TUE INFLUENCE OF SOILS 61 



their (her family's) surprise,"' she writes, ''they 

 found the state satisfactory. They liked the beauti- 

 ful forests with their beautiful trees. My father 

 was captivated at first sight, arguing that land 

 which supported such a growth of trees would 

 raise anything planted. There were the black wal- 

 nut, butternut, hickory, black cherry, bird's-eye 

 maple, curled maple, sugar maple, silver-leaf maple, 

 beech, basswood, sycamore, ironwood, white, black 

 and burr oaks; many being three and four feet in 

 diameter, and the tulip-tree with its beautiful 

 foliage and lovely blossoms." ^ A heavy growth of 

 hickory stood on the present site of East Saginaw.^ 

 A letter "From a gentleman in the j\Iichigan Terri- 

 tory," writing under date of October 1, 1823, re- 

 marks "how incorrect are our ideas in New Eng- 

 land respecting this territory. I find the land (near 

 Detroit) rich and luxuriant, generally heavy tim- 

 bered, and interspersed with numerous streams of 

 good, pure water. It is a limestone country, and 

 level, but in few instances too much so for cultiva- 

 tion.^ The banks of the Thornapple were lined 

 with immense trees that darkened the waters with 

 their shade. Far over the current leaned the sil- 

 very trunks of sycamores equaled in height only 

 by elms that over-topped the surrounding forest. 

 Beneath the taller trees cedars darkened the gloom 

 of the woods. Scattered along the banks were pines, 



^Ihid., XXXTX, .360. 

 -IhifJ., VII, 27.3. 

 Ubiil., VII, 74. 



