son of
navigation, a safe and easy entrance and departure for vessels drawing
at least twelve feet water.

"The States which are thus directly interested in the port of Chicago
are New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois,
Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The shores of all these are washed either by
Lake Michigan or the other Great Lakes, with which Chicago has a direct
and very extensive commerce through the St. Clair flats. The other
States and Territories, which do not reach to the Great Lakes, but which
are nevertheless greatly interested in the preservation of Chicago
harbor, are Iowa and Missouri, and Nebraska and Kansas. A very large
portion of the wheat and other grain produced in those last-mentioned
States and Territories will be brought by railroads to the port of
Chicago, to be shipped thence to the Eastern Atlantic markets.

"The average amount of duties received annually at the Chicago
custom-house for three years, 1853, '54, and '55, was $377,797.86. The
imports at Chicago for 1855 were,--

By lake shipment, $100,752,304.41
" Illinois and Michigan Canal, 7,426,262.35
" Railroads, 68,481,497.90

Total imports in 1855, $196,660,064.66

_Exports_.

By lake shipment, $34,817,716.32
" Canal, 79,614,042.70
" Railroads, 98,521,262.86
----------------
Total value of exports in 1855, $212,953,021.88

"Aggregate value of imports and exports at Chicago in the year 1855,
$409,613,086.54.[B]

[Footnote B: This is more than half of the value of all the exports and
imports of the Union in the year 1860, King Cotton included.]

"These statistics have been obtained by much labor and perseverance,
with a view to the strictest accuracy. The result has amply justified
the labor; for the published statistics of this commerce, which have
gone forth to the country through the newspaper-press of the city, fall
far short of its actual extent. On discovering this fact, I felt it to
be a matter of duty to obtain the information directly from the only
authentic sources, namely, the custom-house, mercantile, and warehouse
records.

"Such are the claims which, in a civil point of view, are presented in
behalf of the preservation of this harbor.

"There is still another, of not less magnitude, which is exclusively
national. It is the influence it would have on the military defence