SAUGATUCK AND GANGES. 191 



for shipping facilities. Tlie time will come when good drying or canniug 

 facilities will be established in close proximity to orchards, with less regard to 

 shipping the dried fruit than the transportation of fruit from orchard to fac- 

 tory. 



THE KALAMAZOO HARBOR. 



The harbor formed by the Kalamazoo river, forming the shipping-point of 

 this region, is a good one, — about equal, perhaps, to that at Manistee, one of 

 the best on the shore. It has been improved by the construction of piers, and 

 now has an average depth of twelve feet on the bar at the mouth. The policy 

 of completing all the harbors in the order of their importance has been adopted 

 by the United States government, and if political changes do not affect this 

 policy, the harbor at the mouth of the Kalamazoo will, in a few years, be made 

 accessible to the largest steamers. Advancing up the stream around a beauti- 

 ful bend in the river, 



KALAMAZOO LAKE, 



an enlargement of the river, forms a spacious harbor for the villages of Sauga- 

 tuck and Douglas. It is nearly a mile wide, and about a mile and a half in 

 length. It is well protected from lake storms by a range of hills between it and 

 the lake. 



THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY. 



The country tributary to this harbor consists of the two fractional townships 

 of Saugatuck and Ganges, in Allegan county. Saugatuck in 1874 had a pop- 

 ulation of 2,205, Ganges 1,120; total, 3,325. Taxable land in Saugatuck, 

 15,299 acres; in Ganges, 18,420 acres; total, 33,719, of which 8,829 acres are 

 under cultivation and 1,18Gt]- acres p)lanted to fruit trees, 21 acres in grape vines 

 and about 10 acres in small fruits. About three-fourths of the orchard land is 

 planted with peach trees, and the other fourth with apple trees. 



ELEVATION, SOIL, ETC. 



The land in these townships varies in elevation from 25 to 150 feet above 

 the lake level. The lake front of twelve miles is mostly open to the lake, ex- 

 cept about three miles at the north, where it is divided from the farming land 

 by a ridge of sand hills mostly covered with a thick growth of timber. The 

 general character of the land is rolling, the hills being chiefly sandy and 

 gravelly loam, although some are of clay, and the depressions are mostly a 

 rich, black vegetable mould well adapted to market gardening, small fruits, 

 etc. It is very productive, yielding, with proper culture, immense crops of 

 corn. Onions yield 350 to 400 bushels to the acre on this black soil. The 

 high land is well adapted to orchards: the clay for apples, pears and quinces, 

 the sandy and gravelly soils just suitable for peaches and grapes, which grow 

 with great vigor. Most of the peach orchards are young and thrifty, while 

 those that are ten to fifteen years old show excellent preservation, and are just 

 coming into good bearing condition. 



rOINT OF VIEAV. 



The best point of view of this interesting country is the top of a hill known 

 as " Baldhead." It is a sand hill between Lake Kalamazoo and Lake Michi- 

 gan. It has an elevation of about 200 feet. It is covered with forest except 

 on the western slope and on the top, which is white and bare : hence its name. 



