LEELANAW COUNTY. 389 



proper officers and the detertnination of the county seat, by ballot, ou the 

 let Monday in the following April. 



The county seat is at Leelund, and on the isthmus between Carp lake and 

 Lake Michigan, to which place it was removed from Northport in 1882. 



John Larue removed from Manitou island to Sleeping Bear bay — now Glen 

 Arbor — becoming the first white inhabitant of Leelanaw county. 



In 1848 Rev. Geo. N. Smith, a Congregational missionary, formerly of Ottawa 

 county, located some distance north of the present site of Northport, but 

 subsequently removed to that place, which received little increase of popula- 

 tion till the arrival of Deacon Dame from Old Mission, in the spring of 1854, 

 .and of several others during 1855 and 1856, when the construction of a wharf 

 afforded a convenient stopping place for lake steamers and other vessels. Mr. 

 Smith was one of the earliest pioneers of fruit culture in the county. 



The county constitutes a peninsula, lying between Grand Traverse bay and 

 Lake Michigan. There are two prominent ridges extending north and south, 

 with occasional elevations of nearly or quite five hundred feet above Lake 

 Michigan. B3tween these ridges lie sandy plains and cedar swamps. The soil is 

 mostly dark sandy loam, timbered with beech, maple, elm, hemlock, birch, 

 cedar and basswood. Wheat, rye and oats succeed, and garden vegetables 

 are produced abundantly and of excellent quality. Traverse bay potatoes 

 command extra prices in the Chicago market. Wild fruits are abundant, and 

 large quantities of berries are exported. 



In June, 1867, the late Sanford Howard, at that time secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, visited the Grand Traverse region and made a special 

 study of its capacities for agricultural and horticultural purposes. In his re- 

 port he remarks, respecting Leelanaw county: — 



" On the farm belonging to the late New Mission Seminary there is a large 

 orchard which has been planted fourteen years, and has, for several years 

 previously to the last, produced good crops. The trees are very large of their 

 age, although they have never been manured. All persons who have seen 

 apples grown here unite in saying that they have never known them surpassed 

 m size or flavor. 



" Pear trees have not, as yet, been planted to much extent. On the grounds 

 of Rev. George N. Smith at Northport, there are several very fine trees of 

 different varieties in a bearing state, the young fruit being handsomely set on 

 the 18th of June. These trees have produced fruit for several years; the 

 quality said to be very fine. There are also several fine trees in bearing con- 

 dition on the grounds of Rev. Mr. Dougherty at New Mission, and on the 

 seminary grounds before mentioned. 



"At Northport and New Mission, Rev. George N. Smith and Rev. Mr. 

 Dougherty have fully demonstrated the practicability of ripening perfectly 

 any varieties of grapes that are grown in the south part of the State. 



"He received in November, from Rev. George N. Smith of Northport, 

 very fine specimens of Diel pear grown in his garden. They were of large 

 size and excellent flavor. Mr. S. also sent handsome specimens of several 

 kinds of apples grown on his grounds, including Rhode Island Greening, 

 Belflower, Westfield, Newtown Pippin, Peck's Pleasant, etc. All the speci- 

 mens were well grown, fair, and in every respect f)erfect of their kind. Mr. 

 S. also sent specimens of the dent and several varieties of flint Indian corn — 

 all well ripened, though the seed was planted on the second day of June. It 

 was stated that the first frost to injure vegetation in the vicinity of Northport 



