SHIPPING, COASTWISE AND INTERIOR. Since 1789 the American navigation laws have prae the United Kingdom owned only 846,008 tons that were engaged in its own coastwise trade. In the accompanying table it will be seen that the development of the coasting trade has made good the loss sustained in the tonnage engaged in the foreign trade and in fisheries.
In 1902, 2,347,977 tons of the sail vessels (in cluding canal boats and barges) were of wood, and 273,051 tons of iron and steel. The steam vessels comprised 1,270,046 tons constructed of wood and 1,900.824 of iron and steel. The dis tribution of the shipping tonnage in 1901 is shown in the following table: tieally, and since 1817 absolutely, prohibited any but American vessels from participating in the coasting trade of the United States. Therefore the enormous domestic trade of the United States —the seacoast, lake, and river trade—has al ways been monopolized by American ship-own ers and seamen. The facilities offered by the waterways of the United States greatly favor a large domestic shipping trade. There are 5200 miles of the United States frontier bordering on the oceans and the Gulf of Mexico, and an addi tional 2100 miles on lake and river. Further more, there is no other country in which rivers afford so great access to the interior as the United States. It is estimated that the United States has 18,000 miles of navigable riverway. On the Atlantic coast there are a large number of rivers, from the Saint Croix in Maine to the Saint John's in Florida. that are navigable from
50 to 200 miles inland: and there is no very considerable stretch of the coast that is not able to participate in the coastwise trade. The Gulf coast region is similarly favored with navigable rivers and with ports. The Mississippi River system gives water communication with the vast portion of the interior of the country. The Pacific coast is less favored with navigable rivers or with port sites, but the inlets at San Francisco, Portland. and Puget Sound have tri butary navigable rivers, and are superior ports.
There are no statistics showing the amount of cargo carried in the coastwise trade, as there are in the foreign trade, and its magnitude is not known. The most extensive coast trade centres in New York, largely with Boston on the one side, and Philadelphia on the other. San Francisco is the largest centre of the coastwise trade on the Pacific coast, but Seattle plays an important part in the coasting trade with Alaska. In 1900 products to the value of $5.052,051 were shipped from New York to San Francisco via the Isthmus of Panama, and products to the value of $1,765,729 were shipped from San Fran cisco to New York by the same route. The ship ping facilities afforded by the Great Lakes are of inestimable value. See GREAT LAKES.