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s t a t is t ic a l f 61 atlas. TR AN SPO R TATIO N . 3 7 1 . R a i l w a y M i l e a g e o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s : 18 3 0 t o S H IP P IN G . Years. 4 The shipping of the United States in 1890 amounted to 7,633,676 tons. Of this, however, only 12 per cent was engaged in foreign trade, the rest being engaged in domestic trade. The tonnage engaged in domestic traffic may be divided as follows: 31 per cent engaged in coast wise traffic, 12 per cent in traffic upon the Great Lakes, and 45 per cent, or not much less than one-half, engaged in traffic upon our navigable rivers. This subdivision of our traffic is illustrated by Diagram 368. Our merchant marine may again be subdivided as fol lows : 24 per cent consists of steam vessels, an equal pro portion of sailing vessels, and 52 per cent, or a little more than one-half, of unrigged craft. This last item may require some explanation. The great bulk of the traffic upon our rivers, and no small part of that upon the Great Lakes, is carried in scows towed by steamers. Most of these scows are of large dimensions, the average tonnage of the unrigged craft being not less than 500 tons, and scows of 1,000 tons are not uncommon. This distribution of the merchant marine is shown by Diagram 369. Map 370, plate 59, shows the routes of most of our domestic traffic by water, including the routes of coastwise and lakewise navigation and the navigable rivers. Con cerning the last, it must be said that the extent of navigable streams differs with the draft of the vessel which is adopted as the criterion and with the stage of water. The criterion is here assumed to be steamers of as small draft as are commonly used, and the navigability at high water is that indicated. R A IL W A Y S . The railway system of the United States comprised in 1890, 163,597 miles- This railway system has cost in capital and funded debt nearly $10,000,000,000, an aver age of nearly $60,000 per mile. Its gross earnings during the year exceeded $1,000,000,000, and its net income a little over $100,000,000. Nearly 12,000,000,000 passen gers, and over 76,000,000,000 tons of freight were carried 1 mile during the year. This enormous railway system has been constructed within the past half century. Its growth is shown by Diagram 371, the length of each bar indicating the mileage in operation at the end of that year. Map 372, plate 60, shows the railway lines as they existed in 1890. It is seen that the northern states are very fully supplied with this means of transportation; that, comparatively speaking, the south is insufficiently supplied, while in most parts of the west railroads are few. 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 50000 100000 18 9 0 , 150000
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