The first land surveys entered upon in Michigan Territory were commenced in 1816, and in 1818 the lands were brought into market for public sale. The prosperity of Michigan dates from this period. In 1819 the Territory was authorized by act of Congress to send a delegate to that body, and the right of suffrage was extended, in this case, to all taxable citizens. In 1819, 1821, and 1836 the Indians made important territorial cessions, so that in a few years after the latter date, all the lower peninsula, and the greater part of the upper, were freed from Indian title. Up to 1823 the legislative power was intrusted to the Governor and Judges of the Territory; but in that year Congress passed an act transferring it to a council, consisting of nine persons selected by the President, from eighteen chosen by the citizens; and, by the same act, the term of the judges was limited to four years. In 1825 the council was increased to thirteen, 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 State Constitution, in 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 upon condition that she relinquished her claim to the disputed territory, in place of which the region known as the "Upper Peninsula," was assigned 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. COUNTIES.-The following is a list of the counties in Michigan, with their county towns so far as known, and also the population of each county, according to the census of 1860: FINANCES.-The receipts and expenditures of Michigan for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1865, are shown in the following table: Balance in Treasury November 30, 1865............. $440,047 27 .................................. 1,954,318 68 $2,894,363 43 1,925,964 14 468,399 29 Total available funds for 1865.... Total payments for fiscal year 1865..... Balance in Treasury December 9, 1865... During the fiscal year, 1865, the sum of $279,591 was set apart for the several sinking funds authorized by law. The funded interest-bearing debt of the State was $3,783,000, and the amount of the non-interest-bearing debt $97,399.80, making a total of funded and fundable debt of $3,880,399.80. The funded and fundable debt of Michigan, at the beginning of the year 1867, was thus reported by the State Treasurer: Sautt Canal Bonds, sizes, due January 1, 1878........ ........................ $100,000 216,000 250,000 500,000 500,000 750,000 1,111,500 463,000 4,000 12,000 1,100 72,821 Full paid Five Million Loan, past due...... $125,000 of unrecognized Five Million Loan Bonds, past due Showing net increase of Bonded Debt during past six years...... $1,591,079 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS.-From the statistics of the State census taken in 1864, and published by the Secretary of State in 1865, it appears that Michigan contained 35,995,520 acres of land, of which but 3,647,645 were improved, and but 12,086,660 returned as taxable. There were, if equally apportioned, about four and a half acres of improved land for every man, woman and child in the State. The following table gives the amount of the crops raised in Michigan in the two years immediately preceding the State Censuses of 1854 and 1864: Michigan promises to become a great apple-growing State. The shipments in 1865 were estimated at 410,000 barrels, which, at an average price of $3.50 per barrel, would amount to nearly $1,500,000. They were sent to all parts of the country, the winter fruit going chiefly to the Eastern and Middle States. The wheat crop of Michigan, for 1863, averaged but 11.5 bushels to the acre, being much below the average yield. The hay crop, the next in value, was worth, for 1863, more than $15,000,000. The average amount of butter was 59 lbs. 9 oz., and of cheese, 6 lbs. 13 oz. Sorghum and imphee are not particularly mentioned in the returns; but the total manufacture of sugar in 1864 was 4,044,399 lbs., or more than five pounds for each inhabitant. The number of sheep in 1864 had nearly doubled since the taking of the previous State census, and in 1863 the average yield per head was 3 lbs. 8.5 oz., or nearly one pound greater than in the whole country in 1859. There were in 1863, 2,053,363 sheep in the State, the clip from which amounted to 7,294,934 pounds, or nearly one-tenth of the whole quantity produced in the United States. This shows an annual increase of 796,769 pounds from 1859. The clip of 1864 was estimated at 1,000,000 pounds more than that of 1863. From these facts, Michigan seems destined to take a front rank among the wool-growing States of the Union. The value of the fisheries in Michigan for 1864 was estimated at $100,000. The fish taken were principally whitefish. LUMBER.-The following table exhibits the lumber product, which is one of the chief sources of wealth possessed by Michigan: A number of mills made no returns. Adding the number of feet sawn by these to the above figures, the annual amount of lumber produced in Michigan was estimated by the Secretary of State at nearly 8,000,000 feet. Of this amount upward of 3,000,000 came from the Saginaw River district. MINING PRODUCTS.-The statistics of mining products in the last State census of Michigan were not complete at our latest information It appears, however, that 273,000 tons of iron ore were produced in 1863, an amount only exceeded by Pennsylvania in 1860. Between 1854 and 1864 the number of copper mines increased nearly 120 per cent., and the amount of copper mined over 180 per cent. The following is a statement of the shipments of copper during 1865: There had been in each district a considerable increase over the product of 1864, the greatest being in the Keweenaw district. There were produced in the Saginaw Valley in the year 1864, 488,189 barrels of salt, valued at the shipping point at $2.25 per barrel, or $198,425. POPULATION.--In 1860 the population of Michigan consisted of 742,289 white and 6,823 colored inhabitants. Total, 749,112, showing a ratio of increase on the census of 1850 of 88.38 per cent. By the State census, taken in 1864, the total population was 803,145-a gain of 54,033 on the national census of 1860. The total vote for Governor in 1866 was 164,454. CITIES AND TOWNS.-Lansing, the capital of Michigan, is in Ingham County, and is situated on the Grand River, 110 miles north-west of Detroit. Its population in 1860 was about 5,000. It is surrounded by a fertile country, abounding in timber and coal. Supplied with waterpower by the river, it has an active and increasing trade. The Statehouse is a large and handsome building, erected on an eminence fifty feet above the river. The city has a House of Correction for juvenile offenders. It is the seat of a Female College, and of an Agricultural College, with a farm of 700 acres attached. It had in 1860 ten churches, one bank, two weekly newspapers, two breweries, five carriage factories, two grist-mills, two tanneries, five hotels, two planingmills, and three saw-mills. Lansing became the capital of the State in 1847, but was not incorporated as a city till 1859. Kalamazoo is the county town of Kalamazoo County, and is situated on the left or west bank of the river of the same name, about 65 miles from its mouth, and 143 miles west from Detroit, by the Michigan Central Railroad, which connects it with that city and Chicago. The population in 1864 was 6,897. It lies in the midst of a fertile and beautiful country, and is laid out with broad streets, shaded by fine oak-trees. It contains Kalamazoo College, an institution for students of both sexes, the Michigan Female Seminary, the State Asylum for the insane, a union school, and various other literary and benevolent institutions. It had in 1860 two weekly newspapers, ten churches, a flour-mill, an iron foundry, a machine-shop, three manufactories of agricultural implements, one manufactory of piano-fortes, and one of soap and candles, a tannery, and three planing-mills. Jackson, the capital of the county of that name, is situated on the west bank of the Grand River, near its source, and at the junction of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad with the Michigan Central. It is 70 miles west from Detroit. The river furnishes valuable water-power, and there are several mills and factories in operation. The Michigan State Penitentiary is located at Jackson, inclosing an area of eight acres. The main building is 500 feet long, 57 broad, and 44 feet high. The city is lighted with gas. There is a Inine of bituminous coal within the city limits, and another a few miles distant. The population of Jackson in 1864 was 6,544. Adrian, the capital of Lewanee County, is situated on a tributary of the Raisin River, 70 miles west-south-west of Detroit. The Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad was constructed in 1838, uniting Adrian with Toledo, 32 miles distant. The Michigan Southern Road passes through the former place. Adrian commands the trade of an extensive graingrowing region. The stream on which it stands furnishes valuable water-power, which is used for mills and other purposes. Population in 1864, 7,044. Ann Arbor, the capital of Washtenaw County, is situated about 40 miles west of Detroit, on the Huron River and Michigan Central Railroad. The town is regularly laid out, and well built, and its site is pleasant and healthy. It is the center of an important agricultural district. It has a brisk trade, and manufactories of various kinds, the motive power of which is supplied by the river. The town is the seat of the State University. Its population in 1864 was 5,731. Ypsilanti is in Washtenaw County, on the Huron River and the Michigan Central Railroad, 30 miles west by south from Detroit, and 254 from Chicago. Its population in 1860 was about 4,000. It is pleasantly situated in the midst of a rich and populous agricultural district, and is the seat of the State Normal School. It has numerous large manufacturing establishments. Detroit is the chief town of Michigan, and the capital of Wayne County. It is situated on the north-west side of Detroit River or Strait, extending along the river nearly four miles. The center of the city is about seven miles from Lake St. Clair, and about eighteen from Lake Erie; eighty miles east-north-east from Lansing, and 302 west of Buffalo. It is in latitude 42° 20′ north, and longitude 82° 58' west |