•10 
FIFTEENTH REPORT. 
u»A\ means for the transit of goods, the railroad, now began to help 
atlect the distribution of population so that inland regions, if they 
possessed good soil, could support a dense farming population, as a 
imiu o maiket had now been provided. Three railroads were projected, 
, be bllllt the state. Since water routes to market had hitherto 
been so important in the settlement of Michigan, it is natural that no 
north and south lines were planned, but only east and west ones to 
connect quickly wilh lake ports. These roads were to connect Detroit 
and St. Joseph, Monroe and New Buffalo, and Port Huron and Grand 
Haven. 
The next ten years were simply a story of steadily increasing popula- 
umi supported by agriculture in the southern four tiers of counties, and 
a comparatively slight migration to the North. 
I j> to 18.J), soil suitable for farming and routes to market had chiefly 
controlled the distribution of Michigan's population. After 1800, how- 
to er. the distribution of population became more irregular through the 
influence of certain other geographical factors, the results of which 
were not very evident until then. Among these are (1) Effect of 
topography and climate; (2) Effect of natural resources, i. e. soil, 
forests and ores; (3) Relationship to other geographical provinces. 
We know that the great ice sheets by the formation of the Great 
Lakes have profoundly influenced the climate of much of Michigan, and, 
besides serving as a source for flsh. have caused by their use as trade 
routes the building and the growth of many cities, as Port Huron and 
Detroit. The ice sheet also was the cause for the state's swamps, hills, 
lakes, water power, and sandy plains, while, indirectly, it determined 
the location of clay, marl and peat deposits. The ice sheet also was very 
important in determining the character of the forest growth and the 
areas for farming, lumbering, shipping and manufacturing. 
The “Soo" canal was finished in 1855, and we naturally find by 1860 
a considerable population in the Houghton and Marquette mining dis- 
tricts. The settled districts of the southern peninsula spread north, 
most rapidly along the shores of Lake Michigan and Saginaw Bay. 
Pertain sandy areas, for example, in western Allegan and Van Buren 
Counties were thinly settled. The same was true of the extensive marshes 
in the Thumb. Of late years, the favorable climate along Lake Michi- 
gan permits of fruit raising on these sandy areas, while the Thumb 
marshes after draining prove very valuable for the growing of sugar 
beets. Other swamps in Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Ottawa, and Kent 
counties are now equally valuable for the raising of celery and pepper- 
mint, and permit Michigan to lead in their production. The draining 
of marsh land, however, was not undertaken until after the supply of 
other lands more easily prepared for cultivation was exhausted, so that, 
up to about 1800, the population of such areas was rather small. 
By 1870, the lumber industry, which before 1860 was of no importance, 
had grown until Michigan was the chief lumbering state, a preeminence 
which it maintained well into the nineties. In general, the best white 
pine was north of Saginaw and Grand Rapids and south of Alpena, 
therefore, in addition to these cities, others in between, as Muskegon 
and Manistee, sprang up directly dependent on the lumber industry. 
The population of these lumber sawing districts was chiefly located about 
the mouths of rivers, affording means of running the logs to the mills 
