I I II D: Ads: -I OR19AJ~i ^C Uo \1 E PISTEMIA, i/ 7935 Bentley Historical Library The University of Michigan * Ann Arbor The Conservation of this Volume was funded in part by The Friends of the Michigan Historical Collections HISTORY OF THE UPPER PENINSULA oF MICHIGAN CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OF ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT; ITS GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES; AN EXTENDED DESCRIPTION OF ITS IRON AND COPPER MINES. ALSO, ACCURATE SKETCHES OF ITS Counties, Cities, Towns and Villages, THEIR IMPROVEMENTS, INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES; BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLERS; VIEWS OF COUNTY SEATS, ETC. LLU SPTRATED. CHICAGO: THE WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY. A. T. ANDREAS, Proprietor. I883. i % C C.. o0 f oo krr C,: 'X HI, f C Oversized FoldoutUnable to Scan F,I ~1 i $ i i I e-, - s0 relsao of e ts O and the notice of individuals or peoples connected with such events constitute history. t ot one in a thousand halts to consider the various obstacles which strew the path of the historical writer; not one gives a thought to the responsibility which attaches itself to him, but almost all join in searching for errors. Yes, many who have never interested themselves in the country or in its story become united in denouncing a great work, of which they have no knowledge. This desire to decry what is useful is too sadly prevalent. It permeates the uneducated world, and sometimes exerts its detestable sway over the rank of those whose education is acknowledged, but whose better natures are known to be shrouded in jealousy or selfishness. Notwithstanding this prevailing antipathy to sound, healthy literature, there is sufficient intolligce existing to conterbalane the evil, and thus, from day to day, the work of letters extends isi -always enlightening and liberalizing thought. In this work much of that which was unwritten in the history of Michigan is brought to light; all that was written has been analyzed and collated, and every item of importance which should go to render history complete has found a place in these pages. The g l history of Michigan and the historical sketches of Marquette, Chippewa, Mackinac, Baraga and 8soolraft were collated, and the work, with the exception of the personal history, compiled by the editor. That imt depart given nder the head of biography must be considered the work of many men. The personal tes, taken by our biographical writers, were transcribed and mailed to the persons concerned, so that nothing should be -lttundone to insure the general accuracy of the work. The Bmilitary history of the State, together with a full record of officers and men furnished to the Federal GovernmesB during the war for the Union, are comprised in the general history, the statistics being only given in the historiof each county. The vole is entirely in advance of that which was promised by us in our prospectus, and forms undoubtedly a full history of the Upper Peninsula from the earliest times, together with a concise history of the State in general Michigan has been indeed treated very fairly in the introductory pages, while each civil division of her Northern Peni'sa `Ia s an historical sketch complete in itself. In compiling this work, the writings of the Jesuit explorers, militey reports, public documents, county records, historical pamphlets, the reports made by State Commissioners Morley and Wright and Prof. Winchell, sketches by S. P. Ely, Peter White, A. P. Swineford, Mr. Ingalls, Lieutenant Kelton and others have all been examined, compared, summarized and introduced, so that, in this respect, the local writers and their valuable contributions have found that acknowledgment which they deserve. Baraga County, though in its infancy as a civil division of the State, is old in its Indian, missionary and pioneer history. In compiling its history, the information at the disposal of pioneers, the county and State records, together with some legendary sketches, were requisitioned. Chippewa County possesses a history dating back to 1615. It cannot boast of that continuity, nor of the many stirring scenes-the many startling tragedies-which mark the history of Mackinac. Yet there remains enough to render it one of the most entertaining and instructive records which a county in the West may offer. The record books and files belonging to the county in its earlier years are said to have disappeared, so that the United States military reports, the garrison books, State and other records had to be consulted. To Col. Parke and Lieut. Drumm our acknowledgments are due for placing the United States military reports at our disposal. To the county officers we desire to tender our thsanks for their assistance in examining their record books. Mr. Wilkerson, who wrote the personal history of Chippewa Couny, devoted much attention to this important work, with the result of placing before the. people a sketch of each one onected with the county's settlement and progress. Delta County has been given an extended history. Like other divisions of the Upper Peninsula, it was visited at an early dae by the French; was well settled by the Indians, subsequently by fishermen, and lastly by the American pioeers. The history was prepared by Mr. Whitman, from papers furnished by the early settlers and notes taken by.ta~ar~ iv PREFACE. Florence County, Wis., is physically a portion of Menominee, though politically a county of the neighboring State. The history of this new county is introduced in this volume, first, because of its being so closely connected with the southwestern county of the Upper Peninsula, and, secondly, for the reason that its recent organization was not perfected in time to insure it a place in the volume devoted to Wisconsin. Houghton County, next to Marquette, is the best developed and perhaps the wealthiest in the Upper Peninsula. Its history is very complete. In its compilation, Dr. Kayner, who commenced work there, and C. W. Hobart, who completed the history, received the co-operation of the pioneers, the people and the press. The historical sketch, together with the personal history, has been written with much care. Isle Royale, with its fifty-five inhabitants, county organization, organized townships and mining pretensions, sounds strangely in our day. The very name is a barbarism, while the description must be considered a solecism. The island has many charms, such as lake-arms, archaeological features, romantic location, salubrity, etc., etc. Whatever advantages it may promise to the industrial world are purely prospective. The historical sketch of the island was prepared by Dr. D. P. Kayner, from notes byfMessrs. Hill and Wright, with additions by the editor. Keweenaw County, one of the first divisions of the Peninsula which raised itself above the waters of the ocean, was also one of the first divisions to be visited by the early French explorers. There Pere Mesnard made his temporary home, and from that county set out on that perilous journey which ended in his death. The history of the county - s ' was compiled by Dr. Kayner, subjected to revision subsequently, and, as we believe, made torical student can desire. - -; of the first divisions of Michigan organized, has in itself a most varied and entertaining.. —' Past, the story of its European settlement began, and even to-day, just after the dawn of:.. ing its modern history. In the compilation of these historical sketches, the instructive little work of Lieut. Kelton, together'with special reports obtained by him from the War Department, have aided most materially in bestowing upon history many facts, each one important and novel to the reader. Mr. Van Fleet's topographical pamphlet also furnished a few incidents, while the United States Reports, the Jesuit Relations and perhaps one hundred sketches of a historic character contributed to render the sketch of this county complete. The personal history of Mackinac County was compiled by Mr. Wilkerson, submitted to the persons concerned for revision, and prepared for the press with the greatest. care. The history of Marquette County, its cities, villages and townships has been treated very fully. Every event and person connected directly with this division of the State are noticed. Even the valuable papers of Samuel P. Ely and Peter White are introduced, and nothing that appeared worthy of the pages devoted to Marquette, omitted. The history of the mining industry of the county has been very fairly treated by Dr. Kayner, while its personal history, compiled by E. F. Brown, appears to be accurate in every particular. Owing to the manner in which the public records are kept, and to the genial courtesy of the County Clerk, Mr. Roland, the labor attendant on compiling the organic history of Marquette was rendered not only light, but also pleasant. Menominee County possesses an interesting pioneer history. The desolating war carried on between the Menominees, at the mouth of the river, and the Otchipwes, along its course, continued from the close of the Sixteenth Century to about the middle of the Nineteenth Century, when the United States Government urged the bellicose warriors to live in peace. The Centennial sketch prepared by E. S. Ingalls, together with notes of changes since 1876, deal very fairly with the county's history. Ontonagon County history was compiled by C. W. Hobart. It received from him much attention, and shows the result of careful research. The aid received from the county officials, from Capt. D. Beaser, Capt. J. G. Parker, J. W. Crozier and C. W. Butler, and the gentlemen in charge of the iMiner and Herald newspaper offices, is acknowledged by him. Schoolcraft County, with the exception of the settlements on its northern and southern borders, is new. The mining history of Marquette, Keweenaw, Houghton and Baraga Counties was compiled by Dr. D. P. Kayner, from the written accounts by Charles E. Wright, A. P. Swineford, Samuel W. Hill and others, aided by his own notes. In the work, he received the co-operation of the captains and agents of the various mines, the newspaper publishers and many old settlers, to all of whom he desires to convey his acknowledgments. The mining histories of Menominee and of the new border county-Florence-were prepared by Mr. Whitman; so also were the historical sketches of Ishpeming City and Michigamme Village prepared by him, while the mining history of Ontonagon was compiled from the latest reports of Mr. C. W. Wright. Having reviewed the varied chapters of this great record book, and become convinced of its general accuracy, we have much pleasure in placing this work of many men before the people, assured that their verdict will be favorable, even as that of the future will be substantial and permanent. WESTERN HISTORICAL CO. Montauk Block, Chicago. HISTORY OF THE UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. PAG GEOLOGIc AL CHARACTERISTCS.................................... Historical Geology............................................. Geological Conformations................................... Superficial Materials.......................................... Ancient Lake Sites............................................. Lakelets and Meadow Marshes............................. W ork of the Beaver........................................... Subterranean Channels....................................... Geology of the Copper Region............................. Geology of the Iron Region................................. Classification of Ores.......................................... Economical Geology............................................ Topography...................................................... Rivers............................................................... Droughts and Atmospheric Disturbances.............. Archaeology........................................................ Zoblogical-Birds............................................... Mammalia......................................................... Botany.............................................................. Vines............................................................... THE MOUND-BUILDERS.............................................. THE INDIANS........................................................... Names of Indian Tribes in the Northwest............ Whe Otchipwe Invasion..................................... The Miamis and Pottawatomies........................... The Reign of the Cholera.................................... The Legend of Osseo.......................................... The Legend of Lover's Leap................................ Manners and Customs......................................... Indian Aid to the British.................................... Indian Treaties...................................... Treaty of Greenville.......................................... Treaty of Detroit........................................ Treaty of Bro sownstown...................................... Treaty of Saginaw............................................. Treaty of Sault de Ste. Marie, 1820....................... Treaty of Fond du Lac....................................... The M urder of Americans................................... Treaty of 1833................................................... Treaty of W ashington, 1836............................... Treaty of Detroit, 1837....................................... Treaty of Saginaw, 1838..................................... Treaty of Detroit, 1855............................ EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLE ENT....................... Review of Early Explorations............................. The Recent Discoveries at St. Ignace.................... [E. 17 17 17 18 19 19 20 20 20 23 27 28 30 32 34 35 35 38 39 43 44 47 48 48 49 49 49 51 53 53 54 54 54 55 55 55 56 56 56 58 58 58 59 60 61 66 i Ii i i ii i Ii i i i I I PAGE. EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENT-Continued. La Salle and Hennepin....................................... Discovery of the Ohio....................................... English Explorations and Settlements.................. American Settlements......................................... British Evacuation of Michigan........................... Division of the Northwest Territory..................... The Moravians................................................... Beginning of Settlement.................................... The French Pioneers.......................................... Relations with the Indians................................ Voyageurs......................................................... Land Titles and Farms...................................... Old Land Claims...................................... Newspapers.................................................... 68 71 72 82 83 1 84 85 87 88 89 89 90 90 92 MILITARY HISTORY................................................... 94 The French and Indian War of 1855.................... 94 Pontiac's Siege of Detroit.............. 96 Expeditions of Harmar, Scott and Wilkinson........ 97 Expeditions of St. Clair and Wayne..................... 98 Gen. Wayne's Great Victory............................ 98 Revolutionary War............................................. 99 Hull's Surrender................................................ 100 Perry's Victory.................................................. 101 Close of the War................................................ 102 The Tecumseh War............................................ 102 Massacre at Fort Dearborn................................... 104 The Black Hawk War......................................... 106 The Toledo War............................................... 106 The Patriot War................................................ 110 The Mexican War............................................... 110 The War for the Union....................................... 110 Military Statistics of the Upper Peninsula, 1861-65. 111 Record of Commissioned Officers......................... 115 Regimental Sketches.......................................... 117 Michigan Cavalry Regiments.............................. 123 Michigan Artillery............................................ 126 Conclusion bf Military History........................... 126 COPPER MINING...................................................... 128 Earliest History of the Copper Region.................. 129 Early English Account....................................... 131 Modern Copper Mining Operations....................... 132 Incidents........................................................... 134 EARLY NAVIGATION OF LAKE SUPERIOR..................... 136 Aids to Navigation.............................. 137 PAQX. POLITICAL AND ORGANIC HISTORY............................. 138 State Officers...................................................... 147 How Michigan was Admitted........................... 149 Delegates to the Constitutional Convention........... 149 Representatives in Territorial Legislature............ 149 Representatives in State Legislature..................... 149 State Senators.................................................... 150 Political Statistics............................................... 150 Organic History................................................. 151 THE GREAT INDUSTRIES....................................... 155 Lumber........................................................... 155 Salt.................................................................. 157 Copper.......................................................... 158 Iron.......................................................... 160 Other Mineral Resources.................................... 161 Fisheries........................................................... 162 The Vessel Interest............................................. 163 Sheep and Wool................................................. 164 Michigan Crop Reports, 1882................................ 164 Review............................................................. 166 RAILROAD SYSTEM OF MICHIGAN................................. 167 General Features of the Michigan Railway System.............................. 172 Waterways to the Seaboard............................ 173 RELIGIOUS HISTORY.................................................. 175 Stations Without Churches................................ 175 Literary, Religious and Charitable Institutions..... 176 Statistics of the Diocese...................................... 176 Protestant Missions............................................ 176 Mission of American Board, C. F. M..................... 178 Mormonism and Royalty.................................... 178 STATITICS................................................................ 180 The Realized Wealth of the State........................ 180 Population....................................................... 183 MISCELLANEOUS....................................................... 18 Mineral Land Titles.......................................... 185 United States Survey of the Upper Peninsula........ 185 Invention of the Solar Compass........................... 185 United States, State and Other Lands.................... 187 Conclusion of the General History...................... 191 BARAGA COUNTY................................................... 192 Organic History................................................. 193 County Court House.................................... 194 The Methodist Mission................................... 194 The Press-Schools-Statistics........................... 196 Marketable Lands-L'Anse........................... 197 Biographical Sketches.................................. 198 Baraga.............................................................. 201 Biographical Sketches........................................ 201 Other Villages......................................... 202 Mines and Miners of Baraga County.................... 202 New Mines.................................................... 203 CHIPPEWA COUNTY................................................... 205 Physical Characteristics...................................... 205 Early History................................................... 206 Grants to the Indians.......................................... 208 Early Navigators of the Upper Lakes................. 209 Organization of the County............................... 209 Organic Acts..................................................... 210 Statistics........................................................... 210 Incorporated Religious Societies.......................... 210 Agricultural Society-The Press.......................... 211 Fort Brady............................................... 211 Early White Settlers.......................................... 212 Sault de Ste. Marie Canal.................................... 213 The Territorial Road...................................... 218 Sault de Ste. Marie............................................. 218 Organization of the Village................................ 220 COUNTY HISTORIES. CHIPPEWA COUNTY-Continued. Reminiscences-Schools-Religious History......... 220 Reminiscences of Rev. Abel Bingham.................. 222 Secret Societies................................................ 225 Hotels-Biographical Sketches........................... 226 Settlements of the County................................... 227 DELTA COUNTY......................................................... 230 Topography-Pre-historic.................................... 230 Early Explorations........................................... 231 Organic History................................................. 232 Escanaba........................................................... 232 Chicago & North-Western Railway....................... 236 Ore Docks......................................................... 236 Fishing Interests............................................ 238 The Press —Schools............................................. 239 Fire Department —Church History..................... 240 Societies............................................................ 241 Biographical Sketches......... I............. 242 Settlement of the County.................................. 247 HOUGHTON COUNTY................................................... 250 Topographical and Physical............................... 250 Organization of the County................................ 250 Township Organizations..................................... 251 Acreage, Value and Revenue of the County........... 252 County Institutions-Population......................... 252 Military Statistics.................................... 253 Road and Waterways....................................... 253 HOUGHaTON CoUNTY-Continued. Land Companies.-Agricultural Interests.............. 288 Calamitous Events......................................... 255 Mines and Miners......................................... 256 Houghton........................................................ 272 Religious Institutions-The Press........................ 273 Benevolent Societies-Lyceum........................... 274 Post Office-Hotels...................................... 274 Historical Society and Mining Institute............... 274 Commercial Interests........................................ 275 Manufacturing Enterprises................................. 275 Biographical Sketches..................................... 276 Hancock........................................................... 286 Post Office —Fire Department.............................. 288 Productive Industries i.................................. 288 Commercial and Educational Interests................. 289 Religious Institutions........................................ 289 Benevolent Societies........................................ 290 Literary Societies-Hotels................................. 291 The Press-Biographical Sketches........................ 291 Calumet................................................ 299 Biographical Sketches......................................... 302 Red Jacket......................................... 305 Hotels........................................................... 307 Biographical Sketches....................................... 308 Schoolcraft Township......................................... 311 Biographical Sketches..................................... 311 Lake Linden...................................... 311 Biographical Sketches............................. 313 vi VI CONTENTS. PAGE. Hamlets of the County...................................... 316 Franklin Township-Biographical Sketches.......... 36 Quincy Township-Biographical Sketches............. 318 Adams Township-Biographical Sketches............. 319 Osceola-Biographical Sketches........................... 320 ISLE ROYALE COUNTY...................................... 321 Organic History................................................. 322 KEWEENAW COUNTY.............................................. 323 Courts- Statistical..................................... 323 Mines and Miners.............................. 324 Religious.......................................... 335 M edical.................................................... 336 Copper Harbor.................................. 36 Biographical Sketches............................. 37 Eagle Harbor............................... 337 Biographical Sketches.................................. 338 Eagle River........................................... 339 Biographical Sketches............................ 340 Delaware.......................................... 341 Biographical Sketches.............................. 341 Copper Falls.................................... 342 Biographical Sketches..................................... 342 Central............................................ 343 Biographical Sketches................................. 343 Phoenix-Biographical Sketches........................... 344 Allonez................................... 344 Biographical Sketches............................. 345 Agate Harbor-Ahmuk Mine-Biography............ 345 M ACKINAC COUNTY............................*............* 346 Phenom ena.............................................. 346 The County Seat...................................... 347 The New Court House................................ 347 Mackinac Circuit Court in 1881.......................... 348 Population in 1880-The Press........................... 348 M ackinac Island.................................... 349 Indian History................................ 3.:349 Joliet at Michilimackinac.............................. 351 La Salle, Hennepin and De Tonty...............3...... 351 Charlevoix at Michilimackinac............................. 352 The John Jacob Astor Book.......................... 353 The Mission House................................ 353 The National Park............................ 354 Fort M ackinac................................ 354 War of 1812-Muster Roll, 1812.......................... 361 The Island Cemetery............................ 362 Mackinac Village.......................... 362 Religious Societies.................................. 363 Indian Agents................................................ 364 Biographical Sketches........................... 365 St. Ignace...................................... 366 Early Settlers-Organization........................... 369 Questions of Title.......................................... 3 The Catholic Church of Mackinac and St. Ignace.. 369 R eligious.................................................... 372 Schools...................................... 373 Other Centers of Settlement........................... 374 Biographical Sketches.............................. 375 M ackinac City.................................... 377 Biographical Sketches.............................. 378 MARQUETTE COUNTY............................... 379 Discovery of the Iron Mines in 1844..................... 380 An Historical Law Suit............................... 381 Physical Characteristics............................. 382 PAGE. MARQUETTE COUNTY-Continued. Reminiscences of Early Settlement....................... 382 Organic-First Election....................................... 386 Official Roster................................................ 386 Transactions of Supervisors' Board....................... 387 Official Roster Supervisors................................... 387 War for the Union..................................... 388 Public Schools of the County.............................. 389 Courts-Marquette County Bar........................... 390 County Poor Farm........................................ 390 Wages in the Upper Peninsula in 1882................. 391 Mines and Miners......................................... 391 Marquette City.............................................. 411 Historical Relations............................................ 414 Reproductive Works-Schools............................... 418 R eligious.......................................................... 419 Societies-Public Works.................................... 422 Illustrious Dead.................................................. 423 Laying Out the Village-Organization.................. 424 Mayors, Recorders and Supervisors....................... 425 Fire Department-Gas Works-First School......... 425 Water Works-Founding the City Library............ 425 The Press-Old and New Furnaces...................... 426 Biographical Sketches........................................ 427 Ishpem ing....................................................... 436 Early History...................................... 437 City Officials................................................. 440 Fire Department-Societies................................. 441 The Press-Churches.................................... 442 Biographical Sketches........................................ 444 Negaunee....................................... 452 The Press.......................................... 453 Mill- Schools-Societies-Religious.................. 454 Negaunee Concentrating Works........................... 455 Biographical Sketches........................................ 456 Michigamme....................................................... 464 Biogrplhical Sketches...................................... 465 Republic..................................................... 466 Biographical Sketches........................................ 467 Champion........................................ 470 Biographical Sketches................................ 470 Hnmboldt....................................................... 471 Biographical Sketches.......................................... 471 Other Vilhiges......................................4...... 471 Biographical Sketc s................................... 472 MENOMINEE COUNTY................................................ 473 Indian Sketches........................................ 476 County Organization....................................... 477 Schools................................................ 480 Population...................................................... 481 War Record....................................................... 481 The Mills of the Menominee.............................. 481 The Great Woods Fire....................................... 485 Mines...................................... 486 Biographical Sketch............................................ 491 Meno inee........................................................ 491 Old Settlers................................................ 492 Newspapers........................................................ 492 Religious.................................... 492 Benevolent Societies............................... 493 Fire Department.................................. 494 Banks.......................................... 494 Menomiiee River Manufacturing Company.......... 494 Menominee Iron Company.............................. 494 Peninsula Iron and Lumber Company................. 494 i Railroads............................................ 495 MENOMINEE COUNTY-Continued. PAGe. Steamboats.................................................... 495 Farms.................................................... 496 Quinnesec......................................................... 497 Biographical Sketches........................................ 497 Norway..................................... 498 Biographical Sketches......................................... 498 Hermansville..................................................... 499 Iron Mountain.................................................. 499 Biographical Sketches......................................... 499 FLORENCE COUNTY, Wis................................ 501 Organic History................................................ 501 Historical Sketches............................... 501 Mines....................................................... 501 Florence............................................................ 502 Biographical Sketches.......................... 503 Commonwealth............................... 505 Biographical Sketches.......................... 506 Marinette-Biographical Sketch.......................... 507 ONTONAGON COUNTY............................................ 508 Topographical and Physical................................. 508 The Red Man................................... 509 Pioneers and their Careers................................ 510 The Copper Manitou.............................. 511 First United States Land Entries.......................... 513 County Organization................................... 513 County Institutions......................................... 514 Political Record................................................ 514 Financial Review.................................... 515 Road and Waterways........................................... 515 Agricultural Interests..................................... 516 The Press................................................ 517 War Record................... 517 Human Fatalities.............................................. 517 Mines and Miners........................................... 519 Other M ines.................................................. 526 Silver M ines...................................................... 532 Kasoite....................................................... 534 Township Organization................... 534 Ontonagon........................................................ 534 Religious Societies............................................. 535 Benevolent Societies........................................... 536 Hotels................................................. 536 Fire Department................................................ 536 The Harbor..................................... 537 Commercial Statistics.................................... 537 Lumber Interests............................................ 537 Military Organization........................ 537 Musical........................................................ 538 Smelting Works..-............................538 Distinguished Visitors........................................ 538 Biographical Sketches.................................... 538 Rockland Township............................................ 543 Biographical Sketches............................... 545 Greenland Township...................................... 546 Biographical Sketches........................................ 546 Carp Lake Township........................... 546 SCHOOLCRAFT COUNTY............................................ 547 Organic.............547i........................... 547 Grand Island................................. 548 The Pictured Rocks................................. 548 Prospects of the County................................. 548 Conclusion............5............................... 549 i HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. / / I GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS. HISTORICAL GEOLOGY. T-HE Lower Peninsula occupies the central part of a great synclinal basin, toward which the strata dip from all directions, and which is bounded on all sides by anticlinal swells and ridges. The limits of this basin exceed those of the peninsula, extending to London, Ont., Madison, Wis., Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie. The whole series of strata may therefore be compared to a nest of dishes, the lower and exterior ones representing the older strata. The Upper Peninsula is divided by the Marquette ---Wisconsin anticlinal into two geological areas, the eastern belonging to the great basin above alluded to, and the western being lacustrine in its character, and largAly covered by Lake Superior. The southern rim of the latter is seen uplifted along Keweenaw Point and the south shore of the lake, and these strata re-appear at Isle Royale. Between the Michigan and lacustrine basins, the metalliferous Marquette-Wisconsin axis interposes a separating belt of about fifty miles. The Paleozoic great system of this State measures about 2,680 feet in thickness, of which the Silurian division is 920 feet, the Devonian 1,040 feet, and the Carboniferous 720 feet. The coal-bearing group occupies the central portion of the Peninsula, extending from Jackson to Township 20 north, and from Range 8 east to 10 west. Of iron, hematite and magnetic, immense lenticular masses of unsurpassed purity abound in the Huronian rocks of the Upper Peninsula. The former of these, under the action of water, becomes soft, and is called limonite, and is abundant throughout the State as an earthy ore or ochre, bog ore, shot ore, yellow ochre, etc. Sometimes it is deposited in stalactitic, mammillary, botryoidal and vel vety forms of great beauty. Kidney ore abounds in the Huron clays, and " black band " in the coal measures. Copper, native, in the " trap" of Lake Superior, abounds in the form of sheets, strings and masses. Gold, silver and lead are also found in unimportant quantities in the Lake Superior region. Salt abounds in the Saginaw region in the vicinity of Grand Rapids; building stone throughout the State, manganese, and many other valuable earths, ores and varieties of stone, in many places. GEOLOGICAL CONFORMATIONS. In tracing the geological history of the peninsula, it will be only necessary to revert to the era when the accumulated sediments of the ocean were being formed into masses of rock. Geology teaches that the continents of the world were once beneath the ocean, even as Scripture implies that a sea of mud, resembling in substance a South African river, was arranged by an Almighty hand, and the liquid separated from the solids contained therein. The inequalities in the ocean bed, corresponding with the hills and valleys of our land, point out the truths of geological science. The recent deep-sea soundings reveal mountains and hills, valleys and table-lands. The greatest depth reached was over twenty-nine thousand feet, which exceeds the height of the loftiest peak of the Himalayas. Some of the mountains springing from the bed of the ocean ore steeper and more abrupt than any on the face of the earth. In the Irish Sea and the British Channel, the depth changes; within a radius of ten miles, from 600 to 12,000 feet; and it is very common, within a few miles of our coasts and islands, for the depth of the waters to change suddenly from a few hundred to many thousand feet. In other cases, as in the bed of the Atlantic between Spain and the United 18 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. States, there are plateaux extending hundreds of miles, with very slight undulations. The mysterious race that once occupied this continent may have sailed in galleons over this peninsula of Michigan, and sounded the depth of the waters which rose above it, in precisely the same manner as the mariners of our day cast the sounding line into our great lakes and the oceans. It may be concluded that the State which we inhabit was totally submerged at the beginning of the Carboniferous period. At the close of that epoch, a great upheaval of sea bottom formed a line of solid earth across the southern counties of Michigan, which extended to an older and wider formation in Southern Ohio. The land comprised in the southern part of the Upper Peninsula continued submerged for ages; but by degrees the southern belt rose higher, spread out toward the northern continent, and actually approached the condition of dry land at the beginning of the coal-deposit era. At this time, Lakes Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie were not in existence, the'r centers forming the channel of a great river, with expansions at intervals. This torrent swept over this district of Michigan. The great geological age —the Mesozoic-dates from this time. It was marked by activity in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, by mild climates, and myriads of reptiles, which swarmed in rivers and over lands. The Tertiary period succeeded the Mesozoic. It was the age of beautiful climates and high development of mammals. Animals greater than the mastodon roamed over the land, through magnificent forests, meeting their enemy-man-and ultimately falling beneath his repeated attacks. The glaciers came to destroy all this gigantic beauty; the snow and ice came on, burying all nature in their whiteness, and robbing the land itself of life. It was the beginning of the Glacial period, the duration of which is lost in mystery. Were it possible to ignore the existence of a Divine Architect, and His action in forming the earth we inhabit, the continuance of the Ice age might be set down at 2,000 years. There is no intention, however,to ignore the Omnipotent, and, therefore, what bears the impress of being the work of 2,000 years might have been compassed in a moment. Springtime came, and, under the influence of its season, the sea of ice which covered land and water to a depth of 5,000 feet began to break up, to dissolve, when the solids held within its grasp fell down and formed a bed of rocky fragments or bowlder drift. This rocky conformation must not be confounded with the partial drift of after years, evidences of which are given in many sections of this peninsula. SUPERFICIAL MATERIALS. Abundant evidences are furnished along the shores of St. Clair Lake and River, as well as those of Lake Huron aud Lake Superior, of the unbroken continuity of the action of those physical forces which have as sorted and transported the materials of the Drift. From the shingle beach formed by the violence of the last gale, we trace a series of beaches and terraces, gradually rising as we recede from the shore, and becoming more and more covered with the lichens and mold and forest growths which denote antiquity, until in some cases the phenomena of shore action blend with the features which characterize the Glacial Drift. These observations tally with the views of Pictet on the continuity of the Diluvian and modern epochs, as established by palmeontological evidences. So also may we behold evidences of the disintegration of strata, which formerly existed in this very country-we may see every day the comminuted materials lying around us in all directions. The uses of these cobbles are known wherever a pavement is necessary; while on the land they keep it warm, as it were, and aid in the growth of grain crops. These remnants of comminution are principally rounded fragments of syenite, greenstone, vitreous and jasperous sandstones, hornrock, talcose, and of the serpentinous rocks of the Azoic series. Here are the rocks overspread with blue clay, plutonic bowlders and pebbles. In other places, those rude materials are often arranged in rude courses, which have a curved dip, and appear outcropping on the hillsides, and sometimes upon the plains. The outcrop is very irregular in this district. In the deep borings for brine, or iron, as well as in the shallow surface water-reservoirs, these bowlders and pebbles have been found. Again, entire fields bear them upon the surface, or so near the surface that each successive plowing brings them more prominently into view. In some places, a field is found bearing nine and twelve cobble-stones on every square foot of its surface. Such fields are generally very productive, the only fault being in the difficulty of plowing them. There is a thin series of argillaceous magnesian limestones and marls, embracing beds and masses of gypsum, and, in some regions, strata of rock salt is known as the Salina. It is the lowest stratified rock known in the Peninsula. Its belt of outcrop stretches across the point of land north of Mackinac, from Little Point du Chene to the vicinity of the mouth of Carp River, and close to the shore from that point to West Moran Bay. The formation, with the characteristic gypsum, is seen beneath the water surface at the Little St. Martin Island, and at Goose Island, near Mackinac. Dipping beneath the Lower Peninsula, it re-appears in Monroe County, where it has been exposed in some of the deepest quarries. In the well-borings at Mt. Clemens, as well as at Alpena and Caseville, this formation has been reached, and near Sandusky, Ohio, it affords valuable gypsum deposits. At Mt. Clemens, the salt rock was not reached, though at Alpena and Caseville a thick bed of such rock was penetrated, doubtless similar, or rather equivalent to, the beds at Goderich, in Canada. The total thickness of this formation is a matter of speculation, but is supposed to be fifty or sixty feet in depth above the salt rock. This stratification, based on in HISTORY OF THE PEN formation obtained from the measurement of remote outcrops of the group, may be placed as follows: Calcareous clay, as seen at Bois Blanc. Fine ash-colored limestone, with acicular crystals, as at Ida, Otter Greek and Plum Creek Quarries, and at Mackinac, Round and Bois Blanc Islands. Variegated gypseous marls, with imbedded masses of gypsum, as at Little Point du Chene and the St. Martin Islands. A group of argillaceous and magnesian limestones out crop along the western shore of Lake Erie, and exist beneath the surface of the counties bordering on the Lake and River St. Clair. They consist of an argillaceous, chocolatecolored magnesian limestone, in regular layers, each layer from four to eight inches thick. This conformation seems to correspond with the water-lime formation of New York. The formation known as corniferous limestone is very general in masses of horn-stone. The dark color of the rock is imparted by the presence of bituminous matter, which often shows itself in the thin partings between the strata. Petroleum saturates the formation, and, as the bitumen colors the rock, so does the petroleum bestow on it its peculiar odor, often oozing from the crevices and showi ng itself on the streams in the vicinity. The black shale at the bottom of the argillaceous strata known as the Huron group is about twenty feet thick, sometimes laminated and fissile. We also find here a species of shales more arenaceous than the black shale, which, to use the language of geology, terminates in a series of laminated, argillaceous, micaceous, friable sandstone, which pass into the Waverly group. ANCIENT LAKE SITES. Almost the entire country may be considered an ancient lake site; yet, in a reference here, the writer wishes to deal with the ponds of the country, which, long years after the Champlain epoch, were large sheets of water. As many existing ponds have obviously been contracted from their ancient limits, so a little reflection makes it obvious that many lakes, once existing here, have become quite extinct through the completion of the process of filling up. It is probable that every marsh in the State marks the site of an ancient lake. Level as the surface of the water, which determined their limits and depth, not a few of them retain, at some point, vestiges of the lakes which they have displaced; and others exhibit all transitions from a reeking and quaking bog to an alluvial meadow; while in nearly all cases, ditching discloses the peaty, marly and clayey materials, in the order in which, under lake action, they are accumulating before our eyes along actual lake borders. The absence of any marked general inclination of the surface in the peninsula has made it the seat of an extraordinary number of small lakes, ancient and modern, and hence, also, a region of small local marshes. Some of these may be found on almost every section of land; but the majority of them form meadow lands, or even tillable fields, and constitute the choicest patches in the INSULA OF MICHIGAN. 19 farmers' possession. Many of these ancient lake sites, nevertheless, remain for the present nothing but swamps, and demand resolute ditching for their thorough reclamation. LAKELETS AND MEADOW MARSHES. The lakelets of the peninsula in general are surrounded by gravelly, elevated shores on two or three sides, with frequently a low, marshy border fringing the remainder of the contour. As the streams which feed them are clear, the water of the lakes is limpid and healthful, though of the character known as hard. They furnish, therefore, charming places of summer resort. The same species of fish and mollusks inhabit the different lakelets of the peninsula, however disconnected. This fact presents an interesting and difficult problem to the investigator of the origin of species. The most natural inference is that, at a former period, a general system of water communication existed among the various bodies of water in this part of the peninsula, and at this time one fauna extended through all its limits. A similar problem, but of a larger magnitude, is presented by the similar faunas inhabiting different rivers and lake systems, and especially when the different systems discharge into the sea at different points, and their higher sources, as well as their valleys of discharge, are separated by elevations too great to admit the hypothesis of a general freshwater inundation in former times. It requires but casual observation to become convinced that nearly all of these lakelets have formerly been of a larger size. The shore upon one or more sides is frequently low and sedgy, and stretches back over an expanse of marsh and alluvial land to a sloping, gravelly bank, which appears to have been the ancient contour of the lake or river expansion. The low land between the ancient shore and the modern is composed of a bed of peat, generally underlaid by a bed of marl. Beneath the marl may be found, in many cases, a deposit of blue, plastic clay, which forms a transition to the layer of modified drift before described. Each of these deposits may have a thickness of a few inches or more, up to ten or twenty feet. That all these formations have been laid down from the flooded or Champlain period is evident; first, from their superposition on the modified drift; second, from the fact that the lake is performing, in our own times, the same work as we see completed in the low-border marsh; third, from the gradual extension of many lake-border marshes, and the corresponding diminution of the areas of the lakes. The calcareous character of the water of these lakelets makes them a fitting abode for numerous species of limesecreting mollusks. These animals eliminate the lime from the water and build it into the structure of their shells. Finally, the mollusk dies, and its shell falls to the bottom, where it undergoes disintegration into a white powder, or becomes buried in the progressing accumulation of such material.. Another portion of the marly deposit forming in the bed of the lakes is probably derived from calcareous precipitation directly from the lake water. Thus a bed of 20 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHI(GAN. marl is forming over the whole bottom of the lake, in situations sufficiently protected and shallow to serve as the abode of shell-making animals. But on the leeward side, the immediate shore is the seat of a layer of peat. Bulrushes lift their heads through the water one or two feet deep. A little nearer the shore, flags may be seen, and still nearer, scouring rushes. On the immediate border of the land, willows and water-loving sedges hold a place, while farther back, other sedges and grasses take possession in varying proportions. This is the lee side of the lakes. Floating leaves, twigs, stems, therefore, find their way among the lakeside growths, and, becoming entangled, sink and fall into gradual decay. More than this, each autumn's crop of dead vegetation, produced round the borders of these lakes, contributes to the accumulation of vegetable material, which gradually changes into the condition of humus and peat. This is a work begun at the surface of the water. When this substance sinks, it overlies what the lake had hitherto accumulated. When the peat layer is first begun, the previous accumulation is marl, and hence the wellknown order of superposition of these two deposits. The peat bed grows lakeward as the continued formation of marl shallows the water. In the course of time, the actual seat of operations becomes removed far from the ancient shore, and a broad marsh comes into existence, with peat everywhere at the surface and marl beneath. WORK OF THE BEAVER. It cannot but be acknowledged that the beavers have taken an important part in the formation of the lands of the peninsula; everywhere evidences of their industry remain. The largest beaver work in the Upper Peninsula is that about one hundred miles west of Marquette. This, as seen by P. M. Everett in 1845, appeared an extraordinary work. The Indians had their traps so arranged that they could catch one or more of the animals as they wished, and, being almost certain of a beaver harvest there, made the place the object of occasional visits. SUBTERRANEAN CHANNELS. In consequence of the changes to which the various strata of the Peninsula have been subjected, the waters have carved for themselves, even within our own time, a passage through it, and find their way to the lower lakes through subterraneous rivulets, causing the diminution, and sometimes the total disappearance, of ponds and creeks. This, doubtless, is to-day operating against our rivers, and accounts for the visible reduction of the volume of water, compared with that which marked them in Territorial days. This diminution is partly attributed to the increased evaporation consequent upon the removal of the forests. GEOLOGY OF THE COPPER REGION. The principal rocky formations of the copper regions consist of two distinct and widely different formations, both in origin and sitructure —the igneous aud aqueous. The igneous rocks are such as are denominated by the miners under the common term of " trap," embracing greenstone, granular and amygdaloidal trap. basalt, etc. These rocks appear to have been generated within the bowels of the earth by the action of fire, and, in some cases, to have been protruded in vast, irregular masses, forming conical or dome-shaped mountains; at other times, in continuous lines of elevation; while in others they appear to have flowed like lava currents in sheets over the sands then in progress of accumulation. The mineral substances which compose these ancient lavas are very various in their nature, but in general it may be said that the predominating rock is one composed of an intricate mixture of labradorite, hornblende and chlorite, though the latter is not an invariable accompaniment. To the second class, or aqueous formation, may be referred the sandstones, shales and limestones of this district. They occur in stratified beds, divided into layers, strata and laminie. The materials appear to have been transported by currents and deposited on the floor of the ocean, where they subsequently became consolidated. In addition to these, there is another class of rocks, which have undoubtedly resulted from the joint operation of igneous and aqueous causes. The materials appear originally to have been ejected through rents and fissures in the crust of the earth to the surface, where they were subsequently transported and ground up by currents, and deposited in stratified beds. This class of rocks is termed by M. Prevost, in his dictionary, pluro-neptunean, and to this division may be referred the conglomerates and chlorite beds associated with the trap. The metamorphic rocks, or those which were supposed to have been originally deposited by water, and afterward changed, by the action of heat, to a resemblance of the ignos rocks, and which form an interesting feature of the (ron rgion, have here but a limited extent. e trappean rocks are in general made up of an intimate mixture ol labradorite and hornblende, forming a dark-colored, homogeneous mass, in which the separate minerals cannot be detected by the eye. Chlorite, though not an invariable accompaniment, is often present in a considerable quantity. Magnetic oxide of iron is also a very common ingredient. The variable proportion and nature of the mineral ingredients give rise to a great diversity in the external characters of the mass, which diversity is still further increased by the different circumstances under which different portions of a rock identical in mineral character may have passed from the fluid to the solid state. The same rock may be found in every shape of transition, from the most compact and homogeneous structure to a light porous mass, filled with cavities or amygdaloids, which have often, posterior to the cooling of the rock, been filled with various mineral substances. This igneous trappean rock is named according to its structure. When vesicular, it is called amygdaloid, crystalline or homogeneous; the hornblende predominat HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 21 ing, it is called greenstone; when columnar or jointed, as on Isle Royale, it is called basalt. If the homogeneous base contains distinct crystals of feldspar disseminated, it becomes a true porphyry; and the largely crystalline and feldspathic varieties are known as syenitic. These and many other varieties occur abundantly throughout the district, in belts imposed upon one another. Range and Extent.-Commencing at the head of Keweenaw Point, we find the trappean rocks, with the associated conglomerates, emerging to the surface in bold, stair-like cliffs, affording many scenes of wild and picturesque beauty. This peculiar physiognomy is characteristic of the whole trap region. Humboldt long ago remarked that each zone had its peculiar types of animal and vegetable life, but that the inorganic crust of the globe showed itself independent of climatic influences. Everywhere, basalt rises in twin mountains and truncated cones; everywhere, porphyritic trap appears in grotesquely arranged masses, and granite in rounded summits. The outer belt of trap, occupying the extreme northern portion of Keweenaw Point, is less than a mile in width, and preserves a great degree of uniformity throughout its entire course. It forms a segment of a circle, of which the Bohemian Mountains may be regarded as the center. Remnants of the igneous rocks are to be seen in patches on the southern points of Manitou Island which have thus far withstood the action of the waves. From the extremity of Keweenaw Point, it extends westerly for about eighteen miles in a curvilinear direction, and passes into the lake at the easterly point of Sand Bay. Throughout most of this distance it is protected from the action of the surf by a thick belt of conglomerate, but at several points the water has broken through the sea-wall, and excavated spacious harbors in the igneous belt. Copper, Agate, Grand Marais and Eagle Harbors are included in this belt, and owe their origin to a common cause. The belt is composed of the varieties of igneous rock known as amygdaloid and brown granular trap. The amygdaloid is the best developed in the upper portion of the belt, where it comes in contact with the conglomerate, presenting a dark, scoriaceous mass, full of vesicles somewhat compressed, and bearing a close resemblance to certain modern volcanic products. These vesicles are, for the most part, filled with carbonate of lime, chlorite, agates, carnelians and amethysts, and minerals of the ze..lite family. As we penetrate deeper into the belt, the vesicular structure disappears, and the rock passes into a dark brown granular trap, consisting of an intimate union of hornblende and labradorite. This belt is traversed by veins containing copper and silver, but mining on them has hitherto proved unprofitable. A vein was worked at Eagle Harbor, which, for awhile, yielded a large per cent of copper, and some six thousand pounds were taken out in a short time, but as the miners sank deeper, the copper disappeared. At the depth of ninety feet, the vein, which was two feet wide at the surface, and rich in mineral, filled in with lanmonite and native copper, had pinched in to,three inches of barren rock. Several other veins in this northern range were explored by the company with no better results. At Hawes Island, near Agate Harbor, a vein was opened by the Cypress River Company, which yielded rich specimens of copper and silver, but in the downward progress they disappeared. About a mile south of this trap belt, and separated from it by a deposit of conglomerate and coarse sandstone, which in places expands to a thickness of m( re than three thousand feet, occurs the northern trap range of Keweenaw Point. These two belts, in their westerly prolongation, preserve a remarkable parallelism. This range does not appear to have been the result of one, but of successive overflows; for we not only find the igneous materials arranged in parallel bands, and exhibiting great diversity in external characters, but we also find numerous intercalations of conglomerate of inconsiderable thickness, but extending for miles in a linear directionthese mixed products being associated in regular beds, having a common bearing and inclination, so that the inexperienced observer is inclined to refer the whole to a common origin. The deception is still further increased by observing lines of pseudo-stratification in the trap, conforming to those of the associated sedimentary rocks. This range starts from the head of Keweenaw Point, below Manitou Island, and, sweeping round in a crescent form, nearly conforming to the trend of the coast, crosses the western arm t(f Portage Lake, where it seems to lose its distinctive character. Toward the valley of the Little Montreal River, it crops out in bare precipitous cliffs; but the northwest slope is gentle, the rock rarely emerging to the surface. The height of this range varies from 467 feet to over eight hundred feet above the level of Lake Superior. Between the Albion Mines and Portage Lake, the hills for the most part present a rounded outline, and the underlying rocks are covered ov r with an accumulation of water-worn materials. Interstratified with this belt, throughout its entire range, we observe numerous lenticular masses of conglomerate, which appear to affect the courses of veins, as well as their productiveness. Southern Trap Range.-Returning to the head o' Keweenaw Point, we find another range of trap, forming the southern boundary of the Little Montreal River, and stretching westerly in a line nearly parallel with the northern chain. This is known as the Bohemian Range, and differs from the northern both in lithological character and in the mode of its occurrence. While the former, as described, is composed of numerous beds of trap, in the main of the amygdaloidal and granular varieties, interstratified with the detrital rocks, the southern range consists of a vast crystalline mass, forming an anticlinal axis, flanked 22 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. on the north by the bedded trap and conglomerate, and on the south by the conglomerate and sandstone. The contour of the imbedded trap is also very different from that of the bedded trap. The stair-like structure is nowhere recognized in the hills; they are either domeshaped or rounded. The protrusion of so vast a mass of heated matter has changed, in a marked degree, the associated sedimentary rocks, causing them to resemble igneous products; changing sandstone to a resemblance of jasper. At Mt. Houghton, it rises to a height of 884 feet, and near Lac la Belle, it attains the height of 864 feet. In close proximity to this southern range, rich veins of copper glance have been found, particularly in the region of Lac la Belle. Stratified and Sedimentary Rocks.-These may be comprised under the three divisions-conglomerate, inferior sandstone (Potsdam), an I compact, or Lower Magnesian limestone. The conglomerate of Keweenaw Point and Isle Royale consists of rounded pebbles of trap, almost invariably of the variety known as amygdaloid, derived probably from the contemporaneous lavas and rounded fragments of jaspery rock, which may have been a metamorphosed sandstone, the whole cemented by a dark red iron sand. This cement may be regarded as a mixture of volcanic ash and arenaceous particles, the latter having been derived from the sandstone then in the progress of accumulation. It is not unusual to meet with strata composed entirely of arenaceous particles associated with the conglomerate beds; and where these expand to a considerable thickness, the associated sandstone appears in alternating bands of white and red, and exhibits few traces of metamorphism; but where the belts of sedimentary rock are thin, and come in contact with the trappean rocks, the sandstone is converted into a jaspery rock, traversed by divisional planes and breaking with a conchoidal fracture. The trappean pebbles often attain a magnitude of eighteen inches in diameter. Their surfaces do not present that smooth, polished appearance which results from the attrition of water; in fact, a close observer can readily distinguish between those which have been recently detached from the rock and those which have been for a time exposed to the recent action of the surf. There are various conjectures in regard to the manner in which the pebbles found in the conglomerate rocks became rounded into their present globular form. Messrs. Foster and Whitney think the rocks were formed too rapidly to permit them to be rounded by the action of the waves. They adopt the theory of Von Buch, that they were rounded by the friction of the upheaved basaltic rock grinding them against the walls of the fissure. The theory is also advanced that these pebbles, having a highly vesicular structure, may have been ejected through the fissures in the form of scoria, while in a plastic state, and have received their rounded shape from having been projected through the water. On the same principle, however, as melted lead, when dropped from an elevation, assumes a globular form, it seems to us more probable that the mass was ejected to a great height in a liquid form, and, scattering into smaller masses, became rounded on falling back through the atmosphere, at which point they were dropped, with great velocity, into the ocean, where they became impacted in the soft deposit of volcanic ashes and arenaceous particles into which they had fallen, and with which they became cemented to form the conglomerate rock. The extent of the united thickness of these conglomerate bands in the vicinity of the trappean range of Keweenaw Point exceeds five thousand feet. They are lentiform masses, variable in number and thickness. On Keweenaw Point they are numerous, and possess much regularity, running with the trap, and dipping to the north and northwest, at angles varying from twenty to fifty degrees. In the Ontonagon district, they are less numerous, but near the Montreal River they expand into an enormous thickness. On Isle Royale they occur under similar conditions with those observed on Keweenaw Point, with this exception, that the dip is reversed, varying from twenty to forty degrees to the southeast and south-southeast. Messrs. Foster and Whitney, from whom we have largely drawn the foregoing, in designating the lands regarded as mineral, carefully excluded all that portion underlaid by sandstone and conglomerate, saying, " Experience having demonstrated that, although they contain traces of copper, no valuable lodes need be expected." Little did they dream that, within the next decade, the richest producing mine in the known world would be developed in the underlying bed of conglomerate at the Calumet & Hecla vein. Nor did they think then that in the sand rock belt of Ontonagon, a mine would be found in that rock that would assay 12 per cent of copper. It is true the conglomerate veins are not prolific in mineral except in patches, a few hundred feet from which the vein may be found barren of copper. But many of those patches are extremely rich, and in the case of the Calumet & Hecla, and the Conglomerate (Delaware), they appear to be almost inexhaustible. In the volcanic actions, which undoubtedly occurred from time to time, forming the fissures and ejecting the materials with which those fissures afterward became filled with amygdaloidal rock, and also those from which the conglomerates were deposited, together with the electric and magnetic currents interchanging through the various masses, copper, and, in places, silver, are reduced and deposited as native metal, along with the material they were at that time brought into contact with, and which formed the positive electrode in the local battery. Hence the deposit in different places is found in widely different formations, while in intervening spaces, in the same vein matter, it is barren, and consequently unproductive. The explorations with the diamond drill will, however, detect these chances in the productiveness of the diffe~rent voins, with HISTORY OF THE PENI out the enormous expense of opening up where it will not pay to work; thus confining the labor of mining within the limits of the productive deposits. GEOLOGY OF THE IRON REGION. The following sketch of the geology of the iron region is taken from a paper prepared by Charles E. Wright, which appeared in A. P. Swineford's work on the mineral resources of the Upper Peninsula, published at Marquette in 1876. He states: "The rock formations of our iron districts are embraced under two grand divisions, the Archmean and Silurian. The former is divided into two periods, the Laurentian and Hiuronian. These are usually tilled at high angles, their inclination or dip being more frequently greater than forty-five degrees than less. The Silurian age, the Upper and Lower groups, is represented on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by the Potsdam, Calciferous, Trenton, Niagara, Onondaga and Helderberg periods. They are nearly all horizontally bedded or'dipping only slightly to southward. The Silurian rocks and the overlying drift include, with the exception of a narrow neck of the Huronian, all the country of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan south and east of Marquette. To the casual observer, the Archaean rocks, in their broken and contorted beds, appear to have had no system in their formation — in texture and structure frequently resembling the igneous rocks rather than the sedimentary, and even to-day are spoken of by some geologists as being in a "fluid state," or are referred to a deep-seated volcanic (Plutonic) origin. By other geologists, their probable equivalents are considered as highly metamorphosed sedimentary strata. The latter theory we have accepted as best explaining the numerous facts we have observed, not only in the field, but those recently brought to light by the application of the microscope. Before beginning with the older period, the Laurentian, which underlies all of our other rocks, without it be, perhaps, an occasional primitive island arising above the former level of the Laurentian Sea, we will review briefly the architecture of the rocks of this sectionwhich may enable us to understand more clearly the ideas we wish to present. Let us imagine, if you please, the primitive earth's crust, composed chiefly of granitic rocks, which have formed and partially crystallized out of the amorphic magma, constituting the outer zones of the earth's shell. After their formation, and even during its process, the abrading forces of nature, no doubt largely assisted by the corroding influence of a dense and acid atmosphere, gradually began wearing away the more prominent features of the earth's rocky face, depositing the loosened particles in the primitive and barren valleys of early time. When the sediment had attained considerable thickness, the metamorphism of the strata commenced affording us the metamorphic granites and other crystalline rocks of the Laurentian period. Then followed a disturbance and tilting up of the strata, caused in a measure by the crystallization of the sediments and consequent enlargement of the mass, due to NSULA OF MICHIGAN. 23 the fact that the crystallized material occupies more space than the amorphic, and by the contraction of the entire earth or globe; aided largely, no doubt, by the expansion of the outer shell, from the heat generated by this shrinking and consequent motion, and by many other causes, of which even a simple enumeration would require more space than we can spare. Our Laurentian rocks are formed; and now follows another period, not of rest, however, for nature never ceases her labors, but, coupled with time, is constantly producing something new. She has already begun, with her rude tools, the gigantic task before her. The lofty mountain ranges and noble peaks of granite slowly but surely disappear before her persistent energy, until nothing remains of their grandeur save the low, insignificant rounded knobs of the Laurentian As nothing goes to waste, so do we find again the material of the Laurentian mainly redeposited in the valleys of what is known as the Huronian Sea. The question at once arises in our minds, How account for the different kinds of rocks? The simplest explanation we can offer for this is to advise our questioner to examine any exposure of coarsely crystalline rocks, where can best be observed the effects of weathering, and satisfy himself of the decomposition and dissolving out of some of the chemical elements of the minerals of which the rock is composed, and then to consider that these chemical ingredients, combining with others, are carried away and deposited directly, or by some intermediate agent, elsewhere. On the other hand, if he be of a mechanical turn of mind, let him watch closely a muddy stream, made turbid by some local cause, and notice that the water gradually becomes clearer the farther it recedes from the disturbing force —the coarser particles are precipitated first, but many of the finer ones are held in the current until they reach the still waters, where they slowly subside to the bottom of the lake or sea. The result of this chemical or mechanical action is that the sedimentary strata they form'are usually different in composition from the parent rock. Then again, thermal waters, impregnated with solvent agencies, may percolate the sedimentary beds and carry away invsolution some& of the ingredients, thereby changing the" chemical nature of the material and affording a new mineral constituent. The many theories advanced to account for the formation of rocks suggest an exhaustless subject; so, for fear of exceeding our limits, we will turn again to examine another era in that wonderful plan of creation. We will suppose the deposition of the Huronian period to have ceased, and the metamorphism and upheaval of the beds, wrought, no doubt, by agencies similar to those of the Laurentian, to have ended. Nature again commences her work of leveling the mighty monuments she has constructed, as evidence of her great power and, as before, she gathers up the ruins of the previous ages and reconstructs from them the lower beds of the Silurian. In this age, however, she has left behind unmistakable evidences of the presence of life. To the existence of this intermediate agent is largely due the formation of the Paleozoic and more recent limestones. 24 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. The Silurian Sea, teeming at intervals with organic life, has supplied the carbonate of lime and magnesia it held in solution to construct the shells and frames of the fauna which thrived in that period, and their remains, when erratic, have settled to the bottom of the sea and formed immense calcareous beds, which subsequent metamorphism has changed into magnesian limestone. To consider these members in detail, or continue upward through the succeeding ages to the present time, would oblige us to go outside of the iron district we purpose to describe, and therefore would be foreign to our subject. " There now remains the comparatively recent Glacial period, which has had much to do with forming the present features of the country. Nearly everywhere in our iron district on the exposed surfaces of the granite and the quartzy ones of the Huronian, may be seen groovings and striae plowed out or engraven by the glaciers. These markings have nearly a common trend, and from them we learn that the glaciers have traveled from northeast to southwest, scattering the bowlders held within their icy embrace often hundreds of miles from their native ledge. As a singular instance may be cited an immense bowlder of lean magnetic iron ore lying on the south bank of the Menominee River, just above the mouth of Pine River, Wisconsin. This bowlder was originally partially exposed, but, owing to the fact that it was left directly over a long line of magnetic attraction, and to its huge size, parties have completely undermined it, to satisfy themselves that it was not an outcrop of a solid ledge. These erratics of magnetic iron ore are strewn promiscuously through the drift south and southeast of the iron ranges, and frequently play strange freaks with the explorer's compass. Sometimes so strong is this local attraction that the north or south end of the needle will continue to point to one place when traveling around it, even when the circle is a hundred yards or more in diameter. Farther south, in Northern Wisconsin, where the drift is often very deep, the bowlders, apparently deposited in a morraine, have dammed the streams; 'backing up' the water for miles above, while below these irregular dams are often dangerous rapids. With the Glacial period closes our hasty review of the architecture of the rocks of the iron district and those in the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. "We will now proceed to examine, stratigraphically, the members of the periods we have been considering. In the Laurentian fields are probably isolated islands of primitive rocks, but as yet they have never been discovered, owing to the difficulty of distinguishing between igneous and metamorphic granites, and to the fact that the Laurentian on Lake Superior is comparatively an unexplored district. The Laurentian formation of our iron regicn is composed chiefly of granites and gneissoid rocks. The granites are medium to coarse-grained. The essential minerals are generally plainly visible. The granites are usually massive and strongly jointed. The jointing planes are very prominent, and, along the sides of the cliffs, pres ent, sometimes, bold and very even faces, which frequently are mistaken by explorers for stratification. The bedding planes are ordinarily very obscure and difficult to distinguish, but with sufficient care, they may, in most cases, be made out. " Many of our granites would be valuable as building stone, and, no doubt, could be used for all purposes to which these rocks are applied. In all the thin, transparent sections of the Laurentian granites that we have examined under the microscope, can be easily recognized the feldspar, quartz and mica, and as accessory minerals may be counted magnetite, hematite, amphibole, etc. The feldspars (monoclinic and triclinic) are generally slightly altered, and the mica sometimes wanting (pegmatite), while the quartz is apparently unchanged. It is interesting to note the various stages of decomposition of the feldspar, commencing along the cleavage planes and producing at first only a slight fogginess, then a mossy-like appearance, mottled with limpid spots, and finally, in the latter stages, a micro-granular mass, indistinctly outlined. In the quartz may be seen numerous very small liquid filled cavities, averaging say one four-thousandth of an inch across, and which contain an extremely minute vacuum or gas bubble. These tiny bubbles are usually in constant motion, dashing merrily about in their narrow confines. The presence of these fluid inclusions and the absence of any glass or stone filled cavities, so common to known igneous rocks, has had much to do in convincing us of the sedimentary origin of the Laurentian rocks. Under the microscope, in the polarized light, the sections present a very interesting field, and it is apparently evident, from their structure and texture, that these granites have crystallized 'in situ.' Passing from the Laurentian to the Huronian, we enter the home of our iron ores. Beginning at the foot of the Huronian ladder, which we will suppose has nineteen steps, we venture upward. These steps, we will assume, correspond to Maj. T. B...Brooks' division of the Huronian series. The first four steps are represented by mica schist, quartzite, magnesian schist, small quantities of specular ore, and locally large deposits of lean flag iron ores. From the west end of Cascade Mine has been taken considerable first-class ore. The other mines situated on this range are now idle. Leaving this unclassified field, we arrive at No. V. In this number we find massive quartzites, which often graduate into dolmitic marbles. An analysis of the Morgan furnace limestone from this formation afforded: Carbonate of lime............................... 49.10 Carbonate of magnesia........................ 41.00 Oxide of iron......................................43 Silica.............................................. 8.00 Undetermined...................................... 1.47 100.00 "The novaculites, which have furnished excellent hones, belong to this formation; also, some of the talcose schists. Taking another step, we reach No. VI, which is an actin olo-magnotic quartz schist, banded with purplish, brown HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 25 ish and grayish slaty layers that are from one-sixteenth to two inches in thickness. On weathered surface it appears somewhat arenaceous. Under the microscope, the actinolite (fibrous hornblende), quartz and magnetite are easily recognized. Ascending still higher to No. VII, we find a hornblende rock. It is usually medium grained, and dark greenish black in color, finely sprinkled with gray. Miassive and jointed, rarely ever showing any signs of bedding,.and were it not that these rocks were associated with other plainly stratified members, it would be quite impossible to define their original structure. Under the microscope, a section of the rock is seen to consist chiefly of amphibole and quartz, with plain and striated fragments of feldspar, brownish scales of mica, and magnetite. These rocks are commonly known in the iron district as 'greenstones,' or 'trap,' and have frequently been mistaken by geologists for diorites. "No. VIII of our series is a banded magnetic quartz schist, differing from VI in containing less actinolite, while many of the layers on their polished edges present a graphic appearance, from small and dendritic fragments of brownish jasper. Formation No. IX is a hornblende rock, similar to VII. It contains, however, more quartz and less mica and feldspar. No. X, banded magnetic quartz schist very similar to the previous magnetic schist. It is much harder and jaspery, and there is less distinction in the texture and color of the stripes. Under the microscope, the base of the rock appears composed of small angular quartz grains, averaging about one six-hundredth of an inch across. Scattered through this base are numerous still smaller particles of magnetite, also fragments of actinolite. This formation, in some localities, includes the so-called soft hematite ores. It is possible that these soft-ore deposits are the result of the decomposition of the richer and less quartzy portions of this belt, caused, probably, from the dissolving out of the finely divided silica, by thermal alkaline waters. This appears all the more plausible since, in Formation V, the marbles are traversed by irregular veins of quartz, which are evidently due to the infiltration of water holding silica in solution; and further, these dolomitic beds are often altered into silicious marbles, or even quartzites, apparently from the replacement of the carbonates by silica. Advancing another step up our imaginary ladder, we encounter a massive hornblende rock, No. XI, apparently identical with No. IX. Under the microscope may be seen in the thin sections large fragments of orthoclase feldspar, and fibrous ones of amphibole. The former often inclose the latter. No. XII is a specular quartzose or jaspery schist; it is often finely banded, and on the smooth surface across the bedding presents a very laminated structure. Where a bending in the formation has taken place, as at the Republic Mine, maybe seen some very interesting instances of folding and miniature faulting. Each stripe or group of them is so well characterized that they may be recognized at a glance, even where the throw has been sev eral inches, or even feet, to the right or left. In this for mation, as in X, are found valuable deposits of soft hematite ores. One more step we climb, and the true iron belt is before us. In this member, No. XIII, are represented all the known varieties of the magnetic and red oxides of iron. The magnetic ores vary from a fine steely-grained to a coarse granular texture. The specular ores are sometimes granular to steely-grained, or are more or less micaceous. The magnetic ores are usually massive and jointed, while the specular ores are massive to slaty. The steely varieties are very hard to drill, and, when massive and without joints, require an endless amount of sledging to reduce them to the proper size for handling. On the other hand, some coarse granular magnetic ores and micaceous specular slate ores may be easily crumbled in the fingers. The firstclass ores are very rich, and, when carefully selected, average above 65 per cent of metallic iron, though lumps weighing several tons can be had that are within one-half per cent of absolute purity. The beds are from a few feet to one hundred or more in thickness. The deposit of ore often appears to be in lenticular-shaped masses, one lens overlapping the other. The transition from the red to the black oxides is usually quite abrupt, and small hand specimens may be obtained where one side is nearly pure magnetite and the other portion composed of specular ore. Nearly all the specular ores have minute particles of magnetite disseminated through them. On the foot and hanging walls are often narrow beds of chlorite and talcose schists. Imbedded in some of these chloritic rocks overlying the magnetic ores are garnet crystals altered into chlorite, though some of them are partially unchanged. "Reluctantly we leave the ore formation to examine the next member of the Huronian series, No XIV. It is a gray quartzite, of an even and somewhat arenaceous texture. Sometimes it is slightly micaceous; it differs from the lower quartzite in being less vitreous, and is apparently not so highly metamorphosed. The quartzite at some of the mines passes into a jaspery quartz-conglomerate or breccia. Continuing our ascent, we find No. XV, usually represented by a black slate. It is frequently pyritiferous, and contains a small percentage of graphite; in some places, it is quite plumbaginous. "We have not seen, as yet, in Marquette County, any slate beds suitable for roofing purposes, though in the Huron Bay district are inexhaustible quantites of first-class roofing slates. Next in order is a limonitic schist, No. XVI. It is possible that this is only a decomposition of the more pyritiferous lenses of the slate, or is derived in the same manner from the anthophyllitic schist ---No. XVII-immediately above. -The so-called anthophyllitic schist is composed of anthophyllite and actinolite, with an admixture of oxide of manganese and of iron, also graphite. The anthophyllite is easily recognized by its radiated form. It is highly probable that portions of this belt are sufficiently rich in manganese to make them valuable for Bessemer iron ores. No. XVIII is supposed to be a quartzite. One more effort and we reach whzti we suppaso to Wa th,- upper m,3-,bar of the 26 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. Lower Huronian, No. XIX. This is a mica schist, holding crystals of stairolite and andalusite; the staurolite is very prone to form crystals that are crossed either at right angles or at a very oblique one. Having now very imperfectly considered the character of the different strata of the Huronian, we will sketch, as briefly as may be, from our own observations, aided largely by the published results of others, the outlines of the different periods of our iron district. Beginning with the Lower Silurian, we find, in the southeastern portion of the city limits of Marquette, isolated patches and bays of brown sandstone, nearly horizontally bedded, and resting unconformably on and against the Huronian. The Lower Silurian member has an irregular shore line as we proceed southward from this locality. The first six miles, its course is south -esterly, the sandstone resting on the Huronian. We continue south about fifteen miles along a very crooked shore composed of granite; when following this dividing line, we travel westward some twelve miles farther; then, in a gentle curve, we return to our southward course, and in Town 42, Range 27 west, we cross a neck of Huronian nearly six miles wide. Leaving this, we skirt along the granite beach for fifteen miles more, when we meet again the Huronian, which forms the coast of the Potsdam for twenty miles or more, when it intersects the Menominee River and enters Wisconsin. Returning again to Marquette, we find the Potsdam sandstone skirting the south shore of Lake Superior nearly all the way to Keweenaw Bay, and from thence southwestward there appears to have been an extensive Lower Silurian bay, having for its northwest shore the copper range, or Upper Huronian. The formation before us has furnished very excellent brown sandstone for building purposes, and many of the variegated varieties obtained from the Marquette quarries cannot be surpassed for beauty or durability. In the Huronian period, it would be practically impossible to define the shore lines of the Huronian Sea, owing, as we have seen, to the bending and upheaval of the strata, and the subsequent erosion. Our purpose, then, is not to describe original boundaries, but rather to trace out the upturned edges of the strata. Glancing over this section of the country, we find the Huronian fields, limited by granite, or covered by the overlying Silurian and drift. The: general trend of the formation in the Marquette district is nearly east and west, and as we proceed westward from Marquette it gradually widens, until at Negaunee it appears to have attained its maximum width of about thirteen miles. _The upper members of the Huronian are apparently wanting between Marquette and just east of Negaunee. The strata form a broad synclinal trough, resting on granite. The synclinal is corrugated in the direction of its axis with iseveral minor folds. West and south of Negaunee, and about Ishpeming, these minor corrugations are contorted, and their upturned edge2 have a serpentinelike course. Nature here, apparently, in one of her uneasy moods, has, by disturbing the strata, brougat to light her buried treasures, and rendered easy of development the sev oral first-class specular iron ore mines about Negaunee and Ishpeming. "The Jackson Mine at Negaunee is the oldest iron mine of the district, and its products are largely sought for. At Ishpeming, we have the Lake Superior, Barnum, Cleveland, New York, Lake Angeline and other mines. Their ores are of the best quality. About Negaunee are located a number of soft hematite mines. These ores are in good demand by Bessemer pig iron makers, owing to their low percentage of phosphoric acid. Southward of Ishpeming are the Saginaw, Winthrop and other mines. The Saginaw ores are the first-class specular varieties, while those of the Winthrop are being used for the manufacture of Bessemer iron. "As we continue westward from Ishpeming, the format:on again becomes more regular, though here, as east of Negaunee, may be observed the inferior folds. On the south rim of our broad synclinal are located the Washington, Edwards, Keystone and Champion Mines. In the Washington and Edwards Mines, the ore —a fine quality of magnetic-occurs in pockets or irregular-shaped lenses, while at the Keystone and Champion the ore belt is more uniform. At the Champion, the vein or bed is nearly vertical, and on the lower level of the mine it is about one hundred feet wide. The ores, the magnetic and specular, are of a very superior quality, and, in their present workings, are very low in phosphorus and sulphur. "The Huronian, westward from Ishpeming, gradually narrows until it reaches Michigamme Lake, where it is only two miles wide. The northern edge of the trough maintains its course along the north shore of the lake, and includes within its iron belt the Michigamme and Spurr Iron Mines; also other and undeveloped mines. The ores of the Michigamme and Spurr Mines are of the highest standard, and the former promises soon to lead the iron mines of Lake Superior in the amount of production. " After we leave the Spurr Mine, the course of the formation appears to be west-northwest, and when we arrive at a point about eight miles south of L'Anse, the formation takes a short turn to the northeast, but before reaching Lake Superior it dips under the Potsdam sandstone, and we return about five miles farther to the northwest, in nearly a parallel direction, on the northwest side of the Huron Mountains, along the Lower Silurian shore line to L'Anse. Coming back to the east end of Michigamme Lake, and tracing the southern rim of the synclinal, we find it makes a gradual southwesterly turn, and, in an easy curve, comes round to a southeasterly direction, conforming in a measure to the east side of Michigamme Lake and its outlet. We coatinla on our course, passing the Kloman Mine, and finally reach the Republic Mine. The ores of these mines are mostly specular. In the Republic has been found a depositof very pure magnetite. The specular ores are very rich in iron oxides, and are favorably known to our iron men. The formation here made a horseshoe-like bend, twisting and contorting the strata, and returned in a north westerly direction along the southwest bank of the river. HISTORY OF THE PEN The strata are tilted at high angles, and in some instances are overturned. The dip, however, is usually away from the und rlying granite, so that on each side of the river we find the strata inclining toward each other, thereby forming a narrow trough of less than one mile wide and six or seven miles long. On this range are located the Metropolis, Windsor, Canon, Erie and Magnetic Mines. These mines are all on one of the lower iron belts. The Erie Mine is reported to have mined out several hundred tons of magnetic ore. At the Magnetic Mine has been done con - siderable work, and they are now exploring to find the upper iron belt. Immediately after we leave these mines, the upturned edges of the Huronian begin to curve to the left, and in about one-half mile they have a direction of nearly due south, which continued for three or four miles, when it makes a little more easting, and finally we come to a point some eighteen miles south of the Republic Mine; then we proceed southeasterly and easterly for about thirteen miles, when we meet the Potsdam formation mentioned above, in Town 42, Range 27 west. Following our previous trail southward for five or six miles, across this Huronian neck, we arrive on its southern edge. Proceeding now westward on the dividing line of the Huronian and Laurentian for thirteen or fourteen miles, we turn to the southwest. then to the east and northeast for a short distance, and ultimately in a more uniform course to the southeast. We are now in the Menominee region. The formations are more regular, and have a trend west by north. On the Menominee range are some first-class specular and hematite iron ore deposits, well adapted to the manufacture of Bessemer pig iron, and the day cannot be far distant when their value for this purpose will be recognized. The following is an analysis of ore from the Quinnessec Mine: Peroxide of iron................................... 93.85 A lum ina............................................34 Lim e.............................................. 1.05 M agnesia.................................15 Phosphoric acid.....................................11 Sulphur...........................................Trace. Silica............................................. 4.00 W ater.............................................50 T otal.......................................... 100.00 M etallic iron...................................... 65.695 Phosphorus.........................................048 " We have several analyses of ores from this region, and the average percentage of phosphorus is even less than the above, which cannot fail to be appreciated by those endeavoring to furnish pig iron suitable for the present demand in the steel trade. Having considered the region best known to us, and in which we are most interested, we will tarry a moment on the borders of the geologically unexplored Laurentian. In the Menominee region is a small Laurentian island, bounded on the north, west and south by the Huronian, and on the east by the Silurian. Immediately north of this, and separated only by a narrow Huronian bay, is a much larger granite island belonging to the same period, limited on the north by the Marquette iron fINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 27 district (Huronian), and on the west and south by Huronian, and to the east by Silurian. Still farther north is another Laurentian island, even larger than the preceding. It is hemmed in on the north and east by Lake Superior and Potsdam sandstone, and to the west by the Huron Mountains, and on the south by the Marquette iron region. The first island has an area of about one hundred and fifty square miles; the second island of say six hundred square miles; and the upper, or northern Laurentian island probably numbers seven hundred square miles. With the Laurentian closes our chapter on the geology of the Lake Superior iron region, and we hand our pen to the historian that he may finish the task we have only begun." CLASSIFICATION OF ORES. The Lake Superior mines yield five varieties of iron ore. The most valuable, so far as developed, is the specular hematite, which is a very pure anhydrous sesqui-oxide, giving a red powder, and yielding in the blast furnace from 60 to 68 per cent of metallic iron, which is slightly red short. The ore occurs both slaty and granular, or massive. It is often banded or interlaminated with a bright red quartz or jasper, and is then called mixed ore. The next in order of importance is the magnetic, or black oxide, which, until recently, has only been found at a considerable distance west of the specular and soft hematite deposits, at the Washington, Edwards, Champion, Republic Group, Keystone, Michigamme and Spurr, in which none of the other varieties have been found, except the specular hematite, commonly called slate, into which the magnetic sometimes passes, the powder being from black to purple, then red. Recently a vein of very fine magnetic ore was struck at the New York Mine, which, though not fully tested, promises to become a very important feature of the mine. It is not improbable that the specular and magnetic ores are varieties of the same ore, as they are much alike in richness, character of iron and geological structure. This view is much strengthened by the fact that the specular ore is often found in octahedral crystals, which form is well known to belong exclusively to the magnetic oxide; hence it is probable that the specular deposits were once magnetic, and, by some metamorphic action, have been robbed of one-ninth of their oxygen, which would make them chemically hematites. Scarcely less important than the magnetic is the soft hematite of the district, which very much resembles the brown hematite (limonite) of Pennsylvania and Connecticut. This ore is generally found associated with the harder ores, from which many suppose it is formed by partial decomposition or disintegration of the latter. It contains some water, chemically combined-is porous in structureyields about 55 per cent in the furnace, and is more easily reduced than any other ore of the district. It forms an excellent mixture with the speculars. There are probably several varieties of this ore which have not been well made out. That found at the Jackson and Lake Superior is as 28 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. sociated with the specular, while the Foster bed is several miles removed from any known deposit of that ore, and has probably a different origin. The flag ore is a slaty or schistose silicious hematite, containing rather less metallic iron, and of more difficult reduction than either of the varieties above named. It is often magnetic, and sometimes banded with a dull red or white quartz. The iron is cold short, which is one of the best qualities of this ore-the other ores of the district being red short. This ore varies much in richness, and comparatively little has been shipped. It is, however, probably the most abundant ore in the district. A silicious ore, containing a variable amount of oxide of manganese, is found at several points, accompanying the flag ore, which will in time unquestionably be found of great value as a mixture. The iron ores of the district are generally found in hills, rising from one to five hundred feet above the level of the surrounding country. These hills (those given to exaggeration call them mountains) are simply immense deposits of iron ore, though partially or wholly covered by layers of earth and rock. It is true the ores are also found in the valleys, but where so found are usually covered with a deep drift, and consequently cannot be so easily mined. That part of the Lake Superior Iron Region in which the most gratifying results have been obtained is nearly all included within the limits of Marquette County, west of Negaunee, within a range of six miles wide, running in a northwesterly course from Lake Fairbanks, in Town 47 north, of Range 26 west, to Keweenaw Bay in Town 49 north, of Range 33 west-a distance of nearly one hundred miles. The mines now opened and being worked are all situated on the east end of this range, the most remote be ing the Spurr Mountain, near the west end of Lake Michigamme. Another extensive district or range is that known as the Menominee, extending, so far as known, from Town 39 north, Range 28 west, north to the south shore of Lake Michigamme. The deposits on the south end of this range, to which more extensive reference will be made later on, are not only quite numerous, but are believed to be veryextensive and valuable, though as yet little has been done in the way of development. The celebrated Republic Mine is situated on the northern end of this range. The iron rar ge again crops out some thirty miles south of Bayfield, where ore of a tolerably pure quality has been found. By reference to a geological map, it will be seen that the Marquette and Menominee iron ranges cross or form a junction with each other on the south side of Lake Michigamme, the one continuing to the west and northwest, and the other south and southeast. ECONOMICAL GEOLOGY. As the commercial statistics of Michigan are presented in a separate article, we shall content ourselves, in this connection, witb little more th an a cat~aloome of the econom ical products of the geology of the State. The first of the series includes metals and their ores. 1. Iron —(a) Hematite and magnetite, in immense lenticular masses of unsurpassed purity, in the Huronian rocks of the Upper Peninsula. The hematite presents itself as granular, slaty, micaceous, specular, crystalline and earthy. Under the action of water, it becomes soft hematite and red chalk, and, by a chemical union with water, assumes the character of limonite, which is also styled by the miners soft hematite. It also occurs to a limited extent in crystalline forms. The magnetite is generally massive and granular, with distinct crystallizations, which are sometimes also disseminated through the contiguous chloritic schists. (b) Limonite, altered from the Huronian hematites, as an earthy ore or ochre, or, not unfrequently, redeposited in stalactitic, mammillary, botryoidal and velvety forms of great beauty. Limonite occurs also in immense quantities, and widely distributed over the State, in the forms of bog ore, shot ore, yellow ochre, or even, in some cases, massive rock-like beds. (c) Kidney ore abounds in the Huron clays, presenting, like the bog ores, various degrees o? purity, and, like them, employed, to a limited extent. for iron-making. (d) Black band, in the coal meas_ ures, but not known to possess economical importance. 2. Copper-(a) Native in the " trap " of Lake Superior, in sheets and strings and masses; also in certain conglomerates and grits associated with the beds of trap, where it occurs in grains and in powder, like the other detrital materials. This is its condition in the famous so-called "Calumet Vein," also in parts of the Porcupine Mountains. (b) Chalcopyrite or copper pyrites, and other ores, in the Eozoic and other metamorphic rocks. While these ores sustain an important industry in the dominion of Canada (Bruce and Wellington Mines), native copper is the chief resource in Michigan. 3. Silver-(a) Native, existing to some extent, in most of the native copper, and not unfrequently associated with it in a state of purity. (b) Existing as a vein ore, in limited abundance, in the trappean rocks; and, at Silver Islet (Canada) and vicinity, developing an important special industry. Also, as a sulphide, in union with galena, in the dolerites of Lake Superior, but not existing to any important extent. 4. Lead-Galena in unimportant and unpromising veins in the dolerites. 5. Gold-Native, existing to a limited extent in the Lake Superior region. 6. MIanganese —(a) In connection with certain hematites of Lake Superior. (b) In numerous bogs in the Lower Peninsula, where it is sometimes used as a black pigment. II. Salt-Occurring in the form of brine, which has its origin in three different formations: 1. The Salina Group, which underlies the Lower Peninsula, and has been pierced and found to afford brine at Port Austin, Caseville, Mt. Clemens, Jackson, Lansing, Grand Haven, Alpena and other localities. Only in the I HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 29 first three does the supply sustain the manufacture of salt. At Alpena and Caseville, rock salt occurs, as at Goderich. 2. The Michigan Salt Group, which supplies most of the wells along the Saginaw River and vicinity, and affords a brine of remarkable strength, but containing considerable chloride of calcium, which, nevertheless, as manipulated, does not interfere seriously with the manufacture of salt. These wells average about eight hundred feet in depth, and pass through the whole thickness of the coalbearing group to the Marshall sandstone, into which the brine descends and accumulates. The brine is obtained from the artesian borings by pumping. 3. The coal measures. Some of the shallow wells in the lower portion of the Saginaw Valley are supplied from this source with weaker but purer brine than that obtained from the group below. The Parma conglomerate serves as the reservoir for this group of salt-bearing strata. It may be added that the dish-like conformation of the strata of the Lower Peninsula, preventing the passage of water from side to side, retains the soluble constituents of the rocks, and hence they are all somewhat saliferous. III. Minerals used in certain chemical manufactures —l. The bitterns rejected in the salt manufacture, are now extensively employed in the production of soda. 2. Iron pyrites occurs in the Huron Group in such abundance as to promise availability, at some future time, in the process of alum-making. 3. Limestone suitable for fluxing occurs in unlimited quantities in the Trenton and Huronian rocks of the Upper Peninsula, as also in the form of calc-spar veins in the cupriferous region. In the Lower Peninsula, the limestones of the Little Traverse and Corniferous Groups.are equally available. IV. Minerals used in agriculture-1. Gypsum, in remarkable abundance, purity and beauty, in the Michigan Salt Group, at Grand Rap'ds and Alabaster. Occurs also in the Salina Group at Little Point au Chene, and may be found, perhaps, in Monroe County. 2. Marl, generally distributed, and occurring at the bottom of lakelets and marshes. 3. Peat, as the uppermost layer on the sites of filled lakelets, and around the low borders of existing lakelets. V. Minerals used as pigments —1. Iron and manganese ochres, in bogs and marshes through the Lower Peninsula and the Monistique Peninsula. 2. Ferruginous shales. VI. Combustible and carbonaceous materials-1. Coal, underlying about six thousand square miles of the central portion of the Lower Peninsula. Generally bituminous, and of the character of the average Illinois coals. Cannel coal exists to some extent, but has not yet been developed. The principal coal mines are at Corunna and Jackson. At Grand Ledre and other points, the facilities for mining are equally good. The undisturbed condition of the strata has left the coal deposit generally so low that drainage of the mines is impracticable except by pumps. 2. Bituminous shale, in the Huron Group, capable of furnishing oil, ras, stearine, etc. 3. Petroleum in the Huron shales; but which, from the absence of anticlinal axes and overlying porous strata, has not accumulated in reservoirs. 4. Peat, in bogs, throughout the State. VII. Refractory materials-1. Sandstone. 2. Fire-clay of superior quality in the coal measures. 3. Molding sand: (a) White, in the corniferous limestone of Monroe County; (b) colored, in the drift. VIII. Materials for bricks, etc.-1. Clay, in the Huron Group (as at Coldwater), and in the lacustrine deposits, and the ordinary drift suitable for common bricks and pottery, buffish (or "Milwaukee") bricks, and even white bricks and pottery, as at Spring Lake. 2. White sand of superior quality for glass, in Monroe County, and in the Woodville sandstone of Jackson County. IX. Materials for cements and mortars-1. Hydraulic limestones, in the Salina and Lower Helderberg Groups of Monroe -County, and probably, also, in the Hamilton of Alpena County and elsewhere; also, in the Michigan Salt Group of Grand Rapids and Alabaster. 2. Stone for quicklime in great abundance. Used extensively from the corniferous in Monroe County, and from the carboniferous in Eaton and Kent Counties. 3. Plaster, in the Michigan Salt Group and the Salina Group. X. Grinding and polishing materials-1. Gritstones of superior quality, from the Marshall Group at Point aux Barques, and coarser ones at NaplAeon. The Huron grindstones have a national celebrity. 2. Honestones, in the Huronian strata, near Marquette, from the silicious schists. 3. Polishing powders in the drift in many places. XI. Building materials —L. Granite, syenite, diorite, gneiss, etc., equal to any in the world, in the Upper Peninsula. 2. Roofing slates, in the vicinity of L'Anse and at other points. 3. Sandstones: (a) Brown freestone, somewhat reddish or mottled; otherwise very similar to the Portland (Conn.) brown sandstone-occurs near Marquette, and somewhat inferior qualities at many other points in the Upper Peninsula. (b) Reddish and mottled freestone, from the Woodville formation of Ionia and vicinity. (c) Bluish and gray freestone, at Point aux Barques -same as Cleveland stone. (d) Buffish freestone, at Napoleon and Hanover, Jackson County. (e) Whitish freestone, in Parma formation at Parma. 4. Limestones in the corniferous, at London, Monroe County, and in Presque Isle County; also in the Hamilton, in Little Traverse Bay; also in the Niagara of Drummond's Island and Little Bay de Noquet-the same as at Lockport, N. Y., and Joliet, Ill. 5. Sand and gravel, from the drift. 6. Bowlders, from the drift, extensively used for foundations, and even sometimes for superstructures. XII. Materials for ornamental purposes-1. Marbles: (a) Statuary in the MIenominee region; (b) mottled and silicious in the Huroniau of Marquette County; (c) coralline from the Little Traverse Group of Presque Isle and Alpena Counties. 2. Alabaster, variously colored, from the Michigan Salt Group of Grand Rapids; also, white and clouded, from the same group at Alabaster. 3. Precious stones.0e 30 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. Agates: Banded, fortification and moss agates; jasper, chalcedony, chrysocolla, chlorastrolites, etc.-all in the doleritic rocks of the Upper Peninsula. XIII. Mineral waters-1. Saline waters. (a) Brines, used for salt-making, as before stated; (b) medicinal, of insufficient strength for salt-making, but containing carbonate and sulphate of potash, soda and iron, with sometimes traces of lithia and other ingredients, occurring in the form of springs, as at Ann Arbor, St. Joseph and other localities, or obtained by boring, as at St. Louis, Lansing, Spring Lake, Mt. Clemens, St. Clair and many other points. 2. Carbonated waters, with more or less of soluble salts, as at Eaton Rapids. 3. Sulphur waters, issuing in springs, as occurs most copiously at Raisinville and on the shore of TLake Erie in the town of Erie, Monroe County; also at Ann Arbor and many other points; also issuing from artesian borings, especially in the corniferous limestone, and the Huron Group. As before remarked, the conformation of the strata has retained all their original soluble constituents; hence, all artesian waters in the State, save some outlying, leached-out patches of the Parma sandstone, will be found mineralized. The so-called "magnetic" waters of the State are not themselves magnetic, but marked magnetic phenomena manifest themselves about the wells. These certainly arise, in part, through induction from the earth, without regard to the waters; but some experiments seem to indicate a power excitation of magnetism possessed by the waters themselves. XIV. Miscellaneous-1. Lithographic stones, of coarse quality, in the Clinton and Salina Groups. 2. Stationers' sand, magnetic iron-sand, assorted by the waves upon the lake beaches. 3. Paving stones from the drift. TOPOGRAPHY. The geographical center of the main land of the Upper Peninsula is on Section 35, Township 46 north, Range 25 west, about three miles east of the Peninsula Railroad, in Marquette County. The geographical cenLer of the main land of the Lower Peninsula is on Section 24, Township 13 north, Range 3 west, Township of Coe, Isabella County. The geographical center of the entire State, within its political boundaries (including the lake areas belonging to the State), is on the southwest quarter of Section 30, Township 30 north, Range 11 west, very near Provemont, in Leelenaw County. The extreme length of the main land of the Upper Peninsula is 318.104 miles, and its extreme breadth is 164.286 miles. The extreme length of the main land of the Lower Peninsula, from north to south, is 259,056 miles. The greatest actual width of the peninsula, however, measured along a parallel of latitude, is between Forestville, on Lake Huron, and Little Point Sable, on Lake Michigan. The width here is 197.058 miles. In the first instance, these determinations have been made by ascertaining the centers of gravity of sheets of paper of uniform thickness, cut to the exact limits of the mapped boundaries of the areas whose centers were sought. In the second instance, the dimensions are based on the latitudes and longitudes of the points referred to, and the calculated lengths of the degrees of latitude and longitude in the different positions. The base line of the land surveys of the State runs " seven miles north of Detroit" (probably by the old capital), and the Michigan meridian (which rules south to the old Territorial boundary) is eighty-four degrees and thirtyseven minutes west of Greenwich. The land area of the State is 56,457 square miles, or 36,128,640 acres. There are 179 islands included within the political boundaries of the State, which have an area from one acre upward. The total area of these islands is 404,730 acres. The total length of the lake shore line within the State is 1,620 miles. Besides the larger lakes lying upon the frontiers, the State includes within its bounds 5,173 smaller lakes, having an area of 712,864 acres. The following table sets forth the leading data respecting the great lakes: Length, Width, Depth, 'Coast Line! Elevation Area in Miles. Miles. Feet. in Mich., |above sea, Sq Miles. Miles. Feet. Superior...... 460 160 988 524 599.2 32,000 Michigan...... 360 108 900 637 580.6 20,000 Huron......... 270 160 300 424 580.6 20,000 Eri.......... 250 80 200 39 565 6,000 Ontario........ 180 65 500 262 6,000 1,520 __ _ 1,624 84,000 The two natural divisions of the State are distinguished by marked physical characteristics. They are completely cut off from each other by the Straits of Mackinac. The northern is rugged with numerous rocky exposures; the southern consists of plains, plateaux, gentle undulations and moderate hills, with very few outcrops of rocky strata. The Northern Peninsula is a mineral region; the Southern, agricultural. The climates of the two peninsulas are as distinct as their relations and their topography; and in all statements respecting the climatic features of the State, the two peninsulas ought to be separately treated. The meteorological means for the whole State convey very inadequate impressions respecting either of its natural divisions. The topographical configuration of the State has been the subject of very careful study. The attempt has been made to collect all the important information obtained in running the various levels for railroad and canal surveys from 1836 to the present time. The recent progress of these enterprises is so rapid that it has been impossible to make the tables of elevation absolutely complete, but over six thousand elevations have, nevertheless, been tabulated, which give the height of the surface at every point along the surveyed lines at which the superficial slope exhibits any considerable change. The region between Lake Superior and the northern bend of Lake Michigan, limited on the east by St. Mary's River and on the west by the Whitefish River, may be referred to as the Monistique Peninsula, from the large Lake Monistique, occupying nearly a central position in it. The HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 31 principal portion of the drainage to the west of this lake is into Lake Michigan, the water-shed running east and west, by a zigzag line within six to ten miles of Lake Superior. East of Lake Monistique, the drainage is chiefly into Lake Superior and other waters east of the meridian of the straits. The streams, however, throughout the whole interior of the Peninsula, are sluggish, and the regions to the east of Point Iroquois, and about the upper waters of the Tequamenon, are largely occupied by marshes, abounding in peat and bog iron ore. The southern border of the Monistique Peninsula is lined by ranges of limestone hills, which, in the vicinity of Point Detour, are but slightly elevated, with intervening marshes, but, further west, in the vicinity of Mackinac, attain elevations of 150 to 300 feet. Drummond's Island and the Manitoulin Islands are but the eastward prolongation of the same range of hills, and exhibit elevations quite as considerable as those in the vicinity of the straits. The cliffs at the eastern extremity of Drummond's Island are over one hundred feet high, while the surface toward the interior rises to the height of two hundred and three hundred feet. The escarpments of the Mackinac Island are 140 feet high, and the central plateau is 300 feet high. Westwardly, the same range of hills extends to Little Bay de Noquet, where, as at Mackinac Island, it presents some strongly marked scenery. In approaching the coast, this elevated limestone region is cut by erosions into innumer_ able islands, varying in extent from a mere point of rocks to several hundreds, or even thousands, of acres. These, in the vicinity of Drummond's Island and Point Detour, become a literal labyrinth, with almost inextricable passages. Toward the north shore, a prominent range of hills begins in the region back of Point Iroquois, and extends in a nearly westerly direction to the coast of Lake Superior, where it abuts in the famous escarpment known as the "Pictured Rocks," and re-appears in Grand Island, with its towering promontories. These smoothly rounded and densely wooded hills attain elevations of three hundred to six hundred feet above Lake Superior. The streams which break through the hills are interrupted by falls. The principal of these is the Tequamenon, which has falls of forty, forty-five and fifty feet. The Au Train, eight miles above its mouth, has a fall of ninety-five feet, and nearer to the lake, another of forty feet. The immediate shore between Point Iroquois and the Pictured Rocks is an alternation of low, sometimes marshy, plains, and rounded sand-hills and promontories. The latter, in the vicinity of Carp River, reach an elevation of 100 feet, while the Grand Sable stands 345 feet above the lake. The Whitefish River marks the location of a well-characterized valley of erosion, from one to three miles wide, and bounded by unconsolidated banks one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet above the limestone bottom. The river rises in a series of lakelets within nine miles of the shore of Lake Superior, and the Au Train River, flowing into the latter lake, takes its rise in the same vicinity. Along this valley, the most elevated point is not more than one hundred and fifty feet above Lake Superior. The writer has elsewhere suggested that this valley is probably the site of an ancient outlet of Lake Superior, whose waters then passed through Little Bay de Noquet, Green Bay, and the Wisconsin depression occupied by Lakes Winnebago, Horicon and Koshkonong, into the valley of Rock River, and thence to the Mississippi. Of the region west of Whitefish River, the southeastern portion, between the Menominee River and Green Bay, is mostly a gently undulating surface, presenting a general slope in the direction of the water-courses. This slope, in the southwestern part of Delta County, is 430 feet, and near the head-waters of the Chocolate River, in Marquette County, 550 feet above Lake Michigan. North and northwest of this, is the mountainous district, comprising the iron and copper regions, each of which is characterized by its own topography. The water-shed of the mountainous region strikes in a serpentine course, northwest from the head-waters of the Chocolate River, to within ten miles of the head of Keweenaw Bay, whence it bends, by a course still more serpentine, southwestward to Lac Vieux Desert., on the boundary of Wisconsin. In the first reach of its course, it passes through the midst of the Marquette iron district. The elevation of Negaunee is 775 feet above Lake Michigan; at Ishpeming, to the west of the water-shed, 865 feet; and at the Champion Mine, near Lake Michigamme, 1,011 feet. The summit, on the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon Railroad, is 1,186 feet. Lake Michigamme lies 966 feet above Lake Michigan. The hills north of the lake reach an elevation of 1,215 feet. The greatest elevation on the watershed is inthe vicinityof the sources of the Michigamme River, which are 1,250 feet above Lake Michigan. The Huron Mountains, east of Keweenaw Point, abut upon the shore of Lake Superior, and rise in rugged eminences, which give a marked expression of the mountainous character of the Upper Peninsula. Mt. Huron attains an elevation of 932 feet, and other summits rise from 760 to 887 feet above Lake Superior. The region of the water-shed southwest from Lake Michigamme becomes first less broken, and then a gently undulating plain, to the Wisconsin boundary. Keweenaw Point is a rocky ridge, which, beginning with the promontory at the head of the point, forms a watershed nearly along the central line. From the base of this point, the range trends southwest into Ontonagon County. Mt. Houghton, near the head of the point, is 884 feet above Lake Superior, and the range attains nowhere a greater elevation than 900 feet above the lake. Beyond the Ontonagon River, the Porcupine Mountains may be regarded as a fresh development of the range. Rising somewhat abruptly from the immediate vicinity of the lake shore, they trend at first south-southwest for about thirty miles, whence their course is more westerly. The greatest altitude attained near Lake Superior is 950 feet; but sev 32 - HISTORY OF THE PENINSUILA OF MICHIGAN. eral knolls farther inland attain elevations from 1,100 to 1,380 feet above the lake. In concluding this synoptical sketch of the topographical features of Michigan, it remains to direct attention to one interesting generalization which has not heretofore been pointed out. This is what may be styled the diagonal system in the physical features of the State. By this expression it is meant to say that the longitudinal axes of the topographical and hydrographical features of the State, especially of the Lower Peninsula, lie in directions which are diagonals between the cardinal points of the compass. It would extend this paper too far to point out the leading parts which illustrate and establish this proposition; but it is believed that a brief study of the topographical chart will render the truth of the proposition apparent. The subject will be elsewhere adequately amplified. The diagonal system in American physiography is not by any means confined to Michigan. The Maumee River of Ohio, with its tributaries, is a striking reproduction of the Saginaw and its affluents. The Maumee, flowing east-northeast, is fed by the Auglaize and St. Mary's from the southeast, the (little) St. Joseph from the northeast, and the Tiffin from the northwest —the last-named, in its higher reaches, flowing from Hillsdale County, Mich., first southeast and then southwest. In Wisconsin, the northeast-southwest basin of Green Bay is prolonged through the Fox River into Lake Winnebago. The same trend is seen in the shore lines about Chaquamegon Bay, the Apostle Islands and the western extremity of Lake Superior. Even the Upper Mississippi, whose general course is meridianal, divides itself into a succession of reaches, conforming strangely to the law of diagonism, while, on the other hand, the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence are a further indication that something in the course of events which have fashioned the actual surface, has exerted a greater energy in the direction of the diagonals than in the direction of the cardinal points of the compass. This is not the place to discuss the causes of this wellmarked method in the surface configuration of the Northwest. It would be easy to show that these features sustain relations to the underlying rocky structure. It would be equally easy to demonstrate that they are closely connected with the movements of the continental glacier, which geologists believe to have moved, in the lake region, from northeast to southwest, during the epoch immediately preceding the advent of man upon the earth. But at the same time it would appear that these features do not conform exclusively to either set of agencies, and that their actual relation to each may be expressed in the following proposition: The actual topographical and hydrographical axes of Michigan and the whole lake region are the resultant of two forces —a glacial, acting from the northeast, and a stratigraphical, acting along the lines of strike of the rocky formations. As a corollary, we should find that where the rocky formations are most consolidated, the resultant lies nearest the line of the stratigraphical force; and where the rocky for mations are little consolidated, the resultant approximates the line of the glacial force. As a second corollary, physical features determined by causes which have obliterated the glacial and stratigraphical trends do not necessarily express relations to either force. Of this kind are the small streams, the courses of which over the diluvial beds have been determined by postglacial erosions; and river courses, like the St. Clair and Detroit, marked out across lacustrine or other post-glacial deposits which have concealed the surface features due to geological structure or glacial erosion. RIVERS. The following table gives the length and descent of and area drained by each important river of the Upper Peninsula: Name of River. Descent Length Area in feet. in miles. drained. Outlet On. inmiles. drained. Montreal.................. 804 34 420 Lake Superior. Black..................... 850 30 250 Lake Superior. Presque Isle............... 80 35 280 Lake Superior. Iron....................... 480 25 75 Lake Superior. Ontonagon................. 900 85 460 Lake Superior. West Branch.............. 493 50 600 'Lake Superior. East Branch............... 300 45 250 Lake Superior. Flint Steel................. 500 70 Lake Superior. Fire Steel.................. 500 35 85 'Lake Superior. Sleeping.................... 300 21 100 Lake Superior. Misery.................... 400 20 75 Lake Superior. Elm....................... 350 15 75 Lake Superior. Salmnon rout............. 350 12 40 Lake Superior: Eagle.................... 602 12 15 Lake Superior. Little Montreal............ 535 25 30 Lake Superior. Portage.................... 4 200 IPortage Lake. Sturgeon................... 1,074 65 575 Portage Lake. Fall..................... 1,064 12 75 'Keweenaw Bay. Huron.................... 1,100 20 100 ILake Superior. Dead (Du Mort)............ 1,000 40 200 Lake Superior. Carp...................... 688 40 20 ILake Superior. Chocolate................ 520 25 100 iLake Superior. Tequanmenon.............. 200 65 603 'Lake Superior. St. Mary's................. 49 62 Lake Huron. Carp of Michigan.......... Lake Michigan. Pine...................... 50 Lake Michigan. Monastique............... 90 1,300 Lake Michigan. White Fish................ 50 450 Lake Michigan. Escanaba............ 1,060 75 575 Lake Michigan. Ford....................... 75 400 iLake Michigan, Cedar.....................I 60 290 Lake MIichigan. Menominee................ 1,049 122 1,200 Ilake Michigan. Brule...................... 900 5 320 enominee. Mequacumecul........... 5 575 iBrule. Michiganmii..............,049 70 8)0 Brule. Prof. Rominger, writing on the topographical and geological features of Michigan, says: "The State of Michigan consists of two different districts of a peninsular character, surrounded by great inland lakes. The so-called Lower Peninsula has its longitudinal axis in a north and south direction; it is inclosed within a horseshoe-like arch formed by the connection of Lake Michigan with Lake Huron. The Upper Peninsula, extending in an east and west direction, is separated from the lower by the channel connecting the two before-named lakes which form its southern border; its northern side is surrounded by Lake Superior. The eastern part of the peninsula forms a comparatively narrow strip of land, whose apex is cut off from the Canadianz terr~itory by a lake arm'~ called St. Mary's R~iver, HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN. 33 which forms the outlet of Lake Superior into Lake Huron, the latter being about twenty feet lower than the former. "The w, st side of the Upper Peninsula is connected by a broad base with the north part. of the State of Wisconsin; the bed of the Menominee River and of its main branch, the Brule River, and the bed of the Montreal River, are adopted as the boundary line between the two States; the Menominee and Brule form the drainage channel southward into Lake Michigan; the Montreal River leads the waters north of the water-shed into Lake Superior. " The climate of the southern part of the State is considerably milder than that of the northern, proportionate to their respective difference in latitude, and for other reasons which have a bearing on the climatic character of countries. "In the southern parts, not only all kinds of cereals are raised in abundance and superior quality, but also apples, pears, cherries, plums, and the more delicate peach trees and grapevines are cultivated with decided success. The climate in the northern parts of Michigan is nowhere so severe as to prevent the cultivation of winter wheat and the principal ordinary farm and garden products. There is a difference of about two or three weeks in the setting-in of the spring, and the same time earlier the hibernal weather sets in in the fall in the most northern parts of the State, compared with the most southern districts, but the growing season in the north parts of the State is sufficiently long to bring all the ordinary farm crops to maturity; excepting Indian corn, and even this in some seasons ripens there before the frosts appear. Potatoes planted in the northern districts not only yield prolific harvests, but are generally considered as of superior quality to the tubers raised in the south part of the State; turnips, carrots, radishes and cabbages attain, in the virgin soil of these northern frontier lands, a really astonishing size, rarely observable in the best manured gardens of the South. "The surface of the Lower Peninsula, which has an approximate width of two hundred miles from east to west, and is about three hundred miles in length, gradually rises in gentle undulations from both sides of the surrounding lakes toward the center, to an elevation, which, in the southern part, is about four hundred feet, and never exceeds six hundred feet above Lake Huron. In the northern part of it, the ordinary height of the central plateau lands is about eight hundred feet above Lake Huron, and some siummit points reach to an elevation of 1,100 feet. The out lines of these hills are always rounded, and scarcely an:y o)f thenm are too steep for tillage. Most of the country was originally forest land, with only a few interspersed tirairio pen ings or marsh bottoms. We find also a large.-. -ber of fine inland lakes, from a few aerts. to) st vlt::d s quare miles in extent, which often form the heatd-waters of one of the numerous creeks and rivers which flow in an east to west course either into Lake Huron or into Lake Michigan. These rivers are not large enough to be navigable, but they become very important by furnishing ample water-power for mills, and particularly as transporting mediums for the togs in the lumbering districts. "The soil covering the Lower and also the greater part of the Upper Peninsula is most generally formed of drift, or else of alluvial material; that is to say, it is composed of more or less finely comminuted and triturated fragmental rock masses, and of larger blocks, of the most various formations, transported there from the north by moving glaciers and floating icebergs, or washed to the spot by currents of water, as, according to all evidences, the entire country under consideration was deeply submerged at a time subsequent to the glacier period. This loose material covers the surface of the Lower Peninsula almost universally, often amounting to a thickness of 200 and 300 feet; it has likewise in the Upper Peninsula a large surface extent. " The drift soil is pre-eminently adapted to the growth of plants; its composition of a great variety of mineral substances furnishes an inexhaustible supply of the various mineral constituents necessary for vegetable life. We find sometimes limited areas covered with a light, rather sterile, sandy drift soil; in other places, a heavy but quite fertile clay soil occurs, but in most instances the drift soil in Michigan is composed of a mixture of clay with sand and gravel, which combines all the properties requisite for the production of a rich vegetation. It is easily tilled, sufficiently retentive of moisture in dry times, and porous enough in wet seasons to prevent the drowning of crops. "The southern portion of the Lower Peninsula, forty or fifty years ago an unbroken, desolate forest land, is now transformed into a mosaic work of carefully cultivated farms, interspersed with hundreds of opulent cities and villages; the land has become very valuable, and immigrants generally seek for cheaper homes than they can find there. The northern half of the Lower Peninsula is not inferior in fertility to the southern; it is only thinly populated, and much of the land is in its primitive forest condition. These forests are the great stores of pine lumber, which is exported from Michigan to all parts of the United States. The value of this timber has hitherto chiefly attracted the attention of wealthy, enterprising capitalists to these lands, which, by their peninsular position, are somewhat aside from the great highways to the West, and few immigrants have stopped there to look for homes, access to these districts beinig formerly rather difficult. Moreover, their reputation as heing pine lands has been, in the eyes of the ar;i,itfarist. a poor recommendation. for pine is generally believed t,) grow only in a sterile, sandy soil; this is true with exclusively pine forests, but these occupy only a small part of the dis'rict, ahnd the most valuable pine in Michigan grows scattered through the hard wood, which forms much the larger proportion of the forests, and is a sure indication of a good quality of soil. "Large tracts of this better class of land from which the pine trees have been cut, but on which the hard wood is left untouched, or of fertile lands cleared of their timber, lie idle, and can be bought at reasonably low prices from their present owners; there is also some Government land to be had yet, at the original price of $1.25 per acre. B 34 HISTORY OF THE PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN Thousands of industrious farmers could go there and lay the foundation of a home with very little expense of money. The difficulty of access to these lands is at present largely removed. as several railroad lines intersect that country. We see no reason why, in another period of forty or fifty years, this northern portion of the State should not fill up with as dense a population as the southern half has done within the same time; soil and climate are nearly the same, and other conditions are more favorable than ever. The first pioneers of the country had to go through all the hardships of frontier life; the settlers in the present day can begin their work in the very center of civilized society and participate in all its advantages. " Turning our eyes from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper, we find also here immense tracts of land covered with hardwood timber of unusually large size, which certainly also indicates a very rich soil. Only few, however, of the thinly scattered inhabitants of that country are found engaged in agricultural pursuits, but the few we met with doing so raised prolific crops of oats and sometimes also of wheat. Grass and potatoes are the best remunerating staple products of these farmers, and their smaller gardens with luxuriously growing peas, beans, turnips, cucumbers, cabbages, and even Indian corn and tomatoes, plainly demonstrate that the climate is not too severe for the culture of ail the ordinary farming products, and that even sometimes the Indian corn and tomatoes ripen there in well-protected positions." DROUGHTS AND ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCE. It is well known that wooded countries are not subject to the periodical droughts which visit regions where there are no trees. There are occasional periods of dry weather experienced here, usually occurring in the late summer or fall, which prove troublesome in localities where they are most severe, and sometimes injurious to crops. An instance of this happened in 1871, at the time of the great Chicago fire, when the entire Northwest suffered to a disastrous extent. In August and September of 1881, a like misfortune occurred, and the forest fires which ensued during the latter month in the counties lying between Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron involved a large loss of both life and property. The territory which suffered from this calamity was burned over in the fires of 1871, and the dead wood which Ires -lt.ed lay in the partial clearings as dry almost as tinder. rhe aridity of the later summer months of 1881 was pl7o.-, i..!Ial both in the United States and in many parts ii EI-ro),e. So far as the actual damage by drought was concerned, l cl higan was much less afflicted than some of the neighb Xibig States-far less than some of the more remote States. But the unusual and prolonged absence of rain gave fatal opportunity to the progress of the flames which had been care - lessly started by settlers who sought this method of clearing the dead timber and underbrush.from their farms, and the result was a calamity altogether without precedent in the history of the State, except in the similar disaster of ten years before. But the annual droughts which are so severely felt on the great plains and elsewhere are not known in Michigan. The numerous lakes and rivers which diversify the surface of the State largely mitigate the want of sufficient rainfall when that misfortune happens, and it is seldom that it is followed by more than a local inconvenience. Neither'is the State subject to devastating floods. The larger lakes do not overflow, and the spring freshets of the inland streams never reach the ruinous proportions that characterize more mountainous districts. High winds are not uncommon in Michigan, but the State has never been the victim of such fierce and extended " blizzards " and tornadoes as those which at intervals spread terror and destruction in the prairie country. Atmospheric disturbances are of only local and limited extent, are of infreqlu tnt occurrence, and seldom produce serious damage. The following comparative summaries for the month of July from 1873 to 1882 are placed on record to show to the people of the future what were the atmospheric conditions surrounding the inhabitants of the Upper Peninsula during the decade ending in 1882. The observations were made by the United States Signal officer of Marquette: COMPARATIVE SUMMARIES FOR TIIE MONTII OF JULY FROM 1873 TO 1882. Mean temperature1873 (degrees).............. 1874...................... 1875....................... 1876...................... 1877....................... Highest temperature1873....................... 1874....................... 1875....................... 1876....................... 1877....................... Lowest temperature1873....................... 1874...................... 1875....................... 1876....................... 1877....................... 63.0 1878....................... 70.8 65.7 1879....................... 68.3 (63.4 1880..................... 65 66.8 1881....................... 69 67.8 1882................... 62.9 87 93 88 98 93 47 43 43 44 50 1878.......................100 1879..................... 93 1880...................... 93 1881....................... 97 1882....................... 87 1878..................... 1879....................... 1880....................... 1881....................... 1882....................... 45 46 43 45 45 Amount of rainfall or melted snow1873 (inches)................ 6.70 1878....................1.78 1874.........................2.43 1879.................... 4.29 1875.......................76 io80.......................3.72 1876...................... 3.07 1881.......................1.11 1877........................5.59 1882........................2.76 J. GILLIGAN, U. S. Observer. SUMtMIARY FOR MONTH OF JULY, 1882. Mean barometer...........29.957 Highest baronmeter, on the 29th................. 30. 265 -L()w:vt barometer, on the l [li,................... 29.514 MN irn tempcrlp tulre........62.90 i. a J, t ' ' I t. * 3 X X,: i t a I peraturc,. i.. il....... Least daily raiin f t