MICHIGAN. 



miles long, N. and S., and from 180 to 200 broad, 

 K. ami \V. From the base of the peninsula, as far N. 

 as Grand and Saginaw rivers, the country has been 

 ruli i i by the Indians. The jurisdiction of Michigan 

 r\tt mis over all the territory of the United States E. of 

 the Mississippi and N. of Illinois. As generally indi- 

 cating its geological and mineralogical character, we 

 may remark, that the rock is covered with a bed of 

 alluvial earth, from 30 to 150 feet deep. The rocks 

 Ittlong to the secondary class. The strata, in the 

 southern part of the territory, are supposed to dip 

 S. E. at an angle of about J with the horizon. Fer- 

 riferous sand rock, saliferous rock, and mill-stone 

 grit, are found alternating on the surface, at various 

 points in the middle and western parts of the penin- 

 sula. Salt springs occur on the branches of many of 

 the interior rivers. Bog iron ore, lead ore, gypsum 

 and bituminous coal are found, though in inconsider- 

 able quantities. Peat is abundant in many parts of 

 the territory. The face of the country is generally 

 level or gently undulating. A strip of table land, 

 stretching N. and S., and assuming, as it is traced 

 N., the character of a ridge, divides the waters 

 emptying eastward into lakes Erie, St Clair, and 

 Huron, from those passing westward into lake Mi- 

 higan. Its elevation is estimated to be 300 feet 

 above the level of the lak. s. South of a line drawn 

 due W. from the southern extremity of lake Huron, 

 the country consists of open land, known by the 

 name of Oak plains. The soil is a loam, with vary- 

 ing proportions of clay. It becomes fertile by culti- 

 vation, and is good farm land. In the country 

 bordering on the Kalemagoo and St Joseph rivers, 

 prairies of a black, rich, alluvial soil and unusual 

 productiveness, frequently occur. The northern part 

 of the peninsula is in the occupation of Indians, and 

 has been little explored, except along the borders. 

 The land is in many places more elevated than that 

 farther south, and is covered with the trees usually 

 found in those latitudes. The Indians raise corn in 

 abundance. The peninsula between the straits of 

 Mackinac and lake Superior, as far as is known, 

 resembles, in its soil, forests, form and climate, the 

 northern part of the peninsula of Michigan. In the 

 southern part of the territory, the climate is tempe- 

 rate ; in the northern, cold. Snow falls at Detroit 

 from six to eighteen inches deep, and remains two or 

 three weeks. The transition from the cold of spring 

 to the heat of summer is rapid ; from summer to 

 winter, gradual and prolonged. As general charac- 

 teristics, the spring is wet and backward; summer, 

 dry ; autumn, mild ; winter, cold and dry. The 

 average temperature is, in the spring, 50 of Fahren- 

 heit; summer, 80; winter, 20; autumn, 60 to 65. 

 The rivers, with the exception of St Mary's, St Clair, 

 and Detroit, which form connecting links in the great 

 chain of lakes, are small. They rise near the divid- 

 ing ridge, and run, with a rapid current, E. or W. 

 Their numerous branches furnish abundance of mill- 

 seats in all parts of the country. From the greater 

 proximity of the ridge to the eastern border of the 

 peninsula, the streams running E. are of course 

 >horter than those which take a contrary direction. 

 They are also, in general, smaller, and navigable to 

 less extent. Thunder bay river, emptying into 

 Thunder bay, and Cheboiyan river, into the straits 

 of Mackinac, are the only considerable streams N. 

 of Saginaw bay. 



The animal and vegetable productions are such as 

 are usually found in the same latitudes. Game, fish, 

 and aquatic birds, are in great abundance and variety. 

 The civil divisions of the territory are those of 

 counties and townships. The legislative power is 

 vested in a governor and council; the latter elected 

 biennially, and restricted to annual sessions of sixty 



days each; the executive, in a governor appointed 

 tor terms of three years ; the judicial, in a supreme 

 court, consisting of three judges, whose terms of office 

 are four years; circuit courts, held by two of the superior 

 judges; and subordinate jurisdictions, as county courts, 

 magistrates, &c. Detroit is the seat of ; < \ ernment. 

 It is situated on the right bank of the river, eighteen 

 miles from lake Erie, and seven from lake St Clair. 1 1 

 contains about 3000 inhabitants. With every natural 

 facility for becoming a place of importance, the condi- 

 tion of Detroit has hitherto depended on the precarious 

 support afforded by the fur trade, the disbursement 

 of public moneys, while a military post, and the 

 liberal appropriations by government for public 

 objects. The impulse and effect produced by the 

 settlement and cultivation of the surrounding country, 

 was wanting. This, though recent in Michigan, has 

 commenced, and is rapidly increasing. A strong and 

 increasing tide of immigration has set in. The causes 

 of prosperity once in action, their results will probably 

 be shown there, as they have usually been manifested 

 elsewhere. The population of Michigan Proper ex- 

 ceeds 40,000. Regular settlements were first made 

 in the beginning of the last century. The govern- 

 ment, under the dominion of the French was arbitrary, 

 uniting the civil and military authority in the power 

 of a " commandant." Lands were held of the king, 

 and undergrants, temporary or permanent, were maile 

 by his governor-general, to which feodal rent was 

 usually incident. The rules regulating the rights of 

 property, particularly in regard to the marriage 

 relation, succession, and devises, were those of the 

 French customary law, called coutume de Paris, as 

 far as applicable to the circumstances of the country. 

 These were abrogated, as to further recognition in 

 the territory, in 1810. In 1763, the French posses- 

 sions in Canada were ceded to England. By the 

 treaty of Paris, 1783, this country was transferred to 

 the United States. From this period, the British 

 government ceased to exercise a criminal jurisdiction 

 over it. In 1796, under Jay's treaty of 1794, pos- 

 session of these upper posts was delivered to the 

 American government. The North-western territory 

 was ceded by Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, 

 and Connecticut to the United States, and, in 1787, 

 congress passed an ordinance for its government ; 

 amended in 1789, to adapt it to the new government 

 of the United States, which had taken effect in the 

 interim. A delegate to congress is elected biennially, 

 who may debate, but not vote. The qualifications 

 necessary to suffrage are to be a free white male of 

 age; citizenship ; a year's residence in the territory; 

 payment of a county or territorial tax. By the 

 articles of compact, slavery is prohibited. The num- 

 ber of Indians within the peninsula, is estimated at 

 9000 ; within the territory of Michigan, at 40,000. 

 Those in the peninsula are Chippewas, Potawatamies, 

 and Ottawas, and are kindred tribes. The Potawa- 

 tamies live on reservations of land in the St Joseph 

 country. The Ottawas and Chippewas of Thunder 

 bay, Saginaw, and river au Sable, own all the penin- 

 sula north and west of a line drawn from the forks of 

 Grand to the source of Thunder bay river. They 

 are hunters and trappers. The Ottawas are the 

 most agricultural in their habits, and a band of this 

 tribe have a flourishing settlement at L'Arbre Croche, 

 on the western coast of lake Huron. The borders of 

 St Clair river and lake, rivers Detroit, Raisin, Clin- 

 ton, and Plaisance bay, at the mouth of the Raisin, 

 are settled by French inhabitants. They occupy a 

 belt of land on the borders of these streams, three 

 miles broad. They are civil, honest, unobtrusive, 

 and industrious, with little education, and essentially 

 deficient in enterprise. 

 MICHIGAN, LAKE ; one of the five great lakes in 



