The Economic Background 
> 
Land Use 
little over 1015 million acres, or 29 percent of 
the land area of Michigan, is included in 
the Upper Peninsula—the northern division 
which is separated from the rest of Michigan by 
two of the Great Lakes—and of this area about 88 
percent is forested (table 1). The western half of 
the Peninsula, including Marquette and Dickinson 
Counties and the counties to the west of these, is 
more heavily timbered than the eastern half. 
TasLe 1.—General classification of land in the Upper Peninsula of 
Michigan 
Class of land Area 
Nonforest land: Acres Percent 
LDC?) oi tae ee See ee eee ae } 683, 000 6.5 
(i0d3 tir gee Se Coe Se a ee ee 28, 000 -3 
RIS TNGS-OF- Wii Wines OS Bee = Se | 116, 000 ea! 
Miscellaneous industrial___________-___--______ 90, 000 8 
Open hor and marsh] <= - s- 5 =. 120, 000 1 LES 
Other wnnsed apen land > — ~~ = 2 <= } 97, 000 “ty 
ORISHE VEU EUIVALOTR 5 Re | 101, 000 1.0 
712 bee Tee ee Sn ae ee eee 1, 235, 000 7, 
LASS eS ee ee ee ee ee ae 9, 336, 000 | 88.3 
Totalland area __- Bene, Pee = hse | 10, 571, 000 | 100.0 
! This acreage slightly exceeds the Census Bureau estimate of cropland 
and plowable and other except woodland pasture, probably because 
farmsteads and certain wild meadows used for pasture were included. 
The Great Lakes cut-over region, of which the 
Upper Peninsula is a part, has been referred to as 
one of the critical problem areas of the United 
States,’ characterized by depleted natural re- 
sources, scattered and illogical settlement, serious 
unemployment, overly complicated government, 
and high taxes with consequent extensive tax 
delinquency. The Upper Peninsula shares these 
difficulties to a considerable extent but has to its 
credit on the other side of the ledger a large volume 
of as yet unexploited virgin timber. 
7[Unirep States] NationaL Resources COMMITTEE. 
REGIONAL PLANNING. PART VIII—NORTHERN LAKE STATES. 
63 pp., illus. Washington [D. C.] 1939. 
299131°—41——2 
¥ 
The People and Employment 
The population of the Upper Peninsula in 1930 
was 318,676 or 19.1 persons per square mile. 
This is about average density for the cut-over 
region of the Lake States but contrasts markedly 
with the average density in the Lower Peninsula of 
Michigan of 110.9 persons per square mile. With 
29 percent of the land area, the Upper Peninsula 
included less than 7 percent of the State’s popula- 
tion. Population increased 2.1 percent between 
1910 and 1920, but declined 4.2 percent between 
1920 and 1930. 
Nearly one-fourth (22.6 percent) of the 1930 
population of the Upper Peninsula was foreign- 
born and nearly half (47.4 percent) had one or both 
parents of foreign birth. There are 23 distinct 
Finnish settlements, 10 French, 9 Swedish, 5 
German, 3 Polish, 2 Belgian, 2 Indian, and 1 each 
of Danes, Scots, Irish, Russians, Dutch, and 
Italians. Fortunately, most of these people have a 
certain common background and tradition of soil 
and forest conservation, and with suitable leader- 
ship can readily adjust themselves to a program 
of proper land use. A wide variety of occupations 
is recorded in the 1930 census, but most jobs tie 
directly or indirectly to farming, mining, and 
forestry. 
Relief authorities report that, in December 1934, 
105,246 persons, or one-third of the total popula- 
tion, were dependent upon relief. In this group 
less than half (47,760) were employable persons 
unable to obtain work. Of all those on relief, the 
greatest number were in the more heavily timbered 
western half of the Peninsula, where 79,240 out of 
204,608 total population were receiving aid. In 
Iron County (April 1934) 43 percent of the total 
population of 20,805 was receiving help. The 
relief load decreased about one-third by 1937, but 
has shown no tendency to decrease further. 
Whether there is a possibility of absorbing the 
greater part of these relief cases through better 
farming, forestry, and other regular jobs is one 
