one of the States of the American Union
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{{EB9 Margin Note|Plate II.}}
MICHIGAN, one of the States of the American Union,
situated in the region of the great lakes. It lies between
41° 42' and 47° 32' N. lat., and 82° 24' and 90° 31' W.
long., the centre of the State being 670 miles north of west
from New York, the nearest point on the seaboard. The
area is 58,915 square miles. The State consists of two
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natural divisions, known as the Upper and the Lower
Peninsula. The Upper or Northern Peninsula is bounded
on the N., E., and S. by Lakes Superior, Huron, and
Michigan, and on the W. by the river St Mary and the
State of Wisconsin. The Lower Peninsula is bounded on
the W., N., and E. by Lakes Michigan, Huron, St Clair,
and Erie, and the St Clair and Detroit rivers, and on the
S. by the States of Ohio and Indiana. The general contour
of the Lower Peninsula approaches that of a horse-shoe,
with an average width of about 200 miles from east to
west and a length of about 300 miles from north to south.
Its surface gradually rises in gentle undulations from the
surrounding lakes to an elevation of about 400 feet above
Lake Huron, no point reaching an altitude of more than
600 feet. The Upper Peninsula is much more rugged in
contour and surface, at some points reaching an elevation
of about 1100 feet. The territory was originally covered
with forests, with only here and there a small open prairie.
It abounds in fine inland lakes, with areas varying from
a few acres to several miles. The rivers are not large
enough to be navigable, but they afford ample water-power,
and are particularly valuable for floating down the logs of
the lumbering districts. The coast-line of the State is not
less than about 1600 miles in length; and along the whole
of this distance vessels of 2000 tons may pass without
losing sight of land.
''Geological Formation''.—The Lower Peninsula occupies
the central part of a great basin, the borders of which
extend to the east as far as London, Ontario, and to the
west as far as Madison, Wisconsin. Within these limits
the traveller starting in any direction from the centre of
the State encounters successively the outcropping edges
of older and older strata. The whole series has been
likened to a nest of wooden dishes; it embraces not
only the Laurentian and Huronian systems but also
the numerous groups that go to make up the Silurian,
the Devonian, the Carboniferous, and the Quaternary
systems. These several formations are covered almost
universally with a drift of finely comminuted and triturated
rock, borne thither by moving glaciers and floating
icebergs, or washed to its present position by currents
of water, while the surface was still submerged. This
loose material varies in thickness, sometimes extending to
a depth of 200 or 300 feet. While the lower formations
contain almost inexhaustible deposits of copper, iron,
gypsum, and salt, the surface soil is pre-eminently fertile,
uniting all the mineral constituents necessary for the most
luxuriant growth of plants. There are limited areas of
light and somewhat sterile drift soil; but even these
have shown themselves under proper treatment to be
capable of yielding a rich vegetation. For the most
part the drift soil is composed of a mixture of clay
with sand and gravel. It is easily cultivated, is retentive
of moisture, and is sufficiently porous to prevent the injury
of crops by excessive rains.
''Climate and Natural Products''.—The mean temperature
of Lansing, the capital of the State, as determined by
observations extending through eighteen years, is 46°.71
Fahr., or about the same as that of Berlin. During the
summer months the mean temperature is nearly the same as
that of Vienna; in the winter it is nearly that of Stockholm.
The annual rainfall during the eighteen years previous to
1882 was about 31 inches. This is very evenly distributed
throughout the year, though a little more than half the
amount falls in the five months from May to October.
The average snowfall in the centre of the State is about 4
feet, though it is seldom that more than 12 inches lie on the
ground at any one time. The winter temperature is much
modified by the open water of the adjacent lakes. The
severe winds are commonly from the west and north-west;
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but in sweeping across the open waters of Lake Michigan
they are so far softened as to make the climate much
milder than that found in the same latitude on the western
side of the lake. This peculiarity is specially favourable to
the growth of fruits. Peaches are grown successfully along
the 45th parallel, and figs thrive in the open air in lat. 42½°.
The modifying influence of the lake winds also gives great
variety to the flora. The predominant woods are oak, maple,
beech, elm, ash, cherry, hickory, walnut, basswood, and pine.
All these grow luxuriantly in the vast forests of the State,
and afford an abundant supply of the best timber. There are
165 species of trees and shrubs indigenous to Michigan;
and the entire flora of the State makes a list of 1634
species.
''Cereals and Fruits''.—The most important crop of Michigan
is wheat, and the average yield per acre, as shown by the
latest census, is greater than that of any other State in the
Union. The acres sown in 1879 were reported as 1,822,749,
and the amount produced as 35,532,543 bushels. These
figures show that Michigan is fourth in rank of the
wheat-producing States, the number of bushels grown being
exceeded by the crops of Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana. In
1879 the yield in bushels of the other principal cereals is
shown by the following figures:{{—}}Indian corn, 32,461,452;
oats, 18,190,793; barley, 1,204,316; rye, 294,918;
buckwheat, 413,062; clover seed, 313,063; pease, 538,332.
The crop of potatoes in the same year was 8,025,475
bushels, and the hay amounted to 1,051,115 tons. Of
the fruits grown in the State apples are the most important,
and these are believed to be unsurpassed in excellence in
any country in the world. The sales in 1880 were
4,834,936 bushels, a considerable quantity going to the
markets of Europe. Next in importance is the peach crop,
annually gathered from more than fifty of the counties of
the State. In 1880 the peach orchards were reported as
covering 12,908 acres, and the fruit sold as amounting to
413,418 bushels. The long coast-line of Lake Michigan
affords easy access to market even for the most perishable
fruits. Besides the facilities thus afforded, the railroads
that now thread the State, with an aggregate length in
March 1882 of 4332 miles, afford abundant means of
rapid transportation. As the fruit belt extends from north
to south more than 200 miles, the danger of disastrous
competition in the markets is obviated by prolongation of
the season of ripening. At the meeting of the State
Horticultural Society held in 1881 it was reported that
the average value of the peach crop per acre was above
$125. The ten volumes of the ''Transactions'' of the State
Horticultural Society published since its organization in
1870 show that the development of fruit culture within
the last decade has been much more rapid than in any
other State.
''Lumber''.—The timber produce in Michigan is of superior
quality, and the amount is so great that about two-thirds
of the best lumber sold in New York, Philadelphia, and
Boston go out from its mills. The logs are borne along
the lakes, rivers, and small watercourses to the booms of
mills situated at convenient points, where the lumber is
sawed and shipped for the different markets of the world.
Of these manufacturing districts those known as the
Saginaw, the Grand Eiver, and the Muskegon valleys are
the most important. The Saginaw receives the waters of
the Tittabawasse, the Cass, the Flint, the Shiawasse, the
Bad, the Pine, the Chippewa, the Tobacco, and their
numerous tributaries, draining a vast region that still yields
an undiminished supply of pine. The forests of the western
parts of the State are easily accessible by the Grand River
and its tributaries, while those still farther north find a
natural outlet through the numerous streams that flow into
Lake Michigan. On the banks of these watercourses are
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some of the largest and finest mills of the world. In 1854,
when the first effort was made to collect statistics of this
industry, it was found that there were only sixty-one mills
in operation, and that the entire annual product was only
108,000,000 feet. Eighteen years later, in 1872, it was
estimated that the annual product was not less than
2,560,000 feet of oak, 12,700,000 of staves, 300,000,000
lath, 400,000,000 shingles, and 2,500,000,000 of sawed
pine. The number of saw-mills had already reached about
1500, the number of persons employed 20,000, and the
capital represented $25,000,000. In 1881 the manufacture
of pine lumber amounted to 3,919,500,000 feet, the value
of which exceeded $60,000,000. The aggregate value of
the forest products of the State was estimated in 1881
to have reached more than $1,000,000,000. ''Forestry''
''Bulletin'', No. 6, issued December 1, 1881, estimated the
amount of standing white pine of merchantable quality at
35,000,000,000 feet, and the amount of standing hard
wood at 700,000,000 cords. Besides these amounts, the
same authority estimates the amount of hemlock at
7,000,000,000 feet, with 7,000,000 cords of bark, and an
aggregate of 70,000,000 of cedar and tamarack. It is
probable that before many years the hard wood produced
by the State will approach in value the figures representing
the value of the pine now sent to the markets of the world.
It is probable that Michigan for many years to come will
maintain its precedence as a lumber-producing State.
''Mineral Resources''.—Of the mineral products of Michigan
the most important is iron. As early as 1842 the report
of the first State geologist, Dr Douglas Houghton, called
attention to the presence of hæmatite ore, though for a
considerable time after this it was not found in such
quantities as to make it certain that mining could be made
profitable. Before 1860, however, it became known that
iron in the Upper Peninsula not only existed in vast
quantities, but also that it was of superior quality. From
that time iron-mines were rapidly developed, until in
1881 they had come to exceed in value, though not in
amount, even the products of Pennsylvania. In 1880
the product was 1,834,712 tons, with a value at the mines
of $6,034,648, as against the yield in Pennsylvania of
2,185,675 tons, with a value of $5,517,079. The product
of Michigan in 1882 was 2,948,307 tons of ore, with a
market value of about $25,000,000. The Michigan
minerals are of extraordinary richness,{{—}}62.9 per cent,
being the average of the first-class ores, while the furnace
books often show a much higher yield.
Next in importance to the iron-mines are those of copper.
These are also situated in the Northern Peninsula, in the
mountain range of trappean rocks which crown the point
of land extending northwards into Lake Superior. This
secondary peninsula or cape, known as Keweenaw Point,
rises to an average height of about 600 feet above the lake,
the highest pinnacles reaching nearly double that altitude.
This point contains what are believed to be the richest
copper-mines ever discovered; the metal is not found as
an ore, but as virgin copper almost chemically pure. It
has only to be separated from its rocky matrix, when it is
ready for the market. The largest of the copper-mines,
that at Calumet, has built up an industry which employs
2000 men, and its total product of refined copper in 1882
was no less than 50,770,719 ℔, or one-eighth of the
annual production of copper in the world. In quality the
copper of the Lake Superior district is such that it
commands the highest price at home and abroad. Its tenacity
is remarkable, and therefore it is eagerly sought after for
cartridges by all the great military powers. In 1882 the
copper-mines paid dividends amounting to $2,900,000,{{—}}making
an aggregate of $28,248,000 since they were
opened.
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Within a few years the salt-works of Michigan have also
come to exceed those of any other State in the Union.
The first well was sunk in 1859-60, but in 1882 the
production was found to have exceeded that of the famous
works in New York, and to have amounted in that year
to no less than 3,204,921 barrels. The extraordinary
development of this industry is due to several causes. A
careful system of inspection by State authority has kept
its salt unsurpassed in purity. The salt basin is not only
accessible by navigable waters, so as to have the advantage
of cheap transportation, but the wells are situated in the
great lumber-producing districts, and the manufacture is
thus carried on at very small expense, in connexion
with the saw-mills. The power is furnished by the same
engines, the exhausted steam is used for the evaporation
of brine during the day, and during the night evaporation
is still carried on by means of refuse wood and
sawdust, while the staves for barrels are made from rejected
timber. By this system the best quality of salt is obtained
at a minimum expense. The chief reservoir of salt is the
series of sandstones and shales constituting the Waverly
group. This salt-producing rock covers no less than about
8000 square miles, and it is safe to presume that the supply
is inexhaustible. The average depth of the wells is about
800 feet, but in some localities wells sunk to nearly 2000
feet have been remunerative. Important salt-works have
recently been developed in the western part of the State.
There are also certain other minerals of considerable
importance. Deposits of gypsum, easily accessible,
practically inexhaustible in quantity, and superior in quality,
are found in several localities both in the eastern and in
the western parts of the Lower Peninsula. In the outskirts
of Grand Rapids the deposit crops out at the surface, and at
an average depth of from 40 to 70 feet extends over an
area of 10 or 12 square miles. The rock is easily quarried,
and is either ground for use as a fertilizer or calcined into
plaster of Paris. The deposits of coal are supposed to
cover about 8000 square miles, but as yet the product
at any one point has not been very considerable. In
quality the coal is highly bituminous, and is not sufficiently
pure to be useful for smelting or for the manufacture of
gas. For these reasons the stock of coal in the State is
practically untouched. If future explorations and experiments
should make these deposits available, a new era in
the manufacture of iron will be the result. At present
the coal for smelting the Lake Superior ores is brought
chiefly from Ohio and Pennsylvania. Quarries of lime
stone and of sandstone have been opened in various parts
of the State. The brown stone of the Upper Peninsula is
of excellent quality, and is capable of receiving a high
finish. The supply is inexhaustible, and the accessibility
of the quarrie.; by water gives promise of a thriving
industry. The grindstones taken from the Huron county
quarries are of superior quality, and the slates found in
unlimited quantities on the shores of the Huron Bay are
unsurpassed in point of durability and colour. Clays and
sands of commercial value are found in great abundance.
Though the manufacture of glass is yet in its infancy,
sands in large quantities have been discovered in Monroe
county suitable for the manufacture of plate glass of excellent
quality. Brick and tile clays are found in all parts of
the State. Though native silver has been found in small
quantities in the Upper Peninsula, the systematic mining
of this metal has not yet been carried on with successful
results. The ''Report'' of the commissioner of mineral
statistics for 1882 shows that, except as to coal, Michigan
is the foremost of all the States in mineral wealth.
{{EB1911 Fine Print|''Fisheries''.—The geographical position of Michigan explains the
fact that its fresh-water fisheries are the most productive in the
United States. The most important varieties of fish are lake-trout,}}
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{{EB1911 Fine Print|sturgeon, bass, pickerel, herring, brook-trout, grayling, and white-fish.
General laws for the protection of fish have been passed; and
a fish commission has been maintained for some years for the
purpose of propagating the best varieties and planting them in
waters adapted to their natural development. Up to the close of
1880 the commissioners had planted about 80,000,000 young white-fish,
1,000,000 silver eels, 1,000,000 lake-trout, 2,000,000 salmon,
and 500,000 brook-trout, besides smaller numbers of shad, grayling,
pike, and bass. Excellent results have followed, especially in the
multiplication of white-fish, salmon, and eels. In 1879 the total
“take” was 24,013,100 ℔, of which 12,902,250 ℔ were white-fish,
the most valuable lake-fish known to epicures and to commerce.
During winter large quantities preserved by freezing are taken to
Eastern markets, where they are readily sold at a high price.
''Educational Institutions''.—As early as 1785 the law of congress
which provided for the sale of lands north of the Ohio river reserved
for the support of public schools “section 16” of each township.
This fundamental law devoted to educational purposes one-thirty-sixth
of all the lands of that vast domain known as the
north-western territory. The “ordinance of 1787,” by which this
territory was organized, further provided that “schools and the
means of education shall for ever be encouraged.” In 1826 this
congressional action was supplemented by a grant to Michigan of
two townships of land for the founding and support of a university.
When Michigan became a State in 1837, its educational policy took
definite form. The constitution provided, not only that the grant
of “section 16” should be devoted exclusively to the support of
schools of the primary grade, but also that the State and not each
township should be the custodian of the lands so appropriated.
The constitution expressly provided that the proceeds from the
sale of “school lands” should be held by the State as a perpetual
fund, the interest of which should be annually applied to the
support of primary schools. The lands devoted to school purposes in
Michigan under these provisions amounted to 1,077,209 acres, of
which, in September 1881, 675,000 acres had been sold. On the
sum realized by these sales, $3,095,679, the State pays interest at
7 per cent., and the resulting income, amounting to $216,645, is
annually distributed to the schools. This source is supplemented
from local taxes, so that in 1881 the total sum realized from all
sources for the primary schools was $3,644,778.
The schools organized under State law are known as graded and
ungraded. In the small districts where the schools are under the
charge of but one or two teachers, grading is impracticable. Of
ungraded districts there were in 1881 6120, attended by 219,570
children, while the graded schools were 404 in number, with an
attendance of 152,043. The school census includes all children
between the ages of five and twenty, amounting in 1881 to 518,317, of
whom there was an average attendance of 391,401. To all children
of school age the public schools are free, though a fee may be
required for advanced studies in the high schools. The immediate
administration of the schools is entrusted to school officers elected
annually by the tax-payers of the individual districts. The State
constitution requires that a free school shall be in session at least
three months of every year in each district. In districts of more
than 30 and less than 800 children, the law requires at least five
months of school; while in districts of more than 800 children,
the session must be not less than nine months in length. In the
graded schools the division is into primary schools, grammar schools,
and high schools, each of these divisions retaining the scholar
ordinarily four years. At the end of the course the student is ready
for the university, to which, under certain restrictions provided by
the university itself, he is admitted on diploma from the high
school. The university of Michigan, situated at Ann Arbor, was
first opened for instruction in 1841. It now (1883) consists of the
department of literature, science, and the arts, the department
of medicine, the department of law, the college of homœopathic
medicine, the school of pharmacy, the college of dental surgery,
and the school of political science. Connected with the medical
departments are the State hospitals. In 1881-82 there were 86
officers of instruction and 1534 students. The total income for the
year 1879-80 from Federal grant, State grants, and fees was
$231,339. The general control of the university is placed in the
hands of eight regents elected by popular suffrage at the biennial
spring elections, two regents being chosen at each election. The
normal school, situated at Ypsilanti, and generously supported by
the State, may be said to complete the school system.
''Charitable and Reformatory Institutions''.—A school for the deaf,
dumb, and blind, instituted under an Act passed in 1848, is situated
at Flint, about 60 miles north-west of Detroit; in February 1882 it
had 249 pupils. In 1879 a distinct school for the training of the
blind was established at Lansing. The “State public school for
dependent and neglected children” is devoted to the systematic
education of such children as otherwise would have to be maintained
in the county poorhouses. The pupils are divided into “families”
of about thirty each, and are cared for in separate cottages, each
cottage being under the charge of a “cottage manager.” The
school receives dependent children of sound health, and free from}}
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{{EB1911 Fine Print|contagious disease; and it is made the duty of the officers having
charge of the poor to send all such children between the ages of
three and twelve to it. This institution, the pioneer of its kind,
and one of the most useful of charitable schools, is situated at
Coldwater, 132 miles south-west of Detroit. In February 1882 there
were 320 children and 21 officers and teachers. The “Reform
School” at Lansing is designed to reclaim juvenile offenders who
have been convicted of some offence. A farm of 224 acres connected
with the school is, in considerable part, tilled by the boys. The
number of inmates in February of 1882 was 325. A similar school
at Adrian has recently been instituted for girls. There are State
asylums for the insane at Kalamazoo (715 patients) and Pontiac
(499 patients). The legislature of 1881 provided for the establishment
of an additional asylum in one of the northern counties of the
Lower Peninsula.
''Population''.—In 1837 the State had 174,647 inhabitants. The
numbers according to the different census returns from 1840 are
given in the following table:—}}
{|align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" rules="cols" border="1"
|align="center"| Census
|align="center"|Total.
|align="center"|Males.
|align="center"| Females.
|align="center"|Density per<br> Square Mile.
|-
|<hr>
|<hr>
|<hr>
|<hr>
|<hr>
|-
|align="center"|1840
|align="right"|212,267
|align="center"|113,788
|align="right"|98,479
|align="right"|3.77
|-
|align="center"|1850
|align="right"|397,654
|align="center"|209,897
|align="right"|187,757
|align="right"|7.07
|-
|align="center"|1860
|align="right"|749,113
|align="center"|394,694
|align="right"|354,419
|align="right"|12.11
|-
|align="center"|1870
|align="right"|1,184,059
|align="center"|617,745
|align="right"|566,314
|align="right"|20.01
|-
|align="center"|1880
|align="right"| 1,636,937
|align="center"| 862,678
|align="right"|774,259
|align="right"|27.80
|}
{{EB1911 Fine Print|At the last census 388,508 of the inhabitants were of foreign birth,
97,346 being natives of the United Kingdom, 89,085 Germans, and
16,445 Scandinavians. In point of population the State, which
was twenty-third in 1840, now stands ninth in the Union.
The following are the principal cities in the State, with
population at the census of 1880:{{—}}Detroit, 116,340; Grand Rapids City,
32,016; Bay City, 20,693; East Saginaw City, 19,016; Jackson
City, 16,105; Muskegon City, 11,262; Saginaw City, 10,525; Port
Huron, 8883; Flint City, 8410; Lansing (the State capital),
8319; Ann Arbor, 8061; Adrian City, 7849; Battle Creek, 7063;
Manistee, 6930; West Bay City, 6397; Alpena City, 6153;
Ishpeming, 6039.
''History and Government''.—The State of Michigan is part of the
territory that was first settled by the French, and until the fall of
Canada into the hands of the British after the middle of the 18th
century was under the government of New France. The territory
was explored by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century; but,
although it was known at an early period that the lands were
of exceptional excellence, very little progress was made in developing
the resources of the territory until after the completion of
the first half-century of the American Union. The surveyors
employed bv the general government to inspect the lands and
report as to their fitness for settlement by the soldiers of the war
of 1812 appear to have derived their impressions almost exclusively
from the low lands in the south-eastern corner of the territory. The
report, accordingly, was not favourable; and consequently the tide
of immigration that had already begun to set in flowed steadily
past Michigan into the territories farther west. It was largely for
this reason that the early development of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,
and Wisconsin was somewhat more rapid than that of Michigan.
But gradually the false impressions concerning the soil and climate
were dispelled; and within the past few years the increase of the
population and the growth of wealth have been very rapid.
In 1851 the valuation of the State for purposes of taxation (which
excludes much valuable property) was $30,976,270; in 1861,
$172,055,808; in 1871, $630,000,000; at 1881, $810,000,000.
The State constitution, adopted in 1837 at the time of admission
to the Union, has been modified in some minor particulars; but in
most respects it remains unchanged. The governor is elected for
two years, with no restriction as to re-election. The legislature
meets biennially in the first week of January, and usually continues
in session till May. The supreme court consists of four judges
chosen by popular vote for terms of eight years, one being elected
every second year. Judges hove been so frequently re-elected that
the office may be said to be practically a permanent one, with a
provision for termination in case of need. The State is divided into
twenty-two judicial districts, in each of which a circuit court sits for
the trial of causes of original jurisdiction, and of causes appealed
from the justice courts. The judges of the circuit courts are also
elected by popular suffrage. On political questions voting is open
to all naturalized citizens of the male sex more than twenty-one
years of age unless prevented by some natural disqualification. At
school meetings the right of suffrage is extended so as to include
tax-payers of either sex.
{{EB1911 Fine Print|''Authorities''.—Frederick Morley, ''Michigan and its Resources'', compiled under
authority of the State, 2d ed., Detroit, 1882; ''Walling's Atlas of Michigan,''
''with an Account of the Topography, Climate, and Geology of the State'', by Alex.
Winchell, LL.D.; James V. Campbell, ''Outlines of the Political History of''
''Michigan''; ''Reports of the Secretary of the State Pomological Society of Michigan''
''from'' 1871 to 1880; ''Report of the Commissioner of Education for'' 1880; ''Forty-fifth''}}}}
<!-- p. 241 -->
{{EB1911 Fine Print|{{EB1911 Fine Print|''Annual Report of tht Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Michigan''
''for the year'' 1881; ''Reports of the Geological Surrey of the State of Michigan,''
1869-80, 4 vols.; ''Special Report of Commissioner of Mineral Statistics'', March
1883; ''Forestry Bulletins'' for 1881. ([[Author:C. K. Adams|C. K. A.]])}}}}
{|align="center" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
|align="left" valign="bottom"|''VOL. XVI.''
|align="center"|{{fsx|120%|MICHIGAN}}
|align="right" valign="bottom"|''PLATE II.''
|-
|colspan="3"|[[Image:EB9 Michigan.jpg|600px]]
|-
|colspan="3" align="right"|{{smaller|W. & A. K. Johnston Edinburgh}}
|-
|colspan="3" align="center"|ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION
|}