East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1862-03-11
From the Detroit Advertiser.
THE SAGINAW VALLEY.
It's IStstory----Its Rcsources----Its
Future.

. Il
/ There is perhaps no section Of oountr
within this Peninsula that presents $
many attractions to the hardy adventure
who seeks home in the West, or 70
4 the enterprising business man or capital
ist, as that known as the Saginaw Val
ley" and the region drained by the tribu
taries which empty into the river from
which it derives its name. The river i
formed by the confluence Of the Tittaba
wassee, flowing from the Northwest, th'
Cass from the East, some three miles
above the city, and the Flint and Shia
wassee from the South, some four miles
fai ,hcr up, aud running in |" Northeast
erly direction, empties into the Saginaw
Bay, some thirty miles from the mouth Of
the Flint, where il commences. 1t is q
sluggish stream, and with the exception
Of slight sand bar just below East Sag
inaw, and another in the bay into which
IL empties, and near its mouth, it is navi-
gable for all descriptions Of lake craft
The sand bars, it is said, can be removed
at triaing expense.
The county of Saginaw, as at present
organized, contains 1,04S square miles.
The general surface of the country is
level, varying from 80 to so feet above
the surface Of the river, and the soil
consists of a rich loan, at intervals of a
sandy nature, on a substratum of clay,
and is extremely rich and productive
It abounds in heavy timber Of every de-
scription, and its pine lands, in extent
and accessibility for the purposes of the
lumber trade, are perhaps unequaled by
any in the State.
The history Of Saginaw dates back to
1919, during which year treaty was
made by Gov. Cass with the Chippeway
nation, by which the Indian title was ex-
tinguished to all that section of the Pc
beginning at point nearly west
from Detroit, sixty miles, and running
north on the line known as the principal
Meridian, thence to the head of Thunder
Bay River, and following the course Of
that river, TO Lake Huron. Previous to
this, the country was almost exclusively
in the possession of the Indians. There
was French trading post, under the
charge, we believe, of one of the Campaus
Of Detroit, and subsequently, during the
late war with Great Britain, military
post was established on the site on which
the City of Saginaw is now built; but
until the country was rigbtfully open to
immigration, there could be no extensive
agricultural settlements. The subsequent
survey of these lands by the u. s. Gov
ernment, and their sale to settlers, may
be said tobe the beginning of the history
of the Saginaw Valley. Yet as late as
1880, most of the territory around Sagi-
nav Bay and west and north of it, was
but little known, and was represented to
be of very uninviting character, the
soil mostly interspersed with sand ridges,
and the climate severe, and the country
filed with wild beasts and savages.
In 1881, tho Territory of Michigan
began to attract the attention of adven-
turers, and the Southern counties to the
st. Joseph River, and Washtenaw and
Oakland were rapidly filing up with
hardy immigrants, and small villages be-
gan to form the centres of trade; but the
Saginaw country was entirely overlooked.
We cannot, perhaps, give our readers
more interesting illustration Of the views
which were taken Of that country by in
tclligent citizens of Detroit, or by observ-
ing strangers in that day, than by quot
ing passage or two from the "Memoirs,
Letters and Remains Of M. dc Tocque-
ville,n the distinguished French traveller,
and author of Democracy in America"
who visited this country in 1881, and
whose observations and notes have just
been translated and published in Eng
lish. In chapter on " A Fortnight in
the Wilderness he announces that one
of the things he was most curious about,
on arriving in America, was to visit the
extreme limits Of European civilization
and in order to crafty that laudable Curl
osity he came to Detroit, then on the
frontier Of civilization, thinking that in
formation might be easily obtained to
accomplish his purpose. But he met with
an unexpected difficulty at the Threshold.
To cross almost impenetrablc forests, to
swim deep rivers; to encounter pestilen-
tial Marshes 10 sleep exposed to the