2 LOWER PENINSULA. 



is the long axis of the Lower Peninsula which they inclose. Its 

 north end is indented by two large bays. 



One of thcni, Little Traverse Bay, extends fourteen miles from 

 west to east, with a width in the centre of about six miles ; its 

 geographical position is in latitude 45° 25', and longitude 85°, 

 at their intersection in the centre of the bay. Only a short distance 

 south of the small bay is the entrance of Big Traverse Bay, which 

 has a north and south direction. Its length from Lighthouse Point 

 to Traverse City, situated at the head of the bay, is thirty-four 

 miles, its width about ten miles. A landspur, parallel with the 

 longitudinal axis of the bay, divides it into two arms ; the length 

 of the spur is sixteen miles, with a breadth of one to three miles. On 

 both sides of the bay, and only a short distance from it, are inland 

 lakes of very elongated form, which evidently owe their origin to 

 the same erosive forces which carved out the bay. On the east 

 side of the peninsula, in the same latitude with Big Traverse Bay, 

 Thunder Bay indents the coast in a northwestern direction ; its 

 length is about ten miles, equal to the width at the entrance. 

 Fifty miles further south is the entrance of Saginaw Bay. Its 

 direction is southwest, its length forty-five miles, and its width, be- 

 tween Point of Barques and Ottawa Lighthouse Point, twenty-seven 

 miles. 



The rise of the peninsula from the level of the lakes is gen- 

 erally gradual, and in a few places only is it abrupt. The surface is 

 of an undulating, hilly character ; the hills are rounded and never 

 attain a very great height above the surrounding country. The 

 southern part of the peninsula is lower than the northern. The 

 swell of the land, forming the water-shed of this southern division, 

 coincides with a line drawn in a southwest direction from Port 

 Austin at the entrance of Saginaw Bay, to the southwest corner of 

 Hillsdale County, where it enters the boundaries of the State of 

 Ohio. Within the limits of Tuscola and Sanilac counties, the 

 known surface elevation of this water-shed is about 400 feet above 

 the lake ; in Lapeer and Oakland counties it rises to 500 feet ; further 

 south, in Washtenaw and Jackson counties, it falls again to about 

 400 feet ; while in Hillsdale, not far from the southern State line, 

 some points with an elevation of 600 feet are recorded, but the 

 water-shed is probably not over 500 feet high. The ascent from the 

 lakes to the height of this water-shed is so gradual that a travel- 



