Michigan

“ An hour's swift run over the perfect macadam of the Lake Shore road that wound through park and boulevard, past splendid summer residences of Chicago financial magnates, through quiet little villages and by country farms, always with gleams of Michigan's blue-grey waters, and always with Michigan's exhilarating breezes in their faces, would bring them to the cool depths of Birchwood's shades and silences, where for a time the hustle and heat and roar of the big city would be as completely forgotten as if a thousand miles away. ”

“ Michigan is greatly undervalued because greatly unknown. The tide of emigration sweeps past us to Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, because the public do not know—what is but the sober truth—that Michigan possesses advantages unrivaled by any sister State in the Northwest, and an undeveloped wealth that will far exceed any one of those named. ”

“ The State of Michigan is the greatest lumber-growing region in the world, not only on account of its interminable forests of the choicest pine, but in the remarkable facilities for getting it to market. With a lake coast, on the lower peninsula alone, of over one thousand miles—with numberless watercourses debouching at convenient distances into her vast inland seas—she enjoys advantages which mighty empires might envy. ”

“ When I left my state-room, as if waiting to greet me, it arose majestically from the bosom of the water, flooding the lake with light. No land was descried upon the east, but we were near the Michigan shore off Thunder bay. The Shanewaging islands which stretch across it were distinctly visible, and presented various beauties of shape and tint. All trace of man has now disappeared, for the northern part of Michigan has never been settled owing to the intense cold of the winters. ”

“ There's a farm in Michigan, And I'd like to fish again, In the river that flows beside the fields of waving corn. A lonesome soul am I, Here's the reason why:
[Chorus (sung twice) ] :
I want to go back, I want to go back, I want to go back to the farm, Far away from harm, With a milk pail on my arm; I miss the rooster; The one who use-ter Wake me up at four A.M. I think your great big city's very pretty, nevertheless – I want to be there, I want to see there A certain some one full of charm; That's why I wish again, That I was in Michigan, Down on the farm. ”

“ The eye's elusive twinkle, and the twitching of the lid,
Like he didn't go to say it and was sorry that he did.
O Artemus of Michigan! so worthy of the name,
Our manager indorses it, and Bill Nye does the same—
You tickled our affection in so many tender spots
That even Recollection laughs
At
H.
Y.
Potts!
And hark ye! O Grand Haven! count your rare attractions o'er—
The commerce of your ships at sea, and ships along the shore;
Your railroads, and your industries, and interests untold,
Your Opera House—our lecture, and the gate-receipts in gold!—
Ay, Banner Town of Michigan! ”

“ The wonderful city which, ancient and gigantic as it is, still continues to grow as fast as a young town of logwood by a water-privilege in Michigan, may soon displace those turrets and gardens which are associated with so much that is interesting and noble, with the courtly magnificence of Rich, with the loves of Ormond, with the counsels of Cromwell, with the death of Addison. ”

“ The move to Michigan meant a complete upheaval in our lives. In Lawrence we had around us the fine flower of New England civilization. We children went to school; our parents, though they were in very humble circumstances, were associated with the leading spirits and the big movements of the day. When we went to Michigan we went to the wilderness, to the wild pioneer life of those times, and we were all old enough to keenly feel the change. ”

“ Respecting the State of Michigan, I presume I could furnish nothing of importance. Respecting the history of our government for the last fifty years, I might be able to add something to the stock of information possessed by the present generation, for I find men in middle life absolutely ignorant of some material facts which have a bearing on our political concerns. But little can be expected, however, from a man of eighty-two, whose toils must be drawing to a close. ”

“ To the State, no less than to the Regents and Faculty, belongs the credit of Michigan's great achievement in American educational history,—the first proof that a university, maintained by the people of a state as part of its educational system, could be made a practical success. ”

“ Why Michigan was not occupied by New York men at an earlier period is at first sight not easy to understand. Perhaps the adverse reports of surveyors who visited the interior of the State, the partial geographical isolation, and the unprogressive character of the French settlers account for the tardy occupation of the area. Certain it is that while the southern tier of States was sought by swarms of settlers, Wisconsin and Michigan still echoed to Canadian boating-songs, and voyageurs paddled their birch canoes along the streams of the wilderness to traffic with the savages. ”

“ The natural scenery of Michigan is imposing. The extensive tracts of dense forests, clothed with the richest verdure, fresh as when it first came from the hands of the Creator; the prairies and lakes which abound, the wide parks, whose soil is entirely covered for miles with large and rich flowers, present a striking and agreeable contrast. The beech and black walnut, the elm, the maple, the hickory, and the oaks of different species and large size, the lind and the bass-wood, and various other kinds of forest trees, plainly indicate the fertility of the soil from whence they spring. ”

“ Take the State Iowa alone. If every quarter section were to be enclosed with a common post and board fence, it would take every foot of pine on the soil of Michigan! Leave out of sight the great Territory of Minnesota, which can find but a mere drop of supply from the pineries of the Upper Mississippi. Leave out of sight the great State of Illinois, which depends upon us wholly. Forget entirely that villages are springing up like magic all along the lines of a dozen railroads running from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi ”

“ We had no wounded then—only those sick men in our hospital at Tenlytown.
We had the best of cooks, and everything was good and wholesome. We had much assistance from the agent of the Michigan Belief, Mrs. Brainard, one of our country's noble women, one with whom it was no question, when called upon for stores, if we had Michigan men with us. They were all Michigan's men, and every State's men—they had given the most they had to give for the whole country, not for one State alone, and her noble soul comprehended it in full. ”

“ Nearly one half the area of Pennsylvania and Virginia is within its limits. Michigan is united with it by the Wisconsin River, and Texas by the Red River; whilst Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, and Mississippi, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas own almost exclusively its sway.
And who will dare erect the feeble barriers designed to seclude the great valley and its products from either ocean, the Lakes, or the Gulf, or persuade her to hold these essential rights and interests by the wretched tenure of the will of any seceding State? ”

“ The Chief of the Michigans, a huge black-bearded man with an enormous voice, bellowed suddenly for silence. In seconds the place was absolutely quiet, except for the shuffle of men closing in to see and hear a little better.
"Sawyer of the Missouris has something to tell you," shouted Michigan. "You listen hard. Because what he's got to say will make the difference whether we fight or hold our peace." ”

“ Michigan occupies an exceptional position. Lying within the embrace of the three largest of the Great Lakes, it possesses a coast line longer in proportion to its area than that of any other state in the Union. Further, the coast waters possess many good harbors and are navigable for large craft. Ships of 2000 tons can sail within sight of land all round the State. The surface of the State is in general level and monotonous, the northern peninsula being somewhat rugged and rocky. ”

“ Michigan is a derivative from two Odjibwa-Algonquin words, signifying large, i.e. large in relation to masses in the inorganic kingdom, and a lake. The French called it, generally, during the earlier periods of their transactions, the lake of the Illinese, or Illinois.
Superior, the most northwesterly, and the largest of the series, is a term which appears to have come into general use, at a comparatively early era, after the planting of the English colonies. ”

“ It would seem that her natural destiny was with Wisconsin, or some possible new State embracing the iron and copper, forest and shipping areas of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota on Lake Superior. The lower peninsula of Michigan is the daughter of New York and over twelve per cent of Michigan's present population were born in that State, and her traits are those of the parent State. Over half her population is of foreign parentage, of which Canada and England together have furnished one-half, while the Germans outnumber any other single foreign element. ”

“ We had forgotten that there were then men living in Ohio, in log houses and cabins, some of them as brave men as ever walked the footstool; that they came to Michigan and rescued the country from the invaders, the English and savages, long before some of us knew that there was such a place as Michigan. When Michigan was almost a trackless wilderness they crossed Lake Erie, landed at Malden, drove the redcoats out of the fort and started them on the double quick. They made for the Canadian woods, and the British and Indians, who held Detroit, followed suit. ”

“ By the act of the 11th of January, 1805, all that part of the Indian Territory lying north of a line drawn due 'east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan until it shall intersect Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the said southerly bend, through the middle of said lake, to its northern extremity, and thence, due north, to the northern boundary of the United States,' was erected into a separate Territory, by the name of Michigan. ”

“ Michigan is working bravely amid discouragements. Illinois has given us the most promising phase of our juvenile work, and leads off in reform clubs. Our best organized States are Ohio, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania and Iowa. By reason of their multiplied conventions of State, district and county, their numerous auxiliaries, their petitions and their juvenile work, Ohio and Indiana bear off the palm, and stand as the banner States of our Union up to this time, each of them having as many as two hundred and fifty auxiliaries. ”

“ Nevertheless this growth was at first slow and it was not until Michigan became a state in 1837 that the rapid increase in settlers from New York and New England changed so completely the character of the people that it became in a few years a predominantly agricultural, instead of a primitive fur-trading community. ”

“ In 1833, the people of Michigan, a territory ten times the size of Connecticut, announced that the time had come for them to enjoy the privileges of a commonwealth. All along the southern border the land had been occupied largely by pioneers from New England, who built prim farmhouses and adopted the town-meeting plan of self-government after the fashion of the old home. The famous post of Detroit was growing into a flourishing city as the boats plying on the Great Lakes carried travelers, settlers, and freight through the narrows. ”

“ AMERICA: A. D. 1804-1837. MICHIGAN: A. D. 1818-1836. Extension of Territorial limits to the Mississippi, and then beyond. See WISCONSIN: A. D. 1805-1848. MICHIGAN: A. D. 1837. Admission into the Union as a State. Settlement of Boundaries. A conflict between the terms of the constitution under which the state of Ohio was admitted into the Union in 1803 and the Act of Congress which, in 1805, erected the Territory of Michigan, gave rise to a serious boundary dispute between the two. The Michigan claim rested not only upon the Act of 1805, but primarily upon the great Ordinance of 1787. ”

“ Picking up the program showing what our work might be at this convention, I find five Michiganders noted thereon, a fair proportion of the program. Picking up the morning paper, if you please, you will find that Michigan has been advanced in population beyond the other states. You will find that our city of Detroit has passed a number of other great cities, going from tenth place to fourth, becoming one of the four cities of the United States with a million inhabitants. So you see we have a prosperous state. And we have good men in Michigan that have helped to make it so. ”

“ Your orator further shows that the state of Michigan, at the time and continuously until a very recent period, hereinafter to be mentioned and set forth, not only regarded its sale of said lands, its construction of said works, and its management and control of the latter as a trust for the public good from the complainant, but also through its legislature, as well as various of its officers, so declared ”

“ We, who love the University of Michigan for what it has accomplished, for what it is, and for what it may become, may well look for a development through the coming years that shall be a fitting continuation of the remarkable success of the great experiment involved in its establishment. ”

“ Our domain is certainly unrivaled in its advantages in Michigan, possessing every kind of soil that can be found in the State. Our people are moral, religious, and industrious, having been actually engaged in manual labor, with few exceptions, all their days. The place where the mansion and out-houses will stand, is a most beautiful level plain, of nearly two miles in extent, that wants no grading, and can be irrigated by a constant stream of water flowing from a lake. Between it and the river is another plain, twelve feet lower, on which our manufactories may be set in any desirable position. ”