown a decided improvement.

The D. and T. Road, which is 65 miles in length, was opened to traffic in January 1857. It was built by the "Detroit, Monroe, and Toledo Railroad Company," who leased it to the Michigan Southern Road. It is now an important link in the great railway system extending from the East to the Great Southwest, of which system, Detroit, from its favorable position, has become the centre and soul. Since the opening of the Grand Trunk, in November, a large amount of freight has pa.s.sed through, billed for Liverpool direct, a species of freight which must steadily increase.

L. P. Knight is agent at Detroit. The office is in the depot building of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway.

The Dayton and Michigan Railroad was completed last fall, placing us within a few hours' ride of the Queen City of the West. This is justly regarded as a most important route to our city, and will develop new features to some of our leading business interests. The consumer of our State will have the benefit of lower prices for the products of Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and the West Indies. The want of direct communication between Detroit and New Orleans has long been felt. Sugars and mola.s.ses can now be laid down here for fifty cents per 100 lbs., including all charges from New Orleans, via the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and D. and M. Railway, giving us, in a word, the benefits of as low freights in winter as in summer. With the cost of transportation thus reduced to a merely nominal standard, prices of Southern products will be upon an average no higher here than in Louisville. It is more than probable, nay, quite certain, that the advantages which must ultimately accrue to the State from our connection with Cincinnati _per se_, if not so general, will be even more marked and important than those to which we have above referred.

The prices of provisions will be equalized, giving our lumbermen and miners the benefit of reduced rates throughout most of the year, and when speculation is rampant, and the price of pork, the great staple of our neighbors, reaches an extreme figure--as has been the case for two successive seasons, and will be the case again--our farmers will reap the benefit of the movement. The growth of Cincinnati is altogether without parallel in the world, taking into account the character of that growth--its _quality_, so to speak. All its great interests, particularly its manufactures, have kept pace with its numerical increase. It is indeed difficult to determine whether manufactures or commerce is most intimately identified with its prosperity. The connection with her will give us new and desirable customers for some of our surplus products, particularly our choice lumber.

The entire line of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, as located, is 172-1/2 miles; track laid and completed, 7-3/4 miles; additional length graded 24-1/2 miles, the ties for which have all been delivered.

It is thought that hereafter twenty miles per year will be completed without difficulty until the whole is completed. This road will be important in developing the resources of a very rich tract of country.

On the line of Amboy, Lansing, and Grand Traverse Railroad, the entire distance from Owa.s.so to Lansing, twenty-six miles, is ready for the iron, except three miles. On the division from Lansing to Albion, thirty-six miles, the work of grading and furnishing ties is progressing, and some one hundred men at work. Between Owa.s.so and Saginaw, thirty-three miles, arrangements are nearly completed to start the work. The work of grading and preparing for the iron is done by local subscriptions, of which $3,000 per mile has been subscribed and is being paid.

The existence of copper on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior appears to have been known to the earliest travelers, but it has been only a few years since it has entered largely into Western commerce. But the country had long been a favorite resort for fur traders, and as long ago as 1809, and perhaps still further back, the Northwest Company (British) owned vessels on Lake Superior. This organization was at that period the great trading company of the region in question, the operations of the Hudson's Bay Company being confined chiefly to the region further north. At the period of which we speak, the bulk of the trading was done by means of birch canoes, some of them large enough to carry two or three tons. With these, the traders pa.s.sed up to the Indian settlements in the fall, with goods, provisions, and trinkets, usually returning to the trading posts during the month of June with the furs which they had procured in exchange. Mackinac and the Saut were trading posts at an early day. At a somewhat later period, the Northwest Company had an agency on an island in Lake Huron, not far from the month of Saut river. The formation of the American Fur Company was of more recent date, that company dating its origin during the war of 1812, or soon after.

Prior to the building of the ca.n.a.l, a number of steamers had been taken over the portage to Lake Superior, but so far as our knowledge extends, only one or two craft larger than a canoe were ever taken over the rapids, one of which was the schooner Mink. She was built of red cedar, on Lake Superior, about the year 1816, and was of some forty tons burden. She became the property of Mack & Conant, who had her brought down the rapids. In making the descent she suffered some injury by striking against a rock, but, notwithstanding this mishap, she lived long enough to ride out many a stormy sea, running for several years in the trade between Buffalo and the City of the Straits. Shubael Conant, Esq., at this day an honored citizen of Detroit, was one of the firm that purchased the Mink.

In the spring of 1845, the fleet on Lake Superior consisted of the schooner White Fish, belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, the Siscowit, belonging to the American Fur Company, and the Algonquin, owned by a Mr. Mendenhall. The same year the schooners Napoleon, Swallow, Uncle Tom, Merchant, Chippewa, Ocean, and Fur Trader, were all added. In 1845, the propeller Independence, the first steamer that ever floated on Lake Superior, was taken across the portage, and the next year the Julia Palmer followed her, she being the first side-wheel steamer. In the winter of 1848-9, the schooner Napoleon was converted into a propeller. In 1850, the propeller Manhattan was hauled over by the Messrs. Turner, and the Monticello in 1851, by Col.

McKnight. The latter was lost the same fall, and Col. McK. supplied her place the next winter with the Baltimore. In 1853 or 1854, E. B.

Ward took over the Sam Ward, and Col. McKnight took the propeller Peninsula over in the winter of 1852 or 1853.

In the spring of 1855, the Saut Ca.n.a.l was completed, since which date the trade with that important region has rapidly grown into commanding importance. It will be seen by the table below that the importations of machinery, provisions, supplies, and merchandise, for the past year amounted to $5,298,640, while the exports of copper, iron, fur and fish amount to $3,071,069.

The following are the names of the steam craft now regularly employed in this trade:

S. B. Illinois. Prop. Mineral Rock.