Note 61 — Chapter IX · STEAM COMMERCE OF THE GREAT LAKES.

We have good authority for quoting the rates of the summer of 1897 as follows: Duluth to Buffalo, 1½ cents per bushel; Buffalo to New York, by the Erie Canal, 3½ cents; New York to Liverpool, 5 cents; elevator charges, ⅞ of 1 cent; total, 10⅞ cents per bushel. Fort William to Kingston, 3½ cents; Kingston to Montreal, 2 cents; Montreal to Liverpool, 5¼ cents, including port charges; total, 10¾ cents per bushel. In 1857 the average rate by lake and canal on a bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York was 25.29 cents per bushel; now it is less than 6 cents. The reduction in cost of transmission is due to improved methods of handling freight, deeper channels, larger vessels and more rapid conveyance.