GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND SURFACE CONFIGURA TION. 7 



A log five feet in diameter floats toward the mill ; a minute 

 more, and, fastened to a chain, it moves up the slideway, goes 

 straight under the saw, and in another minute is converted into 

 boards, which, without loss of time, are passed singly through 

 the edging machine, coming out ready for the market. Meanwhile, 

 before a car is loaded to remove them to the lumber pile, all the 

 edging slabs have been transformed into fence pickets an'd plaster 

 laths, all with the regularity of clock-work. These sights make an 

 impression on the mind of a thoughtful spectator which is more 

 than simple admiration ; he feels overpowered by the wonders which 

 man is capable of performing by perseverance and energy, coupled 

 with an intelligent use of the forces of nature. 



The rivers have all eroded their valleys into the loose drift masses 

 which almost universally cover the surface of the peninsula in great 

 thickness. Only in rare instances have they carved deep enough 

 to touch the solid rock ledges below the drift ; or if such deep cuts 

 did ever exist, they have filled them up again with debris, and the 

 beds of the present streams lie high above those of former times. 

 The peninsula was in its original condition heavily timbered, with the 

 exception of a few marshy flats. Climate and quality of the soil 

 determined the character of the vegetation. In the southern part 

 of the peninsula, deciduous trees, particularly hard-wood timber, 

 prevail. Pine is only sporadically intermingled — the mildness of 

 the climate favoring the growth of oak, hickory, walnut, poplar, 

 etc., which abound here, but become rare further north, where 

 beech, maple, and birch take their place. The sandy soil of the 

 central high plateau is most congenial for the growth of pine 

 forests, which have taken exclusive possession of nearly the entire 

 district. The marshy condition of some other places adapt them 

 for the tamarack, asp, elm, and willow-tree, or for the growth of 

 cedar, while a few parts of the high plateau, proving even too sterile 

 for the pine, afford sustenance to nothing more than a stunted, 

 scrubby growth of Piniis Banksianus, and a few creeping herbs which 

 attempt to hide the barrenness of the scene. Such barrenness has, 

 in some instances, been caused by accidental fires, which annihi- 

 lated forests of large area, totally denuding the surface, w^hfch, when 

 of porous sand exposed to the burning rays of the sun and to the 

 exsiccating winds, cannot for a long time, if ever, recover its former 

 well-timbered condition. On more fertile soil, with sufficient moist- 



