THE IXFLUENCE OF SOILS 63 



was thirty-five feet in circumference, — nearly twelve 

 feet diameter." ^ 



Xorth of a line drawn from the southern end of 

 Lake Huron to the mouth of Grand Eiver was pre- 

 eminently the native habitat of the white pine in 

 Michigan. As already indicated, it was found south 

 of this line, most notably in the much-prized type 

 designated "cork" pine. The clays and loams of 

 the southern counties were mainly preempted by the 

 hardwoods, leaving the sandy plains and ridges of 

 the northern area to the pines and spruces. Even 

 in this section, where heavier soils appeared, the 

 hardwoods were likely to supersede the pines. Thus 

 Leverett notes a maple forest on the clay ridge at 

 the headwaters of the Manistee and Au Sable rivers. 

 On the other hand, the tendency of things to go 

 awry north of the Straits, which Lovejoy has noted, 

 is illustrated by the presence of white pine on the 

 deep heavy clays about Ewen in southern Ontonagon 

 County, while hardwoods flourish on the deep sands 

 near Shinglcton, where the soil augur of J. A. Jeffery, 

 Land Commissioner of the Duluth, South Shore and 

 Atlantic Eailway, showed sand down at least six 

 feet in depth. Spalding and Fernow describe the 

 distribution of the white pine in Michigan as follows : 



"In Michigan the distribution of the species is 

 entirely controlled by the character of the soil, all 

 sandy areas being pinery proper, with large areas 

 of pure growth of several square miles in extent con- 

 taining only white pine. Occasionally, and especially 



'Ibid., Ill, 192. 



