Thanks for adding interesting info Fred. I didn't know about Ohio valley. When reading Norwegian economic history, what is remarked is that the 1870s became quite difficult for Norwegians leading to large emmigration to the US due to opening up of Ukrainian and Russian grain to the European markets.

Until the arrival of railroad, Russian and Ukrainian grain could not be easily shipped to the rest of Europe.

The building of railroad in Russia and the Ukraine hit us double in Norway. The grain outcompeted Norwegian farmers and caused major poverty among farmers.

However the railroad also gave access to the vast Russian forrest, and lumber was the main Norwegian export at the time. Norway did not really have that large forests compared to Sweden, Finland and Russia, but the fjords gave Norway an edge since they allowed us to transport lumber from far inland by water.

So around 1875, the Norwegian economy was taking a nose dive thanks to these factors.

Just a remark on the Netherlands as it is a country I have some interest in from having lived there. The Netherlands was never a great country for growing grain. The soil is too wet, since they are below sea level. Hence they have a lot of cows and sheep instead. The Netherlands has historically gotten a lot of their grain from the Baltics.

They would basically exchange Cheese for grain. Although I know they had areas that supported grain production. I suppose the Ohio Valley killed even this production. Sounds like something I got to read up on.