Business between the Illinois and Iowa shores, illustrated by statements of the cars and freight passing over the Mississippi River Bridge--navigation of the Mississippi River at Rock Island illustrated by the number of seamers, barges, and rafts, passing the draw of the bridge yearly: 1860-1. 1861-2. 1862-3. 1863-4. 1864-5. 1865-6. 6,925 4,794 5,866 7,998 9,913 8.438 7,277 8,460 8,306 10,116 10,109 9,067 14,202 13,254 14,172 18,114 20,022 17,505 46,360 32,427 39,039 50.741 68,844 59,573 62,752 67,019 71,542 89,914 81,157 82,752 .109,112 99,446 110,581 140,655 150,001 142,325 34,815 33,254 40,277 70,962 57,384 50,712 35,254 33,362 40,166 69,932 58,371 50,963 70,069 66,616 80,443 140,894 115,755 101,675 353 196 162 473 Steamers.. Going North.. Barges...... Going South. North and South. The following statements exhibit the gross earnings, the operating expenses, and net earnings or profits yearly: The net earnings were disposed of as follows: P. & B. R.R. Lease... U. S. Tax on passgr. fares...... Illinois Tax on Real Estate.. Extraordinary repairs, &c.. $125,000 $125,000 $125,000 $125,000 $125,000 $125,000 120,134 82,866 74,726 GENERAL ACCOUNT-LEDGER BALANCES. The financial condition of the company at the close of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1861 and March 31, 1862-66 is shown in the following abstract: Accounted for, as follows: R'd & equipment... Fuel and mat'ls.. Company's stock.. Miss. & Mo. R.R. bonds Miss. Bridge Co.. Assets and dues. 2.820 239,867 20,000 187,000 Cash.... Total.. $6,987,710 $7,023,936 $7,069,727 $7,429,433 $7,804,923 $8,050,132 GENERAL REVIEW FOR TEN YEARS. The following table gives the cost of the road (228.4 miles) estimating the cost of the P. & B Val. R. R. at $1,250,000 and the earnings, expenses and profits of operating the road, &c., &c. yearly for the ten years ending March 31, 1866: 1856 57.. 1857-58.. Cost of Road and Gross equipment. earn'gs Ordinary Profits Interest Dividend Balance operat'g or net on funded paid on after lease expenses. earn's. debt. stock. taxes, &c. $7,878,273 $1,886,196 $1,036,157* $850,439 $137,970 j c447,610) $139,459 8,026,119 1,407,846 778,817* 629,029 99,7158503,600 ( 1858-59. 1859-60.. 1560-61. 1861-62. 1862-63. 1863-64.. 1864-65.. 1565-66.. In the following table will be found deductions from the foregoing, giving the cost of road, &c., per mile, the earnings, &c., per mile, and the rates of expenses to earnings and of profits to cost, with the dividends, &c., annually: 1856-57 1857-58 Cost of Per mile of Road. Exp's to Profits -Divid'dsroad, p. m. Earn's. Exp's. Profits. earnings, to cost. Cash. Stock. $34,553 $8,258 $4,537 $3,721 54.94 10.78 10 12 1858-59 1859-60. 1860-61 1861-62 1862-63. 1863-64 1864-65 1865-66. MARKET VALUE OF STOCK AT NEW YORK. The monthly ranges of prices in the New York market of the stock of the C. and 1860-61. 1861-62. 1862-63. 1863-64. *Including taxes on real estate. + Operations for nine months only. MISSSOURI-ST. LOUIS, THE COMMERCIAL CENTRE OF NORTH AMERICA. BY 8. WATERHOUSE. St. Louis is ordained by the decrees of physical nature to become the great inland metropolis of this continent. It cannot escape the magnificence of its destiny. Greatness is the necessity of its position. New York may be the head, but St. Louis will be the heart of America. The stream of traffic which must flow through this mart will enrich it with alluvial deposits of gold. Its central location and facilities of communication unmistakably indicate the leading part which this city will take in the exchange and distribution of the products of the Mississippi Valley. St. Louis is situated upon the west bank of the Mississippi, at an altitude of 400 feet above the level of the sea. It is far above the highest floods that ever swell the Father of Waters. Its latitude is thirty-eight degrees thirty-seven minutes twenty-eight seconds north, and its longitude ninety degrees fifteen minutes sixteen seconds west. It is twenty miles below the mouth of the Missouri, and two hundred above the coufluence of the Obio. St. Louis very nearly bisects the direct distance of 1,400 miles between Superior City and the Balize. It is the geographical centre of a valley which embraces 1,200,000 square miles. In its course of 3,200 miles, the Mississippi borders on Missouri 470 miles. Of the 3,000 miles of the Missouri, 500 lie within the limits of our own State. St. Louis is mistress of more than 16,500 miles of river navigation. This metropolis, though in the infancy of its greatness, is already a large city. Its length is about eight miles, and its width three. Suburban residences, the outposts of the grand advance, are now stationed six or seven miles from the river. The present population of St. Louis is about 200,000. In 1865, the real and personal property of the city was assessed at $100,000,000. St. Louis is a well built city, but its architecture is rather substantial than showy. The wide, well-paved streets, the spacious levee and commodious warehouses, the mills, machine-shops and manufactories, the fine hotels, churches and public buildings, the universities, charitable institutions, public schools and libraries, constitute an array of excellences and attractions of which any city may justly be proud. The Lindell and Southern Hotels are two of the largest and most magnificent structures which the world has ever dedicated to public hospitality. The Lindell is itself a village.* The appearance of St. Louis from the eastern bank of the Mississippi is impressive. At East St. Louis, the eye sometimes commands a view of 100 steamboats lying at our levee. Notwithstanding the recent destruction by ice and tire of 10 or 15 boats, and the departure of more than 30 for Montana, there are at this date 70 steamers in the port of St. Louis. A mile and a half of steamboats is a spectacle which naturally inspires views of commercial greatness. The sight of our levee, thronged with busy merchants, and covered with the commodities of every clime, from the eltries of the Rocky Mountains to the teas of China, does not tend to lessen the magnitude of the impression. The railroad system of Missouri is exhibited in the following tabular 938 Total length of railroads in operation within the State.... A vast enlargement of our railrcad facilities is contemplated. More than 10,000 miles have been projected on the west side of the Mississippi. A quarter of a century may elapse before the completion of these extensions, yet the very conception of them shows that the public mind is alive. to the importance of ampler means of communication with the States and Territories of the far West. Most of these roads have received grants of land from the Government, and upon some of the lines the work is already far advanced. The terminal points of the most important roads are: Superior City and New Orleans via St. Paul, St. Louis, and Memphis; St. Louis and San Francisco via Kansas City and Salt Lake; Kansas City and Fort Benton via Omaha; Leavenwerth and Galveston via Lawrence; St. Louis and San Diego via Springfield. The extension of this last line from Rolla merely to the south-west corner of Missouri would be an incalculable benefit. The trade of the north-western roads may be partially diverted from St. Louis by the construction of rival lines. But the south-west branch, by its advantages of situation, will compel all connecting lines to be subsidiary to itself; and its commerce, constantly swelled by the traffic of tributary roads, must necessarily flow to St. Louis. The extension of this road *Though it is somewhat foreign to my subject, yet I cannot resist the temptation to give the statistics of this massive edifice: would open to settlement vast tracts of valuable land; and, by the impulse of cheap transportation, lead to an extended developement of the rich mines of south-western Missouri. It is to be hoped that our citizens will press forward to anearly completion all the roads which will converge at St. Louis. On the east side of the Mississippi an air-line road from Cleveland to this city is now in progress of construction. This road will be a very important accession to our commercial facilities. The great bridge whose arches will, within a few years, span the Mississippi at this point, will put St. Louis in direct connection with the entire railroad system of the Continent. The paralel and meridian lines between oceans and zones will intersect at this city. From this centre roads will radiate to the circumference of our land. The Union Pacific is already built 80 miles west to Kansas City. By the 1st of August it will reach Fort Riley, a distance of 448 miles from St. Louis. The work upon this great Continental line is pushed forward with great activity. The Vice-President of the Union Pacific authorizes the statement that 6,000 men are now employed npon the California and Eastern divisions of the line. The completion of this national highway will strengthen the alliance of States with iron bands, and develop our Western wilderness into populous commonwealths. The growth of St. Louis, though greatly retarded by social institutions, has been rapid. The population of the city in At the lowest rate of decennial increase, St. Louis in 1900 would contain more than 1,000,000 inhabitants. This number certainly seems to exceed the present probability of realization, but the future growth of St. Louis, vitalized by the mightiest forces of a free civilization, and quickened by the exchanges of a continental commerce, ought to surpass the rapidity of its past development. In 1865 the amount of duties payable in gold, collected at this port, was $586,407. This sum is about one-fifth of the customs levied on goods imported into St. Louis. This is only a Port of Delivery. The imposts upon our foreign merchandise are chiefly paid at the Ports of Entry. From the records of the United States Assessor it appears that in 1865 the sales of 612 St. Louis firms amounted to $140,688,856. For the same year the imports of this city reached an aggregate of $235,873,875. The manufactures of St. Louis constitute an important element in our commercial transactions. In 1860 the capital invested in manufactures was $9,205,205, and the value of the product was $21,772,323. St. Louis, though the eighth city in the United States in population, ranked as seventh in the importance of its manufactures. Missouri might profitably imitate the activity of its metropolis. The extent of our social and commercial intercourse with the rest of the world may be inferred from the postal statistics of this department. In 186; the number of letters which passed through the St. Louis Post-office for distribution, mail or delivery, was about 11,000,000. In the judgment of the office, the transactions of the first quarter indicate an aggregate for 1866 of 15,000,000 letters. In postal importance, St. Louis is the fifth city of the Union. |