42 RURAL MICHIGAN 



easternmost county of the State, the surface was un- 

 usually level save where broken by old lake beaches 

 or other glacial formations, here an Jinconspicuous 

 feature of the landscape, or where scoured by water- 

 courses. The clays have yielded well of wheat, oats 

 and corn, and their richness in calcium carbonate 

 derived from decomposed limestone within the 

 county and to the northward, has adapted the sec- 

 tion to fruit-culture, particularly the grape. Grapes 

 grew wild here in great abundance and of great 

 size, vines being mentioned six and eight inches in 

 diameter.^ Hence came the name of the most south- 

 easterly river in Michigan, the "Raisin," the scene 

 of a military tragedy in the War of 1812, along 

 whose marshy shores dwelt many French inhabitants 

 a century ago. The sands produced potatoes, beans 

 and buckwheat, with record yields of squashes. The 

 State Geologist has also dwelt on the possibilities 

 of Monroe County for sweet potatoes and sugar-beets, 

 but as yet there is little to chronicle under this head. 

 The marshes contributed cranberries, celery and 

 peppermint, while from Monroe plantings of wild 

 rice have been sent as far as the lakes of the Kewee- 

 naw Peninsula in the far north. The forest cover 

 resembled that of Wayne County, with the addition 

 of a notable belt of hickory in Milan Township. 



From this coastal area population moved west and 

 northwest into the interior of the territory and, 

 after 1837, the State. It passed beyond the ancient 



' See map of the surface formations pf the southern pen- 

 insula of Michigan. 



