CHAPTER VIII.
MICHIGAN.
Extent,—Situation,—Boundaries;——Face of the Country; Rivers, Lakes, &c., Soil
and Productions;—Subdivisions, Counties;—Towns, Detroit;—Education;—Improvements
projected;—Boundary Dispute;—Outline of the Constitution.
Michigan is a large triangular peninsula, surrounded on the east, north and west, by lakes, and on the south by the States of Ohio and Indiana. Lake Erie, Detroit river, lake St. Clair, and St. Clair river, lie on the east for 140 miles; lake Huron on the north-east and north, the straits of Mackinaw on the extreme north-west, and lake Michigan on its western side. Its area is about 40,000 square miles.
Face of the Country.—Its general surface is level, having no mountains, and no very elevated hills. Still, much of its surface is undulating, like the swelling of the ocean. Along the shore of lake Huron, in some places, are high, precipitous bluffs, and along the eastern shore of Michigan are hills of pure sand, blown up by the winds from the lake. Much of the country bordering on lakes Erie, Huron, and St. Clair, is level,—somewhat deficient in good water, and for the most part heavily timbered. The interior is more undulating, in some places rather hilly, with much fine timber, interspersed with oak "openings," "plains," and "prairies."
The "plains" are usually timbered, destitute of undergrowth, and are beautiful. The soil is rather gravelly. The "openings" contain scattering timber in groves and patches, and resemble those tracts called barrens farther south. There is generally timber enough for farming purposes, if used with economy, while it costs but little labor to clear the land. For the first ploughing, a strong team of four or five yoke of oxen is required, as is the case with prairie.
The openings produce good wheat.
The "prairies," will be described more particularly under the head of Illinois. In Michigan they are divided into wet and dry. The former possess a rich soil, from one to four feet deep, and produce abundantly all kinds of crops common to 42 degrees of N. latitude, especially those on St. Joseph river. The latter afford early pasturage for emigrants, hay to winter his stock, and with a little labor would be converted into excellent artificial meadows. Much of the land that now appears wet and marshy will in time be drained, and be the first rate soil for farming.
A few miles back of Detroit is a flat, wet country for considerable extent, much of it heavily timbered,—the streams muddy and sluggish,—some wet prairies,—with dry, sandy ridges intervening. The timber consists of all the varieties found in the Western States; such as oaks of various species, walnut, hickory, maple, poplar, ash, beech, &c., with an intermixture of white and yellow pine.