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

288

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

beech and maple flourished along this eminence, with the more
sturdy pine forests stretching away on each side. Since that
time the trees have disappeared beneath the advance of the lumber-man and agriculturist, and what formed the fairest portion of
the wilderness is now transformed into the most productive and
richest grain garden in the valley. Along the Saginaw and
Tittabawassee the lowlands are simply muskeg formations —rich
in every component of soil, but so liable to inundation that their
utilization as farm lands must be brought about by the labors of
another generation.
Throughout the county there are many acres of marsh land easily
drained and capable of high cultivation. Great advances have
been made in this direction during the last quarter of a century. A
large portionof the tract on which the city of East Saginawnow stands,
was, within the memory ofthe pioneers, a land ofreptiles and miasms;
but the reptiles disappeared before the advance of man, the sluggish waters flowed off through channels made by enterprise, a few
short years sufficed to convert the muskeg into solid land, and a
few more to render it fit for the erection of the vast buildings of a
great northern city.
The soil is all that the farmer could desire. A deep, dark,
sandy loam, with a yellow or blue clay subsoil, is found throughout the valley. At intervals a small boulder formation may occur,
but generally the rich soil is free from rock. The land approaches
that of the Red River valley in almost every particular, notwithstanding the fact of its pine production, and as capable of producing cereals as is the alluvial soil of the treeless and inhospitable
Northwest. Within the limits of the county are several thriving
towns and villages, every one with its circle of lumber, salt, and
agricultural resources. Important rivers and streams course
through the county, each forming an avenue of prosperity.
Railroads spread out in every direction, communicating with the
older and duller world beyond the woods, and bearing to that
world large supplies of lumber and salt and even grain-all
wrung from the bosom of this land. Enterprise directs all,-from
the newly built log cabin to the great marts of the two cities of
the county, business rules supreme, winning men from thoughts
of idle hours to the higher and nobler ones of building up a new
land, of serving others of tile present, and preparing for those of
the future while winning for themselves a competence and the
honors to which theirindustry and enterprise entitle them.
THE WATER COURSES
of the district comprise the Sac-haw-ning, or home of the Sacs; the
Onottoway-se-be-wing, or river of the Onottoways, now called Cass
river; the Pe-vwa-ne-yo-ink-se-be, or Flint river; the Tit-ta-ba-was-see,
or river running parellel with the shore; the Shiawassee, or beautiful stream; the O-gah-haw-ning, or Pickerel river, now called the
Kaw-kaw-lin; the lfich-te-gay-ock; the Jla-quaa-a-ke-see, or Bear