MICHIGAN. 



445 



The stock on the Saginaw Elver at the close 

 of the season is much greater than ever before. 

 The following is a comparison for a few years 



A similar relative comparison might be made 

 in other parts of the State, indicating that the 

 production for the year was in excess of the 

 demand ; and at the end of the year it was 

 found that the preparations for the ensuing 

 season were on a less extensive scale than for 

 the last. 



The iron-mining interests of the Lake Supe- 

 rior region were generally prosperous. Tons 

 of ore produced, as estimated by the Marquette 

 Mining Journal, 709,387, at an average cost, 

 delivered on the cars, of $2 per ton. Produc- 

 tion of the furnaces, 39,504 tons. Iron-ore is 

 delivered in Cleveland at a net cost of $6.25 per 

 ton, and sold at an average profit of $1.25. The 

 transportation employs two hundred vessels, in- 

 cluding steamers, which make this their main 

 business. The Journal says that within the 

 last thirteen years "the mines have been devel- 

 oped into an inexhaustible source of wealth, 

 the neighborhood of the mines improved and 

 built upon, railroad tracks constructed, exten- 

 sive docks, with trestle-works, 'shoots,' 'pock- 

 ets,' and other improved conveniences for load- 

 ing vessels erected, and Marquette itself expand- 

 ed from a few lonely houses into a large and 

 nourishing village, with an extensive business. 

 The total shipments of ore increased from less 

 than 1,500 tons, in 1855, to considerably over 

 half a million tons in 1869. Last year it was 

 impossible to supply the demand, and this year 

 the increased number and facilities of the mines 

 will be taxed in vain to meet all the require- 

 ments of the hundreds of furnaces that run 

 almost exclusively on Lake Superior ore." 



There was general depression in the copper- 

 mining business during the year; the increased 

 copper-tariff not answering the expectations of 

 those who favored it. The Portage Lake Ga- 

 zette gives the following statistics : 

 Copper mined in the three Districts for 1863 and 1869. 

 1868. 1869. 



Portage Lake 8,283^ tons 11,730% 



Keweenaw 8,503 " 2,656} 



Ontonagon 1,257^ " 901% 



Total 13,049 15,288% 



Increase for 1869, 2,230f tons. 



From 1845 to the present time there have 

 been 128,275 tons of copper mined, yielding 

 99,440 tons of ingot copper, worth $56,661,000. 



There were made assessments to the amount 

 of $176,000 during 1869, while only three mines 

 made dividends, viz. : the Quincy, of $6 per 

 share, $120,000 ; the Hecla, of $5 per share, 

 $100,000 ; and the Central, of $4 per share, 

 $80,000. The Quincy also transferred $10,000 



to the reserve fund, which is now said to 

 amount to $200,000. The total assessments 

 levied since 1845 aggregate $16,646,500, and 

 the total dividends $6,370,000. These figures 

 will then sum up, as the result of the copper 

 business of Lake Superior since 1845, as fol- 

 lows : 



Proceeds of sales of copper $56,661,000 



Proceeds from assessments 16,646',500 



Total proceeds $73,307,500 



Returned by dividends 6,370,000 



Balance $66,937,500 



Percentage of dividends to total pro- 

 ceeds 807 



Percentage of dividends to copper sales 11 24 



Percentage of dividends to assessments 38 26 



Immediately back of the lake ridge, along the 

 eastern border of Michigan, the country is con- 

 siderably undulating, and in some portions the 

 little lakes of pure, cool, and wholesome water, 

 and fed by constant springs, are almost innu- 

 merable. This is particularly true of some 

 portions of Oakland, Shiawassee, and Genesee 

 Counties, and Mr. C. K Clark, of Clarkson, a 

 little village in the county first named, situated 

 in the midst of a fertile country, and surrounded 

 by beautiful and picturesque landscape views, 

 has commenced an enterprise which contem- 

 plates making these delightful waters profitable. 

 They are already, as a general thing, well stored 

 with the more common varieties of fresh-water 

 fish sunfish, perch, bass, pickerel, pike, etc., 

 and legislation has been adopted to prevent their 

 wholesale depopulation by seine-fishing; but 

 Mr. Clark, who is a man of wealth, enterprise, 

 and energy, believes they may be readily stored 

 with the more prolific and profitable varieties 

 of market fish. He has accordingly construct- 

 ed a hatching-house near Clarkston Station 

 on the Detroit and Milwaukee Eailroad, at the 

 head of a beautiful and shaded glen, where 

 several large springs flow from the base of the 

 hills which environ it. These springs are all 

 combined a few rods below their source, and 

 furnish a constant and never- vary ing supply of 

 about 200 gallons per minute of the purest cool 

 water. On November 15, 1869, Mr. Clark went 

 to Detroit, and, in company with Seth Green, 

 the noted ichthyologist of Caledonia, N". Y., 

 succeeded in expressing a large quantity of the 

 spawn from the Detroit River white fish, and 

 impregnating them with the milt from the 

 male. These were then transported to and 

 placed in the hatching-boxes already prepared 

 at Clarkston. After they had been about fifty 

 days in water at 47 Fahrenheit, Mr. Clark 

 succeeded in hatching large numbers of these 

 spawn, which he believes are the first white 

 fish ever hatched artificially west of Caledonia. 

 Unfortunately, screens sufficiently fine had not 

 been provided to prevent their escaping as fast 

 as hatched into the little lake a quarter of a 

 mile below, but a sufficient number were after- 

 ward captured to enable Mr. Clark to learn 

 their nature and wants when young, and better 

 prepare him to propagate them successfully in 



