Chapter 26

The entrepot of a vast commerce -- Surface drained -- Superiority of Mackinaw over Chicago as a commercial point -- Exports and imports -- Michigan the greatest lumber-growing region in the world -- Interminable forests of the choicest pine -- Facilities for market -- Annual product of the pineries -- Lumbering, mining and fishing interests -- Independent of financial crises -- Mackinaw, the centre of a great railroad system -- Lines terminating at this point -- North and South National Line -- Canada grants -- Growth of northwestern cities -- Future growth and prosperity of Mackinaw -- Chicago -- Legislative provisions for opening roads in Michigan -- The Forty Acre Homestead Bill -- Its provisions.

The physical resources of this region are of such a nature and variety as to make Mackinaw city the entrepot of a vast commerce. This will appear, if we consider that it is the nearest point of that extensive district, including the entire north of the lakes inaccessible to Chicago. When all the lines of internal communication are completed, and the different points on the lakes settled down upon, then the real limits of Mackinaw will drain a geographical surface of three hundred thousand square miles; deducting the surface of the lakes from which, there will remain two hundred and eighty thousand square miles of country, with all the resources of agriculture and mining in the most extraordinary degree. It will be nearly three-fold that which can be drained by Chicago, and in point of territory, whether of quantity or quality, Mackinaw is vastly superior, as a commercial point. With the exception of a small portion of the mineral region, the agricultural advantages of Michigan, Upper Wisconsin, Minnesota, Canada West, and the Superior country, are at least equal, at the present time, to the district shipping at Chicago, while it is more extensive, and will have a large home market in a country affording diversity of employment. Nothing can be more obvious, than the superior advantages of Mackinaw, as a manufacturing point, over any other on the lake coast.

The value of exports and imports which flow through the Straits of Mackinaw and the Saut St. Mary was estimated a year or two since at over _one hundred millions of dollars_. But, who can estimate a commerce which every year increases in many fold? In 1856, there were sent through the St. Mary Canal 11,000 tons of raw iron, 1,040 tons of blooms, and 10,452,000 lbs. of copper; and the commercial value of what passed through the canal amounted to upward $5,000,000. But perhaps the most correct idea of the rapid increase of commerce in Lake Superior may be taken from the arrivals at Superior City for the last three years, taken from the Superior Chronicle of January, 1857.

In 1854 there were two steamboats and five sail vessels. In 1855 there were twenty-three steamers, and ten sail vessels; and in 1856 forty steamers and sixteen sail vessels.

We thus see that in three years the increase was seven-fold. It is scarcely possible to imagine the limits of northwestern commerce on the lake, when a few years shall have filled up with inhabitants the surrounding territories.

According to the testimony of Senator Hatch, made on the floor of Congress on the 25th of February, 1859, there were over one thousand six hundred vessels navigating the northwestern lakes, of which the aggregate burden was over four hundred thousand tons. They were manned by over thirteen thousand seamen, navigating over five thousand miles of lake and river coast, and transporting over six hundred millions of exports and imports, being greater than the exports and imports of the United States.

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. Her white-winged carriers are sent to almost every point of the compass with the product of her forests, which, wherever it may go, is the sign of improvement and progress, while by the large expenditures involved in the manufacture, and the employment of thousands of hardy laborers, the general prosperity is materially enhanced, and a market opened within her own borders for a considerable share of the surplus production of her own soil.

The annual product of the pineries alone amount to the sum of _ten and a half millions of dollars_. The lumbering, mining, and fishing interest combine to furnish by far the best home market in the Union, and one which in seasons when a large surplus is not compelled to seek a market, can boast its independence of the "bulls" and "bears" of the great commercial metropolis. The dense forests in the interior of the State have not yet been reached, and when the contemplated roads are made, a field will be presented for the investment of capital of a most remunerative character.

The government has already taken such steps as will soon make Mackinaw the centre of a great railroad system. We need only refer to the actual facts in order to make this clear. Congress, by an act passed in 1855-6, granted to the State of Michigan a large body of land for railroad purposes, designating four routes. 1. From Little Noquet Bay to Marquette, in the Superior country. 2. From Amboy, on the State-line of Ohio, through Lansing to or near Mackinaw. 3. From Grand Rapids to Mackinaw. 4. From Grand Haven to Port Huron. It will be seen that this plan is formed on the basis of a direct line from Lake Superior through the mineral regions to Lake Michigan. The law fortunately permitted the last two companies to make their lines at or _near_ Traverse Bay, and as Mackinaw is but comparatively a short distance, both companies have wisely concluded to terminate their lines at Mackinaw. It is at once evident that the Michigan line, centering at Mackinaw, must be met _there_, by railroads penetrating various sections of the northern peninsula. This is evident, and we understand is already foreseen, and measures will be adopted to accomplish that end. In the mean time, let us examine the prospects and influence of the two long lines of Michigan railway terminating at Mackinaw. The whole amount of land granted to the Michigan railways is estimated to be about 3,880,000 acres. From this, however, there will be some deduction in consequence of lands already selected, and which may not be supplied by the quantity within the limited distance. The deficiency will not be great, and we understand that the amount estimated for the two Mackinaw roads will scarcely be less than _two millions of acres_. Of the quantity and value of these lands, we give the estimate made by these roads, as well as the cost of construction. The estimate made by the _Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad_ is as follows:

"The proximity to lake navigation; having several navigable rivers passing through them, the abundance of hydraulic power, the healthfulness of the climate, the fertility of the soil; and lying immediately on the line of this road, are facts which contribute to enhance the value of these lands.

"The length of this road from the Straits of Mackinaw to Fort Wayne, will be about three hundred and fifty miles. If the company meet with as good success as the merits of the enterprise deserve, the entire cost of the road should not be over $25,000 per mile, which makes an aggregate sum of $8,759,000."

On the supposition that the minimum amount of land is obtained and sold, at half the price above stated, there will yet be broad enough basis to secure the construction of the work.

The Amboy and Lansing Company are equally confident of success. They have also located a large quantity of land, and expect their value to be equivalent to the construction of their road. Accordingly, they have put a portion of their road under contract, and have obtained large local subscriptions.

Both these lines of railroad will terminate at Mackinaw, on the north, and Cincinnati on the south; hence they will be carried south till they terminate at Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, and Pensacola, thus forming the grandest and most extensive system of railroads on the continent. Nothing in America equals it--nothing in Europe can compare with it! When all the links shall have been completed, it will stand out the greatest monument to human labor and genius which the world presents.

The single line from Mackinaw to Pensacola has been looked upon as one of the most important undertakings of the age. We extract from the "Exposition of its Plan and Prospects," by E. D. Mansfield, Esq., some of the facts, which exhibit its importance, and bearing, and influence on Mackinaw City.

"To illustrate," says the Exposition, "the value of this North and South National Line, by its power of producing commerce, mark, in a tabular form, the natural products of each degree of latitude, thus:--

_States._ _Latitude._ _Productions._

Florida, 31 deg. Oranges. " 31 " Sugar. " 31 " Cotton. Alabama, 32 " " " 33 " " " 34 " Cotton, Corn. Tennessee, 35 " " " " 36 " Cotton, corn, tobac., iron. Kentucky, 37 " Corn, tobac., coal, iron. " 38 " Corn, wh't, cat. tob. h'mp. Ohio, 39 " Corn, wh't, cat. h'gs, wine.

" 40 " Wh't, c'rn, h'gs, cat., flax. " 41 " Wheat, corn, cattle. Michigan, 42 " Wheat, cattle, hay, wool. " 43 " Pine, cedar, coal. " 44 " Pine, cedar, coal. " 45 " Pine, hemlock, cedar. " 46 " Pine, copper, lead, fish.

"This statement is enough to show an extraordinary stimulus to commerce, on a line of railway. The length of the entire line will be less than half that which is proposed to be made from Cincinnati and other cities to San Francisco; yet, will pass through varieties of production, which that line cannot have. In two days, every inhabitant on that line may be supplied, from their native source, with sugar, cotton, corn, wheat, tobacco, iron, coal, lead, copper, pine, cedar, with wool, flour, hemp, and fruits of every description; with fish of the sea and fish of the lakes; with bread, and oil, and wine; in fine, with everything that supports, clothes, or houses man; with everything that supplies his wants, or contributes to his material happiness."

It is obvious, that such a line of railroad as this--peculiar in its resources, vast in its comprehensions, and embracing in its grasp all the products of tropic or of temperate climes--must, of itself, rear, at its _termini_, commercial towns of great importance. But, this is not all. The road from Grand Haven to Port Huron will intersect the Amboy and Lansing line about midway, and then a railroad will at once be made in the direction of the Canada lines and Buffalo--completing the _radii_ from the far northwest through Mackinaw, to the eastern Atlantic. The natural point of termini for the Northern Pacific and Canada Railroads is also at the Straits of Mackinaw. The one giving financial strength and business to the other, connecting Portland with the mouth of Columbia by the nearest possible route.

Canada has already granted four million acres of land to railroads running to Saut St. Mary. Those having the management of the Northern Pacific railroad will do well to consider the propriety of co-operating and uniting with the Canada and Pacific Railroad at the Straits.

The following from the New York Daily News is valuable in this connection. It is from the pen of E. Conkling, Esq.:--

"You will please excuse me for calling your attention, not to the importance of a Pacific railroad, for that is conceded, and our country is suffering from want of it, but to the mode of getting the means to construct the Northern Pacific railroad. I don't remember to have noticed as yet any allusion to this method, or any other practical one, and I trust you will consider the suggestions, and add thereto any other methods.

"The railroads now provided for and made to St. Paul, and Crow Wing from Chicago and Milwaukee will have exhausted local means, State aid and available land grants. However desirable it may be to sustain those roads by a business beyond that, and to the country beyond that, by extending the Northern Pacific Railroad, yet for want of means it cannot be done, unless foreign capitalists can be induced by land grants, at least to invest sufficient to make the road finally, and be made to see that their present large unproductive investments in Canada railroads can be made productive in the use of more of their capital.

"Canada railroads lie _too far North_ to receive any benefit in business from railroads terminating from the northwest as far south as Chicago, and but little from the railroads terminating at Milwaukee, as the cost of transhipment and delay to cross by steam ferry eight months yearly at Milwaukee with eighty-five miles ferriage, must divert the trade and travel either to the north or south end of Lake Michigan, and every year will render that delay and cost more unpopular. And yet to get that trade the Great Western Railroad of Canada have permanently invested $750,000, in the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, and recently loaned a half a million more, demonstrating the idea I shall advance, that to make good present investments more means can be had. The State of Michigan itself will furnish a good trade to roads through it and to roads east of it.

"The Straits of Mackinaw is the great natural ferry of about four miles wide for roads of Michigan and Canada to centre, the point necessarily for the passage of lake commerce, and for a large population north of it to cross, naturally attracting and combining elements of great importance to railroads.

"Land grants are now made to the straits from the south. The Grand Trunk and Great Western Railroads of Canada can go to the Straits of Mackinaw, aided by those grants. The Ottawa and Huron Railroad to Saut St. Mary, may also go to the Straits, aided by land grants from Saut St. Mary. From there the three Canadian railroads, aided by land grants yet to be made, can go to Crow Wing or near there, and there form a junction with the Chicago roads--thence to the Pacific, aided by land grants.

"By affording the Canada interest a chance for a portion of the Pacific trade, and thus making present Canada investments profitable, it is made the interest of foreign capitalists to make our Northern Pacific railroad.

"This protective interest to Canada railroads is the greatest inducement to be offered them.

"They will not invest in the road beyond Crow Wing, simply for the sake of grants of lands, made valuable only by the outlay of their money; even should the lands finally redeem the previous outlay for the road, that is no object, because the road will not pay more than cost of running and sustaining it, and if it should some beyond that, it will be frittered away by bad management and stealing. At least it is fair to suppose so, and hence they must be assured of enough of land grants to finally make the road, which of itself will pay nothing, only in the way of affording the roads east of Crow Wing, owned by them, fair dividends. This consideration will of itself induce them to furnish capital to the Pacific, and it is in the power of the government thus to interest them. No other proposed route can claim foreign aid because of such good reasons. Our government can aid only in lands; in valueless lands she is or may be wealthy. No bill can pass Congress, only by affording equal aid in lands to the Northern, Central and Southern routes, each standing on their commercial merits before capitalists.

"The chance for us thus to enlist them, is but for a limited time. Soon they will become committed to the North Canada Pacific Road, north of Lake Superior, when they will not help ours, and thus protract ours for want of means and competing road. At present, two of the most important Canada roads can be enlisted in the above views, because if the Canada road north of Lake Superior is made, it will divert the trade from them, they being too far south to be benefited. But by going to the Straits of Mackinaw, they secure a division of the Western trade--among the three roads. The road through the mineral regions will develop that country and afford a good market for the produce of the country west of it.

"Chicago is no more on the direct route from the East to Iowa, than is Mackinaw city on the direct route to the northwest from New York.

"Lake Michigan naturally forces such a division of the Western and Northwestern trade, and the Strait of Mackinaw is most favorably situated for crossing. Cars can be transferred by ferry boat from point to point, without delay or cost of train shipment.

"That country is nearer to market than any other Western State; cheaper lands and good soil, and healthy climate, and a superior wheat country, affording employment in lumbering, fishing, mining, manufacturing, &c., offering great inducements to foreigners, and of interest to New York, to be settled."

The history of the West has presented some remarkable facts, contrary to the ordinary experience of human progress. It is assumed, as an historical fact, in European or Asiatic progress, that the growth of towns and states must be slow. It requires generations to bring them to maturity, and even imperial power has failed to create cities, without the aid of time and gradual increase. But, this has been reversed in America. We cannot take it for granted that because the natural site of a town is now clothed with the forest, and remote from habitations, that it will not become a prosperous city, within a half-dozen years. For, we know that in the Northwest, cities have arisen on a substantial basis, to a numerous population, in a space so brief that history has no record of their existence, and the school maps no name for the place of their being.

Chicago which commenced its growth in 1834, had a population in 1857, of 100,000, Milwaukee in twenty-one years rose to 50,000, St. Paul in fifteen years to 15,000; Keokuk in eighteen years to 15,000, Grand Rapids in twelve years to 8000; Saginaw city in twenty-two years 4000, and Superior city in the short space of two years to 4000.

We thus see, that, in the Northwest, cities do grow up, in the midst of the wilderness, and the wilderness itself soon blooms as the rose. To say, then, that a point affording every natural and commercial advantage for the growth of a large city is not _now_ a city, is to say nothing against its position or prospects. Within the memory of a generation the five great States, (which have heretofore been termed the Northwest,) contained less then a half a million of people, and Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, were not even dots on the map of States. A mission or a military fort was all they could boast. These States now contain six millions of inhabitants, and the towns on the lake shore two hundred and fifty thousand. But to present the point of growth, in the clearest point of view, let us consider it dependent wholly on that of the surrounding country. This we can tell almost precisely. We know the rate of growth in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada West.

Canada West in 1840, had a population of 640,000, in 1850, of 982,000, and in 1857, 1,100,000, Michigan in 1840, was 212,000, in 1850, 397,000, and in 1857, 700,000. The population of Wisconsin in 1840, was 30,000, in 1850, it was 305,991, and in 1857, it was 600,000. The increase in Minnesota in seventeen years was 200,000.

The annual _increment_ from 1840 to 1850, was 50,000 per annum, or about six per cent. The annual increment from 1850 to 1857, was 172,000, or about twelve per cent. The _ratio_ of increase is, therefore, increasing, and we may assume it will not be less than _ten_ per cent, per annum till 1860. This will give 3,380,000 for 1860, or _fourfold the population_ of 1840! At a diminishing ratio the territory round Mackinaw will contain 5,400,000 in 1870, and (8,000,000) _eight millions_ in 1880. The principal city of the district (wherever it may be) must then contain about _one hundred thousand inhabitants_.

Of the cities and towns we have above enumerated, the greatest and most rapid in its development is Chicago, whose first warehouse lot was sold in 1834, and which, in 1857, is said to contain near one hundred thousand inhabitants. Let us, for a moment, compare the _material advantages and resources_ of that place, with those of Mackinaw city. Dean Swift said, that a large city must combine the resources of agriculture, commerce and manufactures. Cities have risen, however, to large size almost exclusively on commerce. Witness Tyre and Palmyra. But commerce, we concede, when left to itself, is so fluctuating, that the cities it builds, like Tyre and Palmyra, may, in the decay of commerce, be left to ruin and desolation. Cities may, likewise, be built up almost exclusively on manufactures, such as Birmingham and Sheffield; and it is quite remarkable that the oldest and most stable cities have depended largely on manufactures. Damascus, the oldest historical city--which has resisted all the destructive influences of time and revolution--has always been a manufacturing town. Paris, Lyons, Lisle, the great interior towns of France, depend very largely on the manufacture of fine and fashionable articles, distributed throughout Europe and America. Of the great elements of civic success, we consider manufactures the most important; but, to make a city of the first magnitude, it is obviously necessary to have all the resources of food, industry and commerce. Chicago is remarkable chiefly as a grain city--like Odessa, on the Baltic. But, whence is the grain derived? By the construction of railroads, at that point, from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Iowa, the whole mass of surplus grain in that region--amounting to more than twenty millions of bushels per annum--has been exported from Chicago. But, this is the drainage of three hundred thousand square miles, two-thirds of which will not export through Chicago when railroads extend directly east to Milwaukee, Superior and Mackinaw, from Wisconsin and Iowa, and connect, from the south, at Cairo, with Missouri and Illinois. Reduced to its own proper limits, the agricultural resources of Chicago must be confined to half the surface of Illinois, Missouri and Iowa, or about one hundred thousand square miles. This is but little over one-third the surface drained of agricultural products toward the Straits of Mackinaw. Will it be said that this new region of the Northwest is less productive in agriculture? The contrary, for the great element of breadstuffs, is likely to be true. Attentive observers of agricultural production have remarked, that the different grains _produced most on the northern edge of the belt_, in which _they will grow at all_. Is it not so in Europe? The _isothermal line_ of Mackinaw passes in the midst of those countries which alone produce the surplus grain of Europe, viz., Prussia, Pomerania, Poland, Southern Russia. As if to place this beyond a doubt, the crops of Canada West have, in fact, failed much less frequently than those of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. In regard to agricultural production, it will be difficult to show that the country drained by Chicago, has any advantage over that which will be drained by the Straits of Mackinaw.

In regard to commerce--the natural position of Mackinaw is far superior to Chicago. Mackinaw is at the _head_ of Lake Michigan--Chicago, at the _foot_. Mackinaw is at the junction of _three_ great lakes; Chicago at the foot of one. Mackinaw will concentrate the navigation of _eighty thousand_ square miles of water _surface_; Chicago of _twenty-four thousand_. Mackinaw is three hundred and fifty miles nearer the Atlantic by water; three hundred miles nearer the upper extremity of the lakes, and as much nearer any of the Eastern Lake ports which are points of distribution. The comparison need be made no further, for whoever looks upon the map will see, that, while Chicago touches one end of a single lake, a world of waters gather round Mackinaw. For an internal water commerce, it has no equal.

It will be said, that railroads now carry commerce. This is true, but, railroads do not carry commerce over the surface of lakes, and the multiplication of vessels on the lakes proves that _that_ commerce will ever be great and increasing. But what railroad commerce can be greater than that which will concentrate at Mackinaw, when it connects, in a direct line, not only with the cities of the Ohio Valley, but with those of the far South. To Cincinnati, to Louisville, to Charleston, Savannah, and Pensacola, will the cars move, laden with the people and products of the North. Lastly, neither Chicago nor any other point can be superior to Mackinaw in the elements necessary to support manufactures, the great support of cities, these elements we have already exhibited in detail. Copper, iron, lead, coal, wood, timber, bread, in fine, everything which can feed machinery, give material for its work, or feed the people who gather in the great workshops of industry, and distribute the products of labor. Here materials all lie near enough for the purposes of either work or distribution. Birmingham, Manchester, Lyons, and Cincinnati, have their materials no nearer. There, if anywhere, is a site peculiarly proper for a manufacturing town.

But, neither agriculture, commerce, nor manufactures are the only things necessary to build up a large city. Healthiness is more important than either. Here again, Mackinaw has more advantage over Chicago. Mackinaw has been proved by two hundred years experience to be one of the healthiest points in America. Chicago is generally healthy, but is subject to more severe epidemics. The cholera visited it in 1832 and in 1849, with fearful force; while its very low position and muddy streets expose its inhabitants to those diseases which arise from damps.

The Legislature of Michigan, recently passed a bill to provide for the drainage and reclamation of the swamp lands of the State by a system of State roads, accompanied by a lengthy and able report. The bill provides among others, a road from Ionia north to the straits, and thence to Saut St. Mary.

They also passed a bill entitled the "Forty Acre Homestead Act." This act requires the commissioners of the State Land office to issue a certificate of purchase to every settler on the swamp lands belonging to the State, for forty acres of said lands, whenever such settler shall have resided upon it for five continuous years, and when he has drained the same so as to comply with the provisions of the Act of Congress making this grant to the State. Before the settler can acquire the right thus to occupy and drain any of the swamp lands, he is required to file with the commissioner his application, accompanied by an oath of his intention to settle upon and drain it for the purpose of obtaining a title thereto. And he must also make oath that he is not already the owner of forty acres of land in any State of the United States. It is also expressly provided that he shall not cut or carry away any timber from said land, unless it be to clear it for cultivation, under such penalties as are now prescribed for trespassing upon State lands. It will be seen, therefore, that the object of the law is to provide homes for the homeless, and at the same time promote the actual, _permanent_ settlement of the northern portion of the State. No man who possesses forty acres of land either in Michigan or anywhere else, is entitled to the benefits of the act. It is emphatically a law for the poor man. To all such it secures a _home_, without money and without price. All it requires of him is to settle upon and cultivate it. How many are there in Detroit and other portions of the State, who will avail themselves of this beneficent republican measure?