THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND l53 



Of the 150 graduates since 1905, 24 are reported to 

 be farmers. The present Congressional appropriation 

 is on the basis of an enrollment of 350 students. 

 The larger number of these Indians of Isabella 

 County are stated to be good farmers. 



The first Europeans to establish themselves in 

 Michigan were the French. The motives of their 

 coming were the propagation of the gospel among the 

 heathen and the fur trade. The first settlements were 

 at such strategic points as Sault Ste. Marie, tSt. 

 Ignace and Mackinac, and Detroit. These spread 

 along the Detroit and St. Clair and about the head 

 of Lake Erie, and eventually appeared in the valley 

 of the St. Joseph Eiver, while detached posts were 

 established on the Upper Grand, Kalamazoo, Shia- 

 ■wassee and other streams. In their settlements there 

 was little significance for Michigan agriculture. 

 Their proper environment was the forest and the 

 water-courses; their implements the paddle and the 

 rifle. In the period following the American Revolu- 

 tion, however, a considerable number of French- 

 Canadian farmers settled in southeastern Michigan, 

 usually in compact 'groups of farms all fronting on 

 one or another of the rivers of that section. The 

 French were a peculiarly sociable folk and these 

 water-courses afforded a ready means of inter-com- 

 munication. In a country, too, where springs were 

 scarce and wells were drilled only with much labor 

 in the refractory clay soil, the P^corse or the Rouge 

 were a convenient substitute for the town pump. So, 

 side by side, the Canadian French held their farms 



