MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
39 
A GEOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE GROWTH AND DISTRIBUTION 
OF POPULATION IN MICHIGAN. 
BY 0. W. FREEMAN. 
The history of a nation or state is largely the result of its own ami 
its environment's geography. A study of Michigan’s history, and of 
the reasons for the distribution of its population at different times, 
shows that certain geographical factors have influenced the history and 
settlement of Michigan far more than any designs or purposes of man. 
This paper is devoted to a brief discussion of the factors which influenced 
the distribution of population in our state. 
Michigan was the first of the North Central states to be explored and 
to have permanent settlements established. These early settlements 
were mere missions or trading posts, whose location was determined by 
the presence of the abundant waterways of the state, which served for 
cheap and easy transit of trading goods and furs, and accounted for 
the founding of Detroit, St. Ignace, Sault Sainte Marie, and Fort Miami 
on the St. Joseph River near what is now’ Niles. 
Although explored so early, there was no influx of an agricultural 
population until after about ISIS. There were several causes for this, 
chief among them being (1) Michigan’s earliest settlers were fur trad- 
ers; fur trade and agriculture never go together; (2) The rich easily 
broken lands along: the tributaries of the Ohio would attract farmers 
first; (3) Erroneous reports w r ere abroad to the effect that Michigan’s 
surface was largely swamps and pine barrens, and, until more careful 
surveys were made about 1820, this idea, fostered perhaps by the fur 
companies, may have helped to turn settlers elsewhere; (4) Distance to 
markets made farming unprofitable. These geographical factors then 
proved sufficient to prevent any increase in Michigan’s population for 
over a century after the founding of Detroit. In 1820 almost the entire 
population of Michigan wms restricted to a narrow belt close to Detroit 
and Lake Erie. In 1825 the Erie Canal Avas opened; this formed a 
water route to markets. By 1830 the districts around Detroit became 
more densely populated, and settlements spread toward the North and 
West. For a few r years, the Kankakee- St. Joseph river route served to 
encourage the settlement of the extreme Southwestern part of the state 
and some adjacent portions of Indiana, although the area about them 
was an unexplored wilderness. An early fort near Niles, in addition 
to prairies of a few r miles in extent, may have helped to decide settlers 
to locate there. At first then, the distribution of population was con- 
trolled by trade routes, and these outlets to market were simply natural 
waterways except the Erie Canal. 
Michigan became a state in 1837 and her boundaries definitely fixed. 
By 1840 settlers had ceased to go North along Lake Huron, being little 
attracted by the marshes of the Thumb, but instead had spread west 
mostly south of a line connecting Port Huron and Grand Rapids. A 
