PHYBWAL A\D CLIMATIC f^ETTTNG 11 



among the forty-eight states of the Union, have 

 strikingly determined her development. They opened 

 up the way of settlement, first for the French of 

 Canada, then for the Americans of the New England 

 and Middle Atlantic states. They made possible the 

 exportation of agricultural products when transpor- 

 tation by railroad was in its infancy, and to a still 

 greater extent the shipment of forest products was 

 in their keeping. Without them a relatively small 

 proportion of the wealth of copper and iron of the 

 Lake Superior region would have been accessible to 

 the requirements of the world's iiulustries, nor would 

 the coal and other accessories of the mining industry 

 have been as readily available without this avenue of 

 the import and export trade. 



So well is the commercial importance of the Great 

 Lakes waterway appreciated that Michigan has most 

 eagerly promoted such schemes as have from time to 

 time been brought forward for making improvements 

 where nature's work was defective for the purposes 

 of man. In 1855 the St. Mary's Ship Canal was 

 completed, thus affording a shipway between Lake 

 Superior and Lake Huron, while in 1860 and 1873 

 ship canals were opened from Lake Superior into 

 Portage Lake at either extremity, thus bringing navi- 

 gation more accessible to the central area of the cop- 

 per district. Then came the improvements of the 

 St. Clair and Detroit rivers, while today the State 

 enthusiastically urges on the proposed deep-watenvay 

 to the ocean by the improved St. Lawrence route. 

 Lake Superior, westernmost of the series of great 



