imagined. Instead of getting long hauls to Chicago, whence all lines lead, there came comparatively short hauls to Duluth, where no railway had a terminus. And, although with this sentence the case is stated in an epigram, it will require some thought to grasp the immensity of its meaning. To aggravate the situation, both the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic, and the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie railroads fell into the hands of the aggressive Canadian Pacific, and a new and vigourous competitor entered the field. Were that competitor on an equitable footing with the existing roads the case might not be so bad; five or ten thousand cars of freight are really of little significance in such a region. But, unfortunately, the Canadian Pacific is not bound by the "fourth clause " of the Interstate Commerce Act (p. 46), and the American roads are. The Canadian Pacific may make any through rates it pleases without being compelled to lower its local tariffs, but the other lines cannot (Chap. XXXVII.) Thus, with all odds against them, the railroads could not do much to prevent the rise of Duluth. For a long time they endeavoured to kill the young town by discriminations. Every point was brought as near to Chicago as to Duluth, no matter whether the distance from the former was 500 miles in excess of that from the latter. But the Granger and Interstate Laws soon stopped this, and the natural advantages of Duluth began to assert them selves; the fourth clause even proved beneficial to that town and the Soo line. The new condition of affairs, however, is more unpleasant than serious. Even if some traffic is diverted to Duluth and the Soo, the growing country supplies every year more which has no other natural outlet than Chicago. But Duluth will undoubtedly develop into a second Chicago. The population already numbers 30,000, and 5,000 vessels go to Buffalo and Erie in the course of a year.

In all sections of the Northwest competition is extremely vigourous, but as its extent will be sufficiently illustrated in succeeding chapters, there is no necessity to discuss or des

cribe it at length now. We may, however, mention that in spite of the vigourous competition between main points and Chicago, most lines have parcelled out for themselves their own region, and the sphere of influence of all might be shown by lines running into each other like the colours of a spectrum. A similar illustration would show the traffic centres of the different systems to follow each other in the following sequence: Northern Pacific, St. Paul, Northwestern, Illinois Central (Sioux City line), Rock Island, Wabash, Alton.

Diagram showing the Connections of the leading Northwestern railroads with the principal points in the region.

As is well known, all these lines carry the produce of the Northwest to Chicago, and the share each has of the traffic in various products is amply illustrated by the subjoined tables taken from the Chicago Board of Trade Report for 1890.

Table showing Apportionment of Grain Traffic to the six principal Granger lines leading to Chicago. (1890).

Table showing Receipts of Cattle and Lumber in Chicago by

The following shows the importance of coal freights to various lines terminating in Chicago. It will be seen that more than a million tons of coal are still received by way of the Lake. The comparative decline of Lake traffic, to which repeated reference has been made, is indicated by another statement with regard to which it should be remembered that since 1870 the tonnage carried by railways has increased almost 800 per cent.

Receipts and Shipments of Coal in Chicago during 1890, by routes:

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad..

Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad..

Michigan Central Railroad

Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad.

Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad.

27,851

173

Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL RAILROAD.

This company was the first to establish direct rail connection between Chicago and St. Paul. In 1864, when the boomers themselves felt not quite sure as to whether Chicago was to be the capital of the Northwest or Milwaukee; when Minnesota was still a territory, St. Paul an obscure hamlet, and Minneapolis altogether unknown; in short, when the 'great Northwest' as we know it to-day was terra incognita even to most Americans, a few shrewd capitalists united a number of local lines around Milwaukee in Wisconsin and named the consolidated system the Milwaukee and St. Paul RR. The aim of the company was to extend the road into Minnesota and the Dakotas, and to develop this region, then a wilderness almost entirely devoid of inhabitants other than red men.

Almost from the moment it came into being the young system grew in importance. The purchase of the St. Paul and Chicago, effected soon after the consolidation, gave it a through line between St. Paul and Milwaukee. In 1874 the extension from Milwaukee to Chicago completed a continuous route between Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the companies owning the three sections were amalgamated, the new corporation receiving its present name. Soon afterwards the Western Union Railroad Company, which owned lines in Illinois and Iowa, was obtained control of, and leased for 999 years in 1879; and in the meantime many