Upward of one hundred and fifty million pounds of canned and pickled beef are also exported. All but a very small part of this product is consumed in Great Britain, France, and Germany. The cattle are collected for transportation at various stations and sidings along the railways that traverse this region. _Cheyenne_ is one of the largest cattle-markets in the world. Wool has become a very valuable product, and the sheep grown in this region number about one-half the total in the United States. The growing of macaroni-wheat is extending to lands that fail to produce crops of ordinary wheat. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION In what ways does the basin of the Great Lakes facilitate the commerce of the United States? How has the topography of the Mississippi Valley affected the evolution of farming-machinery? Why are shippers willing in many cases to pay an all-rail rate on wheat sent to the Atlantic seaboard, nearly three times as great as the lake and canal rates? The acre-product of wheat in the United States is about twelve bushels; in western Europe it varies from twenty-five to more than forty bushels; to what is the difference due? What is meant by sea-island cotton?--for what reasons is cotton imported from Egypt and Peru into the United States? In what manner is cotton used in the manufacture of pneumatic tires, and why is it thus used? What are refrigerator-cars?--refrigerator-steamships? Name some of the regulations required in shipping cattle. Why have American meats been debarred at times from European markets? Find the value of cotton and meat exported to the following-named countries: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, China. FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE The Wheat Problem--pp. 191 _et seq._ Statistical Abstract. [Illustration: DIFFICULT RAILROADING--LAS ANIMAS CANYON] CHAPTER XX THE UNITED STATES--THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS AND TERRITORIAL POSSESSIONS The western part of the United States consists of a succession of high mountain-ranges extending nearly north and south. The two highest ranges, each about two miles high, enclose a basin-shaped plateau about one mile high. This basin is commonly called the "plateau region." The rim ranges are broken in a few places by passes that the transcontinental railways thread. West of the Sierra Nevada ranges are the fertile Pacific coast lowlands. =The Plateau Region.=--This region is generally arid, but on the higher plateaus there is sufficient rainfall to produce a considerable forestry and grazing. The general conditions of rainfall and topography forbid any great development of agriculture. Farming is confined to the river-flood-plains, the parks, and the old lake beds and margins.