The New era. [volume] ([Portsmouth, Va.]) 1845-1847, 1846-07-23
THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI

L..
we extract from the lengthy report of MIR
calhoun, made IN the Senate on the Goth ult. on
the subject of the memorial Of the Memphis Con.
ventlon, the following admirable passage, portray.
ing the importance of the great Valley of the
West. 1t will well repay perusal. And when
we reflect that this is only portion nf this grea,
country. tina, other sections of it can supply mate
rial for other equally noble descriptions. and that
ere fifty years have rolled by regions now but
wlldernesses, are destined To present. in like
grand scale. the trumphs Of Anglo Saxon energy
imagination itself cannot realize our national i'm.
portance. and national growth
The great stream Of the Mississippi- Mr.
Calhoun says. " is the channel through which bt
the aid ct steam. cheap and speedy transit and in
tercourse are effected not only between all par,s
OF It's Immense valley. but also between il and the
rest of the Union and the commercial world
And To this cheap and speedy transit and inter.
course are to be attributed, more than lis fer
tile soil and great resources its almost mraculous
increase in population wealth and improvement
30 great have they been, that what sixty wears
ago was one vast region. with little execution of
forest and praires. over which n few hundred
thousand savages wandered. has now popula,ion
hut little less than nine millions with great and
hourishing cities, Astounding in opuence. refined
IN manners. and possessed of all the comG,,s and
even elegance of old and polished communities
But. as great this increase and improvemen,
have been, they are nothing compared 10 what
may be expected IN the next sixty wears Tbpv
advance with an accelerated rapidity The whole
population in the entire region drained by the Mis-
sissippi did not. according To the first census
O79O) exceed 100000. According to that of
Iooo' 1t had Increased, in round numbers to $50.
OUO. In 1910, ii had increased. in like numbers.
10 $40 600; in 1890 to 9. $50. 600. in 1890 IN
4,l90.000; in 1910. to 6.37O 900: and in IS46
to S,920,OOO. estimated according TO the ratio of
increase between the census Of 1880 and 1870
Estimating IL at the same rate. il would in IS56
exceed twenty millions; and in 1866 FORTY mil
lions. 1t is, however. scarcely possible for the
increase to keep pace with the present ratio but
after making ample allowance for its retardation
by the increase of population, it may be regarded
as a safe calculation. that the population of the
valley will reach twenty five millions in the next
twenty years, forty in the next forty years, and
sixty in the next sixty years, unless some shock
should occur which would convulse or oyerthrow
our political institutions.
But rapid as has been the increase of its NM
ulation, its commerce has been still more so II
is stated, on what may be regarded as good au-
thority. that, so late as 1917 the whole com
merce from New Orleans to the upper country
was transported in about twenty barges of one hun
dred tons each, and making but one trip per wear.
The number of keel boats employed on the upper
Ohio could not have exceeded one hundred and
fifty, of thirty tons each, and making the trip from
Pittsburg to Louisville and back again in two
months. and about thrice in the season. The tom
mage of all boats ascending the Ohio and the low
er Mississippi was then about 6500' The same
authority states the number Of steamboats, employ-
ed in navigating the Mississippi and its tributaries
in 1913 to be four hundred and fifty their ave-
rage tonnage 10 be about two hundred their ag-
gregaie tonnage to be about ninety thousand; their
value per ton to be eighty dollars; their aggregate
value to be seven million two hundred thousand
dollars; the persons engaged in navigating them
to be fifteen thousand seven hundred and ffly:
and the expenses incidental to their navigation 10
he twelve million twohund red and eighty thousand
dollars. 1t estimates the number of flatboats en-.
gagged In the same navigation at four thousand
and the persons employed in navigating them al
twenty thousand, and the annual cost and expense
of building and navigating them at one million
three hundred and eighty thousand dollars 1t also
estimates the amount Of freight IN the supposition
the boats go full freighed, at 80 900 600 annual.
ly. and the annual value of the products of the
valley transported the river and its tributaries
at 2O,O00.0OO, and that from other portions of
the Union and foreign countries at 500 900 900
making in the aggregate S220,O00,00O.
Such the estimate of the commerce of the
Mississippi including lis tributaries, made by an
intelligent committee TO the citizens of Cincinnati
at The beginning of the year 1913. II has greatly
increased since. as short is the interval. with
the rapidly increasing population and wealth of its
valley. IL appears, by the last annual report of
the treasury department, on the commerce and
navigation of the United States, that their steam
boat tonnage on the western waters on the last Of
June, 1915, was l597l3 tons. 1t appears from
the same document, that the number bnilt during
the year ending on the 30lh June. 1915, on those
waters. was ll9; making, in the aggregate. 49,
633 tons, and an average of fraction more than
173 TO boat, instead of 200, estimated by the
Cincinnati committee. Assuming that TO be the
average tonnage Of the boats belonging to the riv-
err, their number then would be 1888, and their
number now may he estimated safely at 900 boats
and their tonnage at l6l 1877.
Assuming, then, that the number Of persons
employed IN navigating the Mississippi and its
tributaries, and the expense Of the navigation and
the value Uf the boats and cargOes TO be what the
Cincinnati estimates make it. and that their esti-
mates are correct, the present annual value OF the
commerce Of The river and its tributaries wonId
exceed S3OO.O0O00 900 But however great it may
be, 1t is but the beginning. If the commerce Of
the valley shall increase in proportjon with its
population. and nothing should occur TO impede
that, il will IN short time be more than ouadru-
pied. Looking beyond, to a not very distant fu-
ture, when this immense valley, containing with.
in its limits one million two hundred thousand
square miles lying, in its whole extent. in the
temperate zone, and occupying position midway
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans: uneoual
led in fertility and the diversity Of our produc-
lions intersected in every direction by this mighty
stream. including it's tributaries, by which il is
drained and which supply continuous navigation
of upwards Of 10000 miles. with a coast inclu-
ding both banks Of twice that length shall be
crowded with population, and it's resources fully