Plan of Cincinnati.
Cincinnati is one of the most important commercial and manufacturing centres of the West. The six railroads entering the city are used by twelve companies, and besides these two lines terminate at Covington on the opposite side of the river. About 300 passenger and freight trains arrive and leave daily on these roads. For their use are four depôts near the river in different parts of the city. Communication with different parts of the city and with the suburbs is afforded by fourteen lines of street railroad, with about 50 miles of track, and by numerous lines of omnibuses and stages. The top of the adjacent hills is reached by an inclined steam passenger-railway. The position of the city on the Ohio River gives it water communication with the extensive river system of the Mississippi valley; while it is connected with Lake Erie by the Miami Canal, whose northern terminus is at Toledo, Ohio. The Miami is connected by a branch with the Wabash and Erie Canal, the largest in the United States (467 miles), which extends from Toledo to Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio river. The average yearly number of steamers and barges running between Cincinnati and other ports during the ten years ending with August 1875 was 338; the yearly number of arrivals of steamers during this period was 2713, and of departures 2680. The large steamers of the Mississippi river are enabled to reach Cincinnati by means of the canal around the falls of the Ohio at Louisville, Kentucky, which was opened in 1872. About three-fourths of the commerce of the city is by railroad and canal, and the remainder by river transportation. The extent of the entire commerce is indicated by the value of imports, which during the ten years ending in 1875 averaged $314,528,009 a year, and of exports, which averaged $201,236,066.
Cincinnati is one of those interior ports to which, under the Act of Congress passed in 1870, foreign merchandize may be transported without appraisement and payment of duties at the port of first arrival. The value of such imports to this city during the year ending June 30, 1875, was $566,989. The total value of the products of manufacturing industry has increased from $46,995,062 in 1860 to $127,459,021 in 1870 and $144,207,371 in 1874. The details for the last-mentioned years are as follows:—
| Industries. | 1870. | 1874. | ||
| Hands Employed. |
Value of Products. |
Hands Employed. |
Value of Products. | |
| Iron........................................ | 10,723 | $20,804,263 | 8,713 | $17,129,224 |
| Other metals.......................... | 1,809 | 3,873,356 | 2,147 | 4,871,362 |
| Wood..................................... | 7,597 | 12,699,165 | 7,977 | 13,776,066 |
| Leather.................................. | 4,647 | 7,227,324 | 4,929 | 7,651,113 |
| Food...................................... | 2,334 | 17,945,651 | 4,957 | 24,071,077 |
| Soap, candles, and oils........ | 1,122 | 7,455,561 | 1,043 | 9,527,343 |
| Clothing................................. | 12,363 | 12,626,682 | 15,198 | 13,329,914 |
| Beer and whisky.................... | 2,301 | 16,361,006 | 1,835 | 24,231,273 |
| Cotton, wool, hemp, &c......... | 1,035 | 1,854,774 | 832 | 1,562,166 |
| Drugs, chemicals, &c............. | 735 | 3,544,195 | 560 | 3,937,593 |
| Stone and earth..................... | 2,209 | 2,980,102 | 2,199 | 3,916,401 |
| Carriages, cars, &c................ | 1,175 | 1,794,413 | 1,335 | 1,941,396 |
| Paper, &c.............................. | 452 | 880,516 | 662 | 1,687,290 |
| Bookbinding and blank books | 424 | 626,870 | 635 | 838,800 |
| Printing and publishing.......... | 2,588 | 4,699,280 | 2,334 | 5,930,304 |
| Tobacco................................ | 3,886 | 5,837,690 | 3,260 | 4,745,688 |
| Fine arts................................ | 250 | 540,746 | 363 | 694,114 |
| Miscellaneous....................... | 4,177 | 5,697,427 | 1,990 | 4,363,253 |
| Total....................... | 59,327 | 127,459,021 | 60,999 | 144,207,371 |
