Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/524

 506 MICHIGAN MICHIGAN (LAKE) and the Americans did not take possession of Detroit till 1796. At first it was included in the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio, and hence has always been amena- ble to the ordinance of 1787. Subsequently it formed part of the territory of Indiana. In 1805 the territory of Michigan was constituted, Gen. William Hull being its first governor. During the war of 1812-15 it was exposed to great suffering. Detroit was taken by the British in August, 1812, under circumstances which led to Gen. Hull, the American com- mander, being sentenced to death by a court martial ; the sentence was remitted, and facts afterward divulged materially relieved him from blame. Michilimackinac was also captured, and at Frenchtown in January, 1813, a number of American prisoners were massacred by the Indians. The British were soon afterward driven out of the territory by Gen. Harrison; and in October, 1814, a truce was concluded with the Indians. The first land surveys entered upon were commenced in 1816, and in 1818 the lands were brought into market for public sale. From this period the prosperity of Michigan properly dates. In 1819 the territory was au- thorized by act of congress to send a delegate to that body, and the right of suffrage in this case extended to all taxable citizens. In 1 81 9, 1 82 1 , and 1836 the Indians made important territo- rial cessions, and by this time all the lower peninsula and a part of the upper were freed from Indian title. In 1836 Wisconsin territory was formed from the W. portion of Michigan. This region had been annexed to the original territory of Michigan partly in 1818 and partly in 1834. Up to 1823 the legislative power was intrusted to the governor and judges ; but in that year congress passed an act transferring it to a council, consisting of 9 persons selected by the president from 18 chosen by the citi- zens, and the judicial term was limited to four years. In 1825 the council was increased to 13 members selected as before, but two years later the law was so altered that the electors could choose their councillors without the further intervention of the president or congress. In .May, 1835, a convention at Detroit formed a constitution by which Michigan claimed a strip of territory also claimed by Ohio. For a time a conflict seemed inevitable, but in June, 1836, congress passed an act admitting Michigan into the Union on condition that she relinquished her claim to the disputed territory, in place of which the region known as "the upper penin- sula " was given to her. These conditions were rejected by one convention, but accepted by another in December, 1836; and in January, 1837, Michigan was admitted into the Union. By a legislative act of March 16, 1847, the seat of government was removed from Detroit to Lansing. In 1 850 a new constitution was adopt- ed, which with subsequent amendments con- tinues in force. The number of men furnished by Michigan to the Union armies during the civil war was 90,747. The number of those that fell in battle or died of wounds or of dis- ease in the service was 14,823, of whom 357 were commissioned officers. The payments by the state for bounties, premiums for recruits, and other war purposes amounted to $2,784,- 408 ; by counties, cities, and townships for the same purposes, $10,173,336 79 ; by counties for relief of soldiers' families, $3,591,248 12; total, $16,548,992 91. See "Michigan Geo- logical Survey," by Douglass Houghton (1st- 4th annual reports, Detroit, 1838--'41) ; and " Geological Survey of Michigan : Upper Pen- insula, 1869-'73," by T. B. Brooks, Raphael Pumpelly, and Dr. C. Rominger (2 vols., with an atlas, New York, 1873). MICHIGAN, Lake, one of the five great lakes of the United States, and the only one which is entirely included in these states. It lies in a N. and S. direction, extending from the N. W, corner of Indiana and the N. part of Illinois about 320 m. to Mackinaw, where it communi- cates with Lake Huron by a strait 4 m. wide in its narrowest part. The lake is bounded E. by the lower peninsula of Michigan. The upper peninsula bounds it N. W. In this portion is Green bay, which extends S. into Wisconsin ; this state and Illinois complete the western boundary of the lake. The following are its dimensions as given by Dr. Douglass Hough- ton : length, 320 m. ; mean breadth, 70 m. ; mean depth, 1,000 ft. ; elevation above the sea level, 578 ft. ; area, 22,400 sq. m., exceeding the area of Lake Huron by nearly 2,000 sq. m. The country around Lake Michigan is for the most part low and sandy ; on the E. side par- ticularly the sands thrown up by the waves are blown inland and form hills, which sometimes are 150 ft. high. The rocks are the limestones and sandstones of the sub-carboniferous groups, lying in horizontal strata, and never rising into bold cliffs. On the Michigan side they belong chiefly to the Portage and Chemung groups, and on the Illinois side to the Helderberg lime- stone. Along the southern shores are post- tertiary beds of clay and sand lying a few feet above the level of the lake, and containing fresh-water shells like those living in its waters. This fact and the low watershed that separates the lake from the valley of the Illinois river, together with the great capacity of this valley, which appears as if worn by a mighty river, render it probable that the waters of Lake Michigan at some period found their way by the valley of the Mississippi into the gulf of Mexico. " The lake at present is believed to be moving westward, gradually encroaching on the shores of Wisconsin and leaving those of Michi- gan. The existence of a lunar tidal wave was determined by the observations of Lieut. Col. James D. Graham at Chicago in 1858. The mean of 340 observations shows a difference of elevation of the lake surface between high and low water of 153 thousandths of a foot; and the mean of 24 semi-diurnal spring tides (i. e., one day before and two days after new or full moon) gives a difference of elevation of