Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

LANSING TOWNSHII' AND CITY, WITI HISTORY

515

to $40 per acre for timbered and from $25 to $75 for improved
farnis."
The author of the book evidently had a "hunch" as to a profitable investment as is shown when he said, "There is no better
chance to realize fortunes from the advancement of real estate
than is now offered in farming lands about Lansing. Their
advancement must be commensurate with the growth of the city."
POETIC TRIBUTE TO LANSING OAK, WRITTEN IN 1847,
COMES TO LIGHT.
Tree Once Shaded Site of Old Capitol; Poem in Old Scrap Book.
Sentiments, expressed in the days of Lansing's far past, today
cause realization that its citizens are now living in a day of realized
prophecy. A poem written here in June, 1847, by Dr. H. S. Burr,
a resident here at that time, has just come to light.
This poem comes to The State Journal from Mrs. J. N. Bush,
the woman who is credited with having lived longer in Lansing
than any other person here. Mrs. Bush, who came here as Eliza
Powell, taught the first school ever conducted in Lansing. She
knew Dr. Burr, the author of the poem. Mrs. Bush, in looking
through an old scrapbook recently, made in her girlhood days,
found the verses.
The poem was printed in a Detroit paper, for that was before
any publication had been started in Lansing. Accompanying the
lines was a note of explanation stating the lines were written concerning a great oak, standing about on the site where the first
Capitol was soon to arise. Reference is of course intended to the
site of the old Capitol, not the present one. The effusion to the
oak was dated at "Michigan," Ingham county, as Lansing was
then designated. The poem follows:
THE OAK OF THE CAPITAL.
Alas for Time! what changes hath he wrought
In this wild realm! The race that once came here,
To pitch their tents, to light the calumet
And talk of peace, laden with trophies from