MASON COUNTY. 359 



Lake county was laid out and organized by an act of the Legislature, 

 approved March 18th, 1871. 



The seat of justice is Baldwin City, which was first settled in 1872. 



Apples, says Mr. A, Ozmun, of Baldwin, were first planted in this county 

 by W. J. McCansey, on the east side of a small lake, and were well cared for. 

 Some of the trees are now bearing fair crops. The varieties planted were 

 Ben Davis, Hyslop and Transcendent crabs. 



Several other plantations of apple orchards are spoken of as being gen- 

 erally, but indifferently, successful, and the same is stated of pears and 

 peaches. 



N. I. Kinne had succeeded in growing apples and grapes, but no one had 

 been able to make apple growing profitable. Small fruits are produced 

 abundantly and in perfection. 



The county lies partially within the basins of Pere Marquette and Manistee 

 rivers, with an elevation varying from one hundred and fifty to five hundred 

 feet above the level of Lake Michigan. 



Lake county, according to the census of 1884, had of apple orchards, 430 

 acres, 4,7G7 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 908 bushels of fruit. 



Peach orchards, 3 acres, 33 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 13 bushels of 

 fruit. 



The value of orchard products of all kinds, sold or consumed in 1883, was 

 $1,056.00. 



Vineyards, none. 



Nurseries, none. 



Market garden products sold in 1883, 1582.00. 



MASON COUNTY. 



This was originally set off as Notipecago county by Legislative enactment, 

 approved April 1st, 1840. The name was changed to Mason by the act of 

 organization. 



Mason county was organized under an act of the Legislature apprq^f^ed 

 February 13th, 1843. 



The county was named in honor of Stevens T. Mason, the last territorial 

 and the first State governor of Michigan. 



The Legislature located the county seat at Au Sable by act approved 

 February 28th, 1861. It was subsequently removed to Ludington, where it 

 still remains. 



The mouth of the Pere Marquette river was visited by the Jesuits in their 

 voyage of discovery at a very early day. It has been stated, though upon 

 doubtful authority, that here was the final (though now unknown) resting 

 place of the notable personage from whom the river was named. However 

 this may be, it was doubtless the temporary resting place of Indians, traders 

 and missionaries in their frequent early canoe voyages about the lakes. 



Of the earliest settlements, more or less of them by lumbermen, the 

 records are not at hand. 



Of the early fruit tree planting, L. W. Rose, of Ludington, secretary of 

 the Mason County Horticultural Society, says, in effect : — " The first orchard 



