The States Named Comprise The
Great Center Valley Of The Continent, And Are The Farming Lands And
Garden Grounds Of The Western World.
He who has not seen corn on
the ground in Illinois or Minnesota, does not know to what extent
the fertility of land may go, or how great may be the weight of
cereal crops.
And for all this the Mississippi was the high-road
to market. When the crop of 1861 was garnered, this high-road was
stopped by the war. What suffering this entailed on the South I
will not here stop to say, but on the West the effect was terrible.
Corn was in such plenty - Indian-corn, that is, or maize - that it
was not worth the farmer's while to prepare it for market. When I
was in Illinois, the second quality of Indian-corn, when shelled,
was not worth more than from eight to ten cents a bushel. But the
shelling and preparation is laborious, and in some instances it was
found better to burn it for fuel than to sell it. Respecting the
export of corn from the West, I must say a further word or two in
the next chapter; but it seemed to be indispensable that I should
point out here how great to the United States is the need of the
Mississippi. Nor is it for corn and wheat only that its waters are
needed. Timber, lead, iron, coal, pork - all find, or should find,
their exit to the world at large by this road.
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