402 GENERAL HISTORY. 



Sault is the county seat, have proved unexpectedly great. The lumber- 

 ing interests, too, are of importance." 



The report of the county agricultural society for 1880 says : " This county, 

 with about one and one-half millions of acres, nearly one-third of which 

 belongs to the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette railroad company, has also 

 many thousands of acres of the finesL hardwood land to be found anywhere. 

 The timber is sugar maple, beech, ironwood, elm, basswood, moosewood, etc. 

 This land, when designated first choice, has a subsoil of red clay with a sur- 

 face soil of eight or twelve inches of black mould. 



'''Within the past four or five years many immigrants, attracted here by 

 the readiness with which they could obtain land under the homestead law, 

 who were brought up to procure their bread from the soil by the sweat of 

 their brow, have attempted growing almost everything usually grown on the 

 farm. Their labor has, in almost every instance, been crowned with astonish- 

 ing success." 



Speaking of the horticultural exhibit at the county fair for 1880, the report 

 says: ''The center of attraction in the vegetable room was the display of 

 apples made by Messrs. Thomas and E. A. Trelease. Fruit was on the tables 

 also from J. Dingman's and Thomas Eyan's orchards, but evidently Messrs. 

 Trelease were wise in securing Minnesota nursery trees. This exhibit shows 

 that it is practicable to grow successfully all the hardier varieties of apples." 



The census of 1884 shows that Chippewa county had two acres of apple 

 orchard, five bearing trees and one bushel of fruit grown in 1883. 



MACKINAC COUNTY. 



Mackinac county was laid off and organized in pursuance of a proclama- 

 tion of Lewis Cass, as governor of the Territory of Michigan, dated October 

 26th, 1818. Its original limits comprehended the entire upper peninsula, 

 together with so much of the lower peninsula as lay northward of the then 

 northern limits of Macomb county. The original name was Michilimaokinac. 



''An old legend relates that a large number of people were assembled at 

 point St. Ignace, and that while intently gazing at the rising sun, during the 

 great Manitou, or February moon, they beheld the island suddenly rise from 

 the water, assuming its present form. From the point of observation it bore 

 a fancied resemblance to a huge turtle, hence they gave it the name Moc- 

 che-ne-mock-e-uung, which means a great turtle. This name, when put in 

 a French dress, became Michilimaokinac." "Pioneer Collections," vol. — . 

 Modern practice has simplified the name to Mackinac, which, in accordance 

 with the French pronunciation of its terminal syllable, is frequently spelled 

 as pronounced, Mackinaw. 



The island of Mackinac, upon which is situated Mackinac City, the county 

 seat, has been constituted a national park. 



The Legislature of 1886 and '87 has cut off five of the northern town- 

 ships of this county, which become part of the newly organized county of 

 Luce. 



Although this county contains locations which attracted the attention of 

 the earliest missionaries and traders, it has not, so far, attracted special atten- 



