214 _ Mr. Schoolcraft on the. 
period appears distant, when the advantages flowing from a 
military post upon that frontier, will be ‘produced by the 
ordinary progress of our settlement ;—for it presents few 
enticements to the agriculturalist. A considerable portion 
of the shore is rocky ; ; and its alluvions are in general of too 
sandy and light a texture for profitable husbandry. With 
an elevation of six hundred and forty one feet above the 
Atlantic ocean, (1) and drawing its waters from territories 
all a north of the forty fourth degree of north lati- 
¥ = aki cannot be re resented as enjoying a 
climate | a avourable to the productions of the vegetable 
kingdom. Its forest trees are chiefly those of the fir kind, 
mixed with white birch, (betula papyracea, the bark of 
which is so much employed for canoes by the northern In- 
dians,) and with some varieties of poplar, oak, and maple. 
The meteorological observations which I have made, indi- 
cate however, a warm summer, the average heat of the 
month of June being 69°, but the climate is subject to a 
lone and severe winter, and to storms, and sudden trans- 
ts crea apeteg sans the summer months. We saw 
n corn a 
i 
may still become a very rich ne country, like the coun- 
ty of Cornwall in England,— artz Sits in Ger- 
many, and a portion of Miosous in our own country ; but 
this deficie ciency must be compensated by the paren of 
® This level is on the following facts and estimates which 
ract from my *¢ nent ve J 
“Elevation of lake Erie above the a itd of the Hudson ac- 
ing to the pene of the New-York Canal Cate ommission- Je 
Estimate fall oe Detroit river 20 ‘aiken at 6 inches Ker mile rue ss a 
Rapids ate S pre 3 River ee Tg RO 
of St. Clair River at the ow Let de H ‘ 
distan "bigs He miles 2 cee is the 9 
Estimated fol e river St. Mary. bakes th 2 
ae ‘Point Troan ‘60 miles at three inches per mile, (rapt ad 
é 15 
Nibish Rapid Shee a i Gh oe eee 
Ries Ka pe gehen me 6 
—— Mar, f (according to Cal Gratiot) - Pare wh sas paisa 
« Level of Lake Superior ol, 641,10 
