510 



MIOHIGAK. 



crop. The quality of Michigan wheat is su- 

 perior, but the tendency of late years has been 

 to increase the relative production of the Medi- 

 terranean, as more profitable than the white 

 varieties. Almost all the wheat raised in the 

 State is winter wheat. Very little remained in 

 the hands of producers at the end of the year, 

 beyond what the neighborhood wants de- 

 manded ; the high prices having had the effect 

 of bringing nearly the whole surplus into the 

 market. All the spring crops were better than 

 an average, but the means are not at hand for 

 a careful estimate of quantities. 



Of wool, the Michigan Central Railroad Com- 

 pany shipped 5,282,000 pounds, against 6,792,000 

 in 1865. A large number of sheep were sent from 

 Michigan to Iowa and other Western States, 

 but there was probably no decrease in the clip 

 from the preceding year, as old stores were 

 brought out in 1865, while in the following 

 vear the low prices induced many producers to 

 withhold from sales. The clip for the year is 

 estimated at 9,750, 000 Ibs. an increase of about 

 2,500,000 since the State census of 1864. 



The fruit crop was much below an average. 

 The quantity of apples exported did not proba- 

 bly exceed 225,000 barrels. The production is in- 

 creasing steadily and rapidly. Very few peaches 

 are now raised, except on the shores of Lake 

 Michigan.. A careful estimate places the whole 

 crop of this region, for the year 1865, at 75,000 

 baskets, of which 60,000 baskets were shipped 

 from St. Joseph at an average price of $2 per 

 basket at that point. In 1866 the shipment fell 

 to ten thousand baskets at an average price of $3. 

 In the Grand River Valley the falling off was not 

 so marked as farther south, and a considerable 

 quantity was sold in the interior of the State, of 

 which only vague estimates could be formed. 

 It is estimated that 250,000 bearing peach-trees 

 are now growing along the eastern shore of 

 Lake Michigan, on 1,600 acres of land. Pears, 

 plums, and the common cherries, are grown 

 throughout the State, and the production of 

 grapes upon Lake Michigan and tbe Detroit 

 River is being rapidly extended. 



The lumber trade was very active, and the 

 amount cut largely in excess of that in 1865. 

 In the Saginaw Valley alone, a carefully pre- 

 pared statement in the Detroit Advertiser and 

 Tribune estimates the amount manufactured at 

 340,307,609 feet, besides 63,000 M. shingles 

 and 6,000,000 staves. In the Muskegon Valley 

 the manufacture exceeded 200,000,000 feet, and 

 at Port Huron and vicinity 40,000,000. It 

 Avould be safe to^stimate the increased manu- 

 facture for the year at 30 per cent , and the 

 total at 1,125,000,000 feet. 



Plaster shipped from Grand Rapids for the 

 year, 27,000 tons. This has heretofore been 

 the point of supply for the larger portion of the 

 State, but the opening of beds at Tawas Bay, is 

 bringing active competition from that quarter. 



The amount of salt produced in the Saginaw 

 Valley for the year, was 407,997 barrels, against 

 530,000 for 1865. Prices ruled low, and many of 



the works were allowed to lie idle for a portion 

 of the time. The manufacture is mainly in ket- 

 tles, but solar evaporation is also made use of tc 

 some extent. There are salt wells at Port 

 Austin and St. Clair, which are being worked 

 profitably but not largely, while those at Grand 

 Rapids have been abandoned as unprofitable, 

 and the experiments at Corunna, Lansing, 

 Flint, and other points, did not prove satisfac- 

 tory. 



The production of copper for the year, as re- 

 ported to the auditor-general, was only a frac- 

 tion over 4,132 tons; but a number of compa- 

 nies did not report, and the whole production 

 was probably about 7,500 tons. Mining in the 

 Lake Superior region was dull through the 

 year; the high price of labor compared with 

 the returns being the cause. Coal mining in 

 the interior of the State is being extended 

 slowly, principally at Jackson and Corunna. 

 The coal is bituminous, and used mainly for 

 manufacturing purposes. 



The statistics of iron mining show : tons of ore 

 produced, 296,872; tons of pig iron, 18,437. 

 These are not complete, and only approximate 

 the true amount. The same causes which af- 

 fected the production of copper, influenced that 

 of iron also. 



The Jackson and Saginaw Railroad Company 

 has, during the year, constructed its road from 

 Jackson to Lansing, thirty-seven miles, and pur- 

 chased from the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse 

 Bay Railroad Company the road before in oper- 

 ation from Lansing to Owasso. From the point 

 last named the road is now in process of con- 

 struction to Saginaw. The Grand River Valley 

 Railroad from Jackson to Grand Rapids, and 

 the road from Three Rivers to Kalamazoo, are 

 now well under way, and some work has been 

 done on other lines, especially on that from 

 Grand Rapids to Fort Wayne. The old roads 

 have been prosperous through the year, and the 

 new line from Holley to East Saginaw paid 8 

 per cent, dividends, besides marking off nearly 

 9 per cent, upon the capital stock for depreci- 

 ation, and retaining nearly 8 per cent, more 

 from the gross earnings as a surplus. 



The Lac la Belle Ship Canal, connecting the 

 lake named with Lake Superior, was constructed 

 during the year, and the General Government 

 has made an appropriation of 400,000 acres of 

 land for the Portage Lake and Lake Superior 

 Ship Canal, which is now at once to be put 

 under construction. 



The year was one of general prosperity to 

 the State, especially to the farming and lum- 

 bering interests, and, notwithstanding the in- 

 crease of crime over the years of the war, gen- 

 eral good order prevailed. A shocking excep- 

 tion to this rule occurred in the hanging of a 

 mulatto boy by a mob at Mason, the county 

 seat of Inghara County, for an attempt to mur- 

 der a family in which he had been employed, 

 and where, as he alleged, he had been refused 

 payment for his labor. An event so 'extraordi- 

 nary in this latitude excited genm-al indigna- 



