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From this irregular and desultory sketch we perceive the vast prospective trade of Savannah; we view our hundred rail-roads, for we must call those roads hers that conduct a mighty stream of commerce to her bosom; we see her navigable and swiftflowing rivers, whose downward water bears the treasures of three fertile states to her wharves.

Augusta, two hundred and forty miles; steam | easy to foresee the consequences of such a again takes up the line of march from the lat- route to Savannah, and difficult to perceive ter point for three hundred miles, to the Ten- the vast local interests that are naturally ennessee. The citizens of that state, no longer listed in favor of this route over all others, for idle spectators of these efforts of their brethren a crossing of the state of Georgia. Such a of Georgia, are arousing themselves to the route, when completed, can result in but one work, and give good promise of taking up consequence, namely, that of rendering the the line where Georgia has left it, and carry. whole country between the Ocmulgee, Flint ing it to their capital. Pursuing this route, and Chatahoochee rivers, the natural allies we arrive at the banks of the Cumberland, and tributaries to the trade of the Atlantic and following its course we are conducted to city of Georgia. the flourishing city of St. Louis, but twenty miles below the mouth of the Missouri, and thus obtain in the valley of the great West the prize for which the Atlantic states are contending with so much industry and perseverance. Returning once more to Savannah, we ascend the Central Rail-road throughout its whole length, one hundred and ninety miles, and passing up the Macon and Western road, a distance of forty miles, we come to Barnesville, a point whence the most important road in the southern country must inevitably branch, and thus conduct the great tide of southwestern travel to a point from which Savannah is the nearest Atlantic city,-this latter road reaching Columbus lays open to the same favored emporium the rich cotton regions of Alabama. That this splendid work, when completed in all its branches, will draw naturally into the same current a large portion of the trade of North Alabama, North Mississippi, East Tennessee, and part of West Tennessee, can scarcely be doubted by him who has a map of the country before him and is capable of tracing the various routes and roads upon it, and observing their connection, and to that capacity adds the important acquisition of experience in the past operation of

From the unfinished and somewhat undetermined condition of the various lines of internal improvement in the several states of which we have been speaking, it will readily be seen that no very exact calculation can be made as to the period when they shall, as one grand system, united though distinct, tending all to one point, though measurably unconscious of their destination, conspire to produce those commercial consequences to Savannah of which we have been speaking. It may also be imagined that the aberration of purpose consequent upon the opposing influence of so many sectional interests, may for a while protract, though it cannot long prevent that almost uniform concentration of trade to the one most expedient point, the city of Savannah. Individual influence, seconded by the magic of wealth and strong What Savannah has so long been contented effort, may for a while divert the course of to forego for want of facilities of transporta-like material bodies, is ruled by attractive trade unto unnatural channels; but trade, tion, must inevitably be hers when the great laws, and the great magnet will be ever the line of road communication is completed. And so pressing and powerful is the impetus one constant principle-self-interest; whereof a mighty and growing trade in all these ever this principle can be clearly discerned regions through which we have conducted the the tide of trade will follow. reader, that the result is inevitable; no possible state of things or chain of circumstances, however adverse, can delay it long.

similar causes.

Again, Savannah puts forth her feelers through the waters of the Ocmulgee to a point on that noble stream where terminates the already graded rail-road from Albany, near the centre of the great cotton region of Georgia, a region based on the immense shell, lime and marl formation which runs through so great a portion of the southern states.

Another route of equal importance, and promising equal if not greater advantages to Savannah, is one already much talked of and by many much desired, and one which at some period not very distant, must in the very nature of things be constructed;-we mean the natural and direct continuation of the Central Rai -road from Macon to Columbus. It is

natural and most expedient and the most If, as we have attempted to show, the easily reached market for the vast products of the south and west, shall be Savannah-Savannah will be their destiny in spite of opposing interests, however cunningly and perseveringly arrayed these adverse interests may be. Savannah, once the centre of all the commerce which her position and the tendency of circumstances will most certainly entitle herto, her export trade must, by a parity of reasoning, be proportionately increased, both domestic and foreign, and this increase of business products will naturally beget a uniform and progressive increase of capital and enterprise; when these two great partisans in the strife for wealth unite their forces the triumph is complete. Savannah exported during the commercial year of 1843,

add to this latter sum the value of the coastwise exports for the same period, which could not have been a less amount, we have nearly fifteen millions of exports for the two years.

It must be kept in mind that during these two years Savannah had scarcely begun to feel the effect of the internal facilities of transport. To what a point, then, may we not reasonably expect her trade to arrive, when the numerous avenues completed in progress, and contemplated, shall be directed to one common centre, and Savannah be the grand depot of all. The central rail-road is destined, caeteris paribus, to accomplish for Savannah what the Erie Canal has done for New-York, accomplishing the prediction of General Bernard, who, after carefully examining and weighing all the local advantages of this city, exclaimed, "Savannah is destined to be the New-York of the South." If heedful exertion and liberal means are put forth these things must eventually come to pass. We had almost said that such a result would ensue from unaided natural causes, exertion and enterprise sleeping the meanwhile, but this is saying too much and hoping too much; we only mean to imply, by a strong figure, that the descending stream of trade only wants direction. It is but required of the merchants and men of capital to use the ample powers that circumstances have placed in their hands to give this direction. Sa

285,754 bales of cotton; 25,032 tierces of rice; 7,500,000 feet of pitch pine lumber; 5,175,000 cypress shingles; 66,000 oak staves. The direct foreign import for the same period amounted only to $279,896, but as a great proportion of the articles of foreign import consumed in, and transmitted through Savannah, arrive coastwise from New-York and other northern cities, it is difficult to form a calculation from any very certain data what is the actual value of the aggregate, direct and indirect, foreign imports of Savannah, blended as the latter are with the coastwise imports during the period of which we have been speaking, viz., 1843. The registered, licensed and enrolled tonnage of the port of Savannah amounted to 17,920 tons, but the total amount of all tonnage frequenting our port cannot be readily arrived at, since most of the vessels engaged in the coasting trade sail under licenses which exempt them from entry or clearance at the Custom House, except when they have foreign goods on board. Leaving the amount of tonnage, thus arriving and departing without official notice, to conjecture, we will proceed to refer to some data concerning recorded arrivals and clearances at the Custom House, from which will be seen, by comparison, what the whole might probably have been. From the 1st of October, 1844, to the same month in 1846, there entered coastwise the port of Savannah 719 vessels, comprising an aggregate ton-vannah must not, however, imitate the rustic nage of 196,791 tons, and during the same period, from foreign ports, 26,612 tons of American shipping, and 78,476 tons of foreign, by which enumeration a curious fact is brought to light, namely, that the foreign carriers of our own products outnumbered the native, in a ratio of three to one! The total amount of tonnage of all descriptions entered at the Custom House of Savannah during the two years last named was 105,085, and the total amount cleared for the same period was 133,915; the difference between these two sums arising in part from vessels remaining over in port at the commencement of the year with which we begin our calculation, and in part from vessels arriving coastwise with license, taking foreign freights and exchanging their licenses for registers, and thereby in clearing obtaining a record on the Custom House books. The value of foreign goods passing through the same channel, and for the same period, subject to duty, amounted to $310,255 39, while those not liable to duty, though of foreign import, amounted to only $19,915 21; of specie for the same period, there was an import of $65,423 86, making a grand total of foreign imports into the city of Savannah for the two years ending on the 1st of October, 1846, of $595,594 50, while the value of domestic produce exported to foreign places arrived at the important sum of $7,353,186 86. If we

in the fable, who waited on the banks of the river for the waters to flow by, but rather dash on with bold step, and force the stream at every practicable ford, and where there is no ford, to call on their ingenuity and enterprise to make one. In proportion to the facilities of transport will be the augmentation of products; this we venture to assume as an incontrovertible position, and every new water communication, and every new rail-road opened through the state will cause thousands of hitherto uncultivated acres to start into life and fruitfulness.

The present year, although the first since the rail-road has penetrated to the Cherokee country, affords striking proof of the truth of our theory, as exemplified in the increased value of the commerce of Savannah. The exports of the month of February, 1847, exceed those of the same month last year, by $839,477 75. In January of the present year our exports have amounted to $1,038,954 41, while the same month in 1846 exhibited but $262,124 52, an increase of $776,829 89 in the one month of January, and a total increase in the two first months of 1847 of $1,616,307 14; this enumeration is exclusive of the coasting trade. We do not wish to conceal the fact, nor would it help us to do so, that a portion of this increase has arisen from the greater value of our staple products, the cotton and rice crops

of Georgia the past year over that of the preceding. While we are speaking of this grand staple, it occurs to us to advert to the vast prospective increase in the cultivation of cotton in Georgia, as road after road pierces the numerous rich and fertile counties through which they must necessarily pass. The rail-road is at once the plow and the seed, the planter and the carrier; wherever its course leads through the hitherto trackless regions of our state, energy is awakened, industry stimulated and enterprise excited in the highest degree. As our rail-roads have but just reached the great grain country of the state, we cannot expect that important article of trade to have been much augmented in quantity as yet, but the lapse of another year will show, in all probability, a result that will carry with it the conclusion that Georgia will ere long number grain and flour among her most important exports. Cass county and the regions adjacent, are fertile and immediately contiguous to the western and Atlantic rail-road, the natural feeder of the Central rail-road. They will, doubtless, become the granary of Lower Georgia, and after supplying all the domestic wants of the state, will ship their surplus to foreign countries, through Savannah. Those counties through which the state road runs are subject to peculiar temptations-two markets are placed before them of nearly the same facility of access. On reaching Atlanta, two roads of nearly equal length invite their attention, and await their decision. Shall they pursue the path to Augusta and thence by the Hamburg road to Charleston, or is their patriotism enough to turn the almost equal scale? No such thing; patriotism has nothing to do with such matters. Trade is governed by its own laws, and so is the amor patriae of the present day. It follows, then, that the owner of the produce, who probably accompanies it to market, will be swayed by motives of interest; if he finds the facilities offered on the Western and Macon and the Central roads superior to those of the Georgia and Hamburg roads, Savannah will enjoy the fruit of his labors, all other things being equal. It must be the study of the presiding powers of the Central and Western roads to cultivate this result by good smooth tracks, plenty of cars of burden, and moderate rates of freight-the latter should be so modified, and doubtless will be so, ere long, that a barrel of flour can reach the Savannah market at an expense of twenty-five per cent. less than it would pay to Charleston.

The lumber business of Savannah has hitherto been an almost unnoticed item in the history of its exports, but it is now too well grown to be kept out of sight. It has become a trade of very considerable importance, and employs constantly more than two

hundred vessels of all sizes; Europe, the western islands of the Atlantic, the West Indies, all of the middle and eastern states of the Union, are its customers. Nay, even the Celestial Empire itself has been found to be a market for it.

So

The yellow pine of Georgia, the pinus australis of Michaud, is confessedly the most valuable, because the most durable and the most beautiful of all the resinous woods for the purpose of structure. It differs from the pine of the same name of North and South Carolina in many of its features; the most striking one is its grain, for so the various lamina, or concentric circles that compose the tree, are called. The grain of the Georgia pine is much closer and finer than that of either of the other states, and the resinous matter with which all pines abound is more firmly incorporated with the wood, and less easily extracted by water or climate. long as this vital principle of the wood is retained, the wood itself, if free from sap, is incorruptible; but when, from conspiring elementary causes, this natural aliment is parted with, (and this is soonest the case where the grain is coarse and the lamina far asunder,) a space is left open to the alternations of air and moisture, and these are the harbingers of decay. It has been objected by some that this theory is not sustained in the case of pine continually covered with water, such being known to remain sound for more than half a century. We answer that this case is not in the nature of an objection to the theory, inasmuch as it is not embraced in the position laid down; it is the alternations of air and moisture, of wet and dry, that cause the pine, and we believe most other woods of open texture, to decay. Neither is another instance, where pine is kept entirely dry, and so continues sound for as long a period as that continually covered with water, any more at variance with our theory.

The durability of Georgia pine, in either of these predicaments, is greater than that of most known woods. It enters largely, as before remarked, into the construction of vessels, and is used by northern ship-builders in many parts of their business. It composes the flat of the bottom, the wales, water-ways, plank sheers, beams, and indeed almost the entire between-deck work of the finest ships of our country. It is also used for keels, lower masts, top-masts, bowsprits; and for the interior work of the lower hold of ships, such as clamps, ceilings, and thick streaks, it is much preferred. The betweendecks of a ship, when carefully finished with this wood, and well varnished, has a showy as well as a substantial appearance, and such a finish has become much the fashion within a few years. To the great demand for this wood for ship-building, we may add that

which is created by its natural fitness for all purposes about machinery, where wood is used at all; also the universal demand for Georgia pine throughout the United States for floors, and many other purposes among housewrights. England imports from the State of Georgia, through the port of Savannah, at least twenty cargoes of three hundred thousand feet each, superficial measurement, per season; and when cotton freights are very low, the ratio of pitch-pine shipments is greatly increased.

Georgia rice may now be said to vie with, if not to excel, any other in the world. The inducements for cultivating it being increased by three important causes, viz. increased value in market, facility of transportation, and foreign demand, it is not assuming too much, perhaps, to say that the rice crop of Georgia, centering in Savannah, will in the coming year exceed by 34,650 casks the crop of the past year, 1846. The cotton crop of this state, as before remarked, must be greatly increased by the cause we have mentioned, viz. : the improved demand, and faci

of more than three hundred and fifty thousand bales, together with a respectable portion of that of Alabama and East Florida, may, by proper exertion, all be secured for the benefit of the commerce of Savannah, can scarcely be doubted by any one acquainted with the simplest elements of cause and effect.

An agent of the British government, some few years ago, after exploring the pine re-lities of transportation; that this entire crop gions of the southern country, from Virginia to Louisiana, pronounced the yellow pine of Georgia to be superior to anything of the kind in the United States. This opinion seems also to have been fully entertained by the contractor for the French government, who located himself in this state after a long and critical search after the best pine of the country. The West India Islands, both British and French, take off vast quantities of Georgia pine every year, for which they pay in their own products, and in specie and bills of exchange.

The connection of Augusta with Savannah by a rail-road from the Eighty Mile Station on the Central Rail-road, running through Burke county, and having its first terminus in Wanesboro', was a favorable idea for the interests of Savannah. It will remove be

With these important outlets for the lumber trade of Savannah, and with the constant-yond temptation the products of two or three ly increasing demand for the article, we need not be surprised to find the exports of it, in ten years, more than quadrupled. The Savannah and Ogeechee Canal, connecting the waters of the two rivers that give name to this work, and now nearly restored to a navigable condition, is destined to be the principal channel through which the lumber trade of Savannah is to be increased to a very great extent, so much so that it may soon bear a very respectable comparison with the two great staples of the state, cotton and

rice.

It remains to say a few words concerning the probable increase in the product of this last-named important article of food. The very high prices obtained by planters for their rice the present season, will in all probability excite many to a much more extensive cultivation of the article in future years. The introduction of machinery for threshing, cleaning, and preparing rice for market, has much facilitated the trade, and has sent it abroad in a much fairer and more perfect condition, both as to grain and quality.

counties that now lie more convenient to Augusta than to Savannah. It is not to be supposed that internal improvements in and about the State of Georgia will cease when all these roads we have named shall be completed; it is not in the nature of things that such should be the case; on the contrary, road will beget road, and track intersect track, until the entire state shall be brought into intimate union, not only with itself, but with its neighboring states, and thus gradually bring about the consummation so desirable for Savannah and so necessary for her commercial eminence.

In this diffuse and irregular sketch of the present position and future prospects of the trade of Savannah, we have not aimed at tabular exactness, for it was difficult, with such materials as we had before us, to be very methodical; it was our design only to shadow forth, as it were, some of the strong features of the subject, and leave to time and the accumulation of more certain data, the completion of the intention.

SAVANNAH-COMMERCE OF.

EXPORTS FROM SAVANNAH OF COTTON, RICE, AND LUMBER, FOR TEN YEARS, AND VALUE REAL ESTATE.

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1838.

1839

1840.

1841

1842

1843

98,343,420.

..104,590,190.

Value Real Estate

3,245,827

3,279,988

3,306,734

3,462,073

3,600,000

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RECEIPTS OF COTTON AT SAVANNAH, FOR TEN YEARS, TO 1ST SEPTEMBER.

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In 1839 the total export of cotton was | 284,249; rice, 24,392; 1841, cotton, 147,199,176; rice, 21,332; in 1840, cotton, 280; 23,587 rice; 14,295,200 feet lumber.

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In the year ending 1st April, 1848, Savannah exported to foreign ports 60,037 bushels corn; 412 bbls. turpentine; 30,000 yards osnaburgs; and imported 224,645 bushels salt; 374,992 gals. molasses; and $62,569 in iron, pig and bar. The number of vessels arriving in the same time were, from foreign ports, 41; and 6,925 tonnage; coastwise, 397; 99,409 tonnage. Foreign vessels from foreign ports, 51, of 28,766 tonnage; four ships with tonnage ranging from 572 to 721, are owned in Savannah, either in whole or in part; 1 bark, 6 brigs, 18 schooners, 9 sloops, 19 steamboats.

In the ten years ending 1820, the average of deaths was 1 to 14; of average white population, in the ten years ending 1830, 1 in 17; ending 1840, 1 in 24; ending 1848, 1 in 33; a most marked improvement. The records of the black population, though preserved in the registers, are unfortunately not given in Mr. Bancroft's pamphlet, to which we are indebted for the above state

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"The growing population-the great increase of the mechanical arts-the extended use of steam as applied to mills, presses, and other useful employments-are all evidences of a healthful state of the body politic. And this increase of steam power has been so noiseless, that it has attracted the notice of surprised to learn that of the eighteen establishments propelled by steam, fourteen of them have been erected within the last ten years."

but few of our citizens, and most of them will be

ST. LOUIS-COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF.-The Hon. Edward Bates, in his oration on the inauguration of the Pacific Railroad, referred to the superior natural and commercial advantages of St. Louis in the following truthful and eloquent strains :

"Here we are, in the centre of the great valley, the natural centre of the largest body of rich, habitable land on the face of the earth. A land large enough to maintain in comfort two hundred millions of people, every one of whom could bring the produce of his labor to this centre by natural navigation. Just below the confluence of three mighty rivers-Missouri, Mississippi, and

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