Map Showing the Freight Traffic on the Great Lakes in the United States Coastwise Trade During the Year 1890 [with report]

The staggering quantity of commodities moved across the Great Lakes during the late 19th century.

This fascinating map of the Great Lakes was designed by the United States Treasury Department to accompany an 1891 report by S.G. Brock, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, subtitled, “The Commerce of the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and its Tributaries.” The submission was published by the Government Printing Office in 1892 (a copy of which is included).

The image highlights the massive amounts of freight carried through the numerous port cities along the Great Lakes system; notably Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Duluth. The railroad network, shown in some detail around each harbor, was a primary transporter of bulk commodities like flour, iron, coal and lumber. According to the summary of traffic provided in the upper right, over 28,000,000 tons of goods were carried in the U.S. Coastwise Trade in 1890.