Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1847-10-20
RAILWAY FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

ginning to occupy the attention OF the press IN some
of our Atlantic cities to slight extent. In Bos-
ION and New York papers we have lately noticed
several articles pressing upon the minds OF their
readers the importance of an improvement OF this
kind as means of transporting the produce OF the
great West to the Atlantic sea-board, when other
channels of conveyance have closed, which is not
much less than five months of every year. The
want of the west in respect to facilities OF unlnter
rupted communication with the sea board, is justly
termed the want of the world. The truth of this.
the experience of the past year has sufficiently de-
monstraed. One editor remarks that not person
IN ireland would have persisted with hunger, during
the past bitter year of want if the West could have
got at that unhappy country through the ice of the
-E,ie Canai that, trusting to the shortved
facilities Of that precdrious ditch, the grain of Ohio
and Michigan was actually eight months on its pas
sage from the lake ports to the sea-ports of Great
Britain or Ireland; where it arrived & just as the
fields of those countries were ripenng with the har-
vest, and the hungry laborers going forth to
them with sickes in their hands, The same edi
tor further remarks that ii a good railroad had
been made two years ago from the northern boun-
Diary of Illinois to the port Of Baltimore New York,
or Boston, it would not only have saved the lives
of two millions ofhuman beings in ireland, supposed
to have persisted in consequence of famine, but it
would have prevented every one of the tremendous
failures that have recently occurred in the Corn
! Trade in England, and which must react with al
| tbo Ia. IN, 4
"The liabilities of the firms in England which
have already fallen beneath the pressure of the cri.
sis, amount 10 more than i l5OO0,0O0. y 1t
would be fair TO assume that half the amount OF
these liabilities will be dead loss. Let suppose
that the loss to the corndealers in the United States
in consequence of these failures and Of the great
fall in the price of grain in their hands, $4,000
0OO then we have a sum total of Sl2,O0OO0O-
enough 10 build $50 miles OF railway at $4,000
per mile. This is merely the amount of loss incur
red by the corndeaers of the two countries in con-
sequence of the English market being overwhelmed
with vast lmportatlons of grain at the commence
ment OF harvest. And the lmportations that chiefly
produced this condition of things were those from
America. 1t was the unlocked for influx OF gulf
stream of the wheat and Indian that lay nearly
six months in the lake depos, waiting for the open
ing of navig ation through the Erie Canal
This, however, is but one item of loss to the
world, occasioned by the barriers of ice which pre-
vent the productive region of the west from coming
to the rescue when scarcity and want abroad.
Mr.. Burritt, of the Christian Citizen makes the fol-
lowing estimate of further and far greater losses
from this cause and presents the question in an as
pect which cannot fail forcibly to impress the public
mind as to the vast general importance of the work
suggested:
"Let us see how it affects the consumers and
non. producers of grain, on both sides of the Allan
tic, and what the lack of this Railway for the
West costs them in a year like the past or one of
less pressure. Let us suppose that there 100000
individuals in Great Britain and 100000 in the
United States, who must buy all the grain they
consume-who raise not handful of wheat, or
hill of corn Let us suppose also that they require
upon an average, one quarter or eight bushels per
head during year Well, something nauspicious
has occurred TO the crop in Great Britain and about
the first OF October, rumor of deficiency in the
wheat harvest or in the potatOe crop, reaches
America. All kinds of grain exhibited an upward
tendency, but large transactions are suspended for
further advlceS from abroad The Erie Canal is
dong It's little best in the meantime and its narrow
ditch IS full OF produce threading its way through
the locks to Albany and New York; and by the
in the eastern ports TO supply the manufacturing
and non-producing population of England through
the winter. But about this time, further advices
from abroad establish the fact, that some important
crop is short, at least, 25 per cent. of the usual
and necessary amount. This estimate may prove
too low it is the interest of the corn-hoders in
England TO produce that impression at least So
the price OF bread stuffs has advanced 25 per cent
on previous quotations, and the last reports leave
4har, L.
markabIe activity in the grain market in the i.
States. Speculation is rife and rampant Corn
holders IN the Eastern seapors keenly alive to
prospects and probabilities of higher prices In
three days after the arrival of the foreign steamer
the price OF every barrel OF flour in the country is
enhanced at least 25 per cent; and the labor NJ
men of New England are told, when they 20 to
their grocers on Saturday night for temporary
supply of provisions, that flour is rising and that
they had better lay in a stock at once The Jour
neyman mechanic who bought his last barrel of
flour for So, now pays 81 80 for one of the same
brand. and trundes it home on his wheebarrow. !
feeling that he has bought it at bargain although
his last is still half on hand. And now comes |
a frosty night or two about the goth of November |
and the Erie Canal is done for. From Buffalo to /
Albany it Is frozen through all its length, breadth
and depth. The Ohio river closes soon afterwards |
and the whole region of the West goes into winter
quarters. Now comes the harvest of speculation |
IN the Eastern States No more grain from the |
West until navigation opens-England or France
is in the market bidding high-the stock short for
New England itself-such are facts cried industri- |
ousy through the country, and prices tend upwards
without any stimulus from additional foreign all |
vices. Such are the facts carried out TO England /
by the next steamer from Boston where they pro- I
duce corresponding effect. The Baltic and the |
rivers that run into the Black Sea are closed the |
great granaries of the world are lock up IN and
there Is precarous prospect of supplying the de-
mand created by the deficiency OF ore crop in Great
Britain Consequently there is another rise in the
pnee OF grain inthe English market. and it is now
enhanced by so per cent to all the consumers in
the kingdom. The corn-markets OF France, Belgi- !
um, and almost Of the whole commercial world,