“ With respect to rapidity, economy, and efficiency, the lake traffic excels that of the ocean. The coastal line of the Great Lakes touches eight of our States. Their aggregate population is over one-third that of the Union. The sailing distance from Duluth to Buffalo is 997 miles, from Chicago to Buffalo, 929 miles, and from Duluth to Ogdensburg, 1235 miles. The vast region tributary to the Great Lakes is the richest part of the country in the products of farm, forest, and mine. The bulkiness of these products is such that a water route becomes of especial value in their transportation. ”

“ The greatest significance of the lakes is due to their relation to the mining of iron ore and the manufacture of iron products. Viewed in this light, lake transportation is found to be the key to the modern industrial progress and supremacy of the United States. It is generally admitted that but for the cheapness of the lake transportation the iron ore resources of the Lake Superior region would have been scarcely exploited. Without the supply of iron ore many vast industries could not have thrived. ”

“ More than one-half of the number of vessels registered in the United States are found upon the Great Lakes, and excepting the vessels belonging to one particular ocean steamship line, the average tonnage of the Lake vessels exceeds that of all other American craft. A greater tonnage annually passes through the Detroit River than that which enters and clears in the foreign trade of the Atlantic and Pacific coast ports. No other artificial channel equals the canal at Saint Mary's Falls in the amount of traffic which annually goes through it, the tonnage even exceeding that of the Suez Canal. ”