Spaniards in the 17th century. A little further east is the very important city of Mobile (Alabama), situated some 30 miles from the Gulf, and the outlet of 2,000 miles of river navigation. Mobile is, next to New Orleans, the largest cotton shipping port in the States, while its greatest import is that of coffee from Brazil. In the season of 1877-8, the shipments of cotton (exclusive of the home trade) were nearly 84 million lbs., of which 52 million went to Great Britain. Mobile is also the centre of a large lumber trade, but it is somewhat crippled by the want of a good ship channel from the harbour to the Gulf. New Orleans (Louisiana) ranks sixth in American ports for the value of its imports, but in its exports of domestic produce, such as cotton, tobacco, sugar and rice, it exceeds those of Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore combined. Considering that New Orleans is the natural gateway of 17,000 miles of the navigable waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries, it ought to be, and probably will be yet, the richest and busiest port in the States; but its progress has been much retarded by two causes: (1), the visitations of yellow fever, which are not to be wondered at, considering that New Orleans is one of the most neglected and filthiest cities in the world from a sanitary point of view; (2), that it is situated 100 miles from the entry of the Mississippi into the Gulf, at which there are very awkward bars, hindering the approach to the port of ocean steamers. This, however, has been to a great extent remedied by the erection of long jetties at the mouth, by which the passage has been deepened. The railway system has rather militated against New * me ni ndes, text a the latter exceeding DAL I EV Mer Ten Scres nur Ve muss w verear as manse of continent, mi ve unverme u as the nature and contour of VIRCH re rat roumane ir great shipping There re meet. nam the whole coaste two as if my ute. The first of these, Immencing rum te . s Tortiond the State Tegan antarei n re Villimete Kret, near its tion with the Thamina ve Adria is the real port, is ár s pesto ter the sea goes, but resses of a large tumage can reach Portland, which is the shipping port of the wock, mining produce, gain, and canned salmon, or which Cregon is famous. At Coos Bay, near the southern boundary, coal is mined and shipped. The harbour of the west, however, is San Francisco, which is, both from capability and beauty of situation, worthy of California, one of the richest, most fertile, and most varied countries of the world. The wealth that passes through the port of San Francisco is prodigious. The main items of this trade are precious metals, such as gold and silver, with quicksilver, a vast proportion of which goes inland to the eastern cities of the States, though a very large quantity is shipped to Great Britain, China, Japan, and Europe generally; wool, of which 52 million lbs., the produce of California, Washington, and Oregon, have been shipped in a single year; while the exportations of wheat, oats and flour, grown in the Pacific and Rocky Mountain States, are almost incredible. Nothing illustrates the singular mutations of industry more pointedly than this fact, that Great Britain, France, and other countries of the Continent are every year becoming more and more dependent for their bread-stuffs upon the shipments of San Francisco, a place which has grown up within the memory of the present generation. This port is the chief place of import for China and Japan teas and West Indian sugars, and rapid lines of steamers have been established to Australia and China, so that by means of the Pacific Union Railway system, the quickest route, as well as the most beautiful, to Australia from England is viâ New York and San Francisco. Nor should it be forgotten that the continuous arrivals of Chinese by the same routes are fast peopling the Pacific and Western States with the Mongol race, and that the Chinese element is in many cases displacing the Anglo-Saxon on his own ground. We have seen in the foregoing pages what are the resources of the great American Continent, and to how great an extent they have been developed by the ceaseless activity of an energetic and ingenious people. As regards manufactured goods, it is impossible to allude to them except in the briefest manner, seeing that every town, almost every village, is a centre, more or less, of manufacturing industry. The six New England States, which are almost exclusively devoted to manufactures, have a population of 3,362,000 dependent on their industries. Massachusetts, next to textiles, is particularly celebrated for its clothing industry, and more especially boots and shoes, which, in places like Lynn, Worcester, Newburyport, etc., are turned out by the million in factories and by machinery. The same principle is applied to watches, which are produced at Waltham in incredible numbers and sent to all parts of the world. Connecticut has a specialty for hardwares and tools, nor must we omit the sewing machine, of which the United States may be considered the home. Watch and clock making are also actively carried on in Waterbury and other places. Vermont is known for its numerous tanneries, and for the manufacture on a large scale of carriages, and also of weights and measures. Amongst other American specialities should be mentioned the manufacture of saws and axes. The lumber trade being, as we have seen, of such vast importance, it is a matter of course that the fitting up of saw mills becomes also a large industry, and we find, therefore, extensive mill-factories for saws at New York, Boston, St. Louis, Bangor, Newark, etc., as also for American axes, which have a world-wide reputation. Philadelphia, New York, Rochester, Troy and Chester are the head-quarters of this branch. Buffalo and Chicago produce more agricultural machinery than any other cities, but, as a matter of fact, there are very few towns which do not contain some adjunct to this necessary trade, and even in the far North-west we find small places, in which the population has probably been only of a couple of years date, possessing establishments for turning out doors, sashes, spokes, hubs, wheels, and everything that is requisite for settlers in a country where wood is unlimited in supply. SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF INDUSTRIES. [Only the chief industrial places are mentioned. The figures denote the population of towns and cities over 10,000 according to the last census of 1880.] ALABAMA (1,262,794)-Agriculture, maize and wheat; coal, iron, ore, lead, gold and manganese; marble; cotton, cane, sugar, rice, tobacco and wine; timber; textiles. Anderson-Coal mining. Birmingham-Iron ore mining; ironworks. Chambers-Cotton mills. Clayton-Cotton mills. Cullman-Car building; saw mills; furniture making; cigar trade; tanning; fruit canning. Decatur-Coal mining. Lauderdale-Cotton mills. Mobile (31,205)-Cotton shipping port; cottor mills; oyster fisheries; iron foundries; machine shops; lumber trade. Montgomery (16,714)-Cotton mills; tobacco trade; foundries. |