MICHIGAN.

THIS is one of those members of the American Union which were formerly comprised in the "Northwest Territory." In the year 1640, it was partially explored by a few French traders from Canada; and the first settlement was formed at Detroit in 1670. By the peace between France and England, in 1763, the latter obtained possession of the territory, and, at the termination of the revolutionary war, ceded it to the United States, retaining control of Detroit, however, until 1796. It was organized as a territory of the United States in 1805; but, in the course of the war of 1812, again fell into the hands of the British, from whom it was recovered, in a short period, by the American forces under General Harrison. In 1836 it was admitted into the Union as an independent state.

BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT.

Bordered on the northern and eastern fronts by two of the great lakes, and parted near its centre by another, the land surface exhibits two distinct peninsulas the base of one lying adjacent to Ohio and Indiana on the south, and that of the other commencing at the boundary of Wisconsin on the southwest. The main peninsula, known as Michigan proper,

is bounded north by the waters of Lakes Huron and Michigan; east by Lakes Huron and St. Clair, and by a portion of Lake Erie, with the intermediate straits or rivers; south by the States of Ohio and Indiana; and west by Lake Michigan. The northern or upper peninsula is bounded north by Lake Superior; east and south-east by Lake Huron and the waters therewith connected; south by Lake Michigan; and southwest by the Menomonee and Montreal Rivers, which separate it from Wisconsin. The southern peninsula is 282 miles long, with an average breadth of 140; the length of the northern is 324 miles, and its mean width 60. The whole area of the state, including some 36,300 square miles of water surface, comprises about 92,500 square miles. Its geographical position is between 41° 30′ and 47° 20′ north latitude, and extends from 82° 25' to 90° 30' west longitude.

RIVERS AND LAKES.

The rivers of Michigan are in general comparatively smaller, but more numerous, having in the lower peninsula a greater length from their mouths to where they head than is commonly observed in most other sections of the Union. This latter circumstance may, perhaps, be attributed not only to the uniformity of descent, but to the more favorable structure of the interior to furnish them constant supplies. The Detroit, St. Clair, and St. Mary's are more properly called straits, and not rivers. They are tranquil, deep, copi

ous, and expansive streams, uniting the great lakes, the waters of which they conduct towards the ocean. The largest rivers of the lower peninsula are the Grand, Maskegon, St. Joseph, and Kalamazoo, which flow into Lake Michigan; the Cheboygan and Thunder Bay Rivers, that discharge into Lake Huron, and the Saginaw into Saginaw Bay. The streams flowing eastward are small, owing to the position of the dividing ridge, which is considerably east of the middle of the peninsula; the largest are the Raisin, Huron, Clinton, and Rouge. The largest rivers of the upper peninsula are the Montreal, the Great Iron, the Ontonagon, the Huron, the St. John's, and the Chocolate, which put into Lake Superior; and the Menomonee and Manistee, which flow, the former into Green Bay, and the latter into Lake Michigan. There are several other considerable streams, though of a smaller grade; and these, with few exceptions, are lively, pure, and healthy, supplying mill power, and draining the fine agricultural lands through which they course.

Michigan is encompassed by five lakes, four of which are the largest collections of fresh water on the globe. These are Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Erie, which are connected by the Straits of Detroit, St. Clair, Michilimackinac, and St. Mary. Of these immense mediterranean waters, Lake Superior is by far the largest. It lies directly north of the upper peninsula, and the greater part of its southern coast is bordered by it. Lake Michigan is the second in size. It is a long, narrow lake, stretch

ing a little north-eastwardly between the lower peninsula and the States of Wisconsin and Illinois. The northern part, together with the straits, separate the two peninsulas from each other. Lake Huron is next in dimensions, and is situate on the north-eastern border of Lower Michigan, separating it from Canada West. The shape of this lake is extremely irregular; its principal indentations are Saginaw Bay, which extends down into the interior, and two others, one immediately north of Manito Islands, and the other south-east of them. The latter, sometimes called the the Manito Bay or Georgian Lake, is very large, estimated at one fourth of Lake Huron. It empties through the Strait St. Clair into St. Clair Lake, the smallest of the five bordering on Michigan; and this again discharges itself through Detroit Strait into Lake Erie. More than 30 miles of this latter borders Michigan, and opens to the state a free navigation to the principal ports along its coasts- Buffalo, Dunkirk, Erie, Sandusky, &c. Nor is this state merely surrounded by lakes, but the interior is interspersed with them from one border to the other. The country indeed is literally maculated with small lakes of every form and size, from an area of 1 to 1000 acres; though, as a general rule, they do not, perhaps, average 500 acres in extent. They are sometimes so frequent that several of them may be seen from the same position. They are usually very deep, with gravelly bottoms, waters transparent, and of a cool temperature at all seasons. This latter fact is supposed to be in conse