toward the
northwest as far as its productive centre. They now have unobstructed
connection with the Atlantic vessels of nine feet draft and three
hundred tons burden, by the aid of sixty-three miles of canals
overcoming the falls of the St. Mary, Niagara and St. Lawrence Rivers,
with a lockage of less than six hundred feet. By enlarging some of the
locks and deepening the canals, at a cost of a very few millions,
navigation for propellers of from one thousand to two thousand tons
may be secured with the whole world of waters. The cost is much within
the power of the Canadas and the States bordering the lakes, and will
be but a light matter to these communities when, within the next
fifteen years, they shall have doubled their population and trebled
their wealth. The increase of the commerce of the lakes, during the
last fifteen years, is believed to be beyond any example furnished by
the history of navigation. A proportionate increase the next fifteen
years, would give for the yearly value of its transported articles,
thousands of millions. According to the best authorities it is now
over four hundred millions. In 1855, that portion of the tonnage
belonging to the United States was one fifteenth of the entire tonnage
of the Union. During the same year the clearances of vessels from
ports of the United States to the Canadas, and the entrance of
vessels from the Canadas to ports of the United States, as exhibited
in the following table, show a greater amount of tonnage entered and
cleared than between the United States and any other foreign country:

Clearances from ports in the United States to ports in Canada in 1855:

Number of American vessels 2,369
" Canadian " 6,638

Whole number 9,067
Tonnage American 890,017
" Canadian 903,502

Total cleared from the States, 1,793,519

The registered tonnage of all the States, the same year, was
2,676,864; and the registered and enrolled together, 5,212,000.

The value of lake tonnage was, in 1855, $14,835,000. The total value
of the commerce of the lakes, the same year, was estimated, by high
authority, (including exports and imports) at twelve hundred and
sixteen millions ($1,216,000,000.) This seems to us an exaggerated
estimate, though based principally on official reports of collectors
of customs. Eight hundred millions would, probably, be near to the
true amount. I