Commerce on the Great Lakes System

Abstract

T OO OFTEN in discussions of the waterborne commerce of the United States, commerce upon the Great Lakes System has been relegated to an inferior position, if not dismissed altogether after a few brief statements. Yet the Great Lakes System occupies a position of extreme importance in our commerce. The inter-port tonnage on the Great Lakes frequently exceeds that entered and cleared in the foreign trade of our Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific ports combined. In I939 this tonnage was I I3,309,000 short tons. A comparative statement of our domestic and foreign water-borne commerce in selected years appears in Table I. The Great Lakes System consists of the five Great Lakes of North AmericaSuperior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario-together with their connecting channels.1 In Table II the commerce on