THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 149 



Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Eailroad, joining 

 Marquette with the Straits of Mackinac, received 

 from the State 1,32G,G88 acres lying in the eastern 

 counties of the Upper Peninsula ; and of this grant 

 the Upper Peninsula Land Company — a subsidiary 

 of the present Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company — came 

 into possession of some 700,000 acres. A group of 

 holders in addition to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Com- 

 pany also became the owners of another very large 

 aggregate of these swamp lands. There have been 

 no very considerable alterations in the general situa- 

 tion as regards land tenure in the Upper Peninsula 

 since their report was prepared. Present-day pur- 

 chasers or lessees of undeveloped tracts in this section 

 must deal with one or another of these large land- 

 holders. Of these undeveloped lands, more than 

 10,000,000 acres are in the northern peninsula. 

 Much of the acreage not here in farms is in the pos- 

 session of one or another of these large land-owners. 

 While it is their policy to dispose of holdings except 

 where these are required for mineral or lumber opera- 

 tions, provided their terms can be met, there has been 

 no systematic plan of land colonization yet under- 

 taken by them. 



The influx of immigrants had very little direct 

 encouragement or direction from the State itself. 

 In creating the Public Domain Commission in 1909, 

 the Legislature made provision for an immigration 

 commission. The secretary of the Public Domain 

 Commission was permitted to act as immigration 

 commissioner. The organization thus established 



