Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Michigan

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

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.&mdash;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.&mdash;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;

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.&mdash;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.&mdash;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

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.&mdash;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 &#x2114;, 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.

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.