Midwest Arrivals

Early schooners sailing the Great Lakes rarely traveled any further west than to ports along Lake Erie. Critical to establishing settlements beyond those ports was the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. With this achievement, more than half the number of immigrants heading west were arriving by boat, bringing household goods and provisions along with them. On return trips to Buffalo, New York, the lake vessels were loaded with corn, fish, furs, whiskey and lumber. By 1839 traffic on the Great Lakes was booming, so much so that eight vessels were scheduled to run between Buffalo and Chicago every sixteen days. Populations in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin multiplied; and as the logging days came to a close, the newly cleared lands were producing an abundance of crops such as potatoes, onions, celery, black beans, berries and fruit. Without trucks, few roads, and the prohibitive cost of rail transport at the time, these agricultural products were being transported to urban markets along Lake Michigan, arriving on schooners much like the one shown here. Because this particular schooner is tied to the dock with its sails up and spread out to dry, one can surmise that it has recently arrived, and perhaps has just finished unloading its cargo of farm-fresh produce.