she now occupies; one of the most essential of which is the opening of the direct line of water communication, between the city and Lake Superior. By the St. Mary River Canal, easy access is possible from Chicago to the inexhaustible iron and copper mines of Michigan; and by the Illinois Central Railroad, the illimitable coal beds of Southern Illinois are placed within her reach; and by these means she has secured for herself that degree of industrial development, which gives firm support and lasting warranty to trade. Already the surveyor's chain has designated the places in Chicago where the manufacture of iron wares will be carried on to such an extent, as continually to keep pace with the incessantly increasing demands of the immense north and south-west.

No sooner were the great copper mines at Lake Superior opened, than the steamers of the ship-owners of Chicago hastened closely to attach the interests of that important region to their city; only a short time has passed since, and already the wholesale dealers of Chicago count the people of those mining districts among their regular customers. The fruits of the bold, but sure policy of Chicago, are already visible to a larger degree on another field.

The immense tracts of land of Middle and Southern Illinois, then without any, either natural or artificial, means of communication, for years awaited purchasers in vain, notwithstanding the low price ($1 25) at which Congress sold each acre of the richest land, whose cultivation did not present the slightest difficulty. No sooner were the rails of the Illinois Central Railroad laid through the entire length of the State, from Galena to Cairo, than towns and villages sprung into existence along the track, as if by magic, and the granaries of Chicago were filled with the produce of thousands of fertile acres, then for the first time subjected to culture. At the same time that the quantity of the yield increased, its quality was improved. The general use of machine power, nowhere proved of greater advantage than on the vast plains of Illinois; the rapidly progressing intelligence of the Illinoisian farmers, which, far from being contented with having created agricultural societies in every county of the State, now already calls for the erection of an agricultural university, will account for the fact, that a great part of the grain sold as "Extra Genesee," may be

safely considered "Extra Illinois," disguised in some shape or an

other.

In consequence of these, and many other improvements, among which we may notice the continuation of the Galena Railroad to Dubuque, of the Fox River Valley Railroad to Richmond, and of the Illinois and Wisconsin Railroad, to Woodstock, the Indian corn crop reaches the enormous yield of 130,000,000 bushels, which must be chiefly attributed to the advent of Southern Illinois on the commercial stage. The wheat crop of Illinois, amounting, as it does, to 20,000,000 bushels, has secured to Chicago its prominent position among the grain-exporting commercial cities. In 1855, Chicago exported twice as much grain as Galatz and Braila, the great wheat emporiums of the Lower Danube, and four times as much as Dantzic, the place of export of the Polonian wheat.

The following comparison of those cities in Europe which possess the largest corn-trade, with Chicago, will place the great importance of the former in this respect beyond a doubt:

Galatz, and Braila 2,400,000.. 5,600,000 ... 320,000 ........

8,320,000

Chicago.....

3,644,860.. 6,837,899... 8,419,551 .............12,902,310 Chicago (1855)..... 7,115,250 .. 7,517,625 2,000,938 ...........16,633,813

And yet the present position of Chicago is only the beginning of the beginning. The area of the State is upwards of 55,000 square miles, 80 per cent. of which are corn lands of the first quality. These 44,000 square miles, or 28,160,000 acres, planted with Indian corn, at an average yield of 50 bushels per acre, would fix the productiveness of the entire State, at the enormous rate of 1,408,000,000 bushels. Adding to this the facility of cultivation, the reader will have an idea of the almost fabulous wealth, that, accumulating in Illinois, in its reaction upon Chicago, the great commissioned agent of these trea sures, must incessantly propel her onward in her career of progress.

The eyes of the world are already fixed upon the high, commanding position, which Chicago assumes on the globe; this will appear from the fact that in 1855, agents of the French and English Governments attended the meetings in the Chicago Corn Exchange. Chicago, indeed, is the only place in the world, where orders of many millions of bushels can be promptly attended to and executed.

If thus the productiveness of the State has surpassed even the most sanguine expectations, the increase of so powerful an instrument. for the acquisition of wealth, on the other hand, has also not been slow. Large sums of money, following the law by which they are inevitably attracted to the place where they bring the highest profit, concentrated at Chicago, whose numerous sumptuous stores and bazaars, fitted up in the most elegant, fashionable style, and enormous granaries, with their steam-cranes lifting on one side of the building the grain from the railroad trains, and lowering it at the other side into the vessels, together with great numbers of new buildings, (2700 of which were erected in a single year), as also the fact, that in every branch of business within her limits, the demand far exceeds the supply, are characteristic of her prodigiously increasing prosperity. Everything doubled or quadrupled! And upon reviewing the shipping interest of Chicago, we find the same surprising increase. The tonnage of all vessels owned by Chicago, and registered in that city until the end of 1855, amounts to 56,670 tons. So considerable, indeed, is the commercial navy of Chicago, that in a single season, that of 1855, not less than 120 large vessels put into that port on one day. The enormous stores of grain accumulated within Chicago, keep busy an entire flotilla, in proof whereof, we might refer to the fact, that in 1855, a single firm contracted for the transportation from Chicago to Buffalo, of 500,000 bushels, kept in store within that city. As already mentioned, during the season of 1855, not fewer than 6610 vessels, of 1,608,845 tons burden, entered the port of Chicago. Dividing them into classes, according to their respective tonnage, we subjoin a list of the vessels registered in the Chicago custom-house, as having entered that port:

Steamers of less than 500 tons..

from 500 to 1000 "

more than 1000

66

141

237

59

With respect to her commerce and navigation, Chicago has already projected a new enterprise, which, if executed, as no doubt it will be, taking into consideration the indomitable energy of the west, must astonish the world; nothing less being intended than to place Chicago, an inland city, situated in the far west, 1500 miles from the seaboard -in possession of direct communication by sea with all the sea-port towns of the world, by shortening the eastern water-passage from Chicago some 500 miles, and avoiding the dangerous St. Clair Flats. Using Georgia Bay and several small Canadian lakes, it is contemplated to connect Lake Huron with Lake Ontario, thus opening for the commerce of Chicago a free access to the Atlantic.

The commerce of Chicago was also favorably affected by the Canadian reciprocal treaty, her lumber trade receiving a considerable impulse from the Canadian imports, in consequence of that treaty. While pushing her railroads far into the interior of the pine forests of Wisconsin, Chicago at the same time sends her fleet to the Canadian hickory forests, paying with the luxuriant grain of the fertile Illinoisian prairies, for the timber which the people of Illinois require for building their houses, or fencing their lands.

We will now review the state of the Chicago market, as far as regards the various staple articles :

Flour.-While in 1853 not more than 18,247, and in 1854, 158,575 barrels of flour were imported, the quantity of flour imported in 1855 reached the colossal amount of 240,662 barrels. Besides these, three mills of Chicago turned out 79,650 barrels, thus making an aggregate of 320,312 barrels for the year 1855.

Owing to the increased European demand, prices ranged higher in 1855 than in 1854, as may be seen from the following table:

Wheat. The wheat import reached the already very considerable total of 3,038,955 bushels in 1854, while in 1855, more than double this quantity was exported, viz., 7,535,097 bushels. No other market on earth can boast of such a traffic; and the facts, that the harvest of 1855 was by no means one of the best, and that, in every new year, many additional thousands of acres are subjected to culture, cause us to conjecture such a development and progress in this branch of business, in Chicago, as would startle even the boldest calculation.

The following table shows the prices as they ranged in 1854 and 1855:

Indian Corn almost everywhere failed in 1854, in consequence of the wet season, so that the importation of 1855, it was supposed, would scarcely equal that of the preceding year; and yet, while the maize import of 1854 amounted to 7,490,753 bushels, that of 1855