46 RURAL MICHIGAN 



than 700 feet above the level of Lake Michigan and 

 Lake Huron, Grayling at 550 feet, and Roscommon 

 nearly the same, all in the heart of this region. Al- 

 though Saginaw and Bay City, at the southern edge 

 of this northern half of the Lower Peninsula, had 

 received settlers before Michigan became a state, 

 much of the region remained unoccupied until the 

 period subsequent to the Civil War, when the removal 

 of much of the timber from the southern counties 

 compelled recourse to the vast forests beyond 

 Saginaw Bay and Grand Biver. This was the native 

 habitat of the white pine, crowded off the richer 

 soils to the southward by the more aggressive hard- 

 woods. The demand for its forest resources brought 

 an extension of railroad facilities into this section 

 and of settlement ; but with the steady deforestation 

 of the region, millions of its acres became and have 

 remained non-productive through defects of soil for 

 normal agriculture, and for many of its counties 

 the census of 1920 shows a positive decline in popu- 

 lation. Thus Kalkaska County, which had 8,097 

 inhabitants in 1910, reduced its population to 5,577 

 in 1920. Alpena County returned 19,965 persons 

 in 1910, and 17,869 a decade later. Oscoda County 

 fell from 2,027 to 1,783.^ A notable decline oc- 

 curred in Manistee County whose census returns in- 

 dicated a loss of 5,799 inhabitants. 



As illustrative of the natural vegetation of this 

 region, the results of a study undertaken in 1902 

 by B. E. Livingston may be summarized, covering 



'Preliminary Announcement of Population, Aug. 14, 1920, 



