392 GENERAL HISTORY. 



CHEBOYGAN COUNTY. 



This county was laid off by an act approved AprU Ist, 1840, and its organ- 

 ization was provided for by act approved January 29th, 1853, which provided 

 for the election of county officers on the first Tuesday in May of that year. 

 The act established the county seat at Duncan City. It has since been re- 

 moved to Cheboygan, on the river of that name, and near its debouchure in 

 the Straits of Mackinac. 



The original Indian name of the river and town is said to have been Chab- 

 wegan, signifying " a place of ore." 



Cheboygan county may be said to be the most northern county in the 

 lower peninsula. It lies almost wholly within the valley of Cheboygan river 

 and its branches, having Lake Huron and Mackinac straits at the north, and 

 including within its borders three large bodies of water, known as Mullet's, 

 Burt's and Douglass lakes, as well as the larger portion of Cheboygan lake, 

 a small portion of which is included in Presque Isle county. 



Much of the county, lying as does, within the lower valleys of large streams 

 and lakes, has but a moderate elevation of from fifty to two hundred feet 

 above the surrounding lakes, although, at the extreme south, where its bound- 

 aries skirt the great northern plateau of this peninsula, it is said to reach an 

 elevation of from six to seven hundred feet. 



The Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw railroad passes from north to south a 

 little west of the center of the county, and this, together with its convenient 

 water transportation, affords excellent facilities for the convenient disposal 

 of the products of the county. 



Occupying an intermediare position between the comparatively narrow 

 arms of Lakes Huron and Michigan, which unite in Mackinac straits, its water 

 protection at the north may be assumed to be less effective than that of 

 counties lying farther east or west. 



Its horticultural capacities, however, are but slightly developed, and hence 

 little can be confidently said of its capacities of such a character beyond the 

 fact that, in common with the more northerly portions of the lower peninsula, 

 the abundance of the indigenous small fruits, in the wild state, to some ex- 

 tent demonstrates its adaptability to the artificial culture of improved varie- 

 ties, which may the more confidently be expected to succeed since they are 

 sure to be covered beyond danger by the deep and permanent snows of winter. 



According to the census of 1884 this county had of apple orchards 144 

 acres, 1,208 bearing trees, yielding, in 1883, 352 bushels of fruit. 



Peach orchards, none. 



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

 $458.00. 



Vineyards, 1 acre: grapes sold in 1883, none. 



wine made in 1883, 50 gallons. 



Nurseries, 2 acres: products sold in 1883, SLOO.OO. 



Market garden products sold in 1883, $1,275.00. 



