In 1828, the Baptists established a mission at Saut St. Mary. This mission was opened under the most favorable auspices by the Rev. A. Bingham, and continued in a state of prosperity for many years. In 1843 it was still under the superintendence of the Rev. 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. The Rev. 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 Saut St. 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 the Rev. John Clark was sent out as a missionary among them the following year. 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 Saut St. 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 revival followed 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 the Rev. W. H. Brockway. The Rev. 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 Copper Harbor. 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 Saut St. 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.



CHAPTER IX.

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 them can 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, the St. 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 the St. Joseph, which I consider the most perfectly beautiful stream that I ever have seen. I remember well 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 Algonquin and 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, by Israel 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 is now 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, and St. 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 of the 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 the St. 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 Southern Railroad, 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., 5-1/2; 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 Wolcottville to 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. Some are 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 the State—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 about eleven 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."



CHAPTER X.

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 entire North. 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, and St. 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 of St. 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 remarkable geographical 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 the west 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 is supposed to 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 the latitude of 45 deg. 46'. North of this lies a part of Canada, containing at least a million of inhabitants. North of this latitude lies the city of Quebec in America; London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Moscow, and St. 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 deg., 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 deg. 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 deg. below. The highest point reached in January, was 20 deg. above, and lowest 16 deg. below zero. In February, the highest point was 55 deg. above, the lowest 20 deg. below zero. The average temperature for the three winter months had been about 15 deg. 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 their minimum in this place; and when we consider this fact, with its latitude nearly 46 deg., and its altitude above the sea, from six to eight hundred feet, we are prepared 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 beautiful scenery 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 of movement for the people, commerce, and productions of half North America, concentrate around a single point. No other place has the same advantage of radial 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 of St. 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; for there only can be any commercial mart to receive and distribute the 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 the St. 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 of St. 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 of St. Lawrence, 2,150; Chicago to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 1,900; Mackinaw to the Gulf of St. 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 consideration of the surface drained by the water current of Mackinaw. An inspection of the map will show that from Long Lake, above latitude 50 deg., to the south end of Lake Michigan, below latitude, 40 deg., and from the Lake of the Woods, longitude 95 deg., to Saginaw Bay, longitude 83 deg., 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 of distribution 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 this rich 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 the Toronto 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 deg. 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, and several 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, together with 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 the northern part of the southern peninsula of Michigan will be settled and cultivated, as it is the 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 advantages which 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 of St. 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 different States 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 Michigan must be? 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 in fence 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 build over 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 three miles 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 Bay River, 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 are three roads 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 extraordinary opportunities 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 but yesterday, 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 from St. 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 the climate 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 the St. 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 those from 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 been wandering 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 is perfectly 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 of dedication 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 on the 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 Saginaw rivers. 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.



CHAPTER XI.

The entrepot of a vast commerce — Surface drained — Superiority of Mackinaw over Chicago as a commercial point — Exports and imports — Michigan the greatest lumber-growing region in the world — Interminable forests of the choicest pine — Facilities for market — Annual product of the pineries — Lumbering, mining and fishing interests — Independent of financial crises — Mackinaw, the centre of a great railroad system — Lines terminating at this point — North and South National Line — Canada grants — Growth of northwestern cities — Future growth and prosperity of Mackinaw — Chicago — Legislative provisions for opening roads in Michigan — The Forty Acre Homestead Bill — Its provisions.

The physical resources of this region are of such a nature and variety as to make Mackinaw city the entrepot of a vast commerce. This will appear, if we consider that it is the nearest point of that extensive district, including the entire north of the lakes inaccessible to Chicago. When all the lines of internal communication are completed, and the different points on the lakes settled down upon, then the real limits of Mackinaw will drain a geographical surface of three hundred thousand square miles; deducting the surface of the lakes from which, there will remain two hundred and eighty thousand square miles of country, with all the resources of agriculture and mining in the most extraordinary degree. It will be nearly three-fold that which can be drained by Chicago, and in point of territory, whether of quantity or quality, Mackinaw is vastly superior, as a commercial point. With the exception of a small portion of the mineral region, the agricultural advantages of Michigan, Upper Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada West, and the Superior country, are at least equal, at the present time, to the district shipping at Chicago, while it is more extensive, and will have a large home market in a country affording diversity of employment. Nothing can be more obvious, than the superior advantages of Mackinaw, as a manufacturing point, over any other on the lake coast.

The value of exports and imports which flow through the Straits of Mackinaw and the Saut St. Mary was estimated a year or two since at over one hundred millions of dollars. But, who can estimate a commerce which every year increases in many fold? In 1856, there were sent through the St. Mary Canal 11,000 tons of raw iron, 1,040 tons of blooms, and 10,452,000 lbs. of copper; and the commercial value of what passed through the canal amounted to upward $5,000,000. But perhaps the most correct idea of the rapid increase of commerce in Lake Superior may be taken from the arrivals at Superior City for the last three years, taken from the Superior Chronicle of January, 1857.

In 1854 there were two steamboats and five sail vessels. In 1855 there were twenty-three steamers, and ten sail vessels; and in 1856 forty steamers and sixteen sail vessels.

We thus see that in three years the increase was seven-fold. It is scarcely possible to imagine the limits of northwestern commerce on the lake, when a few years shall have filled up with inhabitants the surrounding territories.

According to the testimony of Senator Hatch, made on the floor of Congress on the 25th of February, 1859, there were over one thousand six hundred vessels navigating the northwestern lakes, of which the aggregate burden was over four hundred thousand tons. They were manned by over thirteen thousand seamen, navigating over five thousand miles of lake and river coast, and transporting over six hundred millions of exports and imports, being greater than the exports and imports of the United States.

The State of Michigan is the greatest lumber-growing region in the world, not only on account of its interminable forests of the choicest pine, but in the remarkable facilities for getting it to market. With a lake coast, on the lower peninsula alone, of over one thousand miles—with numberless watercourses debouching at convenient distances into her vast inland seas—she enjoys advantages which mighty empires might envy. Her white-winged carriers are sent to almost every point of the compass with the product of her forests, which, wherever it may go, is the sign of improvement and progress, while by the large expenditures involved in the manufacture, and the employment of thousands of hardy laborers, the general prosperity is materially enhanced, and a market opened within her own borders for a considerable share of the surplus production of her own soil.

The annual product of the pineries alone amount to the sum of ten and a half millions of dollars. The lumbering, mining, and fishing interest combine to furnish by far the best home market in the Union, and one which in seasons when a large surplus is not compelled to seek a market, can boast its independence of the "bulls" and "bears" of the great commercial metropolis. The dense forests in the interior of the State have not yet been reached, and when the contemplated roads are made, a field will be presented for the investment of capital of a most remunerative character.

The government has already taken such steps as will soon make Mackinaw the centre of a great railroad system. We need only refer to the actual facts in order to make this clear. Congress, by an act passed in 1855-6, granted to the State of Michigan a large body of land for railroad purposes, designating four routes. 1. From Little Noquet Bay to Marquette, in the Superior country. 2. From Amboy, on the State-line of Ohio, through Lansing to or near Mackinaw. 3. From Grand Rapids to Mackinaw. 4. From Grand Haven to Port Huron. It will be seen that this plan is formed on the basis of a direct line from Lake Superior through the mineral regions to Lake Michigan. The law fortunately permitted the last two companies to make their lines at or near Traverse Bay, and as Mackinaw is but comparatively a short distance, both companies have wisely concluded to terminate their lines at Mackinaw. It is at once evident that the Michigan line, centering at Mackinaw, must be met there, by railroads penetrating various sections of the northern peninsula. This is evident, and we understand is already foreseen, and measures will be adopted to accomplish that end. In the mean time, let us examine the prospects and influence of the two long lines of Michigan railway terminating at Mackinaw. The whole amount of land granted to the Michigan railways is estimated to be about 3,880,000 acres. From this, however, there will be some deduction in consequence of lands already selected, and which may not be supplied by the quantity within the limited distance. The deficiency will not be great, and we understand that the amount estimated for the two Mackinaw roads will scarcely be less than two millions of acres. Of the quantity and value of these lands, we give the estimate made by these roads, as well as the cost of construction. The estimate made by the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad is as follows:

"The proximity to lake navigation; having several navigable rivers passing through them, the abundance of hydraulic power, the healthfulness of the climate, the fertility of the soil; and lying immediately on the line of this road, are facts which contribute to enhance the value of these lands.

"The length of this road from the Straits of Mackinaw to Fort Wayne, will be about three hundred and fifty miles. If the company meet with as good success as the merits of the enterprise deserve, the entire cost of the road should not be over $25,000 per mile, which makes an aggregate sum of $8,759,000."

On the supposition that the minimum amount of land is obtained and sold, at half the price above stated, there will yet be broad enough basis to secure the construction of the work.

The Amboy and Lansing Company are equally confident of success. They have also located a large quantity of land, and expect their value to be equivalent to the construction of their road. Accordingly, they have put a portion of their road under contract, and have obtained large local subscriptions.

Both these lines of railroad will terminate at Mackinaw, on the north, and Cincinnati on the south; hence they will be carried south till they terminate at Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, and Pensacola, thus forming the grandest and most extensive system of railroads on the continent. Nothing in America equals it—nothing in Europe can compare with it! When all the links shall have been completed, it will stand out the greatest monument to human labor and genius which the world presents.

The single line from Mackinaw to Pensacola has been looked upon as one of the most important undertakings of the age. We extract from the "Exposition of its Plan and Prospects," by E. D. Mansfield, Esq., some of the facts, which exhibit its importance, and bearing, and influence on Mackinaw City.

"To illustrate," says the Exposition, "the value of this North and South National Line, by its power of producing commerce, mark, in a tabular form, the natural products of each degree of latitude, thus:—

States. Latitude. Productions.

Florida, 31 deg. Oranges. " 31 " Sugar. " 31 " Cotton. Alabama, 32 " " " 33 " " " 34 " Cotton, Corn. Tennessee, 35 " " " " 36 " Cotton, corn, tobac., iron. Kentucky, 37 " Corn, tobac., coal, iron. " 38 " Corn, wh't, cat. tob. h'mp. Ohio, 39 " Corn, wh't, cat. h'gs, wine.

" 40 " Wh't, c'rn, h'gs, cat., flax. " 41 " Wheat, corn, cattle. Michigan, 42 " Wheat, cattle, hay, wool. " 43 " Pine, cedar, coal. " 44 " Pine, cedar, coal. " 45 " Pine, hemlock, cedar. " 46 " Pine, copper, lead, fish.

"This statement is enough to show an extraordinary stimulus to commerce, on a line of railway. The length of the entire line will be less than half that which is proposed to be made from Cincinnati and other cities to San Francisco; yet, will pass through varieties of production, which that line cannot have. In two days, every inhabitant on that line may be supplied, from their native source, with sugar, cotton, corn, wheat, tobacco, iron, coal, lead, copper, pine, cedar, with wool, flour, hemp, and fruits of every description; with fish of the sea and fish of the lakes; with bread, and oil, and wine; in fine, with everything that supports, clothes, or houses man; with everything that supplies his wants, or contributes to his material happiness."

It is obvious, that such a line of railroad as this—peculiar in its resources, vast in its comprehensions, and embracing in its grasp all the products of tropic or of temperate climes—must, of itself, rear, at its termini, commercial towns of great importance. But, this is not all. The road from Grand Haven to Port Huron will intersect the Amboy and Lansing line about midway, and then a railroad will at once be made in the direction of the Canada lines and Buffalo—completing the radii from the far northwest through Mackinaw, to the eastern Atlantic. The natural point of termini for the Northern Pacific and Canada Railroads is also at the Straits of Mackinaw. The one giving financial strength and business to the other, connecting Portland with the mouth of Columbia by the nearest possible route.

Canada has already granted four million acres of land to railroads running to Saut St. Mary. Those having the management of the Northern Pacific railroad will do well to consider the propriety of co-operating and uniting with the Canada and Pacific Railroad at the Straits.

The following from the New York Daily News is valuable in this connection. It is from the pen of E. Conkling, Esq.:—

"You will please excuse me for calling your attention, not to the importance of a Pacific railroad, for that is conceded, and our country is suffering from want of it, but to the mode of getting the means to construct the Northern Pacific railroad. I don't remember to have noticed as yet any allusion to this method, or any other practical one, and I trust you will consider the suggestions, and add thereto any other methods.

"The railroads now provided for and made to St. Paul, and Crow Wing from Chicago and Milwaukee will have exhausted local means, State aid and available land grants. However desirable it may be to sustain those roads by a business beyond that, and to the country beyond that, by extending the Northern Pacific Railroad, yet for want of means it cannot be done, unless foreign capitalists can be induced by land grants, at least to invest sufficient to make the road finally, and be made to see that their present large unproductive investments in Canada railroads can be made productive in the use of more of their capital.

"Canada railroads lie too far North to receive any benefit in business from railroads terminating from the northwest as far south as Chicago, and but little from the railroads terminating at Milwaukee, as the cost of transhipment and delay to cross by steam ferry eight months yearly at Milwaukee with eighty-five miles ferriage, must divert the trade and travel either to the north or south end of Lake Michigan, and every year will render that delay and cost more unpopular. And yet to get that trade the Great Western Railroad of Canada have permanently invested $750,000, in the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, and recently loaned a half a million more, demonstrating the idea I shall advance, that to make good present investments more means can be had. The State of Michigan itself will furnish a good trade to roads through it and to roads east of it.

"The Straits of Mackinaw is the great natural ferry of about four miles wide for roads of Michigan and Canada to centre, the point necessarily for the passage of lake commerce, and for a large population north of it to cross, naturally attracting and combining elements of great importance to railroads.

"Land grants are now made to the straits from the south. The Grand Trunk and Great Western Railroads of Canada can go to the Straits of Mackinaw, aided by those grants. The Ottawa and Huron Railroad to Saut St. Mary, may also go to the Straits, aided by land grants from Saut St. Mary. From there the three Canadian railroads, aided by land grants yet to be made, can go to Crow Wing or near there, and there form a junction with the Chicago roads—thence to the Pacific, aided by land grants.

"By affording the Canada interest a chance for a portion of the Pacific trade, and thus making present Canada investments profitable, it is made the interest of foreign capitalists to make our Northern Pacific railroad.

"This protective interest to Canada railroads is the greatest inducement to be offered them.

"They will not invest in the road beyond Crow Wing, simply for the sake of grants of lands, made valuable only by the outlay of their money; even should the lands finally redeem the previous outlay for the road, that is no object, because the road will not pay more than cost of running and sustaining it, and if it should some beyond that, it will be frittered away by bad management and stealing. At least it is fair to suppose so, and hence they must be assured of enough of land grants to finally make the road, which of itself will pay nothing, only in the way of affording the roads east of Crow Wing, owned by them, fair dividends. This consideration will of itself induce them to furnish capital to the Pacific, and it is in the power of the government thus to interest them. No other proposed route can claim foreign aid because of such good reasons. Our government can aid only in lands; in valueless lands she is or may be wealthy. No bill can pass Congress, only by affording equal aid in lands to the Northern, Central and Southern routes, each standing on their commercial merits before capitalists.

"The chance for us thus to enlist them, is but for a limited time. Soon they will become committed to the North Canada Pacific Road, north of Lake Superior, when they will not help ours, and thus protract ours for want of means and competing road. At present, two of the most important Canada roads can be enlisted in the above views, because if the Canada road north of Lake Superior is made, it will divert the trade from them, they being too far south to be benefited. But by going to the Straits of Mackinaw, they secure a division of the Western trade—among the three roads. The road through the mineral regions will develop that country and afford a good market for the produce of the country west of it.

"Chicago is no more on the direct route from the East to Iowa, than is Mackinaw city on the direct route to the northwest from New York.

"Lake Michigan naturally forces such a division of the Western and Northwestern trade, and the Strait of Mackinaw is most favorably situated for crossing. Cars can be transferred by ferry boat from point to point, without delay or cost of train shipment.

"That country is nearer to market than any other Western State; cheaper lands and good soil, and healthy climate, and a superior wheat country, affording employment in lumbering, fishing, mining, manufacturing, &c., offering great inducements to foreigners, and of interest to New York, to be settled."

The history of the West has presented some remarkable facts, contrary to the ordinary experience of human progress. It is assumed, as an historical fact, in European or Asiatic progress, that the growth of towns and states must be slow. It requires generations to bring them to maturity, and even imperial power has failed to create cities, without the aid of time and gradual increase. But, this has been reversed in America. We cannot take it for granted that because the natural site of a town is now clothed with the forest, and remote from habitations, that it will not become a prosperous city, within a half-dozen years. For, we know that in the Northwest, cities have arisen on a substantial basis, to a numerous population, in a space so brief that history has no record of their existence, and the school maps no name for the place of their being.

Chicago which commenced its growth in 1834, had a population in 1857, of 100,000, Milwaukee in twenty-one years rose to 50,000, St. Paul in fifteen years to 15,000; Keokuk in eighteen years to 15,000, Grand Rapids in twelve years to 8000; Saginaw city in twenty-two years 4000, and Superior city in the short space of two years to 4000.

We thus see, that, in the Northwest, cities do grow up, in the midst of the wilderness, and the wilderness itself soon blooms as the rose. To say, then, that a point affording every natural and commercial advantage for the growth of a large city is not now a city, is to say nothing against its position or prospects. Within the memory of a generation the five great States, (which have heretofore been termed the Northwest,) contained less then a half a million of people, and Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, were not even dots on the map of States. A mission or a military fort was all they could boast. These States now contain six millions of inhabitants, and the towns on the lake shore two hundred and fifty thousand. But to present the point of growth, in the clearest point of view, let us consider it dependent wholly on that of the surrounding country. This we can tell almost precisely. We know the rate of growth in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada West.

Canada West in 1840, had a population of 640,000, in 1850, of 982,000, and in 1857, 1,100,000, Michigan in 1840, was 212,000, in 1850, 397,000, and in 1857, 700,000. The population of Wisconsin in 1840, was 30,000, in 1850, it was 305,991, and in 1857, it was 600,000. The increase in Minnesota in seventeen years was 200,000.

The annual increment from 1840 to 1850, was 50,000 per annum, or about six per cent. The annual increment from 1850 to 1857, was 172,000, or about twelve per cent. The ratio of increase is, therefore, increasing, and we may assume it will not be less than ten per cent, per annum till 1860. This will give 3,380,000 for 1860, or fourfold the population of 1840! At a diminishing ratio the territory round Mackinaw will contain 5,400,000 in 1870, and (8,000,000) eight millions in 1880. The principal city of the district (wherever it may be) must then contain about one hundred thousand inhabitants.

Of the cities and towns we have above enumerated, the greatest and most rapid in its development is Chicago, whose first warehouse lot was sold in 1834, and which, in 1857, is said to contain near one hundred thousand inhabitants. Let us, for a moment, compare the material advantages and resources of that place, with those of Mackinaw city. Dean Swift said, that a large city must combine the resources of agriculture, commerce and manufactures. Cities have risen, however, to large size almost exclusively on commerce. Witness Tyre and Palmyra. But commerce, we concede, when left to itself, is so fluctuating, that the cities it builds, like Tyre and Palmyra, may, in the decay of commerce, be left to ruin and desolation. Cities may, likewise, be built up almost exclusively on manufactures, such as Birmingham and Sheffield; and it is quite remarkable that the oldest and most stable cities have depended largely on manufactures. Damascus, the oldest historical city—which has resisted all the destructive influences of time and revolution—has always been a manufacturing town. Paris, Lyons, Lisle, the great interior towns of France, depend very largely on the manufacture of fine and fashionable articles, distributed throughout Europe and America. Of the great elements of civic success, we consider manufactures the most important; but, to make a city of the first magnitude, it is obviously necessary to have all the resources of food, industry and commerce. Chicago is remarkable chiefly as a grain city—like Odessa, on the Baltic. But, whence is the grain derived? By the construction of railroads, at that point, from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa, the whole mass of surplus grain in that region—amounting to more than twenty millions of bushels per annum—has been exported from Chicago. But, this is the drainage of three hundred thousand square miles, two-thirds of which will not export through Chicago when railroads extend directly east to Milwaukee, Superior and Mackinaw, from Wisconsin and Iowa, and connect, from the south, at Cairo, with Missouri and Illinois. Reduced to its own proper limits, the agricultural resources of Chicago must be confined to half the surface of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, or about one hundred thousand square miles. This is but little over one-third the surface drained of agricultural products toward the Straits of Mackinaw. Will it be said that this new region of the Northwest is less productive in agriculture? The contrary, for the great element of breadstuffs, is likely to be true. Attentive observers of agricultural production have remarked, that the different grains produced most on the northern edge of the belt, in which they will grow at all. Is it not so in Europe? The isothermal line of Mackinaw passes in the midst of those countries which alone produce the surplus grain of Europe, viz., Prussia, Pomerania, Poland, Southern Russia. As if to place this beyond a doubt, the crops of Canada West have, in fact, failed much less frequently than those of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In regard to agricultural production, it will be difficult to show that the country drained by Chicago, has any advantage over that which will be drained by the Straits of Mackinaw.

In regard to commerce—the natural position of Mackinaw is far superior to Chicago. Mackinaw is at the head of Lake Michigan—Chicago, at the foot. Mackinaw is at the junction of three great lakes; Chicago at the foot of one. Mackinaw will concentrate the navigation of eighty thousand square miles of water surface; Chicago of twenty-four thousand. Mackinaw is three hundred and fifty miles nearer the Atlantic by water; three hundred miles nearer the upper extremity of the lakes, and as much nearer any of the Eastern Lake ports which are points of distribution. The comparison need be made no further, for whoever looks upon the map will see, that, while Chicago touches one end of a single lake, a world of waters gather round Mackinaw. For an internal water commerce, it has no equal.

It will be said, that railroads now carry commerce. This is true, but, railroads do not carry commerce over the surface of lakes, and the multiplication of vessels on the lakes proves that that commerce will ever be great and increasing. But what railroad commerce can be greater than that which will concentrate at Mackinaw, when it connects, in a direct line, not only with the cities of the Ohio Valley, but with those of the far South. To Cincinnati, to Louisville, to Charleston, Savannah, and Pensacola, will the cars move, laden with the people and products of the North. Lastly, neither Chicago nor any other point can be superior to Mackinaw in the elements necessary to support manufactures, the great support of cities, these elements we have already exhibited in detail. Copper, iron, lead, coal, wood, timber, bread, in fine, everything which can feed machinery, give material for its work, or feed the people who gather in the great workshops of industry, and distribute the products of labor. Here materials all lie near enough for the purposes of either work or distribution. Birmingham, Manchester, Lyons, and Cincinnati, have their materials no nearer. There, if anywhere, is a site peculiarly proper for a manufacturing town.

But, neither agriculture, commerce, nor manufactures are the only things necessary to build up a large city. Healthiness is more important than either. Here again, Mackinaw has more advantage over Chicago. Mackinaw has been proved by two hundred years experience to be one of the healthiest points in America. Chicago is generally healthy, but is subject to more severe epidemics. The cholera visited it in 1832 and in 1849, with fearful force; while its very low position and muddy streets expose its inhabitants to those diseases which arise from damps.

The Legislature of Michigan, recently passed a bill to provide for the drainage and reclamation of the swamp lands of the State by a system of State roads, accompanied by a lengthy and able report. The bill provides among others, a road from Ionia north to the straits, and thence to Saut St. Mary.

They also passed a bill entitled the "Forty Acre Homestead Act." This act requires the commissioners of the State Land office to issue a certificate of purchase to every settler on the swamp lands belonging to the State, for forty acres of said lands, whenever such settler shall have resided upon it for five continuous years, and when he has drained the same so as to comply with the provisions of the Act of Congress making this grant to the State. Before the settler can acquire the right thus to occupy and drain any of the swamp lands, he is required to file with the commissioner his application, accompanied by an oath of his intention to settle upon and drain it for the purpose of obtaining a title thereto. And he must also make oath that he is not already the owner of forty acres of land in any State of the United States. It is also expressly provided that he shall not cut or carry away any timber from said land, unless it be to clear it for cultivation, under such penalties as are now prescribed for trespassing upon State lands. It will be seen, therefore, that the object of the law is to provide homes for the homeless, and at the same time promote the actual, permanent settlement of the northern portion of the State. No man who possesses forty acres of land either in Michigan or anywhere else, is entitled to the benefits of the act. It is emphatically a law for the poor man. To all such it secures a home, without money and without price. All it requires of him is to settle upon and cultivate it. How many are there in Detroit and other portions of the State, who will avail themselves of this beneficent republican measure?



CHAPTER XII.

The Great Western Valley — Its growth and population — Comparison of Atlantic with interior cities — Relative growth of river and lake cities — Centre of population — Lake tonnage — Progress of the principal centres of population.

The following chapter on the population and growth of the Great Western Valley is taken from De Bow's Review:—

The westward movement of the Caucasian branch of the human family from the high plains of Asia, first over Europe, and thence, with swelling tide, pouring its multitudes into the New World, is the grandest phenomenon in history. What American can contemplate its results, as displayed before him, and as promised in the proximate future, without an emotion of pride and exultation?

Our nation has the great middle region of the best continent of the world, and our people are descendants from the most vigorous races. Western Europe, over-peopled, sends us her most energetic sons and daughters, in numbers augmenting with each succeeding decade. Asia is beginning to send forth a portion of her surplus population to our shores. Though of inferior race, the Eastern Asiatics are industrious and ingenious cultivators and artisans. A large influx of these laborers, though it may lower the average character of our people, will, it is hoped, in a greater degree elevate theirs; and thus, while adding to the wealth and power of a nation, do something toward the general amelioration of the race. While, then, we contemplate with patriotic pride the position which, as a nation, we hold in the world's affairs, may we not indulge in pleasant anticipations of the near approach of the time, when the commercial and social heart of our empire will occupy its natural place as the heart of the continent, near the centre of its natural capabilities?

New York has long been, and for some decades of years it will continue to be, the necessary chief focal point of our nation. But, in all respects, it is not the true heart. In its composition and dealings, it is almost as much foreign as American. Located on our eastern border, fronting the most commercial and the richest transatlantic nations, and of easy access to extensive portions of our Atlantic coast, it is the best point of exchange between foreign lands and our own, and for the cities of the sea border of our Republic. As Tyre, Alexandria, Genoa, Venice, Lisbon, and Amsterdam, in their best days, flourished as factors between foreigners and the people of the interior regions, whose industries were represented in their markets, so New York grows rich as the chief agent in the exchange-commerce between the ocean shores and the interior regions of our continent. As our numbers have swelled, since we became a nation, from three and a half millions to thirty millions, so New York, including Brooklyn and other suburbs, has increased in population and wealth still more rapidly, to wit, from twenty-five thousand to more than one million. While the nation has increased less than tenfold, New York has grown more than four times tenfold. In 1790 the city of New York contained thirty-three thousand, and the State of New York three hundred and forty thousand—the city having less than one-tenth of the people of the State.

Believing that this most prosperous of the Atlantic cities will be eclipsed in its greatness and glory by one or more of the interior cities of the great plain, we have selected it as the champion of the Atlantic border, to hold up its progress during the thirty years from 1830 to 1860, the most prosperous years of its existence, in comparison with the progress, during the same period, of the aggregate cities and towns of the plain. The result of our investigation, the summing up, will be found in the following table. It will be seen that many of the items are put down in round numbers—no document being accessible or in existence to furnish the exact number of many of the new towns, in 1830. The estimate for 1860 may, in some instances, be above the figures which the census will furnish, but the over-estimate for 1830 is believed to be in a larger proportion to actual numbers at that time. Making a liberal allowance for errors, the result of the aggregate cannot be materially varied from that at which our figures bring us:

1830. 1860 Est. Increase. New York, including Brooklyn and other suburbs 234,438 1,170,000 5 times.

Cities and chief towns of the great plain 270,094 2,706,300 10 " nearly

Leaving out the exterior cities of the plain, to wit, New Orleans, Mobile, Galveston, Quebec and Montreal, the comparison between New York and suburbs, and the interior cities of the plain will be shown by the following figures:

1830. 1860 Est. Increase. New York and accessories 234,448 1,170,000 5 fold Interior cities and town of the plain 172,000 2,346,000 13 "

The five largest cities of the Atlantic border exhibit a growth, as compared with the five largest cities of the plain, as follows:

1830. 1860 Est. New York and dependencies 235,000 1,170,000 Philadelphia " 170,000 700,000 Baltimore " 83,000 250,000 Boston " 80,000 200,000 Charleston " 31,000 60,000

599,000 2,380,000

Cincinnati and suburbs 28,000 250,000 New Orleans " 47,000 170,000 St. Louis " 6,000 170,000 Chicago " 100 150,000 Pittsburg " 17,000 145,000

98,000 885,000

This table shows the five Atlantic cities to have quadrupled, and the five cities of the interior plain have increased nine times. Is this relative rate of increase of the exterior and interior cities to be changed, and, if it is to be changed, when is the change to commence? We can foresee no cause adequate to that effect, or tending toward it. On the contrary, it seems to us certain as any future event, that the rate of growth of the interior cities, compared with those on the Atlantic border, will be increased.

The proportion which their present numbers bear to the numbers of the rural population does not exceed one to six, whereas the urban population of the Atlantic border is not less than one to three of the rural. This disproportion of city and rural population will hereafter change more rapidly in favor of the interior than the Atlantic cities, because of the greater fertility of soil producing more food from an equal amount of labor; and also, by reason of the more rapid growth of the general population, of which an increasing proportion will prefer city to country life. Will it not be so? Will not the general increase of population be greater in the interior States? Will not the productions of the soil increase faster? And can there be a doubt that the large disproportion in the distribution of the population between city and country, in the interior, will be lessened, so that, instead of being, as now, only one to five or six, they will rapidly approach the proportion of one to two or three? Here, then, are the sources of superior increase so obviously true, as to need only to be stated to insure conviction.

Let us now compare the growth, for the thirty years since 1830, of the five largest Atlantic cities, with the five largest cities of the plain, and, by its side, extend the comparison to 10, 15, and 20 of the largest city of each section:

1830. 1860 Est.

New York and accessories 235,000 1,170,000 Philadelphia " 170,000 700,000 Baltimore " 83,000 250,000 Charleston " 31,000 60,000

599,000 2,380,000 Increase 4 times.

1830. 1860 Est. Cincinnati and suburbs 28,000 250,000 New Orleans " 47,000 270,000 St. Louis " 6,000 170,000 Chicago " 100 150,000 Pittsburg " 17,000 145,000

98,000 2,885,000 Increase 9 times.

Let us now compare the ten largest of each section.

Atlantic. 1830. 1860 Est. The aggregate of the five largest as above 579,000 2,370,000 Providence 17,000 55,000 Lowell 6,500 40,000 Washington 19,000 60,000 Albany 24,000 65,000 Richmond 16,000 35,000 ———- ————- 661,000 2,625,000 Increase 4 times.

Interior. 1839. 1860 Est. Aggregate as above 98,000 885,000 Buffalo 9,000 100,000 Louisville 10,500 80,000 Milwaukee 50 75,000 Detroit 2,000 80,000 Cleveland 1,000 70,000 ———- ————- 120,550 1,290,000 Increase 10 7-10.

Aggregate of the ten, with five more of each section added, added, to wit:

1830. 1860 Est. Aggregate as above 661,000 2,625,000 Troy 11,500 35,000 Portland 12,500 30,000 Salem 14,000 25,000 New Haven 10,000 30,000 Savannah 7,500 15,500 ———- ————- 716,500 2,760,500 Increase 3 8-10 times.

1830. 1860 Est. Aggregate as above 120,550 1,290,000 Toronto 1,700 65,000 Rochester 9,000 50,000 Mobile 3,000 30,000 Memphis 1,500 25,000 Hamilton 1,500 25,000 ———— ———— 137,000 1,485,000 Increase 16 7-10 times.