well as subsequent years we submit the following figures bearing upon 1849. The land reported to be under cultivation at that time amounted to 1,437,460 acres, and of wheat there were produced 4,739,300 bushels; other grains 8,179,767 bushels; wool, 1,645,756 pounds; maple sugar, 1,774,369 pounds; horses, 52,305; neat cattle, 210,268; swine, 152,541; sheep, 610,534; and while the flour mills numbered two hundred and twenty-eight, the lumber mills amounted to seven hundred and thirty. In 1847 the act was passed removing the seat of government from Detroit to Lansing, and temporary buildings for the use of the Legislature were at once erected at a cost of $12,450. In November, 1849, John S. Barry was again and for a third term called upon to take charge of the State as its governor. He continued in office until November, 1851. Among the first acts of the Legislature to which he appended his name was one for the establishment at Ypsilanti of a Normal school, which was endowed with lands and placed in charge of a board of education consisting of six persons. But the two great events which transpired during his administration were, first, the removal of the seat of government from Detroit to Lansing, and, secondly, the adoption of the present Constitution of the State, an authentic copy of which will be found at the conclusion of this volume. As late as 1846 the site of the new capital was occupied by only one log-cabin, and it derived its name from one of its earliest settlers. It is located on Grand river, in Ingham county, was organized as a city in 1859, and, in addition to an important water privilege, it enjoys the advantages of a rich agricultural country which surrounds it on every side. Another event of importance which transpired during the administration of Governor Barry was that known as the "Great Railroad Company Case." A series of lawless acts had been committed on the property of the Michigan Central Railroad Company along the line of their road and especially at Leoni and Michigan Centre, in Jackson county; and, finally, their depot in Detroit was burnt in 1850 by an infernal machine. Thirty-seven men were brought to trial in 1851, and of these twelve were convicted. The conspirators were defended by William H. Seward, of New York, and the prosecution was conducted by Alexander D. Fraser, of Detroit, and the judge who presided on this occasion with great ability was Warner Wing. In view of the fact that the commercial advantages of Michigan are quite peculiar, and unequalled by any other of the interior States of the Union, we may, with propriety, at this point, take a glance at her immediate surroundings. The five great lakes with which she is so closely connected drain an area of 335,515 square miles, and the navigable waters extending from Lake Erie downward will admit the passage of vessels not exceeding 130 feet keel, 26 feet beam, and 10 feet draught. The total traffic of these great waters in 1851 was estimated at 326,000,000, employing 74,000 tons of steam and 138,000 tons of sail. In 1839 the twenty-five largest steamers on these lakes had an average of 449 tons burthen, while the average of those which flourished in 1851 was about 1000 tons. In the former year, the first-class steamers took ten days to make the round trip from Buffalo to Detroit, but in the latter year the swiftest steamers only required three days to perform the same trip. The total number of steamers on Lakes Erie and Michigan and the straits was 140, and the numbers belonging to the districts of Detroit 47, Mackinaw 12, and Chicago 4. And in this connection, the fact is worth stating that during the nine years preceding 1851 the steamboat tonnage of the Mississippi valley had only doubled, but that during the same period the tonnage of the great lakes more than quadru F* pled itself, whereby we obtain an idea of the remarkable increase of the lake country, in population, production and trade. In November, 1851, Robert McClelland became the governor of the State and his administration lasted until March, 1853, when he resigned to accept a seat in the Cabinet of President Pierce as Secretary of the Interior. He had become a citizen of Michigan as far back as 1833, and had served not only in the State legislature, but also as a Representative in Congress. On his retirement, the lieutenant-governor, Andrew Parsons, became the acting governor, and continued to act until the close of the term in November, 1854. Perhaps the most significant fact connected with that year was, that the pupils throughout the State who attended the common schools, were not less than one hundred and seventy-five thousand, an increase in four years of forty-three thousand. Such victories of peace are what Michigan has always prided herself upon, and are in perfect harmony with the victories of war, in behalf of the Union, upon which she justly prided herself ten years afterwards. From November, 1854, to November, 1858, the executive chair was filled by Kinsley S. Bingham. He emigrated to Michigan in 1833, and, prior to his election as governer, he had served with honor both in the State legislature and as a Representative in Congress. All the material interests of the State progressed with rapidity during his administration, but the most notable event of his first official term was the completion of the Ship Canal at the falls of St. Mary. In 1852, August 26, an act of Congress was approved granting to the State of Michigan seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, for the purpose of constructing a Ship Canal between Lakes Huron and Superior. In 1853, February 5, the legislature of Michigan accepted the grant made by Congress, and provided for the appointment of commissioners to select the donated lands, and to arrange for building the canal. A company of enterprising men was formed, and a contract was entered into, by which it was agreed that the canal should be finished in two years, and the work proceeded. Every article of consumption, machinery, working implements and materials, timber for the gates, stone for the locks, as well as men and supplies, had to be transported to the site of the canal from Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and other lake ports; the stone for finishing the locks having been brought from Marblehead near Sandusky City, Ohio, and from the Detroit river. The rapids or Saute which had to be surmounted have a fall of seventeen feet and are about a mile long. The length of the canal is less than one mile, its width one hundred feet, depth twelve feet, and it has two locks of solid masonry. The contracting parties had many drawbacks to contend with in their operations, a sickly season having been one of them, but they persevered, and in May, 1855, the work was completed, accepted by the commissioners and formally delivered to the State authorities. The disbursements on account of constructing the canal and selecting the lands, amounted to $999,802, while the lands which were assigned to the company and selected through the agency at Saute Ste. Marie, as well as certain fine lands in the upper and lower peninsula, filled up to an acre the full measure of the Government grant. În consideration of its national character, as a highway between the lower lakes and Lake Superior, and in view of the sound character of the work, the originators and builders of this canal deserve the gratitude of the country. With regard to the laws of Michigan, it should be mentioned here that in 1857 two volumes containing all the statutes down to date were compiled by Thomas M. Cooley, and published in two volumes at Lansing under the authority of the State legislature. The successor of Governor Bingham was Moses Wisner, and his term extended from November, 1858, to November, 1860. He emigrated from New York to Michigan in 1839; was a lawyer by profession, and a true patriotic citizen of the State. Soon after his retirement, the mutterings of the Great Rebellion began to be heard, and he, together with his two successors, Austin Blair and Henry H. Crapo, each of whom was twice elected, were so identified with the military operations of the State during the war, that we shall leave their services to be considered by our colleague in the second part of this volume; while our own biographical notices of all the territorial and State governors of Michigan will be reserved for the concluding part of the volume. In the meantime, however, we may in this place introduce with propriety the names of the several governors and administrators, under whose jurisdiction Michigan has been placed since the erection of the royal government, more than two hundred years ago. Under French rule they were Sieur de Mesy, appointed in 1663; Sieur de Courcelle, 1665; Sieur de Frontenac, 1672; Sieur de Barre, 1682; Sieur Marquis de Nouville, 1685; Sieur de Frontenac, 1689; Sieur Chevalier de Callieres, 1699; Marquis de Vaudreuil, 1703; Marquis de Beauharnais, 1726; Sieur Compte de la Gallisoniere, 1749; Sieur de la Jonquiere, 1749; Marquis du Quesne de Menneville, 1752; and Sieur de Vandreuil de Cavagnal, 1755. Under English rule the governors were James Murray, 1765; Paulus Emelins Irving, 1766; Guy Carleton, 1766; Hector T. Cramahe, 1770; Guy Carleton, 1774; Frederick Haldemand, 1774; Henry Hamilton, 1774; Henry Hope, 1775; Lord Dorchester, 1776; Alured Clarke, 1791; and Lord Dorchester, 1798. The American governors, by appointment and election, have been William Hull, 1805; Lewis Cass, 1814; George B. Porter, 1832; Stevens T. Mason, 1834; John S. Horner, 1835; Stevens T. Mason, 1836; William Woodbridge, 1840; J. Wright Gordon, 1841; John S. Barry, 1842; Alpheus Felch, 1845; Epaphroditus Ransom, 1847; John S. Barry, 1849; Robert McClellan, 1851; Andrew Parsons, 1853; Kinsley S. Bingham, 1854; Moses Wisner, 1858; Austin Blair, 1861; Henry H. Crapo, 1865; and Henry P. Baldwin, 1869. And for purposes of reference, we also insert at this point the progress of population for the half-century preceding the year 1860; as follows:-Population in 1810, 4,762; 1820, 8,765; 1830, 31,639; 1840, 212,267; 1850, 397,654; and 1860, 749,113. At our present writing the result of the current census, for 1870, is not officially known; but should the last decade be equal to that which preceded it, the population of Michigan might be set down at about fourteen hundred thousand. Having thus taken a brief chronological view of the leading events in the history of Michigan as a State, we now propose to lay before the reader a more comprehensive account of her condition at the close of Governor Crapo's administration, with some particulars of a later date, and what we propose to submit shall be arranged under the several heads of Education, Agriculture, Mineral Wealth, Railroads, Lumbering Interest, Fisheries, Commerce, The Indians and Antiquities of the State, and Recent Develop ments. EDUCATION. Among the very first laws enacted by the Legislature of Michigan after its organization as a State was one for the establishment of the State University, founded on the act of Congress of 1826, which appropriated two entire townships of wild land for the special purpose. That action on the part of its original legislators, suggested by a clause in the constitution enjoining upon the legislature the "encouragement of learning and the general diffusion of knowledge among the people," was highly creditable to their intelligence, and was the key-note to the subsequent prosperity of the State. A prime mover in this enterprise was the Rev. John D. Pierce, the first superintendent of public instruction; and among the professors first chosen were Asa Gray and Douglass Houghton, the first as professor of botany and zoology, and the second of geology and mineralogy. By careful and judicious management the University has progressed so rapidly that it is now awarded a prominent place among American institutions, and in foreign countries the mother State is more widely known through the fame of her University than through any other means. In July, 1868, Mr. Pierce read a paper before the association of county superintendents, at Marshall, in which he recounted the interesting history of the University, and from which we make the following extract: "It was reserved to Michigan to rear up, within thirty years from its inception and the location of its site, an institution rivaling, not only Yale and Harvard, but outstripping them both. This now is universally acknowledged. Men from the oldest institutions in the United States concede the great fact. The best authorities say that the University of Michigan is a marvel. Thirty years ago the land-the forty acres that it now occupieswas an unfurrowed plain, whose soil the plough had never chafed, never disturbed-where, but as yesterday, the deer roamed free as air, the wolf howled, and the Indian pitched for the night and kindled his camp-fires. You will find in all the history of the past nothing to compare with it in the rapidity of its development and growth." It was not until 1850 that the University had any recognized head. In 1842 it had four professors; in 1850 the medical department was organized; in 1859 the law department; and in 1860 the professorships numbered twentyeight and the students six hundred. The total disbursements from 1837 to 1851 amounted to $286,928; but since that time the receipts and expenditures have greatly increased. For five years preceding 1868 the number of students averaged more than one thousand, and in the latter year the receipts amounted to $62,772.82, derived from the following sources; interest from the University fund, $37,086.22, and from students' fees, $25,686. The buildings in which it is domiciled are the chief attraction of the beautiful city of Ann Arbor, are handsome and imposing, commandingly situated and surrounded by tastefully laid out grounds, bordered with beautiful shade trees. In its organization, the university conforms to the Prussian system which is regarded as the most perfect in the world. According to the thirtieth report of the board of regents, the names of the professors, instructors, and other officers of the institution were at that time as follows, the first chancellor or president, elected in 1852, having been Dr. Henry Tappan: Rev. Erastus O. Haven, D.D., LL.D., President of the University, and Professor of Logic and Political Economy; salary $2,000. Rev. George P. Williams, LL.D., Professor of Physics; salary $1,500. Abram Sager, M.A., M.D., Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children; salary $1,000. Silas H. Douglass, M.A., M.D., Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy, Pharmacy and Toxicology; salary $1,500. James R. Boise, LL.D., Professor of the Greek Language and Literature; salary $1,500. Alonzo B. Palmer, M.A., M.D., Professor of Pathology, the Practice of Medicine, and of Hygiene; salary $1,500. Alexander Winchell, LL.D., Professor of Geology, Zoology, and Botany; salary $1,500. Corydon L. Ford, M.A., M.D., Professor of Anatomy and Physiology; salary $1,000. Henry S. Frieze, M.A., Professor of the Latin Language and Literature; salary $1,500. De Volson Wood, C. E. M. A., Professor of Civil Engineering; salary $1,500. Hon. James V. Campbell, LL.D., Marshal Professor of Law; salary $1,000. Hon. Charles I. Walker, Kent Professor of Law; salary $1,000. Hon. Thomas M. Cooley, Jay Professor of Law; salary $1,000. James C. Watson, M.A., Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory; salary $1,500. Samuel G. Armor, M.A., M.D., Professor of Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica; salary $1,000. Edward P. Evans, Ph. D., Professor of Modern Languages and Literature; salary $1,500. Rev. Lucius D. Chapin, M.A., Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy; salary $1,500. Edward Olney, M.A., Professor of Mathematics; salary $1,500. William W. Greene, M.D., Professor of Civil and Military Surgery; salary $1,000. Adam K. Spence, M.A., Professor of the French Language and Literature; salary $1,500. Charles K. Adams, M.A., Professor of History; salary $1,500. Moses C. Tyler, M.A., Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature; salary $1,500. Allen J. Curtis, M.A., Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature; salary $1,500. Albert B. Prescott, M.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Lecturer on Organic Chemistry and Metallurgy; salary $1,000. George B. Merriman, M.A., Assistant Professor of Mathematics; salary $1,000. Stillman W. Robinson, C. E., Assistant Professor of Mining, Engineering, and Geodery; salary $1,000. Martin L. D'Ooge, M.A., Assistant Professor of the Ancient Languages; salary $1,000. Henry S. Cheever, M.A., M.D., Demonstrator of Anatomy and Curator of the Medical Museum; salary $500. Geo. E. Frothingham, M.D., Prosector of Surgery and Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy; salary $500. John H. Burleson, Secretary and Stewart; salary $1,000. Hon. D. McIntyre, Treasurer; Preston B. Rose, M.D., Assistant in Chemistry; salary $300. Albert E. Foote, M.D., Assistant in Chemistry; salary $250. William J., Cocker, Assistant in General Library; salary $400. Silas H. Douglass, M.A., M.D., Dean and Secretary of Medical Faculty; salary $200. William C. Durkee, LL.B., Law Librarian; salary $110. W. J. English, Keeper of the Museum; salary $150. |