Ohio archæological and historical quarterly . sed more than 900miles of waterways. Their influence in stimulatingtraffic cannot be overestimated. But long before thesecanals were completed the age of steam dawned. Therailroads began to stretch out their iron fingers in alldirections after the nations commerce. Gradually thecanal systems languished before their powerful barges rotted at the banks and the lock gates wereconstantly open. Even yet the old channels, chokedwith weeds, and the ruins of the old locks, can be seenin many places. AGRICULTURAL WEALTH With transportation provid
Ohio archæological and historical quarterly . sed more than 900miles of waterways. Their influence in stimulatingtraffic cannot be overestimated. But long before thesecanals were completed the age of steam dawned. Therailroads began to stretch out their iron fingers in alldirections after the nations commerce. Gradually thecanal systems languished before their powerful barges rotted at the banks and the lock gates wereconstantly open. Even yet the old channels, chokedwith weeds, and the ruins of the old locks, can be seenin many places. AGRICULTURAL WEALTH With transportation provided to eastern marketscame the era of agricultural and commercial develop-ment. Farming was the basic industry and is even yetthe basis of the states prosperity. In spite of her rela-tively small area, Ohio stands among the half-dozenleading states in the value of her farm products. Na-ture has been very generous with her bounties. Agesbefore the advent of man, nature was active in shapingthe surface of this state and in filling the soil with. y > o g id II c s-s sisi E (310) Ohio and Western Expansion 311 fertility. The glaciers of the Ice Age, in their ponder-ous forward movement, smoothed off the rugged fea-tures. They carried masses of alluvium, which weredeposited by the melting of the ice to form the broadterraces of rich soil along the streams. The total landarea of the state is 26,073,600 acres. Over seven-eighths of this area are comprised in farm lands. Thewhole number of farms is more than 256,000, and it issignificant of the high class of the rural population, thatmore than two-thirds of these farms are owned by themen who operate them. Ohio with its limited size does not vie with some ofthe western states in the production of wheat, yet it canbe depended upon to yield a large supply of this neces-sary food. In 1919, when the world looked to Americafor food, Ohio farmers turned more than 58,000,000bushels of wheat into the national granary. Corn isthe largest cro
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