unparalleled trade thoroughfare in the nation. While the Southern Gateway had prospered since the early 19th century from steamboat transportation and the collision of western rivers at its hub, New Orleans, the Northern Gateway's railroads and access to the Atlantic Ocean propelled it by the increasingly out-of-date Southern Gateway. Western cities primarily sent lumber, grain, and meat eastward, while eastern metropolises dispatched textiles, leather, machinery, and drugs to the budding western conurbations. At first, most of the shipments along this route went westward. However, by 1842, tonnage from western states equaled that from New York. Shipments going westward from Albany had reached 82,000 tons in 1836, and would more than double from that already high figure by 1852. Wheat travelling east from the Great Lakes may have seen the greatest jump in commerce. In 1829, 3640 bushels were loaded into canal boats heading for Albany. The addition of agricultural processing in places like Michigan and Wisconsin, along with the greatly enhanced volume of total trade on the Northern Gateway, allowed this number to exceed 1 million bushels in 1841. As western farmers prospered from this incredible boom in staple sales, they also began demanding more goods from the east. As a result of their newfound wealth, 78 million pounds of merchandise would end up arriving at one of the Great Lakes key ports for sale to the western population. The Northern Gateway would play a central role in boosting eastward outbound shipments from 65,000 tons in 1810 to 4.7 million tons in 1860. Prices The Northern Gateway afforded quicker and more extensive access to markets hundreds of miles away. As a result, price differences in various territories decreased, and the formation of monopolies was inhibited. This occurred because people could no longer profit on the notion that consumers only had access to local markets. Furthermore, the ease or access to distant producers allowed regions to focus on their comparative advantage. Eastern cities could focus on textiles and not have to grow their own grain. This allowed greater profits for both the manufacturing-minded east and the farm-minded west. The decreased transportation costs and travel time also decreased the price of many consumer goods and thus increased the population's real wealth. Population Distribution and Growth As the Northern Gateway increased the size and profits of previously untapped western markets, people began flooding westward along the gateway's routes in search of similar windfalls.