nine hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars. Special attention was also directed to the mineral resources of the State; an appropriation of twentynine thousand dollars made for a geological survey; and the appointment of State geologist was conferred upon Dr. Douglass Houghton, who did more than any other man to make known to the world the mineral riches of Michigan. Nor were the pioneer legislators of the new State unmindful of the cause of internal improvement, for they at once passed an act establishing a board of seven commissioners for that purpose, of which the governor was made president, and that board authorized a number of surveys for railroads. For the central route, from Detroit to the mouth of the St. Joseph, they appropriated four hundred thousand dollars; for the southern route, from Monroe to New Buffalo on Lake Michigan, one hundred thousand dollars; for the northern route, from Black to Grand river, fifty thousand dollars; and at the same time legislative acts were also passed incorporating the roads between Detroit and Shiawassee, and Gibraltar and Clinton. The commendable spirit of enterprise thus manifested by the public authorities was seconded by the people at large, as may be seen by glancing at the agricultural statistics published in 1838. The rye crop, for example, amounted to 21,944 bushels; oats, 1,116,910; buckwheat, 64,022; flax, 43,826 pounds; hemp, 524 pounds; neat cattle, 89,610; horses, 14,059; sheep, 22,684; and swine, 109,096. When compared with the present, these figures seem almost insignificant, and yet they told a "flattering tale," and the absence of any allusion to the great staple of wheat will strike the reader as remarkable. It was also in 1838 that appropriations were made for the survey of the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, and Grand rivers, with a view to the improvement of their navigation.

In 1839 the militia of the State was regularly organized, and eight divisions, with two brigades of two regiments each, were assigned to the following generals: John R. Williams, George Miles, Charles C. Hascall, John Stockton, Joseph W. Brown, Isaac E. Crary, Edwin M. Bridges, and Horace H. Comstock. Another event of this year was the completion of the Penitentiary at Jackson, which was built on the plan of the famous prison at Auburn, New York: and as to the progress of education throughout the State, the official reports gave the number of nearly thirty thousand pupils in the common schools, and the amount of money expended during the year as more than eighteen thousand dollars. With this year also terminated the administration of Governor Mason, who, besides having had the honor of inaugurating the new State, proved himself to be not only a man of ability, but a faithful friend of Michigan. He had emigrated from Virginia to the Territory in 1831, when he was appointed its secretary, in his nineteenth year, and he only lived about three years after retiring from the office of governor of the State, to which he was twice elected, and which he filled with credit and ability.

The second Governor of the State was William Woodbridge, who served in that capacity from January, 1840, to February, 1841, when he resigned to accept a seat in the United States Senate. His advent to the Territory dated as far back as 1814, when he was appointed to the post of secretary; after which, in 1819, he was elected a delegate to Congress, made a judge of the Supreme Court in 1828, took an active part in the Constitutional Convention of 1835, and was chosen in 1837 to the State Senate. After leaving the executive chair, the then lieutenant-governor, J. Wright Gordon, became the acting governor, and served as such for the balance of the term. In looking over the records, we find the leading events of this joint administration to have been as follows: The railroad from Detroit to Ann Arbor, a

distance of forty miles, was completed; and branches of the State University were established at Detroit, Pontiac, Monroe, Niles, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Jackson, White Pigeon, and Tecumseh. The population of the State had now risen to more than two hundred and twelve thousand, and the leading towns claimed the following numbers, viz: Detroit, nine thousand one hundred and one; Ypsilanti, two thousand four hundred and nineteen; Pontiac, nineteen hundred and four; Marshall, seventeen hundred and sixty-three; and Monroe, seventeen hundred and three. And after what manner the State was progressing in material wealth may be gathered from the subjoined figures. In 1841 the average price of wheat was seventy cents per bushel, and the crop amounted to $2,100,000: corn was sold for thirty cents, and amounted to $810,000; oats twenty cents, and the yield $800,000; hay five dollars per ton, and the amount $750,000; pork was sold for two cents per pound, and the profit was $900,000; the fur-trade amounted to $425,000: the potato crop to 2,051,000 bushels; whiskey and high-wines, $400,000; maple sugar, $83,151; fish trade, $192,000; wool, $70,000; dairies, $300,000; and home-made goods, $100,000. The exports for that year amounted to nearly four millions of dollars; and as the result of the distribution act of Congress the State became possessed of five hundred thousand acres of public land, many portions of which were selected with great care and were to become the foundation of an important revenue. Associated with the administration of Governor Gordon was the reorganization of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons, with the constitutional number of lodges. Of the early introduction of this order into the Territory of Michigan we have no satisfactory data. The Grand Lodge was first organized at Detroit June 24, 1826; was incorporated by the Legislative Council in 1827; and by a formal resolution, adopted in 1829, masonic labor was suspended. A general meeting of the Masons of the State was called for inquiry in 1840, and in 1841 the former grand officers granted dispensations for several lodges. The first grand master under the original organization was General Lewis Cass. The Grand Royal Arch Chapter was organized in 1848; the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters was organized in 1858; and the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, was organized January 15, 1857.

In November, 1842, commenced the administration of John S. Barry as Governor of the State, and he continued in that position until November, 1845. He was an emigrant from New England, and had been a resident of Michigan for many years; and the town in which he settled was Constantine, where he occupied a high position. During the first year of his term he had the satisfaction of seeing the university opened for the reception of students, when the charge for tuition was fixed at ninety-four and a half dollars per annum, or three hundred and seventy-eight dollars for the full course of four years. The Central and Southern Railroads were now progressing rapidly, the former having been finished to Marshall, one hundred and ten miles, and the latter to Hillsdale, sixty-eight miles. The private roads from Toledo to Adrian, and twenty-five miles of that from Detroit to Pontiac were also completed. The number of pupils reported as attending the common schools was nearly fifty-eight thousand, and the school tax for the year amounted to fifty-four thousand six hundred and forty dollars. 1843 a State land office was established at Marshall, which was invested with the charge and disposition of all the lands belonging to the State, and to Digby V. Ball was assigned the duty of conducting the affairs of the office. In 1844 the taxable property of the State was found to be $28,554,282, the tax being at the rate of two mills on the dollar; the expenses of the State amounted to seventy thousand dollars; the income from the two railroads

In

was about three hundred thousand dollars; the University had now become so prosperous that its income was ample to pay the interest on the University stock; and the amount of money which the State was able to loan to the several progressing railroads was one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Renewed efforts were now made to increase the efficiency of the common schools, and those who were acquainted with them were beginning to see that the schools of Michigan would be but little behind those of the Eastern States. In 1845 the population of the State had nearly reached three hundred and five thousand, which was a gain in five years of not less than ninety-two thousand; and in his message to the Legislature Governor Barry stated that the indebtedness of the State amounted to $4,077,177, while its resources reached $4,150,000.

The successor of Governor Barry was Alpheus Felch, who took the executive chair in November, 1845, and continued in it until March 3d, 1847, when he resigned to accept a seat in the United States Senate. He emigrated from Maine to Michigan when quite young, and as early as 1836 became identified with public affairs, first as a member of the Legislature, then as a bank commissioner, as auditor-general of Michigan, and also as a judge of the Supreme Court. The leading incidents of his administration was the sale to private corporations of the two railroads belonging to the State, the Central having brought two millions of dollars and the Southern road five hundred thousand dollars. It was in 1846 that the University library was enriched with a choice collection of about five thousand voÏumes purchased in Europe; the exports for that year amounted to $4,647,608; the tonnage of vessels enrolled in the collection district of Detroit was 26,928 tons; the steam-vessels numbering 8,400 and the sailing vessels 18,527, the whole of them giving employment to eighteen thousand seamen. In 1847 the counties in the State numbered thirty-nine, and the townships four hundred and thirty-five, of which two hundred and seventy were supplied with good libraries, containing in the aggregate thirty-seven thousand volumes. Indeed the common schools seem to have prospered beyond all expectations, for now the scholars numbered about ninety-eight thousand pupils, and in the 2,869 districts were employed twelve hundred male teachers and nearly two thousand female teachers. During the unexpired nine months of Governor Felch's term, the Lieutenant Governor, William L. Greenley, performed the duties of governor. It was while this administration existed that the war with Mexico was commenced and terminated; and in answer to the requisition from the War Department Michigan furnished to the cause one regiment of volunteers, commanded by Thomas W. Stockton, and one independent company, at a cost of about ten thousand five hundred dollars. The people were willing to volunteer, but owing to the imperfection of the militia laws the troops were obtained with some difficulty. In November, 1847, Epaphroditus Ransom became the Governor of Michigan, and served out his term of two years to November, 1849. He was a New England man, and had served in the Michigan Legislature. It was his privilege to sign the bills for establishing the Asylum for the Insane at Flint, and also the Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind at Kalamazoo, both of which institutions were liberally endowed with lands, and each of them placed in charge of a board of five trustees. The appropriation in 1869 for the deaf and dumb and blind amounted to $81,500. On the first of March, 1848, the first telegraph line was completed from New York to Detroit, and the first despatch transmitted on that day.

With regard to the agricultural interests of the State, their progress was quite unprecedented; and for the benefit of comparison with previous as

well as subsequent years we submit the following figures bearing upon 1849. The land reported to be under cultivation at that time amounted to 1,437,460 acres, and of wheat there were produced 4,739,300 bushels; other grains 8,179,767 bushels; wool, 1,645,756 pounds; maple sugar, 1,774,369 pounds; horses, 52,305; neat cattle, 210,268; swine, 152,541; sheep, 610,534; and while the flour mills numbered two hundred and twenty-eight, the lumber mills amounted to seven hundred and thirty. In 1847 the act was passed removing the seat of government from Detroit to Lansing, and temporary buildings for the use of the Legislature were at once erected at a cost of $12,450.

In November, 1849, John S. Barry was again and for a third term called upon to take charge of the State as its governor. He continued in office until November, 1851. Among the first acts of the Legislature to which he appended his name was one for the establishment at Ypsilanti of a Normal school, which was endowed with lands and placed in charge of a board of education consisting of six persons. But the two great events which transpired during his administration were, first, the removal of the seat of government from Detroit to Lansing, and, secondly, the adoption of the present Constitution of the State, an authentic copy of which will be found at the conclusion of this volume. As late as 1846 the site of the new capital was occupied by only one log-cabin, and it derived its name from one of its earliest settlers. It is located on Grand river, in Ingham county, was organized as a city in 1859, and, in addition to an important water privilege, it enjoys the advantages of a rich agricultural country which surrounds it on every side. Another event of importance which transpired during the administration of Governor Barry was that known as the "Great Railroad Company Case." A series of lawless acts had been committed on the property of the Michigan Central Railroad Company along the line of their road and especially at Leoni and Michigan Centre, in Jackson county; and, finally, their depot in Detroit was burnt in 1850 by an infernal machine. Thirty-seven men were brought to trial in 1851, and of these twelve were convicted. The conspirators were defended by William H. Seward, of New York, and the prosecution was conducted by Alexander D. Fraser, of Detroit, and the judge who presided on this occasion with great ability was Warner Wing.

In view of the fact that the commercial advantages of Michigan are quite peculiar, and unequalled by any other of the interior States of the Union, we may, with propriety, at this point, take a glance at her immediate surroundings. The five great lakes with which she is so closely connected drain an area of 335,515 square miles, and the navigable waters extending from Lake Erie downward will admit the passage of vessels not exceeding 130 feet keel, 26 feet beam, and 10 feet draught. The total traffic of these great waters in 1851 was estimated at 326,000,000, employing 74,000 tons of steam and 138,000 tons of sail. In 1839 the twenty-five largest steamers on these lakes had an average of 449 tons burthen, while the average of those which flourished in 1851 was about 1000 tons. In the former year, the first-class steamers took ten days to make the round trip from Buffalo to Detroit, but in the latter year the swiftest steamers only required_three days to perform the same trip. The total number of steamers on Lakes Erie and Michigan and the straits was 140, and the numbers belonging to the districts of Detroit 47, Mackinaw 12, and Chicago 4. And in this connection, the fact is worth stating that during the nine years preceding 1851 the steamboat tonnage of the Mississippi valley had only doubled, but that during the same period the tonnage of the great lakes more than quadru

F*

pled itself, whereby we obtain an idea of the remarkable increase of the lake country, in population, production and trade.

In November, 1851, Robert McClelland became the governor of the State and his administration lasted until March, 1853, when he resigned to accept a seat in the Cabinet of President Pierce as Secretary of the Interior. He had become a citizen of Michigan as far back as 1833, and had served not only in the State legislature, but also as a Representative in Congress. On his retirement, the lieutenant-governor, Andrew Parsons, became the acting governor, and continued to act until the close of the term in November, 1854. Perhaps the most significant fact connected with that year was, that the pupils throughout the State who attended the common schools, were not less than one hundred and seventy-five thousand, an increase in four years of forty-three thousand. Such victories of peace are what Michigan has always prided herself upon, and are in perfect harmony with the victories of war, in behalf of the Union, upon which she justly prided herself ten years afterwards.

From November, 1854, to November, 1858, the executive chair was filled by Kinsley S. Bingham. He emigrated to Michigan in 1833, and, prior to his election as governer, he had served with honor both in the State legislature and as a Representative in Congress. All the material interests of the State progressed with rapidity during his administration, but the most notable event of his first official term was the completion of the Ship Canal at the falls of St. Mary. In 1852, August 26, an act of Congress was approved granting to the State of Michigan seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, for the purpose of constructing a Ship Canal between Lakes Huron and Superior. In 1853, February 5, the legislature of Michigan accepted the grant made by Congress, and provided for the appointment of commissioners to select the donated lands, and to arrange for building the canal. A company of enterprising men was formed, and a contract was entered into, by which it was agreed that the canal should be finished in two years, and the work proceeded. Every article of consumption, machinery, working implements and materials, timber for the gates, stone for the locks, as well as men and supplies, had to be transported to the site of the canal from Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, and other lake ports; the stone for finishing the locks having been brought from Marblehead near Sandusky City, Ohio, and from the Detroit river. The rapids or Saute which had to be surmounted have a fall of seventeen feet and are about a mile long. The length of the canal is less than one mile, its width one hundred feet, depth twelve feet, and it has two locks of solid masonry. The contracting parties had many drawbacks to contend with in their operations, a sickly season having been one of them, but they persevered, and in May, 1855, the work was completed, accepted by the commissioners and formally delivered to the State authorities. The disbursements on account of constructing the canal and selecting the lands, amounted to $999,802, while the lands which were assigned to the company and selected through the agency at Saute Ste. Marie, as well as certain fine lands in the upper and lower peninsula, filled up to an acre the full measure of the Government grant. În consideration of its national character, as a highway between the lower lakes and Lake Superior, and in view of the sound character of the work, the originators and builders of this canal deserve the gratitude of the country. With regard to the laws of Michigan, it should be mentioned here that in 1857 two volumes containing all the statutes down to date were compiled by Thomas M. Cooley, and published in two volumes at Lansing under the authority of the State legislature.