JEFFERSON ON EXPANSION OF MICHIGAN. 89 



but not sufficient to demand separate county organization. Counties that 

 have been subdivided are shaded over their present reduced area only, 

 since the settlers in the outlying regions liardly enjoyed county govern 

 ment, owing to their i-emoteness from the county seat. This circumstance 

 was what led them to demand separation as soon as their numbers war- 

 ranted it. In general counties have been organized as soon as conditions 

 would allow. 



The 1810 map gives only Wayne county organized. It had been organ- 

 ized since 1796 with a territory as great as the presenf State and illus- 

 trates the contraction of county areas just referred to. T Iiave shaded 

 only the i)i'esent area of (he county since all of the region that was origi- 

 nally settled will keep the county name and the regions where outlying 

 counties are organized later must be supposed to have been little settled 

 previous to seeking separate government. 



In 1820 there is an expansion along the waterways north and south 

 of Detroit, and a county organized at the Straits of Mackinac. 



In 1830 the earlier settlements have grown and a county appears to 

 have immigrated from Indiana. 



In 1840 the southern half of the lower peninsula is occupied from lake 

 to lake. 



The year 1850 brings a slight increase in southern Michigan and copper 

 has led to the organization of Houghton on the Keweenaw peninsula. 



In 1860 iron has organized Marquette and the wild tip of the southern 

 peninsula has been invaded from the lake shores all around. 



The next decades see the closing in of counties on the interior continue, 

 culminating with the organization of Dickinson in 1891.* 



On Fig. 2 all these decade maps are combined in one in which age of 

 county organization is represented by darker shades. Fig. 3 beside it is 

 a map of the density of rural population with omission of the larger 

 cities. It was prepared by Mr. Isaiah Bowman, a student at the State 

 Normal college. The two together show an interesting relation between 

 age and density of settlement. The apparent exceptions in the northern 

 peninsula are largely due to the omission of Marquette and Sault Ste. 

 Marie city populations. 



* Tbe space left blank for Dickinson on the 1890 map has been made to include also Iron, but thL*; 

 was organized a little earlier in 1885. 



12 



