on. As our comparison of Atlantic
cities with the cities of the plain has been made for thirty years,
from 1830 to 1860, we continue it here for the same period, between
the river cities and lake cities. We select twenty cities, now the
largest of each region, and put down the population in round numbers
as nearly accurate as practicable. That for 1860, is of course, an
estimate only, but it is certainly near enough to the truth to
illustrate the growth, positive and comparative, of our interior
cities.

This table exhibits a growth of the interior cities on the navigable
waters of the Mississippi and its affluents, which brings their
population, in 1870, up to 11-1-10 that of 1830. This is,
unquestionably, much beyond the expectation of their most sanguine
inhabitants, at the commencement of that period, being three times
that of the chief cities of the Atlantic border. Yet even this rapid
development is seen, by our figures, to fall far behind that which has
characterized the cities created by lake commerce during the same
period.

Interior River Cities 1830. 1860.

Cincinnati and dependencies, 25,500 250,000
Pittsburg, " 15,500 155,000
St. Louis, " 6,000 180,000
Louisville, " 11,000 80,000
Memphis, " 2,500 25,000
Wheeling, " 6,000 20,000
New Albany, " 1,500 20,000
Quincy, " 1,000 19,000
Peoria, " 800 18,000
Galena, " 2,000 18,500
Keokuk, " 50 16,000

Dubuque, " 100 16,000
Nashville, " 6,000 15,000
St. Paul, " 15,000
Madison, Ind., " 2,500 13,000
Burlington, Ind., " 12,000
La Fayette, Ind., " 300 13,000
Rock Island, " 8,000
Jeffersonville, " 800 8,000

81,550 914,000

Lake Cities. 1830. 1860.

Chicago and dependencies 100 150,000
Buffalo, " 8,663 100,000
Detroit, " 2,222 80,000
Milwaukee, " 50 75,000
Cleveland, " 1,047 70,000
Toronto, C. W., 1,667 65,000
Rochester, " 9,269 50,000