Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/84

70 pounds. The emigrant, however, was never charged less than five dollars from New York to Buffalo, and one dollar for every one hundred pounds extra luggage; and the enormous differences between the prices paid by the forwarding-houses and charged to the emigrants were divided among the former and their soliciting agents or runners.

The prices of conveying passengers from Buffalo to the cities and villages on the upper and lower lakes varied between $1 and $5. Thus, for the forepart of the season of 1847, they were on the upper lakes, for the first two months, $3 each, and from $1 25 to $1 50 on the lower lakes; after that the forwarding-houses paid $2 on the upper and $1 on the lower lakes, and towards the close of the season the prices were raised to $5 on the upper and $2 on the lower lakes. The lowest prices charged to the emigrant were from New York to Cleveland, $5 50; Milwaukee and Chicago, $9 50 and $10; Cincinnati, $12; Louisville, $13; St. Louis, $14; and Galena, $16.

From the opening of navigation in 1847 till 31st day of July," says Charles Cook (a book-keeper in an emigrant forwarding-house), "forwarding companies paid the transportation lines for steerage passengers by canal, river, and lake, from New York to Chicago, $3, including 65 lbs. luggage; they charged emigrants from $5 to $8; luggage costs from about 75 cents per 100 lbs., and is charged from $1 50 to $2 per 100 lbs. The actual cost for steerage passengers, in emigrant cars, from Albany to Buffalo, thence to Chicago, is $6 50, for which the emigrant pays $12; this includes 100 lbs. of luggage on the river and an indefinite amount on the railroad; the usual rate on the railroad is $1 25 per 100 lbs. A deduction of $3 is made to all passengers who stop at Detroit or any point this side, on the lower lakes; this costs the forwarding companies about $5 50 by railroad; if on the canal (steerage), the charge is $5, and it costs about $2. This is up to the 1st of August; on the lakes the rates have advanced since the 1st of August, $3, from Buffalo to Chicago, and $1 on the lower lakes."

Up to 1850 or 1855, only a very small percentage of emigrants went West by railroad, but the prices asked and obtained from