"Late in January 1801, Mr. Bacon commenced hisreturn journey with his wife and her brother, Beaumont Parks,Esq., now of Springfield, Illinois, a young man who came with him to learn the Chippewa language and to become a teacher. The sleighing leaving them they remained at Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, until spring, and did not reach here until May 9th. Mr. Bacon's plan was to remain at Detroit, until he became so familiar with the Indian language that he could successfully prosecute his mission. He remained here until the spring of 1802, holding regular religious services in the Council House. For a time he preached twice upon the Sabbath, but the afternoon attendance being thin, he accepted a call from the settlement on the river Rouge to preach to them half a day. To aid in defraying expenses he commenced keeping a school in the house where he lived onSt.James street, just in the rear of the Masonic Hall, and in this he was assisted by his wife. One at least of our present fellow citizens was a pupil of Mr. Bacon, and has pleasant memories of that little school. Amid many discouragements the study of the Chippewa was pursued by this missionary family, and although they made 'but slow progress' and it was 'hard work to commit their words to memory' and 'extremely difficult to construct a sentence according to the idiomsof their language,' they 'hope and expect we shall be able to surmount every difficulty.'
"While thus toilfully but hopefully preparing for his anticipated work, getting acquainted with Indians, their life and character, and as yet uncertain at what precise point to commence his mission, Mr. Denhey, a Moravian missionary, desired to occupy the field upon theSt.Clair River, which Mr. Bacon in some measure occupied the year before, and to this Mr. Bacon assented. His attention had been called to Mackinac and L'Arbre Croche, but he resolved to visit the Indians upon the Maumee, and ascertain by personal interviews and examination what encouragement there was for a mission in that vicinity. For this purpose, with his brother-in-law and a hired man, on 29th of April, 1802, he left in a canoe for the 'Miami,'as the Maumee was then called. He found most of the Indian chiefs engaged in a drunken debauch, and it was not until the 14th of May, and after repeated efforts, that he succeeded in gathering a full council, and addressing them upon the subject of establishing a mission among them. He felt it his duty to have translated the message sent to the Indians by the Missionary Society. The poor savages listened courteously to this long piece of abstruse theological narrative and argument, butthey must have been terribly bored, notwithstanding Mr. Bacon's efforts to 'express the ideas in language better adapted to the capacity and more agreeable to their ways of speaking.' No wonder that Little Otter was 'too unwell to attend in the afternoon.' After this translation, Mr. Bacon made a well conceived speech of considerable length, setting forth the advantages which the Indians would derive from a mission. There was no little point in the polished reproof of Little Otter, in the commencement of his speech, who said: 'Now brother, if you will listen to us we will give you an answer. But it is our way to be very short. Our white brothers, when they make speeches, are very lengthy. They read and write so much that they get in a great many little things. But it is not so with your red brothers. When we go on any great business and have any great things to say, we say them in a few words.' With no little ingenuity, but with apparent courtesy, these sons of the forest declined a mission in their midst. The gist of the reply is contained in the following sentence: 'Brother, your religion is very good; but it is only good for white people. It will not do for Indians, they are quite a different sort of people.'
"On the following day Mr. Bacon started for Detroit,and remained here until June 2d, when, with his family, he removed to Missilimackinac, then the great centre of Indian population in our Territory. Here he remained until August 1804, perfecting himself in the language, teaching, preaching and pursuing the other labors incident to his mission. He very clearly saw that a successful Indian mission involved no inconsiderable expenditure in establishing schools and in educating the Indians in agriculture and the ruder arts of civilization. These expenditures were too large for the means of the Missionary Society, and in January, 1804, they directed the mission to abandoned, and that Mr. Bacon should remove to the Western Reserve. The intelligence of this reached Mr. Bacon in July, and in August he removed and became the first founder of the town of Tallmadge, Ohio. Thus ended this first Protestant effort to convert the Indians of Michigan to the faith of the cross. It was while Mr. Bacon was residing here thatRev.Dr.Bacon was born. We may therefore, with pride, claim him as a native of our beautiful city."
Sometime after a mission was established at La Pointe near the southern extremity of Lake Superior. The Mission at Mackinac was subsequently revived and continued until 1837, when the populationhad so entirely changed, and the Indians had discontinued their visits for purposes of trade, that it was deemed best to abandon it, which was done, and the property sold. TheRev.Mr. Pitezel, in his "Lights and Shade of Missionary Life," who visited the island in 1843, thus speaks of this mission: "We visited the mission establishment once under the care of the Presbyterian Church, but now abandoned. It is a spacious building, and was once thronged with native and half-bred children and youth, there educated at vast expense. Little of the fruit of this self-sacrificing labor is thought now to be apparent, but the revelations of eternity may show that here was a necessary and a very important link in the chain of events, connected with the Christianization of benighted pagans." During the time of Mr. Pitezel's visit, a large number of Indians of different tribes had assembled at the island, for the purpose of receiving their annuity, among which were several Christian Indians, from SautSt.Mary, Grand Traverse, and elsewhere. TheRev.Mr. Daugherty, a Presbyterian minister, from the latter place, accompanied his Indians, and had his tent among them for the purpose of keeping his sheep from the hands of the wolfish white man, whowould first rob him of his religion, and then of his money.
In 1828, the Baptists established a mission at SautSt.Mary. This mission was opened under the most favorable auspices by theRev.A. Bingham, and continued in a state of prosperity for many years. In 1843 it was still under the superintendence of theRev.Mr. Bingham, who for twenty years had been laboring to bring the Indians under Christian influence. Indian children were boarded in the mission establishment, and a school was kept up, which, in the language of one, would have been a credit to any land. TheRev.Mr. Porter, a Congregationalist missionary, also labored here. The labors of these missionaries were greatly blessed, and numbers of officers and soldiers at the fort and garrison, as well as Indians, were converted.
The Baptist missionaries extended their labors to various points on the northern peninsula and on the shores of Lake Superior.
The Methodists commenced a mission at SautSt.Mary, under the labors of "John Sunday," a converted Indian, soon after that established by the Baptists. In 1831 a portion of the Oneida Indians removed to Green Bay, and theRev.John Clark was sent out as a missionary among them the followingyear. In a report made by the missionary to the Board, he thus describes his field of labor: "The white settlement is located on the left bank of the Fox River, extending up the river about five miles from the head of the bay. The population is about one thousand, but greatly amalgamated with the Menominee Indians, over whom it is said they have great influence. The Indian settlement is about twenty-five miles from this place, on the left bank of the Fox river." Mr. Clark preached at this settlement and at Green Bay on alternate Sabbaths. Messrs. Marsh and Stevens, of the Presbyterian church, were located here, laboring among the Stockbridge Indians and kindly welcomed Mr. Clark among them. These Indians emigrated from Stockbridge,Mass., and were at one time under the pastoral care of Jonathan Edwards. While this distinguished divine was missionary among these Indians, at Stockbridge, he wrote his famous "Treatise on the Will." Mr. Clark was cordially received by the Indian agent, Mr. Schoolcraft.
In 1833, he visited SautSt.Mary, and found a revival in progress. Nearly all the officers, and thirty or forty soldiers, in Fort Brady had been converted. The command was soon after removed to Chicago, and was succeeded by another. A gracious revivalfollowed his labors at the fort, and officers and soldiers were seen bowing at the same altar, happy in the enjoyment of a common salvation. Still holding his connection with Green Bay, he visited that place and preached in Fort Howard and also among his Indians who had removed to Duck Creek.
At Ke-wee-naw, John Sunday commenced a mission among the Chippewas, and in 1834 Mr. Clark visited that interesting field. He continued to superintend the missions in this region, until he volunteered as a missionary for Texas, and the superintendence of the Indian mission was given to theRev.W. H. Brockway. TheRev.Mr. Pitezel labored at Ke-wee-naw with great success for several years, preaching at the different mines on the shores of Lake Superior. The Methodists also established a mission at Fon du Lac near the east shore of the Winnebago Lake. In the year 1830, a branch mission was organized among the Wyandottes and Shawnees on the Huron river, and also one among the Pottawatimees at Fort Clark on the Fox river, at which place, in 1837, upward of one hundred were converted.
In 1847 a mission was established at the Cliff Mine, on Eagle River, a stream which empties into Lake Superior, about twenty miles west of CopperHarbor. The Methodists have missions also at Ontonagon and Carp River, all of which are more or less prosperous.
At present this church has maintained missions and schools among small bands of Indians collected on reserves in Isabella and Oceana counties in the lower peninsula of Michigan. The Indians at the old mission in the vicinity of SautSt.Mary, are assembling at Iroquois Point at the lower end of Lake Superior, and are supplied with a missionary. A mission was also established in the Bay Shore Reservation, among the Saginaw Indians, which still exists.
It is a matter of melancholy reflection, that the immense tribes, each of which could muster thousands of warriors in this vast region, have dwindled down to small and feeble bands. The same remark will apply to all the tribes in North America. The race is rapidly passing away, and the nation, like that of Edom, will at no distant day become entirely extinct. The last report of the Secretary of the Interior, states, that the whole number of Indians within the limits of the States and Territories of the Union, does not now exceed three hundred and twenty-five thousand.(Back to Content)
Indian name of Michigan — Islands — Lanman's Summer in the wilderness — Plains — Trees — Rivers — A traditionary land — Beautiful description — Official report in relation to the trade of the lakes — Green Bay — Grand Traverse Bay — Beaver Islands — L'Arbre Croche — Boundaries of Lake Michigan — Its connections — Railroad from Fort Wayne to Mackinaw — Recent report of — Amount completed — Land grants.
The Indian name of the State of Michigan, is Michi-sawg-ye-gan, the meaning of which in the Algonquin tongue is the Lake country. Surrounded as it is almost entirely by water, it possesses all the advantages of an island. It has numerous streams which are clear and beautiful, abounding in fish. The surface of the western half (we allude now to the lower or southern peninsula) is destitute of rocks, and undulating. In the language of Lanman in his "Summer in the Wilderness," "It is here that the loveliest of lakes and streams and prairies are to be found. No one who has never witnessed themcan form any idea of the exquisite beauty of the thousand lakes which gem the western part of Michigan. They are the brightest and purest mirrors the virgin sky has ever used to adorn herself. On the banks of these lakes, grow in rich profusion, the rose, the violet, the lily and the sweet brier.
"A great proportion of Michigan is covered with white-oak openings. Standing on a gentle hill, the eye wanders away for miles over an undulating surface, obstructed only by the trunks of lofty trees,—above you a green canopy, and beneath, a carpet of velvet grass, sprinkled with flowers of every hue and form.
"The prairies are another interesting feature of Michigan scenery. They meet the traveler at every point, and of many sizes, seeming often like so many lakes, being often studded with wooded islands, and surrounded by shores of forests. This soil is a deep black sand. Grass is their natural production, although corn, oats and potatoes flourish upon them. Never can I forget the first time I entered White Pigeon Prairie. Sleeping beneath the shadows of sunset, as it was, the effect upon me was like that which is felt on first beholding the ocean,—overpowering awe. All that the poet has said about these gardens of the desert is true.
"Burr Oak Plains. The only difference between these and the oak openings, is the character of the trees and the evenness of their surface. The soil is a mixture of sand and black loam. They have the appearance of cultivated orchards, or English parks; and on places where the foot of the white man has never trod, a carriage and four could easily pass through. They produce both wheat and corn.
"The wet prairies have the appearance of submerged land. In them the grass is often six or seven feet high. They are the resort of water-fowl, muskrats, and otters.
"But the best and most fertile soil in Michigan is that designated by the title of timbered land. It costs more to prepare it for the plough, but when once the soil is sown it yields a thousand-fold. And with regard to their beauty and magnificence, the innumerable forests of this State are not surpassed by any in the world, whether we consider the variety or grandeur of their production. This timber is needed for prairie States, Lake cities, and exports.
"A friend of mine, now residing in western Michigan, and who once spent several years in Europe, thus writes respecting this region:
"'Oh, such trees as we have here! Magnificent,tall, large-leafed, umbrageous. Vallombrosa, the far-famed Vallombrosa of Tuscany, is nothing to the thousand Vallombrosas here! A fig for your Italian scenery! This is the country where nature reigns in her virgin beauty; where trees grow, where corn grows; where men grow better than they do anywhere else in the world. This is the land to study nature in all her luxuriant charms, under glorious green branches, among singing birds and laughing streams; this is the land to hear the cooing of the turtle-dove, in far, deep, cool, sylvan bowers; to feel your soul expand under the mighty influences of nature in her primitive beauty and strength.'
"The principal inland rivers of Michigan, are the Grand River, the Kalamazoo, theSt.Joseph, the Saginaw, and the Raisin. The first three empty into Lake Michigan, and are about seventy miles apart. Their average length is about two hundred and fifty miles, and they are about thirty or forty rods in width. At present, they are navigable about half their length for small steamboats and bateaux. Their bed is of limestone, covered with pebbles. I was a passenger on board the Matilda Barney, on her first trip,—the first steamer that ever ascended theSt.Joseph, which I consider the most perfectly beautiful stream that I ever have seen. I rememberwell the many flocks of wild turkeys and herds of deer that the 'iron horse' frightened in his winding career. The Indian canoe is now giving way to the more costly but less beautiful row-boat, and those rivers are becoming deeper and deeper every day. Instead of the howl of the wolf, the songs of husbandmen now echo through their vales, where may be found many comfortable dwellings.
"The Saginaw runs toward the north and empties into Lake Huron,—that same Huron which has been celebrated in song by the young poet, Louis L. Noble. This river is navigable for sixty miles. The river Raisin is a winding stream, emptying into Lake Erie, called so from the quantity of grapes that cluster on its banks. Its Indian name is Nummasepee, signifying River of Sturgeons. Sweet river! whose murmurs have so often been my lullaby, mayst thou continue in thy beauty forever. Are there not streams like thee flowing through the paradise of God?
"Notwithstanding the comparative newness of Michigan, its general aspect is ancient. The ruin of many an old fort may be discovered on its borders, reminding the beholder of wrong and outrage, blood and strife. This was once the home of noble but oppressed nations. Here lived and loved the Algonquinand Shawnese Indians; the names of whose warrior chiefs—Pontiac the proud, and Tecumseh the brave—will long be treasured in history. I have stood upon their graves, which are marked only by a blighted tree and an unhewn stone, and have sighed deeply as I remembered their deeds. But they have gone—gone like the lightning of a summer day!
"It is traditionary land. For we are told that the Indian hunters of old saw fairies and genii floating over its lakes and streams, and dancing through its lonely forests. In these did they believe, and to please them was their religion.
"The historian, James H. Lanning,Esq., of this State, thus writes, in alluding to the olden times: 'The streams rolled their liquid silver to the lake, broken only by the fish that flashed in their current, or the swan that floated upon their surface. Vegetation flourished alone. Roses bloomed and died, only to be trampled by the deer or savage; and strawberries studded the ground like rubies, where the green and sunny hillsides reposed amid the silence, like sleeping infants in the lap of the forest. The rattlesnake glided undisturbed through its prairies; and the fog which hung in clouds over its stagnant marshes spread no pestilence. The panther,the fox, the deer, the wolf, and bear, roamed fearless through the more remote parts of the domain, for there were none to dispute with them their inheritance. But clouds thickened. In the darkness of midnight, and silence of the wilderness, the tomahawk and scalping knife were forged for their work of death. Speeches were made by the savages under the voice-less stars, which were heard by none save God and their allies; and the war-song echoed from the banks of lakes where had never been heard the footsteps of civilized man.'
"Then followed the horrors of war; then and there were enacted the triumphs of revenge. But those sounds have died away; traced only on the page of history, those deeds. The voice of rural labor, the clink of the hammer, and the sound of Sabbath-bells now echo in those forests and vales. The plough is making deep furrows in its soil, and the sound of the anvil is in every part. A well-endowed University, and seminaries of learning are there. Railroads and canals, like veins of health, are gliding to its noble heart. The red man, in his original grandeur and state of nature, has passed away from its more fertile borders; and his bitterest enemy, the pale face is master of his possessions."
From a report made, by order of Congress, byIsrael D. Andrews, in 1853, in relation to the trade of the great lakes and rivers, we extract the following "Michigan is the second of the great lakes in size, being inferior only to Lake Superior, and in regard to situation and the quality of the surrounding soil and the climate is, in many respects, preferable to them all. Its southern extremity, rising south in fertile regions, nearly two degrees to the south of Albany, and the whole of its great southern peninsula being imbosomed in fresh waters, its climate is mild and equable, as its soil is rich and productive. The lake is three hundred miles long by sixty in breadth, and contains sixteen thousand nine hundred and eighty-one square miles, having a mean depth of nine hundred feet. On the western shore it has the great indentation of Green Bay; itself equal to the largest lakes in England, being one hundred miles long and thirty broad. It is well sheltered at its mouth by the Traverse Islands, and has for its affluent the outlet of Winnebago and the Fox River.
"Grand Traverse Bay is a considerable inlet of Lake Michigan, which sets up into the lower peninsula, one hundred miles south from the Island of Mackinac. It is a good farming and lumbering country. There are two mission stations and six or seven steam and water mills located at this point. It isnow an organized county called Grand Traverse. The county seat is at Grand Traverse City, West Bay, where they have a court-house and jail.
"L'Arbre Croche Village is an old Indian town, situated about twenty-five miles southwest from Mackinaw, on the lower peninsula. It is composed mostly of Indians. It has a Catholic Church and a Home Mission Station, with a teacher and other assistants to instruct the Indians in the English language. It has extensive clearings for miles, along the banks of the lake shore, and extending from one to six miles back into the interior, indicating that once a large population must have inhabited this section of the country.
"The principal tributaries of Lake Michigan are the Manistee, Great Kalamazoo, andSt.Joseph's rivers, from the southern peninsula of Michigan, the Des-Plaines, the O Plaines and Chee rivers, from Indiana, Illinois, and from the northern peninsula, the Menominee, Escambia, Noquet, White Fish and Manistee rivers. The lake is bounded to the eastward by the rich and fertile land of the southern peninsula, sending out vast quantities of all the cereal grains, equal if not superior in quality to any raised in the United States. It is bounded on the south and southwest by Indiana and Illinois, which supply corn and beef ofthe finest quality, in superabundance, for exportation. On the west it is bounded by the productive grain and grazing lands and lumber district of Wisconsin, and on the northwest and north by the invaluable and not yet half-explored mineral district of northern Michigan.
"The natural outlet of its commerce, as of its waters, is by the Straits of Mackinaw into Lake Huron, thence by theSt.Clair River down to the lower marts. Of internal communications it already possesses many, both by canal and railroad, equal to those almost of any of the older States, in length and availability, and inferior to none in importance. First, it has the Green Bay, Lake Winnebago, and Fox River improvement connecting it with the Wisconsin River, by which it has access to the Mississippi River, and thereby enjoys the commerce of its upper valleys, and its rich lower lands and prosperous States;—and second, the Illinois and Michigan canal, rendering the great commercial valley of the Illinois tributary to its commerce. By railways, perfected and projected, it has, or will soon have, connection with the Mississippi in its upper tributaries and lead regions by way of the Milwaukee and Mississippi, and Chicago and Galena lines. To the eastward, by the Michigan Central and SouthernRailroad, it communicates with the lake shore road, and thence with all the eastern lines from Buffalo to Boston. To the southward it will speedily be united by the great system of projected railroads.
"A road is now in progress extending from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Mackinaw. From a recent report made of this road, which will prove of vast importance in developing the immense resources of Michigan, we extract the following:—
"The distance from point to point, as measured by the engineers, are as follow:
"From Fort Wayne to the 'Air-line Railroad, Indiana, 28 miles; the Air-line railroad, to Wolcottville, 6; Wolcottville to Lagrange, 10; Lagrange to Lima, 5; Lima to Sturgis,Mich., 5-½; Sturgis to Mendon, 14; Mendon to Brady, 8; Brady to Kalamazoo, 12; Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids, 47; Grand Rapids to Laphamville, 13; Laphamville to Little Traverse Bay, 169; Little Traverse to the Straits of Mackinaw, 27. Total; 344.
"The work of construction now performed, is mostly between Wolcottville and Kalamazoo. Between Lagrange and Sturgis the earth-work and bridges are nearly done—$1,500 will complete it for the ties. About one-fourth of the earth-work, bridges and ties, of the remainder of the line from Wolcottvilleto Kalamazoo, is done. Between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, work to the amount of $8,000 has been done.
"The construction of the road bed, bridging, ties, ballasting, &c., from Kalamazoo to the north bank of the Muskegon River, one hundred and three miles, is let to Daniel Beckel,Esq., of Dayton, Ohio. Near two hundred hands are engaged on the work—on the twenty miles north of Grand Rapids. It is the intention of the company, as we are informed, to complete this twenty miles early the coming summer.
"We are informed by the annual report, that on July 21st, $216,316 18 had been collected and expended.
"The land grant made by Congress is of great value. The portion of the road to which it attaches, extends from Grand Rapids to Little Traverse Bay; the precise length of which is, as adopted by the proper departments at Washington, one hundred and eighty-two miles and three thousand and sixty-seven feet. Under the rules of adjustment adopted by the department, the quantity of lands granted will be somewhere from 600,000 to 674,161 acres.
"These lands are generally timbered farm lands—of the best quality, in timber, soil and water. Someare pine lands, some pine and hard wood mixed; and a small portion are cedar swamp lands. But there is none too much of either description for the value of the lands and the prosperity of the country. Nature has distributed and interspersed them in such proportions as will best contribute to the support of a populous and well improved agricultural country. The great bulk of these lands are what are generally denominated 'beech and sugar-tree lands.' The soil is generally rich sandy loam. The estimated value of the lands, when the road is completed, has been put, by different parties, from $4 to $10 per acre.
"The lands granted are the odd numbered sections within six miles of the line; and if any such sections are sold or pre-empted, then the company has the right to select other sections outside of the six miles and within fifteen miles of the road, to make up such deficit.
"The odd numbered sections, outside of the six-mile limits, and within the fifteen-mile limits, are set apart to this company, out of which to select lands to make up any deficit that may occur in the six miles.
"By those best acquainted with the value of these lands—and who are familiar with that portion of theState—they are estimated at $10 per acre, on the completion of the road. This will give the company the sum of $6,600,000. And if the road when fully equipped costs $30,000 per mile, then the gross cost will be $10,500,000; which by the proceeds of the land grant will be reduced to the sum of $3,900,000, and will reduce the actual cost of the road to $11,142,85 per mile. Anything like fair success in the construction of the road will enable the company to do it, after applying the proceeds of the land grant, for abouteleven thousand dollars per mile. Such a result will not only give to the country all the advantages of this much-needed work; but when done the capital stock must prove to be a good paying investment."(Back to Content)
Mackinaw, the site for a great central city — The Venice of the lakes — Early importance as a central position — Nicolet — Compared geographically with other points — Immense chain of coast — Future prospects — Temperature — Testimony of the Jesuit fathers — Healthfulness of the climate —Dr.Drake on Mackinaw — Resort for invalids — Water currents of commerce — Surface drained by them — Soil of the northern and southern peninsulas of Michigan — Physical resources — Present proprietors of Mackinaw — Plan of the city — Streets — Avenues — Park — Lots and blocks for churches and public purposes — Institutions of learning and objects of benevolence — Fortifications — Docks and ferries — Materials for building — Harbors — Natural beauty of the site for a city — Mountain ranges — Interior lakes — Fish — Game.
Ferris, in his "States and Territories of the Great West," says: "If one were to point out, on the map of North America, a site for a great central city in the lake region, it would be in the immediate vicinity of the Straits of Mackinaw. A city so located would have the command of the mineral trade, the fisheries, the furs, and the lumber, of the entireNorth. It might become the metropolis of a great commercial empire. It would be the Venice of the Lakes." Mackinaw, both straits and peninsula, was so naturally the key point of the great system of northern lakes and their connection with the Mississippi, that while the New England colonies were yet but infant and feeble settlements, the Indians of the northwest, the Jesuit missionaries, the French voyagers, all made Mackinaw the point from whence they diverged—in all directions. When Philadelphia and Baltimore had not begun, and when the sites of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, andSt.Louis were unknown places in the wilderness, Nicolet took his departure from Quebec in search of the mysterious river of the west. In passing to meet the Indians at Green Bay, he was the first to notice the Straits of Mackinaw. About thirty years after, James Marquette established, on the northern shore of the straits, the Mission ofSt.Ignace. Here, amidst the wilds and solitudes of the North American forests, and on the shores of its great inland seas, Marquette and Joliet planned their expedition as we have already described, and it was Mackinaw and not New Orleans or New York that the lines radiated from to the earliest settlements of the west.
Mackinaw presents one of the most remarkablegeographical positions on the earth. Constantinople on the Bosphorus, the Straits of Gibraltar, Singapore on the Strait of Malacca, and the Isthmus of Panama, are the only ones which seem to present a parallel. The two former have been for ages renowned as the most important in the commercial world. Singapore has rapidly become the key and centre of Asiatic navigation, at which may be found the shipping and people of all commercial nations, and Panama is now the subject of negotiation among the most powerful nations with a view to the exceeding importance of its commercial position. Geographically, Mackinaw is not inferior to either. From the northwest to the southeast, midland of the North American continent, there stretches a vast chain of lakes and rivers dividing the continent nearly midway. This chain of Lakes and rivers is in the whole nearly three thousand miles long. At the Straits of Mackinaw the whole system of land and water centres. The three greatest lakes of this system, Superior, Huron, and Michigan, are spread around, pointing to the straits, while between them three vast peninsulas of land press down upon the waters until they are compressed into a river of four miles in width. On the north is the peninsula of Canada, on the south that of Michigan, and on thewest that of the copper region, all of which are divided only by the narrow Straits of Mackinaw. Here are three inland seas of near eighty thousand square miles and about five thousand miles of coast. From coast to coast and isle to isle of this immense expanse of waters, navigation must be kept up, increasing with the ever-increasing population on their shores till tens of millions are congregated around. Of all this vast navigation and increasing commerce, Mackinaw is the natural centre around which it exists, and toward which it must tend by an inevitable law of necessity. Superior, Huron, and Michigan have no water outlet to each other but that which flows through the Straits of Mackinaw, and its geographical position is unrivaled in America. Whoever lives twenty years from this time will find Mackinaw a populous and wealthy city, the Queen of the Lakes.
If any serious objection be made to the site of a city at this place, it can only be that the climate issupposedto be cold. But, what is climate? Climate is relative and composed of many elements. The first is temperature, as determined by latitude. The Straits of Mackinaw are in thelatitudeof 45° 46'. North of this lies a part of Canada, containing at least a million of inhabitants. North of this latitudelies the city of Quebec in America; London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Moscow, andSt.Petersburg, in Europe; Odessa and Astracan, in Asia. North of it, are in Prussia, Poland, and Russia, dense populations, and a great agricultural production. The latitude of Mackinaw, therefore, is in the midst of that temperate zone, where commerce, population, cities, and the arts have most flourished. The climate, however, is actually milder than the latitude represents. The isothermal line, which passes through Mackinaw, also passes in Wisconsin, nearly as low as 43°, and in the east also deflects south. This is the true line of vegetation; and thus it appears that the actual climate of Mackinaw is about that of 43° 30'. The same isothermal line, passes through Prussia and Poland, the finest grain countries of Europe. The climate of the straits is, therefore, as favorable as that of most civilized States, either for the production of food or the pursuits of commerce.
The Marquette Journal gives some items relative to the winter of that locality. The mercury was not below zero until the evening of January 8th, and then only 2° below. The highest point reached in January, was 20° above, and lowest 16° below zero. In February, the highest point was 55° above, thelowest 20° below zero. The average temperature for the three winter months had been about 15° above zero. In the "Relations of the Jesuits," 3d. volume, 1671, it is stated that the "winter in Mackinaw is short, not commencing until after Christmas and closing the middle of March, at which time spring begins."
The Lake Superior Journal for February 23, 1859, says:—
"We are now within five days of the first spring month, and have scarcely had a brush of winter yet. But very few days has the thermometer been below zero, and but a single day as low as ten degrees below. Most of the time it has been mild. For two weeks past, there has been a blandness and mellowness in the atmosphere, which was enough to cause the moodiest heart to sing for joy. There was a flare-up, however, for a single day (the 20th), when the storm descended, the wind blew, and there was great commotion in the elements, but the next day all was calm and delightful as before. We have quite a depth of snow on the ground, have had fine sleighing since the 10th of November. But our bay has not been closed more than a week at a time this winter, and but a few days in all. It is open now,and 'the stern monarch of the year,' seems to be melting away into spring.
"In regard to the healthfulness of Mackinaw, it may be remarked that the northern regions of the earth are everywhere the most healthy. Yet there are differences in situation and exposure which make differences in health. Mackinaw has now been known and settled for two hundred years, a period long enough to have both tested its healthiness, and created a permanent reputation. The Jesuit Missionaries, the frontier traders, and the French voyageurs, have lived and died there; yet we have never heard of any prevalent disease, or local miasm. It seems to have been the favorite resort of all the frontiers men, who inhabited or hunted in the region of the Northern Lakes. In recent years, it has been visited by men of science, and accomplished physicians, and their report has been uniformly in favor of its superior healthiness.Dr.Drake, who visited Mackinaw in 1842, for the express purpose of examining the climate and topography, says, 'From this description, it appears, that the conditions which are held to be necessary to the generation of autumnal fever, are at theirminimumin this place; and when we consider this fact, with its latitude nearly 46°, and its altitude above the sea, from six to eight hundred feet, we areprepared to find it almost exempt from that disease; and such from the testimony of its inhabitants is the fact, especially in reference to the intermittent fevers, which, I was assured by many respectable persons, never originated among the people, and would cease spontaneously in those who returned, or came with it from other places.'
"Speaking of this region as a place of resort for invalids, the same writer says:
"'The three great reservoirs of clear and cold water, Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, with the Island of Mackinac in their hydrographical centre, offer a delightful hot-weather asylum to all invalids who need an escape from the crowded cities, paludal exhalations, sultry climates and officious medication. Lake Erie lies too far south, and is bordered by too many swamps to be included in the salutiferous group.'
"'On reaching Mackinaw, an agreeable change of climate is at once experienced.' 'To his jaded sensibilities all around him is fresh and invigorating.'"Dr.Drake looked upon Mackinaw as one of the healthiest portions of the whole Northwest, and to which, in time, tens of thousands of persons, even from the furthest south, would resort to be reinvigorated in body, refreshed in mind, and delighted with the contemplation of the sublime and beautifulscenery in that region of expansive waters, of rocky coasts, of forest-bearing lands, and distant islands.
"Here the great currents, which are the natural lines ofmovementfor the people, commerce, and productions of half North America, concentrate around a single point. No other place has the same advantage ofradial lines. Quebec is relatively on the Atlantic. The upper end of Lake Superior is comparatively on an inhospitable land. Chicago is at a lateral point on the south end of Lake Michigan,—three hundred miles from the main channel of commerce. At Mackinaw concentrate all the radial lines of water navigation in the upper lakes. Which will be seen, if we take the following distances of direct navigation from this point to the principal points on the upper lakes:
"From Mackinaw to Fon du Lac (west end of Lake Superior), 550 miles; to Chicago, 350; to east end of Georgian Bay, 300; to Detroit, 300; to Buffalo, 700; to Gulf ofSt.Lawrence, 1,600.
"Here are two important points to be observed. Any city which, by competition, or the rivalry of production, or the power of wealth, can be supposed to interfere with the growth of Mackinaw, must arise on Lakes Michigan or Superior; forthereonly can be any commercial mart to receive and distributethe products around those immense bodies of water. But in consequence of the form and surface of those lakes, no lines of transit to the waters of theSt.Lawrence can be made so short or cheap as the water transit through the Straits of Mackinaw. The concentration of products will, therefore, be ultimately made at Mackinaw, for all that immense district of country which lies around the upper lakes. Again, it will be seen that as the water transportation to that point is the best, so the radial line from that point to the Atlantic by water, is much the shortest. A steam propeller, leaving any one of the principal points on the upper lakes for either Buffalo or the Gulf ofSt.Lawrence, must, as compared with Mackinaw, pass over the following lines of transit,viz., From Fon du Lac (west end of Lake Superior) to Buffalo, 1,250 miles; Chicago,Ill., 1,000; Mackinaw, Michigan, 700; Fon du Lac to the Gulf ofSt.Lawrence, 2,150; Chicago to the Gulf ofSt.Lawrence, 1,900; Mackinaw to the Gulf ofSt.Lawrence, 1,600.
"It must be granted, at once, that for any water communication with the ports of the Atlantic, Mackinaw has greatly the advantage over any commercial point in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Northern Michigan, or Northwest Canada. How great this advantage is, we shall see from the considerationof the surface drained by the water current of Mackinaw. An inspection of the map will show that from Long Lake, above latitude 50°, to the south end of Lake Michigan, below latitude, 40°, and from the Lake of the Woods, longitude 95°, to Saginaw Bay, longitude 83°, the country is entirely within the drainage of lakes and river whose currents concentrate at the Straits of Mackinaw. This surface comprehends a square of over six hundred miles on the side, or nearly four hundred thousand square miles. Deducting the surface of the lakes, it is enough to make eight States as large as Ohio. In that whole surface, there is not a single point which can rival Mackinaw as a point ofdistribution for the products of that country. That the advantage by water lines is in favor of Mackinaw, we have shown. That it will be equally so by railroad, is evident, from the fact that Mackinaw city to Port Huron, and thence to Buffalo, need not exceed four hundred miles, while that from Chicago to Buffalo, in a direct line is five hundred and fifteen miles.
"From any other point of Lakes Michigan or Superior, where a city can be built, it is further. Mackinaw is, therefore, the natural centre of drainage and distribution for a surface equal to that of eight large States, and whose products, whether of field, fruit,or mines, are superabundant in whatever creates commerce, sustains population, or affords the materials of industry.
"We are now considering Mackinaw in a state of nature, and must look to its natural products as the first and greatest elements of success. We have considered its climate, its water currents, its lines of navigation, and the surface drainage for its support. The latter within a space where there can be no competition, we have found to be but little less than 400,000 square miles. Vast as this is, it could not support a great commercial city, if that were a barren plain.
"Hence, we must now consider how far the products of the earth will sustain the city, which such lines of navigation, such means of commerce, and such an extensive, surface leads us to anticipate.
"The soil is the first thing to be examined. The peninsula of Michigan—that of Wisconsin and the Copper region—of Minnesota and Canada, which make up the larger portion of surface drained by the currents of Mackinaw, has been supposed to be cold and wet. But is it more so than northwestern Ohio or northern Illinois, which, but twenty years since, were scarcely inhabited, but now are found to afford some of the richest lands in the country? On this point, we have numerous and competent witnesses,and whatever character they give to the country, we shall adopt as the true criterion of its producing resources.
"First of the Superior Country, the least agricultural portion of this district, we have the concurrent testimony of geologists, miners, settlers, and travelers, that it is one of the richest mining districts in the world. But in the midst of it are found some fertile sections. Of these, Mr. Ferris, in his account of the Great West, says: 'The surveyors report some good agricultural lands (of which many townships are specially enumerated), and these tracts of fertile land will become of great value, when the rivers shall have been opened and a mining population introduced, creating a sure and convenient home market for the productions of the farm.'
"Disturnell, an accurate authority, speaking of the Superior region, says: 'The traveler finds the whole district to within a few miles of Lake Superior, abounding in every resource which will make a country wealthy and prosperous. Clear, beautiful lakes are interspersed, and these have plenty of large trout and other fish. Water and water powers are everywhere to be found, and the timber is of the best kind—maple groves, beech, oak, pine, etc. No thing is now wanted but a few roads to open thisrich country to the settler, and it will soon teem with villages, schools, mills, farming operations, and every industrial pursuit, which the more southern portion of our State now exhibits.'
"Turning to the immense territory north and northwest of Superior and the Straits, now constituting a portion of the British Dominions, and every part of which must be tributary to Mackinaw, we find that it affords, like Prussia and Poland, a fine agricultural region for all the breadstuffs and vegetables which are raised in the northern part of Europe. A writer in theToronto Globe, exhibiting the value of a canal from Georgian Bay to Toronto—(a canal, the whole commerce of which coming from the northwest, must first have passed the Straits of Mackinaw) says: 'Westward we possess vast and fertile countries adapted to all the pursuits of agriculture life, countries susceptible to the highest cultivation and improvement. Between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods (above 49° of latitude), we possess a country of this description, in soil and character inferior to no part of Minnesota, and bordering upon this territory lies the valley of the Assinibone, or the Red River, as it is sometimes called. As a wheat growing country, it will rival Canada. It does so now in soil and climate.' The writer is here speaking of British possessions north of Lake Superior, andseveral degrees north of Mackinaw. He says they are as fertile and grain-growing as Canada, and Canada we know already produces not only its own breadstuffs, but large quantities for exportation. The valley of the Assinibone, referred to, and the whole region west of Superior to the Lake of the Woods and the Red River, can have no market outlet except through Lake Superior, and thence near the Straits of Mackinaw. The writer sees this, and says: 'The future products of these immense countries must seek the seaboard, and all the canals and railroads which can be constructed will scarce suffice to afford facilities for the products of the West.'
"Let us next examine the Southern Peninsula of Michigan. If the country far north of it is so productive, it can scarcely happen that this can be very deficient, although not ranked among the most fertile districts. On this point, we need only cite the same accurate authority to which we have referred. He says: 'The numerous streams which penetrate every portion of the peninsula, some of which are navigable for steamboats a considerable distance from the lake, being natural outlets for the products of the interior, render this whole region desirable for purposes of settlement and cultivation.' Even as far north as the Straits of Mackinaw, the soil and climate, togetherwith the valuable timber, offer great inducements to settlers; and if the proposed railroads under the recent grant of large portion of these lands by Congress, are constructed from and to the different points indicated, this extensive and heavily timbered region will speedily be reclaimed, and become one of the most substantial and prosperous agricultural portions of the West.' After speaking of the timber in that country, the same writer adds: 'But as the timber is exhausted, the soil is prepared for cultivation, and a large portion of thenorthern partof the southern peninsula of Michigan will be settled and cultivated, as it isthe most reliable wheat-growing portion of the Union.'
"The Detroit Daily Tribune of 1857, says: "Michigan is greatly undervalued because greatly unknown. The tide of emigration sweeps past us to Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, because the public do not know—what is but the sober truth—that Michigan possesses advantages unrivaled by any sister State in the Northwest, and an undeveloped wealth that will far exceed any one of those named. This is not a random statement, originating in State pride or self-interest, but the simple truth which is slowly being found out by the shrewd among men. We propose to speak of some of the advantageswhich we possess in the northern half of our lower peninsula, as yet almost uninhabited and unknown.
"'No other State can boast of such valuable forests of such perfect timber. Already our lumber trade exceeds in value and importance that in any other staple products, not excepting wheat, while if it were to increase in the ratio of the past five years, in five years more it would exceed all the other staples united, excepting only copper. But such a rate of increase would exhaust the pine timber to a great extent within ten years' time. Yet the demand for pine lumber is absolutely unlimited, and cannot be met.
"Look for a moment at the vast region depending upon the pineries of Michigan for its supply of lumber for building purposes of every kind—houses, fence and shelter of every description. The great States of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, and the Territory of Minnesota, depend almost solely upon Michigan, and must do so. The present season, lumber has been taken from the forest of southwestern New York and northern Pennsylvania, and sold in the market ofSt.Louis, so urgent is the demand and so entirely inadequate are the present or prospective rates of supply for that demand. We have before us the statistics of the lumber trade of the differentStates and the principal markets in the country, but of what use is a parade of figures when a simple fact will show that the value of the pine forest of Michiganmustbe? Take the State Iowa alone. If every quarter section were to be enclosed with a common post and board fence, it would take every foot of pine on the soil of Michigan! Leave out of sight the great Territory of Minnesota, which can find but a mere drop of supply from the pineries of the Upper Mississippi. Leave out of sight the great State of Illinois, which depends upon us wholly. Forget entirely that villages are springing up like magic all along the lines of a dozen railroads running from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi; that cities are growing and spreading with unprecedented rapidity—and that every town and village, and city, and farm, must have its dwellings, and that the cheapest and best material for construction is pine. Leave all these out of the calculation, and remember only that one of these States would consume all our vast forests of pine infence boards alone, and the dullest comprehension can perceive, with all these other demands of which we have spoken, in all those other regions, the value of the pine region is as certain as though it were a gold mine. And when we consider the pressing need for material whereof to buildover all the western prairies, the wealth of northern Michigan cannot be put at any low amount. It must be immense—untold.
"After the timber shall have been removed in obedience to the pressing demands of a cash market and high prices, the value of northern Michigan will just begin to be developed. The soil possesses riches of which the heavy growth of timber is the outcropping. Rich as any prairie land, even more substantial in the elements of fertility, with a genial climate, southern Michigan, itself a garden, we predict will have to yield the palm of productive wealth to this portion of the State. Any one who will take the trouble to examine a map of this half of the State, projected on an extended scale, cannot fail to be struck with the superabundant water privileges that exist. It is literally covered with navigable rivers, and their tributaries, large streams, like the veins in the human system. These waters reach the remotest part and thread every portion, affording unfailing supplies and thousands of valuable sites for mills of every description and of all magnitudes. The State is divided near its geographical centre by a slight ridge, sufficient to divide the course of its streams. Two of the largest rivers of the State, the Manistee and the Eastern Au Sauble, rise within about threemiles of each other, run parallel, southward, for twenty miles or more, approaching then within half a mile of each other, then turning abruptly almost due east and west, emptying into Lakes Michigan and Huron respectively on almost the same parallel of latitude.
"The Grand Traverse region, embracing the valley of the Manistee, is also one of the finest agricultural regions of the State; lying in the northerly portion, this region still has a mild climate, and the finest grains and fruits are raised at the settlements, as far north as the bay.
"Much might be said of other counties throughout this region. The whole slope of the peninsula embracing the courses of the Muskegon and Manistee Rivers, and from Grand River to Mackinaw, is a region of rich soil, excellent timber of all kinds, good climate, and of easy access.
"The counties in the eastern part of the State, Alpena, Alcona, Iosco, Arrenac, and others north of Saginaw Bay, well situated, having a large extent of coast on Lake Huron, are not so well adapted for agricultural purposes, there is much good farming land in them all; but the forests of pine extending to within a few miles of the coast, render them very desirable. Alcona county, watered by Thunder BayRiver, with some smaller streams emptying into Lake Huron, is almost wholly a pine region. Some of the finest specimens of yellow, or Norway pine, in the whole State are found in this country. The white and yellow pine is nearly equally distributed in this region, extending also into the counties south, and reaching Rifle River in Saginaw and Arrenac counties, having an outlet on Saginaw Bay.
"This part of the State, upon whose advantages we have not space to particularize as we would like, will be very soon penetrated by railroads.
"There arethreeroads contemplated by the Act of Congress granting lands to this State at its last session. These, if built, will add more to the development of the natural wealth of Michigan than anything heretofore proposed in the way of public improvement.
"The different routes pass through some of the best counties in the State, and the opening of such thoroughfares will induce a tide of emigration, such as will soon render northern Michigan what it ought to be, one of the most important points in the West.
"The State of Michigan is in all respects more favorably situated than any of the Western States, being surrounded by the lakes and with railroads extending in every direction, affording the most extraordinaryopportunities to reach markets of every class, great or small.
"With these natural advantages of transportation considered with the immense natural resources of this region (soil and timber) no one will doubt the very great value of Michigan lands.
"Fruit of all kinds is abundant in every part of this State. All our exchanges from the interior are acknowledging presents of luscious peaches, plums, pears, apples, etc., etc. This is as it should be. May they all, each succeeding year, be remembered in like manner.
"What is here said of the northern part of Michigan, is directly applicable to Wisconsin, the northern half of which must contribute directly to Mackinaw. Of the agricultural capacity of this new State, we need say no more, than that it has already attained half a million of inhabitants, and pours forth its surplus products though the ports of Lake Michigan.
"Of Minnesota, and its productiveness, less is known. As three-fourths of that rich and beautiful country, and the regions around the heads of the Mississippi, must contribute to the commercial importance of Mackinaw, let us glance at its agricultural capacity and prospects. Minnesota, of which we heard butyesterday, has now two hundred thousand inhabitants, produces this year two millions of bushels of wheat.St.Paul, its principal town has fourteen thousand inhabitants, and far to the northwest fromSt.Peters to the Red River, and Assinibone, the settlers are crowding in to till farms and create towns, where but recently the wild wolf and the wilder savage, alone possessed the face of the earth. In latitudes higher than that of Mackinaw, Michigan or Canada West, settlements are forming, and it requires no flight of imagination to see that beautiful land of lakes, rivers, forests, and prairies,—cold as it may be in winter—settled, tilled, and civilized. The fact of its rapid progress in population, is sufficient proof of its agricultural capacity; but we shall again refer to the testimony of actual observers. Turning to Mr. Ferris's first description of the Northwest, we find his summing of the climate, and agricultural advantages of Upper Minnesota. 'Minnesota is destined to become a great agricultural, and grazing region. Its upland and lowland plains would support a dairy that would enrich an empire. All the principal grains, and roots thrive there in great vigor, as high toward the north as Pembina, below the dividing line between the United States and British America. Latitude does not always indicate theclimate as has already been shown. The character of the soil has great influence upon the temperature of the air. A quick warm soil makes a warm atmosphere. The autumns of Minnesota are greatly lengthened out by the Indian summer, that smoky, dreary, balmy season, which protects the surface from frost, like a mantle flung upon the earth. The cold nips the vegetation, about as early along the Ohio, as along theSt.Peters. The winters of Minnesota are cold; but then they are still and calm, and the icy air does not penetrate, as it does in a windy climate.'
"In the brief review of the agricultural advantages of that great northwestern region, whose centre of commerce must ever be at Mackinaw; we have arrived at the certain fact, that except small portions of the Superior country, where mining and mines absorb all other interests, no country in the northern part of America or Europe, has greater advantages. It is filled with inexhaustible springs, and streams; fertile in soil, rich in production, and only needs the cultivating hand of man, to render it capable of sustaining such dense populations as now inhabit the same isothermal parallel in Prussia and Poland.
"Let us now turn to its forests, mines, fisheries and resources, which though not bread, are thosefrom which the implements, conveniences, and much of the wealth of civilization is derived. Of forests, furnishing almost illimitable quantities of timber and lumber—this is the very centre. Of this, we have evidence in the wharves of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and far down the lakes. The testimony of actual observers on this point, is so strong as to seem almost incredible. We shall cite but two or three unquestionable authorities. The peninsula, of Michigan is at the present moment, one of the greatest depositories of lumber in the world. Mr. Ferris says: 'On going toward the north, the lumber becomes more and more plentiful. Beeches begin to mingle with the oaks, and in a day or two beeches and maples will predominate over other varieties of timbers; large white-woods and bass-woods will be seen towering above the forest. The white ash, the shag bark, the black cherry, will have become abundant. The woods will seem to have been growing deeper and denser every mile of the way. Soon the traveler will doubt, whether Omnipotence himself could have planted the trees larger, taller, and thicker together, than they are.'
"Pressing still forward, the emigrant will enter the great pine woods of the north. For a while, however, before reaching them, he will have beenwandering through groves of oak, and along the borders of natural meadows, and through clumps of beech and maple. But soon, as with a single step, the timber has become all pine—yellow pine, moaning overhead, darkening all the ground, shutting out the sun, shutting out the wind." The tall trunks support the dark green canopy full fifty feet above the earth. This belt of pine woods, stretches across the peninsula of Michigan from Saginaw Bay. After a while as you proceed further to the north, the pine grows thinner, and is succeeded by other timber. "The level lands again become covered with beech and maple, of a full and convenient growth, with here and there a gigantic Norway pine, six feet through without limb, till it begins to stretch up half its length above the surrounding trees.
"In northern Wisconsin, we find another great pinery, in which, in one year, was sawed not less than two hundred millions of feet of pine timber. The same authority to which we have frequently referred, says: "Still further north and northwest, is one of the finest tracts of pine land in America, through which the streams tumbling down frequent falls, afford an incalculable amount of water-power, just where it is most needed for the manufacture of lumber. The Wisconsin forest of evergreens isperfectly immense, covering one-third the State. The prairies of the Upper Wisconsin and its tributaries, are at the present most extensive, and those are distinguished still more for the fine quality, than for the inexhaustible quantities of the timber."
In the same manner, an immense forest extends over the upper part of Minnesota, while far to the northwest in the British possessions, extend deep forests of pine, spruce, and hemlock. It is evident, therefore, that on the great current of the Straits of Mackinaw, there will float for generations to come, all the timber and lumber, which are necessary for the markets of commerce, or the uses of a growing population.
Nor are the fisheries to be neglected, in any right estimate of the natural resources of that region. Not only do the one hundred thousand square miles of lakes and streams, furnish illimitable quantities of fish; but they furnish varieties, which are nowhere else to be found, and which an epicurean taste has long since pronounced among the richest luxuries of the palate. The lake trout, the Mackinaw trout, the Muskelunge, and the white fish, are celebrated throughout America. Good fishing grounds occur all along the north shore of Lake Superior,affording a bountiful supply. On the south shore, there are fisheries at White Fish Point, Grand Island near the Pitcairn's Rodes, Keweenaw Point, La Point, and Apostles' Islands, and at different stations on Isle Royal, where large quantities are taken and exported. Mackinac Island alone exports yearly a quarter million of dollars' worth.
The site of Old Mackinaw, now the county seat of Emmet county, and its surroundings, belonged to the Government of the United States until the year 1853, when Edgar Conkling,Esq., of Cincinnati, realizing its importance as a vast commercial centre, and one of the finest positions for a great city, formed a company consisting of seven persons, and entered at the Land Office in Ionia, Michigan, near one thousand eight hundred acres. In 1857 that portion embracing the ancient site of Old Mackinaw was surveyed and divided into lots. Mr. Conkling has, recently, become the sole proprietor of the city, and intends devoting his energies to its development. A pamphlet, published some time since, describes it as follows:
"The streets of the city are laid out eighty feet in width, and the avenues from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet respectively. In the deed ofdedication to the public, of these streets and avenues, provision is made for side-walks fifteen feet in width on each side, to be forever unobstructed by improvements of any kind, shade trees excepted, thus securing a spacious promenade worthy of a place destined to become a principal resort for health and pleasure. Provision is also made for the proper use of the streets and avenues by railroad companies adequate to the demands of the business of a city. The lots, with the exception of those in fractional blocks, are fifty by one hundred and fifty feet, thus affording ample room for permanent, convenient, and ornamental improvement."
The park, now laid off and dedicated to the city, embraces the grounds of Old Fort Mackinaw, sacred in the history of the country. These grounds, now in their natural condition, are unequaled for beauty of surface, location, soil, trees, etc., by any park in any city in the country, and when the skillful hand of the horticulturist has marked its outline and threaded it with avenues and paths, pruned its trees, and carpeted its surface with green, it will present the very perfection of all that makes a park delightful. The character of the soil, being a sandy loam, with sand and gravel underlying it, renders it capable of the easiest and most economical improvement,securing walks always dry, hard, and smooth. The park, with suitable blocks and lots for county and city purposes, such as public buildings, schoolhouses, etc., will be duly appropriated to those uses, whenever the proper authorities are prepared to select suitable sites; and lots for churches, institutions of learning, and charity, will be fully donated to parties contemplating early improvements. Thus the proprietor proposes to anticipate, by avoiding the errors of older cities, the wants of Mackinaw city in perpetuity, and free forever its citizens from taxation for any grounds required for the public good. He also designs to place it in the power of the General Government, to secure, by like donation at an early day, the grounds necessary for such fortifications as the wants of the country and commerce may require, on the simple condition of speedy improvement. This liberal policy will best promote the true interests of the city and country, and at the same time be productive of pecuniary profit to the proprietors and all who may make investments at that point.
The proprietor intends also to expend a large portion of the income from sales in providing for the public wants by the construction of docks at the most important points, and the establishment of ferries, for which he has purchased the land onthe opposite side of the straits. He intends to make loans also, as his means will justify, to aid parties in the establishment of manufactories.
Building materials of great variety and in abundance are at hand. Lumber can be had for the mere cost of preparation, and the soil, at no distant point, is suitable for making bricks; while for immediate use, Milwaukee can furnish the articles of the best kind in any quantities. The shores of Lake Superior abound with exhaustless quantities of granite, sandstone and marble; the limestone and sand are on the spot.
Three fine harbors adjoin Mackinaw; the one on the east being the most spacious, and the best protected. The new United States charts show the depth of water sufficient for vessels of the largest size navigating the lakes. As many as thirty vessels have been at anchor in this harbor. The country in the rear of Mackinaw rises gradually until, at the distance of a mile or two, it rises into an elevation of high table land, from points of which there is a fine view of the straits and surrounding islands. A mountainous ridge extends up to within two miles of Mackinaw, covered with a dense forest of hard wood. The southern extremity of this range reaches to the head waters of the Grand and Saginawrivers. From two to ten miles south of Mackinaw are several beautiful lakes, surrounded by a rich, warm soil of great fertility and covered with a heavy forest of hard wood, some of which has attained a gigantic growth. These lakes abound with fish of different varieties. Turtles have been taken from them, measuring from one and a half to two feet in diameter. Almost every kind of game can be found in the woods bordering upon these lakes, such as the black bear, raccoon, martin, fox, lynx, rabbit, ducks, partridges and pigeons.(Back to Content)