Produce was floated down the Wabash, and the boats returned laden with goods for their market at an enormous profit.[444] Indian corn was purchased of the farmer on the Wabash at 25 cents per bushel, soon after harvest; in the spring it was sent to New Orleans under a freight of 25 cents per bushel, and sold at 75 cents to one dollar a bushel; wheat was bought at six pence or seven pence the bushel dearer than corn, and sold proportionally higher.[445] Produce from the English settlement in Illinois, (corn, etc,), was hauled to Bon Pas, which was on a tributary of the Wabash, and sent from thence to New Orleans, there to be shipped either for Europe or the eastern ports of America.[446] For a return lading salt was purchased at half a dollar per bushel, and sold at Vincennes from $2 to $2¼ per bushel. Loaf sugar sold at 50 cents per pound; brown sugar at 37½ cents per pound; coffee at 75 cents per pound; tea from $2½ to $3½; and many other groceries, which like the above were bought for considerably less than one half their selling price.[447] Welby says, "... of iron and drugs I could not obtain the price at New Orleans; but of the profit on the iron the reader may judge by the price I paid to a blacksmith for eight new horse shoes, steel tacs, and eight removes, the bill for which was about $10."[448] Faux, speaking of a man who had come to Princeton, says, "If he had money he could buy bacon at $4 and sell it at $16; and sugar from New Orleans would pay 50 per cent; costing 10 cents, and selling at 25 cents, 2½ cents being deducted per pound for carriage. Store goods, bought at Washington, which he is selling cheaper than his neighbors, pay 25 per cent profit."[449] Cincinnati received cotton from northern Alabama.[450] The 'Register' of June 9, 1821, says, "The whole number of boats which passed the Falls of Ohio last year, is estimated to be 2400, wafting the rich produce of the western world to the markets on the seaboard, the principal part of which consisted of 1,804,810 pounds of bacon, 200,000 barrels of flour, 20,000 barrels of pork, 62,000 bushels of oats, 100,000 bushels of corn, 10,000 barrels of cheese, 160,000 pounds of butter, 11,207,333 fowls, and 466,412 pounds of lard."[451] Stove coal was carried in boats down the river in 1821-1823 to supply the great number of steam mills in making flour.[452] These boats were also engaged in freighting salt to the various parts of the count ry.[453] The following is an "estimate of the amount of products which descended the Falls of Ohio at Louisville, the growth of the year 1822 ... the produce of the whole of the State of Ohio, (except the part bordering on the lake), two-thirds of Kentucky, one half of the State of Indiana, and a small part of the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia."[454] Notice the vast increase since 1820. _Est. Tons._ _Est. Cost._