LUMBER KESOURCES OF MICEIGAN. 523 



Otsogo Lake, on the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad, which opens this timber 

 to market, even before the Manistee or the Au Sable have been cleared for lumber pur- 

 poses. This important center at Otsego Lake is also ihe center of a large agricultural 

 district, which is already in course of rapid settlement. This railroad (now ending at 

 Gaylord, eight miles from Otsego Lake) is to be extended northward to the mouth of 

 Cheboygan River and Mackinaw, passing through the whole length and along the 

 waters of the Cheboygan district. 



4. Thunder Bay River, embracing the waters of this stream, and including the county 

 of Ali)ena, and portions of Alcona, Osceola, Montmorency, and Presque Isle Counties. 

 This district embraces a very large at d compact territory, mostly tributary to Alpena, 

 at the mouth of the river on Thunder Bay. This point is a well-known manufacturing 

 center, and as yet holds control of the lumber traffic of the river. A railroad project 

 is however inaugurated from Alpena, in a southwestern direction, and work is already 

 commenced upon it.' This road, when completed, will pass through t.ome very large 

 bodies of timber, which are now undisturbed. Manufacturing points along the lake 

 shore, between Au Sable and Thunder Bay, are making inroads into this district, and 

 some of the choicest timber has already been cut off. 



5. Cheboygan district, including the lake shore and Presque Isle County. This em- 

 braces the Cheboygan River and its various watei's, and the Oqueoc River and several 

 email streams in Presque Isle County. Lumbering at Duncan and Cheboygan has been 

 carried on for a number of years, and this is an important lumber center, and not less 

 so on account of the prospective advantage of its being the first station on the line 

 of the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad. The numerous large lakes and trib- 

 ntary streams in this district give it great importance and value as a lumber region. 

 Its agricultural advantages of soil and location also give it importance. The Oqiieoc 

 River, the only principal stream in this peninsula not yet opened, has a large body of 

 pine upon its waters, which, with the natural advantages of this stream alone, will 

 give it importance as a lumber point. The whole of Presque Isle County has more or 

 less scattering tracts of pine within its borders, and considerable lumber has already 

 been shipped from Rodgers City and Crawford's Quarry, the present points of ship- 

 ment. 



6. The Grand Traverse Region. — This region, extending from Mackinaw to Manistee, 

 includes the counties of Charlevoix, Antrim, Leelenaw, Grand Traverse, Benzie, and 

 portions of Emmett, Otsego, Kalkaska, Wexford, and Manistee. * * * The pine 

 timber of this region is generally of the first quality. Lumbering a^. several points 

 has been carried on for many years at Traverse City, Elk Rapids, and Frankfort, tak- 

 ing the timber from Boardmau Rapids, Platte, and Aux Bees Scies Rivers. The most 

 important manufacturing establishment in this part of the State is at Traverse City, 

 which has for the last twenty years carried on au extensive business. 



7. The Upper Manistee River. — This region is described separately as it is as yet un- 

 develojied, lying upon the waters of the Manistee, and extending from its source in 

 Otsego Con jty to the hard-timber ridge in Wexford County, wbich divides it from the 

 Lower Manistee timber. This is an extensive body of pine, embracing much of the 

 first quality of white pine, easily accessible, and of great value as future supply for 

 the mills at Manistee, at the mouth of the river. The Grand Rapids and Indiana 

 Railroad crosses the lower portion of this body of pine, giving an outlet by rail south- 

 ward and northward to Traverse City. 



8. The Lower Manistee, the Bay and Little Au Salle, the Fere Marquette, and the Pent 

 Water. — This district embraces all that region lying west of the Muskegon waters and 

 along the Lake shore from Manistee to Pent Water drained by the rivers above nitrn- 

 tioued. The manufacturing points are Manistee, Lincoln, Hamlin, Ludington, and Pent 

 Water. Manistee is a well-known and important lumbering point, and has supplied a 

 large amount of lumber to Chicago. The timber of the lower waters of the river, which 

 has supplied the mills at that point, is more mixed and of inferior quality, as com- 

 pared with the upper waters ju^t described. At Lincoln and Hamlin, the timber taken 

 from the region drained by the Big and Little Au Sable Rivers has been manufactured. 

 There is a large body of timber on these streams, which will in some measure be 

 alfecied by the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, which has just been completed to 

 its terminus at Ludington, jjassiug through Lake and Mason Counties. The southern 

 portion of this district embraces a large, valuable, and compact body of timber, which 

 is traversed by the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, and, with the abundant water 

 facilities aftorded by the Pere Marquette River and the Pent Water, it possesses great 

 value as a lumber region. 



9. The Muskegon River. — The district embraced by the waters of this stream penetrates 

 the interior of the State, and reaches the waters of streams flowing into Lake Huron, 

 and borders the Saginaw district on the west. The Michigan Lake Shore, the Grand 

 Rapids and Indiana, the Muskegon and Big Rapids, and the Flinr and Pere Marquette 

 Railways pass through this district in difterent directions, and the Jackson, Lansing 



' Michigan Northern Railway, designed to run from Grand Rapids to Alpena, 200 

 miles. The report for 1875 shows that $265,000 had been expended. 



