8 RURAL MICHIGAN 



portion of the Upper Peninsula presents less rugged 

 aspect than the western section. The underlying 

 limestones and sandstones are well covered with 

 drift, while the metamorphic rocks west of the longi- 

 tude of Marquette frequently protrude above the 

 covering soil, giving the landscape in some places 

 a knobbed rugged outline and, facing Lake Superior, 

 a semi-mountainous appearance. Here, to the east 

 of Keweenaw Bay, are situated the Huron Moun- 

 tains, the Mecca of sportsmen, whose dim contour 

 seen from the heights of the Copper Range across 

 the wide expanse of the Bay, touch with Neapolitan 

 loveliness one of the most charming vistas in America. 

 To the westward, also, abruptly rising from the Lake, 

 are the Porcupine Mountains, 2,023 feet above the 

 sea, the highest elevation in Michigan, and extending 

 through very much tumbled country in Ontonagon 

 County into the Copper Eange. The "Cliffs" of 

 old Keweenaw still charm the traveler and once 

 yielded a prodigious wealth in copper and silver. 



Evidently Michigan is not a mountainous state, 

 but its ruffled surface, its sag and swell topography 

 (as Leverett describes portions of it), have a definite 

 relation to agriculture. It establishes great variety 

 of soils. It protects areas from cold northerly winds. 

 It definitely affects air drainage and cloud distribu- 

 tion. It establishes wet, marsh and swamp lands, 

 and other areas whose drainage is normally excellent 

 but excessive in periods of scanty precipitation. It 

 keeps some areas within the cold strata of the lower 

 atmosphere, and elevates others to the warmer upper 



