17() RURAL MICHIGAN 



without this element. The populous counties of 

 Houghton, Marquette, and Gogebic on the south shore 

 of Lake Superior, had respectively sixty-one, eighty- 

 three and six negro inhabitants, indicating that min- 

 ing does not attract colored folk. Nor did such 

 dominantly rural counties as Clinton and Gratiot, 

 with thirty-eight and ninety-two negroes numbered 

 in tlieir census, indicate that agriculture is a popular 

 vocation for negroes in this State. Even the popu- 

 lous county of Saginaw contained only 343 negroes. 

 In the rural county of Cass the situation is peculiar 

 and interesting. Here the 1910 census showed a 

 negro population of 1,414. Booker T. Washington 

 has described the negro community in Cass County 

 after a brief visit to it in 1903.^ He ascertained that 

 it was composed of the descendants of escaped slaves 

 who sought refuge among the Quakers of that section 

 about 1840 and thereafter, to whom also came num- 

 bers of manumitted slaves and free negroes. They 

 engaged in agriculture. They became a well-estab- 

 lished, intelligent, law-abiding community. In 

 Calvin township, the negroes became the larger part 

 of the population and a considerable element in 

 Porter and some other townships. In the quality of 

 their agriculture, he found they compared very 

 favorably with their white neighbors and presented a 

 marked contrast to most southern communities of 

 negroes with which he was familiar. Their standing 

 and relationship with the whites he describes as 

 excellent. They have good land, good buildings, 

 ^ The Outlook, LXXIII, 292. 



