Powerful as the railway may be,
we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that a tug and train of barges
will carry a cargo of merchandise from St. Paul to St. Louis for
one-tenth the sum the consignee must pay for railway transportation.
So, to-day, the river is just as important as a highway of commerce as
it was in the palmy days of the floating palace and river greyhound.
Railway traffic has enormously increased, but river traffic along the
most wonderful of streams has not materially lessened.
The Mississippi is certainly a wonderful river. From Elk Lake to the
Gulf of Mexico it has a variable length of about 2,800 miles; from
Pass a l'Outre to the head of the Missouri its extent is nearly 4,200
miles--a length not equaled by any other river in the world. It is
evident, by a moment of reflection, that a river which traverses a
great extent of latitude offers much greater facilities for commerce
and settlement than a longitudinal river. The Mississippi traverses a
greater breadth of latitude than any other river, except the Nile, for
its sources are in regions of almost arctic cold, while its delta is
in a land that is practically tropical. The volume of its flood is
surpassed by the Amazon and, perhaps, the Yukon.
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