THE WILDS OF MICHIGAN. 181 



Turning to the Lower Peninsula, tlie wilderness portion that now remains 

 lies more particularly north of the Saginaws and the mouth of the Muskegon 

 River. In all the region northward to the Straits no extensive forests of 

 very many miles now remain. The cabin of the pioneer can be found in 

 every county, though the field that yet remains to be occupied is very large. 

 "We have, as a striking characteristic of many portions of the peninsula, 

 extensive sandy plains or pine openings. This class of land occupies many 

 thousands of acres, being conspicuous in Ogemaw, Oscoda, Crawford, and 

 Montmorency counties, and along the Muskegon, Manistee, and An Sable 

 Elvers. The surface of these sandy plains is usually undulating or gently 

 rolling, with broad swells, and is quite free from large timber; patches of 

 small, low topped, limby pines at times appear, which resemble, in the 

 distance, an apple orchard. This class of lands, now being occupied, is 

 found to be fairly productive, and it is believed will make fine farms. The 

 western slope of the peninsula, as you approach the Straits of Mackinaw, is 

 a rolling, hard wood country, the soil a sandy or gravelly loam, with a sub- 

 soil of clay, only in limited portions. The eastern slope, though somewhat 

 similar in character in most features, contains in addition many swamps, 

 with much cedar, hemlock, and pine. There are also extensive plains and 

 a great deal of good hard wood land. Immense groves of pine are scattered 

 through the Peninsula, which has furnished for many years more than a 

 thousand million feet of lumber annually to the markets of the world. 

 These groves of pine are usually mixed with the hard wood timber, and the 

 soil where they grow found to be productive. 



We may now mention a few of the islands which are found in the corporate 

 limits of our State. In Lake Michigan we have the Manitous, Beavers, and 

 St. Helena; at the Straits, the Islands of Mackinaw and Bois Blanc; 

 approaching the St. Mary's River we have Drummond Island, with many 

 smaller ones along the stream. In Lake Superior we name only Grand 

 Island and Isle Royale, the latter being the largest of them all. The 

 island is situated near the national boundary line, not far from the north 

 shore of Lake Superior. It is an island of singular interest ; once the home 

 of the ancient copper miner, now, for the most part, a barren, rocky region, 

 deeply cut by bays, and gemmed by small lakes. In the narrow valleys or 

 along the hills and ridges, there is a mixture of maple, birch, spruce, fir, 

 and pine; the vegetation is not heavy although the soil is good. The 

 island is rugged and broken in its outline. "^'Bold cliffs of columnar trap 

 and castellated rock with mural escarpments sternly present themselves to 

 the surf and defy the storm." It is not desirable for settlement, and is, I 

 believe, practically unoccupied. Mackinaw Island, rising 300 feet out of the 

 water, is a place of great interest, and is now a national park. The remain- 

 ing islands, especially the Manitous and Beavers, are hard wood timbered 

 land and largely occupied. 



We have now taken a hasty glance at the wild portion of our State, and 

 it may not be amiss as we close this sketch, to note its different phases with 

 the change of seasons. Nowhere are these more pronounced than in the 

 forest. The autumn gales and early frosts have despoiled the deciduous 

 trees of their foliage, the wild flowers, once so plenty in the woods, have dis- 

 appeared, — winter has come; the lakes and rivers are closed with ice, — the 

 earth is white with snow, its recent falling has lodged among the pine 

 needles and in the foliage of the hemlock, fir and cedar, often in such quan- 

 tities that the lower branches, bending beneath its weight, lie upon the 



