History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

292

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

their way into the principal streams, leaving the surtace of the
ground to a considerable extent wet. It was reputed as an unhealthy country to settle in, fevers and agues were supposed to
lurk in its fdrests, and nothing but the wealth of its timber tempted
men to wish themselves inside its boundaries. A few years have
changed not only the face of the country, but its reputation. The
population of all the territory embraced within the valley (over 200
townships) at the different periods, is substantially as follows: In
1840, 12,290; in 1850, 28,621; in 1860, 72,597; in 1864, 85,258; in
1870, 152,141; in 1874, 184.346.
"Concerning the health of the valley, I can speak, after 25
years' residence, and I have no hesitation in saying that its average healthfulness will equal that of any other portion of the State.
There are many, even among the people who reside in the southern portion of our own State, who suppose Saginaw to be very far
to the northward. In some way —I do not know how —they have
associated Saginaw and Mackinaw together, and imagine that they
are near each other, when in fact they are 150 miles apart. They
do not understand the geography of their own State, and this being
so, we cannot wonder that those who do not reside in Michigan
should labor under a like erroneous idea. As a matter of fact, the
geographical center of the lower peninsula of Michigan is, on the
authority of Prof. Winchell, to be found on section 24, in township
13 north, of range 3 west, being in the township of Code, which is
the southeast corner town of Isabella county. If a line be drawn
from the straits of Mackinaw to the south boundary line of the
State, its center will be on the same parallel with the central portion of the Saginaw Valley. Mackinaw is about 46J ~ north latitude, the southern boundary of the State being about 41J ~. The
Saginaw Valley is about the same latitade and has fully as favored
a climate as the formerly famed wheat region of Western New York
and the now famed dairy region of the Mohawk Valley.
"It has also been rumored that the Saginaw Valley was not fitted for agricultural purposes. Saginaw had obtained its reputation
for pine lumber, and as people generally had found regions covered
with pine to be comparatively worthless for agricultural purposes,
it was assumed that the whole of Saginaw was filled with pine, and
therefore the soil was unfitted for the farmer's use. The experience of the last 25 years has also exploded this erroneous notion.
I doubt if there can be found in the State of Michigan six thousand
square miles of territory in one body with a greater agricultural
capacity than the six thousand miles drained by the Saginaw and
its tributaries. More than one-half of this territory for agricultural
purposes is the very cream of the State of Michigan, and there is
butlittle comparatively but what will make good farming land.
Look at the reports of the cereal products of Michigan, and you
will find that the average production per acre of this valley is fully
equal to the average in any portion of the State. Wheat, corn,
barley and rye are grown here in perfection.