MICHIGAN 



3782 



MICHIGAN 



instruction, elected for two years, who must be 

 a graduate of a university, college or normal 

 school, and who must have taught five years in 

 Michigan. The schools of each county are un- 

 der the direct charge of a county school com- 

 missioner, elected for four years; each school 

 district has its local board of education. 



At the head of the educational institutions 

 stands the University of Michigan at Ann Ar- 

 bor (see MICHIGAN, UNIVERSITY OF), opened in 

 1841, and it is one of the largest and best 

 known universities in the Union. The state 

 maintains the agricultural college at Lansing, 

 opened in 1857, the first agricultural college 

 founded in the United States; and the college 

 of mines at Houghton, opened in 1886. Among 

 other colleges are Detroit College at Detroit, 

 Hope College at Holland, Albion College, Alma 

 College, Hillsdale College, Kalamazoo College 

 and Olivet College; these are maintained by 

 various religious denominations. 



For the training of teachers there are four 

 state normal schools, namely, at Ypsilanti, 

 opened in 1852, the first normal school estab- 

 lished west of New York; at Mount Pleasant, 

 opened in 1895 ; at Marquette, opened in 1899 ; 

 at Kalamazoo, opened in 1903. A marked fea- 

 ture of the Michigan system for the training of 

 teachers is the county training school, which 

 was established in 1903. These schools have 

 already trained over 6,000 teachers. Michigan 

 was among the first states to adopt the move- 

 ment for teachers' summer institutes; the first 

 in this state was held as early as 1846. 



In 1907 the law authorized the establishment 

 of county schools of agriculture. One or sev- 

 eral adjoining counties may vote to establish 

 such a school, to which the state is obliged to 

 grant financial support. These schools teach 

 agriculture, domestic science and manual train- 

 ing. Since 1908 numerous juvenile corn-grow- 

 ing associations which have as their object the 

 scientific cultivation of corn have been founded 

 among the schoolboys. Since 1911 fraternities 

 and school societies have been abolished in all 

 public schools. 



The percentage of illiteracy is low, being 3.3 

 per cent of the total population in 1910; but if 

 the native white population alone is considered 

 it is only 1 per cent. 



Physical Features. The upper peninsula has 

 a rough, hilly or mountainous surface, and is a 

 region of mining, lumbering, hunting and sum- 

 mer outings. The highest mountains in the 

 state are the Porcupine Mountains, reaching an 

 elevation of 2,000 to 2,100 feet above sea level, 



situated in the northwest, along the shores of 

 Lake Superior. Parallel to the Porcupine 

 Mountains is the famous Copper, or Mineral, 

 Range. The lower peninsula is generally level 

 and undulating, the highest land being around 

 Saginaw Bay. The average altitude of this 

 region is about 850 feet above sea level, or 270 

 feet above the level of lakes Michigan and 

 Huron. 



The lower peninsula is dotted with a large 

 number of small, clear lakes, most of which are 

 surrounded by forests and are noted for beauty 

 and for an abundance of fish. It is estimated 

 that there are more than 5,000 such lakes within 

 the state ; Oakland County alone has about 500. 

 Along Lake Michigan there are numerous high 

 bluffs and picturesque sand dunes. 



Its Rivers. The rivers are short, small and 

 shallow. The streams of the upper peninsula 

 flow into Lake Superior, and many of them 

 have beautiful waterfalls; these can be utilized 

 for abundant water power. Among the chief 

 streams are the Menominee, the Ontonagon, 

 the Manistique, and the Escanaba, which flow 

 into Lake Michigan; The largest streams of the 

 lower peninsula are the Raisin and the Huron, 

 flowing into Lake Erie; the Saginaw, the Au 

 Sable, the Thunder Bay and the Cheboygan, 

 flowing into Lake Huron; and the Grand, the 

 Kalamazoo, the Saint Joseph, the Muskegon 

 and the Manistee, flowing into Lake Michigan. 



Climate. There is a marked difference be- 

 tween the climate of the lower peninsula and 

 that of the upper peninsula, the mean annual 

 temperature being 48 F. for the southern and 

 39 F. for the northern counties. The summers 

 ^re cool and the winters are severe, usually with 

 heavy snowfall. The presence of the lakes 

 gives the lower peninsula milder winters and 

 cooler summers than are experienced elsewhere 

 in the same latitude. That portion of the state 

 bordering on Lake Michigan, and extending 

 as far north as Grand Traverse Bay, is influ- 

 enced by the southwestern winds which pre- 

 vail throughout the year. These winds tend to 

 lengthen the cold season, and thus retard the 

 early budding of fruit trees, prevent the appear- 

 ance of late frosts and also prolong the warm 

 season into the fall. Such conditions are espe- 

 cially favorable to the growing of fruit, and this 

 region constitutes what is widely known as the 

 Michigan fruit belt. The average rainfall in 

 the state is about thirty inches, quite evenly 

 distributed throughout the year. 



Agriculture. Agriculture is the chief occu- 

 pation of the people of Michigan and consti- 



