Report of the Select Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, with Appendix and Evidence

Bringing America’s agricultural bounty to market.

“Whereas the productions of our country have increased much more rapidly than the means of transportation, and the growth of population and products will in the near future demand additional facilities, and cheaper ones, to reach tide-water.” – pg. 7.

This important report was compiled by members of the United States Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard under the leadership of Minnesota Senator William Windom. The Committee was tasked with researching a number of internal transportation improvements to facilitate the movement of major commodities to the Atlantic seaboard, especially corn, wheat, and cotton.

Their work, published in 1874, emphasizes the role of the federal government in planning, funding, and maintaining such projects; ultimately developing into the Inland Waterways Commission. Numerous tables of financial data show a significant economic return via taxes and tariffs is possible, plus numerous benefits for the local constituencies. Folding maps show the major corn, wheat, and cotton-growing regions across the United States, while a fourth, larger image presents the Committee’s recommended lines. Three line graphs, also fold-outs, present the average volume of freight, corn, and wheat shipped from Chicago to New York (water and rail) between 1869 and 1873.