Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1900-03-15
GRAIN TRADES GAIN.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT. ISSUES
HISTORY or VAST TRAFFIC.
New Routes for shipmeuts- Wheat aud
Flour Diverted from Lake Michigan
20 Lake Superior Ports and from East
ern to Southern eeaboard.

"The Grain Trade OF the United
States" Is the title OF q monograph just
published by the treasury bureau of sta
tistics as the first of series OF studies
upon the production and transportation OF
the great staples and upon the Internal
commerce Of the country. The article
points out the immense increase In the
agricultural production OF the country,
the rapid and continuous westward shift
ing of the area of population and the
changes In the routes by which western
grain reaches the eastern consumers and
the European markets. The develop
ment of the grain production AND trade
il traced from colonial times to the open
ing up of the Mississippi route by the pur-
chase Of Louisiana, when the shallow
barges and later the steamboats, descend
ed the Mississippi apd New Orleans ship
ped grain to New York and Boston.
After the completion of the Erie canal
in 1925 and the settling Of the Lake
Michigan territory, the great bulk of the
western grain traffic moved eastward
over the lakes and the canal, and New
York became the great grain-shipping
port of the country. The discussion shows
how from Chicago a network of railways
radiated to all points and acted as tribu-
taries to the lakes, and later how the uni
fed and amalgamated railways competed
with the lakes for the east-bound freight.
The traffic in corn and -four was diverted
from the lakes to the railroads, and,
while the lakes regained part of this lost
traffic later, the Erie canal was unable
to compete with the railroads from Buff
falo, and grain which formerly reached
tidewater at New York is now largely di-
verified to Philadelphia, Baltimore and
more southerly ports.
Two New Grain Routes.
The monograph also presents what APP
pear as the two most recent developments
of the grain trade of the United States:
Firstly, the partial diversion of the wheat
and -four trade from Lake Michigan to
Lake Superior ports and the rise of
great milling industry at Minneapolis and
Duluth-Superior; secondly, the increased
movement of grain, and notably of corn,
to the gulf ports, partly by river, to
greater extent by rail, from st. Louis
and nearby points, and to an ever-grow-
ing extent by direct rail routes from
cities in the southwestern corn belt
The statistics contained in this report
throw light upon the present grain land
more especially whea) situation of the
United States. They show that the ex-
portation of grain is increasing with
great rapidly, that both the production
and expectation of corn are assuming
greater volume and that constantly
growing portion of our wheat is exported
in the form of -four During the last
thirty-two years the amount of corn pro-
duced has increased from S6S,OOO,OOO to
1924, 900, 900 bushels an increase of Id
per cent, while the exports of this cereal
increased from 100000 to III 100000
bushels, or over 1000 per cent. During
the same period our production of wheat
increased from 152, 100000 to 675,OOO,-
600 bushels, gain Of 344 per cent, while
our exports increased from 1876 to 222.6
millions of bushels, or almost eighteen
fold, and our net exports of this grain
increased at a still more rapid rate.
The United States Lead.
The year 1898 shows the United States
to be easily the first wheat-producing
country of the world, our production
amounting to 6T5,000,000 bushels. or
nearly one-fourth (23.4 per cenD of that
of the whole world. Russia (both Euro
pean and Asiatic) is second with 17.3 per
cent; then France with 1873 per cent;
British India with ga per cent, and Aus
tria Hungary with SO per cent. Our
precedence in wheat production is largely
due to our immense tracts of available
fertile land, our admirable transportation
facilities, the remarkable system of hand
ling the grain, both physically and COM
mercially, and the exceedingly low freight
rates which obtain on our railroads and
lakes.