Ports
of Call
 The Millecoquins
schooner was one of a growing number of vessels—both sail and steam—on the
Upper Lakes in the 1830s. They carried new settlers, as well as the building
supplies, manufactured goods and agricultural products needed to establish
new homes and businesses. Commerce expanded more rapidly after 1840, but by
the late 1830s, sailing vessels were beginning to carry bulk cargoes like
fish, grain and lumber from Great Lakes ports.
This schooner may have limited its travels to northern Lakes
Michigan and Huron. In that case, steamers and larger sailing ships would
have linked it to ports like Buffalo and Detroit, as well as to smaller—but
growing—locations like Chicago.
Mackinac Island
Our arrival [at
Mackinac Island] was an event which soon collected most of the population
on the little pier. They principally consist of fishermen, this part of
the lake being celebrated for the splendid trout and White fish (like a
salmon) taken in it, the catching of which is almost the only occupation
of the inhabitants.
William
Fairholme
August 9, 1840
Between 1835 and
1845, the quantity of fish shipped from Mackinac Island increased from 1,700
to almost 20,000 barrels. Merchants supplied nets, barrels and salt to small
fishing stations on northern Lakes Huron and Michigan. Fishermen salted and
packed their catch while it was still fresh. Later the barrels were brought
to Mackinac to be inspected and repacked for shipment to market.
Some Major Great Lakes Ports
At the western end of
New York's Erie Canal, Buffalo was the largest city on the Great Lakes in
1840. It had 18,000 residents.
Cleveland was the
chief Great Lakes outlet for Ohio's agricultural production, shipping grain,
whiskey, dairy products and wool. By 1840, canals linked this growing city
of 6,000 residents with the coal fields of the Ohio River Valley and it
became a fuel port as well.
Detroit was
more than 130
years old, but it had changed dramatically since the Erie Canal began
bringing increasing numbers of settlers in 1825. During the 1830s, its
population increased from little more than a thousand to more than 9,000.
Chicago began the
1830s as a village of a few hundred residents. By 1840, federally funded
harbor improvements enabled it to attract grain from prairie farms for
shipment to eastern cities. In the 1840s, the city's population and its
commerce both grew explosively.
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