219 



The ox can appreciate kindness, and in time becomes a tolerable 

 judge of what is reasonable ; and under good treatment is one of the 

 most faithful and useful animals allotted to the use of man. 



Farmington, April 26, 1854. 



ON THE AGRICULTURAL VALUE OF THE UPPER PE- 

 NINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 



BY CHARLES WHITTLEST. 



J. C. Holmes, Esq., Sec'y of the Michigan State Agrimltural Society: 



Sir — Mr. Shaply, to whom your request for a report upon the " agricultu- 

 ral and mineral" resources of the Upper Peninsula was directed, has this 

 day desired me to accommodate you, on account of the pressure of his 

 business. Such a report, upon a region so wonderful in its minerals, 

 and so extensive, would, if faithfully drawn up, require the labor of 

 weeks, and the space of a volume. It would not be a trifling under- 

 taking, to present a full, reliable, and well arranged statement of the 

 natural resources of the southern shore of Lake Superior. Your letter 

 however, infoims us, that it should be in press within half a month. 



Nothing is more valueless than rambling and disjointed statistical 

 matter; but I have determined to present you, without a moment's de- 

 lay, such facts as occur to me on the subject, having first apologized for 

 the manner in which it must be executed. 



The capacity of the soil, along the banks of the streams that dis- 

 charge into Lake Michigan from the north, is, so far as I have seen it, 

 not veiy great. The streams I refer to, are the Pine, Manistique, White 

 Fish, Escanawba, and Fort Rivers. Opposite these, and heading with 

 them, on the Lake Superior side, are the Quequomenon, Miners', Twin 

 and Chocolate Rivei-s, on which there is very little good farming land. 



West of the Chocolate, is a woody and broken range of highlands, 

 extending to the sources of the Menominee, the Wisconsin, and the 

 Ontonagon ; known as the "Huron Range." It is 1000 to 1100 feet 

 above the Lake, with irregular valleys and slopes of good land. 



This space includes the iron region, which extends from the vicinity 

 of Marquette to the Twin Falls of the Menominee. All over the Lake 

 Superior country, the Pine, Balsam, White Cedar, Spruce and Hem- 



