ake Erie, and partly for its position between the lakes. It
is an important collecting and distributing point for lake-freights, and
the chief centre of commerce with Canada. Several east-and-west trunk
lines and local lines of railway have freight terminals in the city; it
is also the centre of the most complete system of interurban electric
railways in the world. _Port Huron_ (with _Sarnia_, Ont.) has a
geographic position similar to that of Detroit, and is also an important
lake-port. The St. Clair River is tunnelled at this point. _Cleveland_,
_Toledo_, _Sandusky_, and _Erie_ contribute very largely to the
lake-trade. _Grand Rapids_ is the business centre of furniture
manufacture of the United States.

The great iron-ore ranges about Lake Superior have had much to do with
the growth of the local lake-trade. This has resulted in the
establishment of a large number of shipping-ports near the head of the
lakes, and also a number of receiving ports on the south shores of Lake
Erie and Lake Michigan. Some of the latter have become also great
manufacturing centres of structural iron and steel.

Various centres of industry at a considerable distance from the Great
Lakes are contributors to their trade. Thus, on account of the low rate
for grain between _Chicago_ and _New York City_--about 5-1/4 cents per
bushel--there are yearly very heavy shipments of the grain designed for
Liverpool. _St. Paul_ and _Minneapolis_ are also collecting and
distributing centres of lake-freights. A considerable part of the
business of the lake-region is carried on by the Canadians, who have
improved their resources for production and transportation to the
utmost.

[Illustration: _Copyright, Detroit Photographic Co._

AURORA IRON MINES, IRONWOOD, MICHIGAN]

=The Northern Mississippi Valley Region.=--This region extends from the
Appalachian ranges to the western limit of wheat and cotton growing. On
the south it is limited by the cotton-growing region. Its boundaries are
therefore climatic and commercial.

The surface is level; there is a rich, deep soil and an abundant
rainfall. It has therefore become one of the foremost regions of the
world in the production of corn, wheat, pork, dairy-stuffs, and general
farm produce. The evolution of farming machinery is the direct result of
topographic conditions. A level, fertile region naturally invites
grain-farming on a large scale. This, in turn, must depend very largely
on the ability of the f