FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 71 



among the tall pines and rugged oaks and form with the pretty beach 

 and deep green hue of the lake one of the prettiest pictures to be found 

 in Northern Michigan. While these trees last, and they will last as 

 long as protected, tiiese resorts will retain their beauty and popularity. 

 There is no reason why the entire region around Higgins Lake should 

 not become as noted as are these two resorts owned by the business men 

 of the Saginaw Valley, but before this can be brought about the barren, 

 burned over plains must be billowed to cover their nakedness with a 

 growth of such forest trees as the soil will produce. We naturally find 

 all these resorters ardent supporters of forestry projects. They have 

 enjoyed their summer outings among the pines and have seen the utter 

 failures made by most of the homesteaders who have located along the 

 route between the railroad station and the lake. 



Higgins Lake lies in nearly the centraj part of Gerrish township in 

 Roscommon county. For lack of suflBcient residents to fill the town- 

 ship offices it is customary in this county to combine two or more towns, 

 each six miles square into one township, and Gerrish township has two 

 towns. In that portion east of the lake forty homesteaders have located 

 in the last seven years; of these, less than one-half are now on their 

 homesteads. In the town west of the lake only two families remain 

 and the same conditions prevail in the towns north. Everywhere one 

 finds the ruins of these abandoned homes. Some of these lands have 

 produced fair crops, but for a year or two only, as the removal of ad- 

 jacent timber seems to have had a bad effect upon farms and farmers. 

 Around the western border of Houghton Lake, in the southeastern por- 

 tion of Roscommon county, are some very good farming lands. The 

 timber, originally hardwood, has been cut away and some good farms 

 have been made, but as the removal of all the timber has been accom- 

 plished we find these farms suffering from a drouth brought on by the 

 dry, hot winds from across the plains that lie to the west. While it 

 may still be a subject for discussion as to the effect of forests on the 

 rainfall of any given area, all agree that moisture is more equally dis- 

 tributed throughout the year in a somewhat wooded country than in an 

 area destitute of trees. The scorching summer sun, or the hot, sweeping 

 wind, rapidly evaporate all moisture with which they come in contact 

 and within a very short period after a good shower it is difficult to find 

 any trace of recent rainfall. Therefore the Forestry Reserve will be of 

 great benefit to the good farming lands that may lie within or adjacent 

 to its borders. 



What can the Forestry Reserve do for the population? — pardon us 

 while we turn on the light of the Census Bureau and try to find the 

 people. Roscommon county has sixteen townships, Roscommon vil- 

 lage being the only incorporated town in the county. In 1884 the entire 

 county had a population of 2,588. In the sixteen years which elapsed 

 before the census of 1900 the county lost thirty per cent, so that her 

 entire population was but 1,787, and 465 of these were in the village of 

 Roscommon. The county lies in the great pine belt that extended from 

 Lake Huron to Lake Michigan and perhaps this decrease in population 

 may be due to the floating population of the lumber camps. It is but 

 fair then to compare with other counties which lie in the same belt, 

 although most of them have much larger areas of agricultural lands. 

 Crawford county lying north, which has two townships in the Reserve, 

 has gained twenty per cent in these same sixteen years, although the 



