811 



to offer you suggestions from which, if you would Uke them friendly, you 

 might profit We have, from the organization of this society, felt a 

 deep interest in the prospect of its individual numbers We came into 

 this county at an early day, when its population was le&a than 5,000, 

 when in this northern part there were less than 100 voters, when wo had 

 no roads, and when money in the country was about as scarce as were 

 its inhabitants. We have watched the improvements which have been 

 going on for fifteen long years, and we certainly rejoice that on this 

 occasion we can congratulate you upon the degree of prosperity 

 to which you have attained. The times of selling wheat at 44 cents per 

 bushel to pay store debts have gone by. Carting wheat or flour to 

 Pontiac and bringing back our merchandise in the same way is a busi- 

 ness which will soon be brought to a close. The Detroit and Milwaukee 

 Railway is sending a train of cars nearer and nearer to us every day, 

 and in a few short weeks, at the longest, wo who are now here assem- 

 bled, may again meet, not to behold a display of horses and cattle, but 

 to witness the first approach of the iron horse wending its lightning way 

 into the rich valley of the Shiawassee. 



Yes, fellow-citizens, we who have so long been pent up in this wil- 

 derness country, will very soon hear the railroad whistle coming in both 

 from the east and west, and from the railroad depot here in this so long 

 forsaken valley, may wo take passage on board the magnificent car, 

 and travel, by the power of steam, to the copper regions of the north, 

 the lead mines of the west, the cotton plantations of the south, to the 

 fatherlands of the east, to almost any and every portion of this vast 

 republic. Before we meet again, the complaint that " it costs so much 

 to get our produce to market" will be ended. The time and money 

 heretofore expended in this way, can then be devoted to some other 

 object. 



In conclusion may 1 not suggest that the farmers of Shiawassee 

 can now afford to make some expenditure in adorninjj their building 

 grounds with shrubbery, and other ornamental trees. By many in the 

 country this outlay has already been made, but by others, amid the 

 cares and an.viety incident to settling in a new country, it has been 

 entirely overlooked. What is better calculated to make one's home 

 agreeable and pleasant, than to have the yard and outgrounds beauti- 

 fully adorned with here and there the majestic oak, the sugar-maple, 



