178 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



In conclnsiou I admit that I have not made a very ornamental showing 

 for these lands, but it is better to know the facts as they are and adjust our- 

 selves and our methods to the land than to drive ahead without knowledge 

 or thought and fail. I believe there is profit in reclaiming our swamp land 

 with all its drawbacks. I have already put some money m such work and 

 every year am putting in more, but if I am ever to get fully repaid for this 

 work I think it will be by putting more stock on the farm to consume and 

 grow upon the crops produced and not by the direct sale of the crops them- 

 selves. 



THE WILDS OF MICHIGAN. 



BY MR. G. H. CAXXOX. 



[Read at the Rochester Institute, February 5, 1886.] 

 Ladies and Gentlemen : 



The field to which I invite your attention is a large one, and only a general 

 view can be given. For many years I have had much to do, in my line of 

 business, witli the wilderness portions of our State, either as a government 

 land surveyor, or in explorations for minerals and timber, and in this line of 

 duty have traversed its length and breadth, in all directions, throughout the 

 Lower as well as the Upper Peninsulas, with more or less of minuteness; 

 what I have to say will, therefore, be based largely upon personal observa- 

 tion. The situation of our State is peculiar, held, as it were, in the embrace 

 of immense bodies of water. The contour of its lake coast, together with 

 its marked physical features, are such that an impression remains upon the 

 mind not easily removed. One is seldom at a loss to remember the exterior 

 boundaries of the two peninsulas which comprise our State, they are so 

 i;nlike any other in our Union. We propose, in order to gain an idea of its 

 size, to take you along the border of its great lakes, outline its coast, and 

 with a birdseye view of its interiOi-, leave you, as we hope, to think more and 

 more of " Michigan, our Michigan." We may appropriately select as our 

 starting point the extreme western border of the Upper Peninsula, the 

 boundary line between Wisconsin and Michigan, where the Montreal River, 

 with a single fall of 100 feet, pours its dark colored flood into the clear 

 waters of Lake Superior. This being so marked a feature of the lake shore 

 we shall not be likely to miss it when on the return. Following now the 

 trend of the shore eastward, making around the peninsula of Keweenaw 

 point, skirting along the Pictured Kocks and that wonderful pile of ever 

 siiiftiug sand, the Grand Sauble, in and out of deep bays, along the rapids 

 of the St. Mary's Iliver, until we reach the waters of Lake Huron, where at 

 Point Uetour we have made the extreme eastern portion of the main land. 

 We may now change our direction, and following the coast westward, wetting 

 our feet in the waters of Lakes Huron and Michigan, along a shore devoid of 

 special interest, so unlike the Lake Supeiior border, until we arrive at the 

 mouth of the Menominee Kiver. Ascending this river and its west branch, 

 some 170 miles, we reach the land boundary. Following this for Go miles, 

 and passing the Lake of the Wilderness, we reach the upper forks of the 



