340 GENERAL HISTORY. 



cause they were waymarks along the river, and at a convenient place for 

 getting out of the canoe to stretch the limbs and rest a few moments in their 

 shade, but more especially for their being forcible reminders of the civiliza- 

 tion that had been left so very far in the rear, and the enormous crops 

 some of them produced. Several of them have been known to produce 

 eighty bushels of apples on each tree in a season. 



*' The apple trees near the State road bridge were thrifty growing trees, 

 and some of them had beautiful appearing apples, one of them bearing a 

 very rich red apple, of good size, but oh, how sour! The next were on the 

 Span farm, now occupied by the Tittabawassee Boom Co., and were a little 

 ways back from the river. One or two of these bore very good fruit. The 

 next were at Aptewatchwon, or half way to what is now Midland City. There 

 were quite a number of trees at this place, some with very inferior fruit and 

 others very fine and good keepers. 



" Since I have been looking up this matter and making inquiries, I have 

 come to believe that the whole history of these trees has been unknown so 

 far as truthfulness is concerned. In the first place, I do not believe that a 

 single tree was bought of a tree peddler or nurseryman ; neither do I believe 

 that the seeds from which these trees grew were ever planted by Indians. 



*' Within the recollection of the old residents, the Saginaw Indians made an 

 annual journey to Maiden, Canada, to receive presents from the British gov- 

 ernment ; and these journeys were generally made by way of the Indian trail, 

 accompanied by their ponies and dogs; while the poorer 'Nitchies' went in 

 canoes, following the shore from Saginaw to Detroit. The orchards, both on 

 the Canadian and American side of Detroit river, bore large crops of fruit, 

 and the Indians, who were proverbially hungry, without doubt often filled 

 themselves with the tempting apples. It would not be strange if some were 

 put away among their baggage, and were brought back in their canoes. 

 There being bearing apple trees at that time on the trail as far as Pontiac, a 

 few might possibly have found their way to Saginaw by this route. 



"The improvident nature of the Indians will not permit us to give them 

 the credit of carrying apple seeds any distance with the hope that after wait- 

 ing ten or fifteen years they might have the pleasure of eating the fruit of 

 them. Much sooner would I conclude that the seeds from which these trees 

 grew were transported in the stomachs of those journeying Indians, as they 

 were essentially bipeds of passage. 



" My reasons for these conclusions are: 



" 1st. These apple trees do not indicate that they have been the objects of 

 care; 



*'2d. The fruit resembles the apples of the old French orchards on the 

 Detroit river in their appearance and quality; 



"3d. The Indians who were too indolent to build good shelter to protect 

 themselves and families from the inclement weather, might plant a little corn, 

 when but a few weeks would intervene between the planting and the green 

 corn dance. But nothing that I have ever seen in the prudential motives of 

 the Indians of former days could induce me to believe that the combined 

 forethought of the whole Saginaw band or tribe would ever amount to the 

 setting out of an apple orchard. I conclude, therefore, that the seeds from 

 which these trees grew were carried to their respective locations in the 

 stomachs of the Indians in their migration from place to place, and after 

 being discovered, were, without doubt, in some measure protected by the 



