MICHIGAN.

THE discovery and early settlement of Michigan is due to the French whose motives were the prosecution of the fur trade, and, incidentally, the

conversion of the Indians. To promote the latter object, Father Sagard reached Lake Huron in 1632, seven years after the founding of Quebec, but the present site of the city of. Detroit appears to have been visited somewhat earlier. The tract of territory now embraced in the state of Michigan, derives its name, it is said, from the Indian word, Michi-sawg-yegan, the meaning of which, in the Algonquin tongue, is, the Lake Country.

The Huron tribe of Indians were the aboriginal inhabitants of Michigan. They were anciently very numerous, brave and powerful, and their settlements extended as far north as Lake Superior. As early as 1634, the French Catholic missionaries founded a mission near Lake Huron,

and in 1660, a station was established on the rocky and pine clad borders of Lake Superior. In 1668, the Mission at St. Marys Falls was founded, and in 1671, Father Marquette gathered a little flock of Indian converts at Point St. Ignatius, on the main land, north of the island of Mackinaw. The great body of the Hurons were converted to the profession of Christianity by the efforts of the missionaries. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, made war upon them, and massacred or dispersed most of their number.

In 1667, Louis XIV sent a party of soldiers to this territory, to protect the French fur traders. In 1701, a French colony left Montreal, and begun the settlement of Detroit, which was a place of resort of the French missionaries at a much earlier period. Having established military posts at this and other places in Michigan, they soon extended their commerce westward of Lake Michigan, to the Indians on the Mississippi. They were steadily opposed by the Iroquois, and the settlements being somewhat neglected by

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the French government, they never flourished as colonies. At the peace of 1763, all the French possessions in North America came under the dominion of Great Britain. On the expulsion of the French, the celebrated Indian chief, Pontiac, seized the occasion to rid the country of the hated whites, by a general uprising, and simultaneous attacks on all the forts of the English on the lakes. Mackinaw was taken by stratagem, and the garrison butchered. Detroit was besieged some months, by Pontiac, with 600 Indians, but it held out until the Indian allies, becoming weary of the siege, retired, and left Pontiac no choice but to make peace. At the termination of the revolutionary war, by the peace of 1783, Michigan, being included in the Northwest Territory, was ceded to the United States; the British, however, did not surrender the post of Detroit until 1796.

Soon after the treaty of Greenville, by Wayne, with the Indians, which was made in 1795, the settlements upon the Maumee (now wholly included in Ohio), upon the Raisin and Detroit Rivers, were organized under the name of Wayne county, and Detroit was the seat of justice. In 1796, the whole of the North-west Territory was organized into five extensive counties, of which Wayne, as described above, was one. The others, with their location, were as follows: "Washington county comprised all that portion of the present state of Ohio within forty miles of the Ohio River, and between the Muskingum and the Little Miami; Marietta was the seat of justice. Hamilton county comprised all that region of country between the Little and the Great Miami, within the same distance of the Ohio River; and Cincinnati was the county seat. Knox county embraced the country near the Ohio River, between the Great Miami and the Wabash Rivers; and Vincennes was the county seat. St. Clair county embraced the settlements upon the Illinois and upon the Kaskaskia Rivers, as well as those upon the Upper Mississippi; and Kaskaskia was the seat of justice."

In 1805, the territory of Michigan was organized, and Gen. Wm. Hull appointed governor; Detroit was the seat of government. The census of 1820 gave it an aggregate population of only 8,900. This included the Huron District, on the west side of Lake Michigan, now known as the state of Wisconsin. “About the year 1832, the tide of emigration began to set strong toward Michigan Territory. Steamboat navigation had opened a new commerce upon the lakes, and had connected the eastern lakes and their pop ulation with the Illinois and Upper Mississippi. This immense lake navigation encircled the peninsula of Michigan. It became an object of exploration. Its unrivaled advantages for navigation, its immense tracts of the most fertile arable lands, adapted to the cultivation of all the northern grains and grasses, attracted the attention of western emigrants. The tide soon began to set strong into Michigan. Its fine level and rolling plains, its deep and enduring soil, and its immense advantages for trade and commerce had become known and duly appreciated. The hundreds of canoes, pirogues, and barges, with their half-civilized couriers du bois, which had annually visited Detroit for more than a century, had given way to large and splendid steamboats, which daily traversed the lakes from Buffalo to Chicago, from the east end of Lake Erie to the south-western extremity of Lake Michigan. Nearly a hundred sail of sloops and schooners were now traversing every part of these inland seas. Under these circumstances, how should Michigan remain a savage wilderness? New York state and the New England states began to send forth their numerous colonies, and the wilderness to smile.

At the end of two years more, or in 1834, the population of Michigan had

increased to 87,273 souls, exclusive of Indians. The following year the number amounted to more than ninety thousand persons, distributed over thirty-eight counties, comprised in the southern half of the peninsula, and the attached Huron, or Wisconsin District,' lying west of Lake Michigan. The town of Detroit, which in 1812 was a stockade village, had now become 'a city,' with nearly 2,500 inhabitants.

The humble villages and wigwams of the Indians, sparsely distributed over a wide extent of wilderness, had now given way to thousands of farms and civilized habitations. Towns and smiling villages usurped the encampment and the battle-field. The fertile banks of the 'River Raisin' were crowned with hamlets and towns instead of the melancholy stockade. A constitution had been adopted on the 15th of June, 1836, and the 'state of Michigan' was admitted into the Union on the 26th day of January, 1837, and Stephens T. Mason was made the first governor.'

In the war of 1812, the important fortress of Mackinaw, being garrisoned by only 57 men, under Lieut. Hanks, was surrendered to a party of British and Indians on July 17, 1812. On the 15th of August, Gen. Brock, with a force of 1,300 men, of whom 700 were Indians, summoned Gen. Hull to surrender Detroit, stating that he would be unable to control the Indians if any resistance should be offered. Although Hull had a force of 800 men, he supposed it would be useless to resist, and, to the astonishment of all, he surrendered the fort, and, in the capitulation, included the whole territory of Michigan. The indignation was great against him, and after he was exchanged, he was tried by a court martial, sentenced to death, but on account of his age and services in the Revolution, the president remitted the punishment, but deprived him of all military command. In Jan., 1813, Gen. Winchester, who was encamped at Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, was surprised by a force of British and Indians, under Gen. Proctor. After a severe contest, Gen. Winchester surrendered, under the promise of being protected from the Indians. The promise was broken: a large number of prisoners, mostly those who were wounded, were murdered by the Indians. The celebrated naval victory of Perry occurred on the waters of Lake Erie, only a few miles from her shores, and the victory of the Thames, in which the British and Indians were defeated by Harrison, and in which Tecumseh was slain, took place only a short distance from Detroit, within the adjacent Canadian territory. A brief outline of these events we present below:

"Perry's Victory.-The grand object of the Americans in the campaign of 1813, in the west, was to attack Malden and reconquer Michigan from the enemy; but this could not be effectually done, so long as the fleet of the enemy held possession of Lake Erie. To further the desired object, a number of vessels had been building at Erie, on the south-east shore of the lake, and were finished early in August. They consisted of two twenty gun vessels, and seven smaller vessels, carrying from one to three each-the whole fleet numbering fifty-four guns. On the 10th of Sep tember, Perry fell in with, and gave_battle to, the British fleet near the western end of the lake, under Commodore Barclay, consisting of six vessels, carrying in all sixty-four guns. The number of guns in both fleets, in some cases, is surpassed by those of a single battle-ship of the line. The engagement between these little fleets was desperate, and lasted three hours. Never was victory more complete; every British ship struck her colors, and the Americans took more prisoners than they themselves numbered men.

Gen. Harrison, at this time, lay with the main body of the Americans in the vicinity of Sandusky Bay and Fort Meigs; the British and their Indian allies, under Proctor and Tecumseh, were at Malden, ready, in case of a successful issue, to renew their ravages upon the American borders.

Battle of the Thames.-Harrison's army had received a reinforcement of 3,000 Kentucky volunteers, under Gov. Shelby. On the 27th of September, the main body of the army sailed for Detroit River, intending to enter Canada by the valley of the Thames. Two days after, Harrison was at Sandwich, and M'Arthur took possession of Detroit. Proctor retreated up the Thames, was pursued, and come up with on the 5th of October, by Harrison's army; the Americans numbering something over 3,000, and their enemy about 2,000. The latter were badly posted in order of battle. Their infantry was formed in two lines, extending from the river to a small dividing swamp; the Indians extended from the latter to a larger swamp. The Kentucky mounted men, under Col. Richard M. Johnson, divided into two parts. The one under the colonel in person, charged the Indians; the other under his brother James, charged the infantry. The latter received the enemy's fire, broke through their ranks, and created such a panic, that they at once surrendered. Upon the left, the contest with the Indians was more severe; but there the impetuosity of the Kentuckians overcame the enemy, Tecumseh, their leader, being among the slain. The battle was over in half an hour, with a loss to both armies of less than fifty killed. Proctor fled at the beginning of the action. In January, 1814, the enemy again took a position near the battle-field of the Thames. Capt. Holmes, while advancing to meet them, learned that a superior force was approaching. Having posted himself on a hill, and thrown up intrenchments, he was vigorously attacked, but repulsed the enemy with considerable loss. Attack on Mackinaw. In the June following, Col. Croghan attempted to take the island of Mackinaw, but his force being insufficient, he was repelled with the loss of twelve men, among whom was Major Holmes.

M' Arthur's Expedition.-The last movement of consequence in the north-west, during the war, was the expedition of Gen. M'Arthur. He left Detroit on the 26th of October, with seven hundred cavalry, intending to move to the relief of Gen. Brown, who was besieged by the enemy at Fort Erie, on the Niagara River, opposite Buffalo. When he had proceeded about two hundred and fifty miles, he ascertained that the enemy were too strong in front, and he changed his course, defeated a body of opposing militia, destroyed several mills, and returned to Detroit, without the loss of a man, although pursued by about 1,200 regular troops."

"The history of Michigan," says Lanman, "exhibits three distinct and strongly marked epochs. The first may properly be denominated the romantic, which extends to the year 1760, when its dominion was transferred from France to Great Britain. This was the period when the first beams of civilization had scarcely penetrated its forests, and the paddles of the French fur traders swept the lakes, and the boat songs of the traders awakened tribes a wild as the wolves which howl around the wigwams. The second epoch is the military, commencing with the Pontiac war; and, running down through the successive struggles of the British, the Indians and the Americans, to obtain the dominion of the country, it ends with the victory of Commodore Perry, defeat of Proctor, and the death of Tecumseh, the leader of the Anglosavage confederacy upon the banks of the Thames. The third epoch is the enterprising, the hardy, the practical, the working age of Michigan, and it commences with the introduction of the public lands into market. It is the age of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; of harbors, cities, canals, and railroads."

Michigan consists of two peninsulas, lying between latitudes 41° 45′ and 48° N., and between longitudes 82° 25′ and 90° 34" W. from Greenwich. It is bounded N., N. E. and E., by Canada, from which it is separated by Lake Superior, the Sault St. Marie, Lake Huron, the Strait and Lake St. Clair, Detroit Strait and Lake Erie; on the S. by the states of Ohio and Indiana; and on the W. by Lake Michigan and the state of Wisconsin. The total land surface comprises an area of more than 56,000 square miles, and the area of waters within the constitutional limits of the state, is computed

at 36,324 square miles. The lake coast of Michigan is more than 1,400 miles long. The Southern Peninsula, or Michigan proper, comprises nearly two thirds of the land surface of the state. The Northern Peninsula has Lake Superior on the north, and Lake Huron and Lake Michigan on the south. It is about 220 miles from S. E. to N. W., and about 120 miles in its greatest width. The Southern Peninsula, about 283 miles from N. to S., and 200 from E. to W. in its broadest part.

The Southern Peninsula of Michigan may be considered, generally, as one vast undulating plain, seldom becoming rough or broken. There are occasional conical elevations from 150 to 200 feet in hight, but generally much less. The shores of Lake Huron are often steep, forming bluffs; while those of Lake Michigan are coasted by shifting sand hills of from 100 to 200 feet in hight. The central part of the peninsula may be regarded as a fertile table land, elevated about 300 feet above the level the great lakes. To the traveler, the country presents an appearance picturesque and delightful. Through a considerable part, it is so even and free from brush as to permit carriages to be driven through with considerable facility. The lowering forest and grove, the luxuriant prairie, the numerous crystal lakes and limpid rivulets, are so frequently and happily blended together, especially in the southern section, as to render this country one of the most beautiful in the Union.

The part of the Southern Peninsula generally known to travelers, and containing seven eighths of the population and productive industry of the state, stretches north 100 miles or so, from the north line of Indiana, reaching from Toledo on the east to within some 50 miles of Chicago on the west, embracing some 20,000 square miles of mainly arable land, having the average climate of New York, or Connecticut and Rhode Island, with about the area of Vermont and New Hampshire combined.

The Northern Peninsula exhibits a striking contrast to the Southern. While the latter is level or moderately undulating and quite fertile, the former (sometimes called the Siberia of Michigan) is rugged, mountainous, and to a considerable extent, sterile in soil. The shores of Lake Superior are composed of a sandstone rock, which, in many places, is worn by the action of the winds and waves into fancied resemblances of castles, etc., forming the celebrated "Pictured Rocks;" while the shores of Lake Michigan are composed of a limestone rock.

The Northern Peninsula is primitive in formation, but rich in mineral wealth. Here are the richest copper mines in the world. A block of almost pure copper, weighing over a tun, and bearing the arms of the state rests imbedded in the walls of the national monument at Washington.

Michigan has not advanced with equal rapidity to the prairie states; but she has enduring elements of solid wealth, which, in time, will render her among the most prosperous. Among these are her vast forests of valuable timber, her inexhaustible quarries of the finest of gypsum, her extensive fisheries; her recently discovered salt springs, and deposits of coal, and of copper and iron ore, a climate rendered equable and healthy by the vast bodies of water which nearly surround her, together with a soil that pays fairly the labors of the husbandman. A popular journalist gives us some substantial thoughts upon this subject. He says:

At first view, Michigan would seem far less inviting to farmers in quest of a location, than her more western sisters, and accordingly her growth has, for the last 20 years, been far slower than theirs. Her soil is, in the average, not nearly so ich as that of the prairies, and is generally covered with heavy timber, while