GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND SURFACE CONFIG URA TION. 3 



ler, in crossing the peninsula from either lake to the other, if 

 he follows the river valleys, can scarcely perceive it. The northern 

 division of the peninsula rises to almost double the height of the 

 southern part ; its surface is more broken, and diversified by steeper 

 descents toward the lakes from terrace to terrace. Its highest 

 points in the vicinity of Otsego Lake are, according to the records 

 of the railroad surveys, iioo feet above the lake level. Otsego 

 Lake has a length of about five miles by a width of not quite one 

 mile ; it lies directly west of Thunder Bay, in the median line, 

 and not far from the northern terminus of an extensive high pla- 

 teau with undulating surface and an average elevation of from 

 700 to 800 feet. 



All the rivers of the northern part of the peninsula have their 

 sources within this plateau, which is dotted with a number of in- 

 land lakes, some of which, like Lakes Higgins, Houghton, and St. 

 Helen's, are of large size. The terraces by which the descent from 

 the plateau is made, form a succession of broad belts ; their sides are 

 moderately steep and finely timbered ; the lowest are wider, gradu- 

 ally slanting toward the shore or overlooking it in bluffs of from 40 to 

 60 feet. In some places on the west side, the bluffs are from 100 to 

 200 feet high ; and Sleeping Bear Point, a promontory facing Lake 

 Michigan, west of Big Traverse Bay, is said to have an elevation 

 of 500 feet. Opposite this point, twelve miles out in the lake, the 

 Manitou Islands rise abruptly to a height of 200 feet above the 

 water. South of the second correction line, the plateau rapidly 

 declines toward Saginaw Bay. Between the north and south 

 parts of the peninsula, a depressed strip of land extends from 

 Saginaw Bay to the mouth of Grand River on Lake Michigan, 

 having rarely more than 100 feet elevation. Its position is in- 

 dicated by the river-beds of Bad River, which comes by its water- 

 shed in connection with the headwaters of Maple River, the latter 

 emptying into Grand River. An astonishing number of smaller and 

 larger inland lakes are found in every part of the peninsula ; all 

 have crystal-clear water, and the principal supply of the head branch- 

 es of our rivers comes from them. The more important rivers, 

 collecting the waters of the western slope of the peninsula, are the 

 St. Joseph's River, Kalamazoo River, Grand River, Muskegon River, 

 and Manistee River. The three first-named ones have their sources 

 in close proximity to the elevated lands of Hillsdale and Jackson 



