on the Detroit river; Mount Clemens, on the Clinton river; Algonac, Newport, St. Clair, and Port Huron, on the river St. Clair; Saginaw, on Saginaw bay; Thunder Bay islands, in Lake Huron; Grand Haven, St. Joseph's, and New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan, are all of them unrepresented. This is a circumstance deeply to be regretted on several accounts. These are the outlets of the principal lumber regions of the western States, and supply the prairies of Illinois, as also St. Louis, and other southern cities, with nearly all their lumber and shingles; besides sending vast quantities to Detroit, Sandusky and Buffalo. The St. Clair, Sandusky and Maskegon lumber is as extensively known in the West as being of superior quality, as is the pine of Canada to the eastward. Again, these portions of the district are so very rapidly increasing in importance that their influence will ere long cause itself to be most sensibly felt in the commercial cities of the West. Lastly, there is still a very large tract of public land in various parts of this district, in the hands of the government, for the most part well watered and well timbered, which sooner or later will become of immense value. In past years these government lands have been trespassed on, by persons engaged in the lumber trade, to a very great extent; but the confiscation of several vessels, with their cargoes, has, it is to be hoped, effectually put an end to these depredations. There is a very valuable business also carried on in the ports of Gibraltar and Trenton in the shipment of staves; and at Port Huron, Newport, and St. Clair, on the St. Clair river, ship-building is prosecuted to a considerable extent and to very decided advantage; one of the largest steamers which navigates the lakes, of 1,600 tons burden, with an engine of 1,000 horse power, having been constructed on these waters. In this district are situated the St. Clair flats, the greatest natural obstacles to the free navigation of the great lakes, with the exception of the rapids on the lower St. Lawrence, the Falls of Niagara, and the Sault Ste. Marie. These shallows lie nearly at the head of Lake St. Clair, about twenty-five miles above the city of Detroit. The bottom is of soft mud, bearing a lofty and dense growth of wild rice, with a very intricate, tortuous, and difficult channel winding over them, in many places so narrow that two vessels cannot pass them abreast; nor is it possible to navigate them at night. There would be no difficulty whatever, and but a most trivial expense, as compared with the advantages which would accrue from removing this barrier, in dredging out a straight channel of sufficient depth to admit vessels of the largest draught. Nor is there any work more urgently and reasonably solicited from Congress by the men of the West, nor any more entirely justified by every consideration of sound economy and political wisdom, or more certain to produce returns incalculable, than the opening the flats of the St. Clair, and carrying a canal around the Sault Ste. Marie. These improvements would at once perfect the most splendid and longest chain of internal navigation in the world, extending above two thousand miles in length from Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior, N. latitude 46° 50', W. longitude 92° 20', to the mouth of the St. Lawrence river, in 46° 20′ N. latitude, 65° 35′ W. longitude. It is not, in fact, too much to say-so imperatively are these improvements demanded by the increase of commerce, and the almost incalculable mineral resources of northern Michigan-that within a few years they must and will be carried into effect, at whatever cost and expense of labor. Above St. Clair river the first port is Saginaw, situated at the outlet of a river of the same name into the great bay of Saginaw, larger itself than a large European lake, setting up into the land southwesterly from Lake Huron. This bay, with the exception of Green bay, is the largest in all the West, but is rarely visited by any vessels except those trading directly thither, unless driven in by stress of weather, since it lies some considerable distance off the direct line from Buffalo to Chicago. The port, however, imports all the supplies necessary for the lumbering population, and exports what may be stated, on a rough calculation, at 10,000,000 feet of lumber annually. At the Thunder Bay islands little business is done beyond the shipment of the produce of the fisheries; and to what extent these are carried on in that locality, owing to the total absence of all returns, it is impossible even to hazard a conjecture. On Lake Michigan, the ports of Grand Haven, St. Joseph's, and New Buffalo, are places of shipment of produce, and importation of supplies to a reasonable extent; while Grand Haven, Maskegon, and Manistee, are all great exporters of lumber. The commerce of the district, independent of Detroit, which is the principal depot for the commerce of Michigan, cannot fall short of $8,000,000, and may exceed it, though it is not possible to state it with precision, for want of the needful re turns. Detroit, the port of entry of this district, and capital of the county, is a finely built and beautiful town, laid out with streets and buildings which would be considered worthy of note in any city, partly on an ascending slope from the river Detroit, partly on the level plateau some eighty feet above it. The city now contains about 27,000 inhabitants, who lack no luxury, convenience, comfort, or even display, which can be attained in the oldest of the seaboard cities, though itself the growth but of yesterday. It is situate 302 miles west of Buffalo, 322 eastnortheast of Mackinaw, 687 west, by land, of New York, and 524 northwest of Washington. The river Detroit is, at this point, about three quarters of a mile in width, dotted with beautiful islands, and of depth sufficient for vessels of a large draught of water. The shores on both sides are in a state of garden-like cultivation; and, from the outlet of the river into Lake Erie, to its origin at Lake Huron, resemble a continuous village, with fine farms, pleasant villas, groves, and gardens, and excellent roads, as in the oldest settlements. The soil is rich and fertile; the air salubrious, and the climate far more equable and pleasant at all seasons than on the seaboard. The regions around are particularly suited for the cultivation of grain, vegetables, and all kinds of fruit: many varieties of the latter, which can be raised only with great care to the eastward, as the apricot for example, and some of the finest plums, growing here almost spontaneously. The waters teem with fish, and the woods and wastes with game, which have recently become an article of traffic to the eastern cities in such enormous numbers as to threaten the extinction of the race, and to call for the attention of the citizens to the due regulation of the trade, as regards time and season. Being not only the oldest but the largest town in the State, occupying a commanding situation, enjoying all the advantages which arise from a central position, a magnificent river, and a harbor of unsurpassed capacity and security, Detroit has arrived at a stand of commercial eminence from which it can now never be dislodged. The Michigan Central railroad extends to Chicago, via New Buffalo and Michigan city, a distance of 258 miles; and the Pontiac railroad some 20 miles to Pontiac. There are also about 120 miles of plank roads running from the city to several flourishing towns, in various rich portions of the State, as Ypsilanti, Utica, and other thriving places. The commercial returns from Detroit are of the most conflicting character; but the following results are believed to approximate as nearly to a true estimate of the actual commerce of the port as can be attained: 8,000,000 27,591,4S2 Add the estimated value of the commerce of the other ports of the district-say. The entrances and clearances from the other ports cannot be reached, Owing to the usual deficiency of returns from this region. In 1847, however, the business of the district was represented as fol lows, in the various ports, and by these some idea may be formed of their comparative value: Another great advantage will shortly accrue to Detroit from the opening of the Great Western railway, about to be constructed through Canada, which will bring it into direct communication with the New York and other eastern routes; as well as from the completion of the Lake Shore road. These will bring the city within twenty-four hours' journey of New York and the Atlantic ocean. Such are the giant strides with which the fortunes of the West, through energy and enterprise, are pressing on to the ascendant. The enrolled and licensed tonnage of the Detroit district for 1851 was 40,320 tons, of which 21,944 were steam and 18,376 sail. |