Part 12 (1/2)
_Chief Towns._--Wheeling is the princ.i.p.al commercial town, and a great thoroughfare, in Western Virginia. It has a large number of stores, and commission warehouses; and contains six or eight thousand inhabitants.
It is 92 miles by water, and 55 miles by land, from Pittsburg. It has manufactures of cotton, gla.s.s, and earthenware. Boats are built here.
The c.u.mberland or National road crosses the Ohio at this place, over which a bridge is about to be erected. The town is surrounded with bold, precipitous hills, which contain inexhaustible quant.i.ties of coal. At extreme low water, steamboats ascend no higher than Wheeling.
Charlestown, Wellsburgh, Parkersburgh, Point Pleasant, Clarksburgh, Abington, Louisburg, and many others, are pleasant and thriving towns.
The climate of Western Virginia is preeminently salubrious. The people, in their manners, have considerable resemblance to those of Western Pennsylvania. There are fewer slaves, less wealth, more industry and equality, than in the ”Old Dominion,” as Eastern Virginia is sometimes called.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] See ”Mitch.e.l.l's Compendium of the Internal Improvements in the United States,” where much valuable information of the rail-roads and ca.n.a.ls of the United States is found in a small s.p.a.ce.
[9] I have adopted the orthography of the legislature.
CHAPTER VIII.
MICHIGAN.
Extent,--Situation,--Boundaries;----Face of the Country; Rivers, Lakes, &c., Soil and Productions;--Subdivisions, Counties;--Towns, Detroit;--Education;--Improvements projected;--Boundary Dispute;--Outline of the Const.i.tution.
Michigan is a large triangular peninsula, surrounded on the east, north and west, by lakes, and on the south by the States of Ohio and Indiana.
Lake Erie, Detroit river, lake St. Clair, and St. Clair river, lie on the east for 140 miles; lake Huron on the north-east and north, the straits of Mackinaw on the extreme north-west, and lake Michigan on its western side. Its area is about 40,000 square miles.
_Face of the Country._--Its general surface is level, having no mountains, and no very elevated hills. Still, much of its surface is undulating, like the swelling of the ocean. Along the sh.o.r.e of lake Huron, in some places, are high, precipitous bluffs, and along the eastern sh.o.r.e of Michigan are hills of pure sand, blown up by the winds from the lake. Much of the country bordering on lakes Erie, Huron, and St. Clair, is level,--somewhat deficient in good water, and for the most part heavily timbered. The interior is more undulating, in some places rather hilly, with much fine timber, interspersed with oak ”openings,”
”plains,” and ”prairies.”
The ”_plains_” are usually timbered, dest.i.tute of undergrowth, and are beautiful. The soil is rather gravelly. The ”_openings_” contain scattering timber in groves and patches, and resemble those tracts called _barrens_ farther south. There is generally timber enough for farming purposes, if used with economy, while it costs but little labor to clear the land. For the first ploughing, a strong team of four or five yoke of oxen is required, as is the case with prairie.
The _openings_ produce good wheat.
The ”_prairies_,” will be described more particularly under the head of Illinois. In Michigan they are divided into wet and dry. The former possess a rich soil, from one to four feet deep, and produce abundantly all kinds of crops common to 42 degrees of N. lat.i.tude, especially those on St. Joseph river. The latter afford early pasturage for emigrants, hay to winter his stock, and with a little labor would be converted into excellent artificial meadows. Much of the land that now appears wet and marshy will in time be drained, and be the first rate soil for farming.
A few miles back of Detroit is a flat, wet country for considerable extent, much of it heavily timbered,--the streams muddy and sluggish,--some wet prairies,--with dry, sandy ridges intervening. The timber consists of all the varieties found in the Western States; such as oaks of various species, walnut, hickory, maple, poplar, ash, beech, &c., with an intermixture of white and yellow pine.
_Rivers and Lakes._--In general, the country abounds with rivers and small streams. They rise in the interior, and flow in every direction to the lakes which surround it. The northern tributaries of the Maumee rise in Michigan, though the main stream is in Ohio, and it enters the west end of lake Erie on the ”debatable land.” Proceeding up the lake, Raisin and then Huron occur. Both are navigable streams, and their head waters interlock with Grand river, or Washtenong, which flows into lake Michigan. River Rouge enters Detroit river, a few miles below the city of Detroit. Raisin rises in the county of Lenawee, and pa.s.ses through Monroe. Huron originates amongst the lakes of Livingston, pa.s.ses through Washtenaw, and a corner of Wayne, and enters lake Erie towards its north-western corner. Above Detroit is river Clinton, which heads in Oakland county, pa.s.ses through Macomb, and enters lake St. Clair.
Pa.s.sing by several smaller streams, as Belle, Pine, and Black rivers, which fall into St. Clair river, and going over an immense tract of swampy, wet country, between lake Huron and Saginaw bay, in Sanilac county, we come to the Saginaw river. This stream is formed by the junction of the t.i.ttibawa.s.see, Hare, s.h.i.+awa.s.see, Flint, and Ca.s.s rivers, all of which unite in the centre of Saginaw county, and form the Saginaw river, which runs north, and enters the bay of the same name. The t.i.ttibawa.s.see rises in the country west of Saginaw bay, runs first a south, and then a south-eastern course, through Midland county into Saginaw county, to its junction. Pine river is a branch of this stream, that heads in the western part of Gratiot county, and runs north-east into Midland. Hare, the original name of which is Waposebee, commences in Gratiot, and the N. W. corner of s.h.i.+awa.s.see counties, and runs an east and north-east course. The heads of the s.h.i.+awa.s.see, which is the main fork of the Saginaw, are found in the counties of Livingston and Oakland. Its course is northward. Flint river rises in the south part of Lapeer county, and runs a north-western course, some distance past the centre of the county, when it suddenly wheels to the south, then to the west, and enters Genesee county, through which it pursues a devious course towards its destination. Ca.s.s river rises in Sanilac county, and runs a western course. These rivers are formed of innumerable branches, and water an extensive district of country. Other smaller streams enter lake Huron, above Saginaw bay; but the whole country across to lake Michigan is yet a wilderness, and possessed by the Indians. Doubtless it will soon be purchased, surveyed and settled. On the western side of the State are Traverse, Ottawa, Betsey, Manistic, Pent, White, Maskegon, Grand, Kekalamazoo, and St. Joseph, all of which fall into lake Michigan. Those above Grand river are beyond the settled portion of the State. Grand river is the largest in Michigan, being 270 miles in length, its windings included. Its head waters interlock with the Pine, Hare, s.h.i.+awa.s.see, Huron, Raisin, St. Joseph and Kekalamazoo. A ca.n.a.l project is already in agitation to connect it with the Huron, and open a water communication from lake Erie, across the peninsula, direct to lake Michigan. Grand river is now navigable for batteaux, 240 miles, and receives in its course, Portage, Red-Cedar, Looking-gla.s.s, Maple, Muscota, Flat, Thorn-Apple, and Rouge rivers, besides smaller streams.
It enters lake Michigan 245 miles south-westerly from Mackinaw, and 75 north of St. Joseph;--is between 50 and 60 rods wide at its mouth, with 8 feet water over its bar. The Ottawa Indians own the country on its north side, for 60 miles up. Much of the land on Grand river and its tributaries, is excellent, consisting of six or seven thousand square miles;--and, considering its central position in the State,--the general fertility of its soil,--the good harbor at its mouth,--the numerous mill sites on its tributaries,--this region may be regarded as one of the most interesting portions of Michigan. The Kekalamazoo rises in Jackson and Eaton counties, pa.s.ses through Calhoun, and the northern part of Kalamazoo, enters the south-eastern part of Allegan, and pa.s.ses diagonally through it to the lake. There is much first-rate land, timber, prairie, and openings, on its waters, and is rapidly settling.
The St. Joseph country is represented by some as the best country in Michigan. This stream has several heads in Branch, Hillsdale, Jackson, Calhoun, and Kalamazoo counties, which unite in St. Joseph county, through which it pa.s.ses diagonally to the south-west, into Indiana,--thence through a corner of Elkhart county, into St. Joseph of that State, makes the ”South Bend,” and then runs north-westerly, into Michigan, through Berrian county, to the lake. The town of St. Joseph is at its mouth. It has Pigeon, Prairie, Hog, Portage, Christianna, Dowagiake, and Crooked rivers for tributaries, all of which afford good mill sites. In Ca.s.s and St. Joseph counties, are Four-mile, Beardsley, Townsend, McKenny, La Grange, Pokagon, Young, Sturges, Notta-wa-Sepee, and White Pigeon prairies, which are rich tracts of country, and fast filling up with inhabitants.
Michigan abounds with small lakes and ponds. Some have marshy and unhealthy borders;--others are transparent fountains, surrounded with beautiful groves, an undulating country, pebbly and sandy sh.o.r.es, and teeming with excellent fish. The counties of Oakland, Livingston, Washtenaw, Jackson, Barry, and Kalamazoo, are indented with them.
_Productions._--These are the same, in general, as those of Ohio and New York. Corn and wheat grow luxuriantly here. Rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, potatoes, and all the garden vegetables common to the climate, grow well. All the species of gra.s.ses are produced luxuriantly.
Apples and other fruit abound in the older settlements, especially among the French about Detroit.
It will be a great fruit country.
_Subdivisions._--Michigan had been divided into 33 counties in 1835, some of which were attached to adjacent counties for judicial purposes.
Other counties may have been formed since. The following organized counties show the population of the State, (then Territory,) at the close of 1834.
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_Dist. from COUNTIES. _Population._
SEATS OF JUSTICE. Detroit._ ---------------------------------+--------------------------------- Berrian, 1,787
Berrian, 180 Branch, 764
Branch, 133 Calhoun, 1,714
Eckford, 100 Ca.s.s, 3,280
Ca.s.sopolis, 160 Jackson, 1,865
Jacksonsburgh, 77 Kalamazoo, 3,124