Thus it appears, comparing 1836 with 1843, that while the increased delivery, at tide-water, of flour and wheat, is about 123,000 tons, the increase from the western states is about 132,000 tons. It will be seen that the products of this state, in 1840, exceed those of either of the three subsequent years, while the products of the western states steadily increase. In the official report from which we have derived the information embraced in the present article, the inquiry is instituted, "Is the increase of tolls on the canals, in the products of this state, or in the products of the western states?" To answer this question, sundry tables and statements are presented, from which we derive the following particulars: The tolls collected at Albany and West Troy, in each of the last ten years, on merchandise going from tide-water, and at Buffalo and Black Rock, on the products of western states going towards tidewater, is as follows: : The following table is given as the result of the canal commissioners' statement. The tolls of the Erie canal, for the last ten years, have been paid as follows: It will be understood that these are results of the Erie canal alone, distinct from any other canals. If they are a correct criterion for the future, the tolls of the Erie canal, on the products of this state, have reached their maximum; and an increase of tolls on that canal is to depend on an increase of products from the western states. The increase at Oswego is known to be mostly, if not wholly, on products from western states. in the last five years in the tolls of the lateral canals, on the "products of this The results of the foregoing statements, for all the canals, is then as follows: These results show one of two things-either that the agriculture of this state suffers from a competition with the cheap and fertile lands of the western states, which seek through the Erie canal a market for their surplus productions; or that, as a country penetrated by canals becomes more densely populated, an internal demand grows up for productions which, at an earlier period, were sent to the sea-board. Both propositions may be, and to a certain extent, probably are, true. From the facilities of transportation, the states around the lakes, with lands to be procured at from two to ten dollars per acre, must continue to compete with the lands of New York, until they shall approximate nearly to an equality in value. That this is to be done rather by the depreciation of the value of the lands in this state, than by the increase of the value of the land in those states, follows from the almost incalculable quantity of fertile lands in those states, in easy and cheap communication with the lakes; and which, so far, have sought a market through the Erie canal. Number of Canal Boats.-It has always been a matter of uncertainty how many canal boats were in existence at any one period. The register of boats kept in this department shows some 5000 boats. A conviction that this was much beyond the actual number of boats, led to the steps to procure an accurate list. The number, character, and tonnage of the boats, as shown by the table, are as follows. A column of value has been given, as obtained from an intelligent forwarder : It will be noticed that scow-boats, covered and not covered, are a majority, both in number and tonnage, of all the boats on the canals. Among the reasons for this, is the falling off of the passenger business on the Erie canal, in consequence of the continuous line of railroad from Albany to Buffalo. This has changed the construction of boats from the "line-boat" form, which has accommodations for passengers, to the "scow," the "lake," and the "bull-head" form, which carry only freight. The total miles run in each year by all boats, is as follows: : 17,280 1841 ARTICLES. MANUFACTURES. Furs and peltry......lbs. 1,180,000 358,700 635,809 ......... .M. 46,385 Wood...............cords 21,408 quantity. quantity. quantity. 1841 1842 1843 lbs. 17,596 Pig iron ..... ....tons! 28,385 Bar and pig lead......do. Ashes............... bbls. ....do. 43,093 Cheese ..............lbs. 14,171,081 19,004,613 24,336,260 Butter and lard.......do. 16,157,653 19,182,930 24,215,700 OTHER ARTICLES. 44,824 77,739 Iron ware... ..do. 212 cottons ..........do. 574 844 79,235 21,437 2,729 3,651 975 15,506 201 3,617,075 3,255,148 1,667,492 781,055 119,762 1,577,555 6,216,400 Stone, lime, and clay.tons 12,863 60 ... 758,597 Mineral coal..........do. 8,045 PROPERTY and Value cleared at Albany and Troy, on the Erie and Champlain canals. The progress of business is here very great, particularly in agricultural products, of which the quantities have enormously increased. The value has, however, not increased in proportion to the quantity. The tonnage and value of agriculture in each year was as follows: The valuations are those of the prices in Albany, at the time of their arrival. It will be observed that the decline in aggregate value is about thirty per cent since 1841, which was a year of comparatively good business. This large decline in the money value of that which constitutes the chief means of the people of the United States, is an insuperable bar to an extended business, more especially when we consider the contracted state of bank credits. COMMERCE OF THE AMERICAN LAKES. Before the conquest of Canada in 1759, the commerce of the lakes was carried on merely on account of the fur trade, and although settlements extended thinly and gradually along their banks after the American revolution, yet the supplying the fur traders with provisions and other articles, and the settlers with necessary goods and implements, and bringing down either to Montreal or New York, furs and such other produce as was collected, constituted the trade until 1830-32. This was especially the state of the trade north and west of Detroit. In 1819, a steamboat, called Walk-in-the-Water, appeared on Lake Erie, made a trip as far as Mackinaw, or Machittinack, to carry up the American Fur Company's goods, and annually repeated the same voyage until she was wrecked near Buffalo, in November, 1821. Her place was then supplied by the steamboat Superior (now the ship Superior), in 1822. This boat made similar voyages to Mackinaw. In 1826 and 1827, a steamboat made an excursion with a party of pleasure to Green bay, Lake Michigan. These pleasure excursions were annually made by two or three boats until the year 1832, when the government required the transportation of troops and supplies for the Black Hawk Indian war, and steamboats were chartered by the government, and proceeded to Chicago, then an open roadstead, exposed to northerly storms, for the whole length of Lake Michigan. In 1833, there were employed eleven steamboats, which carried to and from Buffalo and other ports on the lakes, during the open season, 61,485 passengers, from whom and for freight the projectors received the sum of 229,212 dollars 69 cents as an offset against the cost of about 300,000 dollars for the steamers. Of the passengers carried, 42,956 were taken from Buffalo, bound west; the remaining 18,529 passengers were all landed at Buffalo, and distributed at the different ports along the lake. Three trips were made to the upper lakes, two to Chicago, and one to Green bay; one of the boats left Buffalo on the 23rd of June, at 9 P. M., and returned on the 18th day of July, at 10 P. M. The other left Buffalo the 20th day of July, at 4 P. M., and returned August the 11th. In 1834, the association was continued, and was composed of eighteen steamboats, which plied on the lake. In 1836, the steamboat association formed in 1833, was dissolved; the number of steamboats increased, as did the business. But from a general suspension of specie payments by the banks occurring in May, 1837, a less number, or at least no greater number, of passengers crossed the lakes in either 1837 or 1838, than in 1836; and a great decrease of goods going west, also had a tendency to diminish the business of those years. In 1839, the owners of steamboats finding the number of boats, and the amount of capital employed in the business, so much greater than the trade could maintain, formed a new association, by which part of the boats were run, and a part laid up. A regular line of eight boats was formed to run from Buffalo to Chicago, making a trip to Detroit every sixteen days. Emigrants, with their household furniture and farming implements, and others going west, gave these steamboats employment. In 1840, this steamboat association employed more boats than that of 1839. This year the number of boats on Lake Erie was forty-eight, of various sizes, from 150 to 750 tons' burden, and cost in their construction about 2,200,000 dollars; a part of these boats were run, and a part laid up. The aggregate earnings of the running boats, for passengers and freight carried both ways, amounted to about the sum of 725,523 dollars 44 cents; this amount includes the earnings (estimated) of several boats that did not belong to the association, and added to the amount earned by the associated boats. Eight boats ran regularly this season from Buffalo to Chicago, making sixteen day trips, and one for a time from Mackinaw to Green bay, and occasionally to the Sault Ste. Marie; the aggregate earnings of which amounted to 302,757 dollars 93 cents. Two-thirds of this may be properly considered as business west of Detroit, and is 201,838 dollars 62 cents. |