46 NAERATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION". 



west, tlie seat of its commerce, tlie repository of its wealtli, and 

 the grand focus of its moral, political, and physical energies* 



* Michigan. This Territory contained, at this period, a population of 8,896 in- 

 habitants, principally Frenchmen, who were the descendants of the original settlers 

 of the time of Louis XIV. In 1835, the population had so increased, chiefly by emi- 

 gration from the older States, that the inhabitants applied for admission into 

 the Union. The act of Congress admitting it was passed in 1830. In 1846, it had 

 212,267 souls. By the seventh national census, in 1850, it is shown to have a popula- 

 tion of 397,654, entitling it to four representatives in Congress, with a large fraction. 

 Its resources, its healthful climate, fertile soil, and very advantageous position on 

 the great chain of navigable waters of the Upper Lakes, must insure a rapid develop- 

 ment of its means and resources, and place the State, in a few years, in a high rank 

 among the circle of American States. 



