he beginning of the cereal trade of that city, and in 1841 the first
exportation of Wisconsin wheat left the harbor of Milwaukee.

The growth of the lake grain trade was exceedingly rapid. As soon as
the Ohio Canal was completed (1832) there was a diversion of traffic
from the Mississippi River to Lake Erie, and as early as 1838, the
receipts of western wheat and flour at Buffalo were larger than the
receipts at New Orleans. The repeal of the English Corn Laws in 1846
gave a great stimulus to cereal production in the United States. As the
population of the Central States increased and as canals and railroads
were built to connect all parts of the cereal belt with the lake
cities, the lake grain trade constantly swelled in volume. In 1860 the
receipts of grain by lake at Buffalo, Oswego, Dunkirk, Ogdensburg and
Cape Vincent amounted to 62,000,000 bushels. The shipment from Lake
Michigan ports that year were 43,000,000 bushels, half of which came
from Chicago alone.

Though grain and flour constituted the most important part of the
eastbound lake traffic, there was at the same time a considerable trade
in other commodities. Large quantities of pork, bacon, beef, lard, and
other provisions were sent to Buffalo for distribution eastward; hides,
wool, whiskey and live stock formed an important part of the traffic.
Millions of feet of lumber were transported annually from Michigan and
Wisconsin to all the other lake states; the shipment of copper from
Lake Superior began in 1845, and the iron ore traffic began ten years
later.

The westbound shipments over the lakes were also large and valuable. In
1836, $9,000,000 worth of merchandise was sent to western states over
the Erie Canal and the lakes, and by 1854 the amount reached
$94,000,000. After the latter year there was a rapid decline in the
merchandise traffic over the canal and lake route because of railway
competition. The shipments to the West consisted mainly of dry goods,
clothing, machinery, railroad iron, drugs, imported foodstuffs,
household furniture, salt and coal.

The trade over the Great Lakes and Erie Canal was without doubt the
most important feature of the commerce between the Atlantic States and
the interior of the country between 1830 and 1860, but this route by no
means absorbed all the traffic. The Main Line of the Pennsylvania canal
system, completed in 1832, made it possible for Philadelphia and
Baltimore to retain some of their trade with the cit