terested to
secure a proper test of the matter. Professor Chester of Hamilton
College was sent out on two occasions. Mr. Munson died, and after the
lapse of a few years Charlemagne Tower, then a resident of Philadelphia,
undertook to furnish the necessary funds to make the development, which
involved the expense of $4,000,000 in building a railroad eighty miles
in length, with docks and other operating facilities.

The railroad was opened in July, 1884, and there was shipped that season
62,124 tons of ore, and in 1885 the shipment reached 225,000 tons. In
1886 304,000 tons were shipped; in 1887, 394,000 tons; in 1888, 512,000.
The output of the iron mines at and about the head of the lakes had, by
1898, grown to the enormous quantity of 5,871,801 tons. The grade of the
ore is the highest in the market. This product is one of the most
important in the state, and seems destined to expand indefinitely.

No better idea of the growth and importance of Duluth, and, in the same
connection, the advance of the state, since the war, can be presented
than by a statement of a few aggregates of different industries centered
at the head of the lakes. The most recent record obtainable is for the
year 1898. For example:

Lumber cut 544,318,000 feet.
Coal received 2,500,000 tons.
Number of vessels arrived and cleared 12,150
Wheat received, and flour as wheat 82,118,129 bushels.
Other grain 19,428,622 bushels.
Flour manufactured 2,460,025 barrels.
Capacity of elevators 24,650,000 bushels.
Capacity of flour mills per day 22,000 barrels.

Many other statistics could be given, but the above are sufficient to
show the unexampled growth of the state in that vicinity.

COMMERCE THROUGH THE ST. MARY'S FALLS CANAL.

Another very interesting and instructing element in considering the
growth of Minnesota is the commerce passing through the St. Mary's
Canal, which connects Lake Superior with Lakes Huron and Michigan, the
greater part of which is supplied by Minnesota. No record of the number
of sailing vessels or steamers passing through the canal was kept until
the year 1864. During that year there were 1,045 sailing vessels, and
366 steamers. The last report for the year 1898 shows an increase of
sailing vessels to 4,449 and of steamers to 12,461.