East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1863-08-12
SAGINAW.

Fob. :, lSO2, rs sufiiclently interesting
To warrant its republication at leas
once year Since the correspondent,
was written Saginaw has made moro
rapid progress than ever before, it
business having doubled in that shor
time:
There is perhaps no section of the
country within this Peninsula, that
presents 50 many attractions To the
hardy adventures, who seeks home
in the West or for the enterprising
business man or capitalist, as that
known as the Saginaw Valley" and
the region drained by the tributaries
which empty into the river from which
it derives its name. The river is
formed by the confluence of the Titti-
bawassee, flowing from the North
west, the Cass from the East, some
three miles above the city, and the
Flint and Shiawassee from the South,
some four miles further up, and run
ming in North-easterly direction,
empties into the Saginaw Bay, some
thirty miles from the mouth of the
Flint, where it commences.
The County of Saginaw, as at pres
cnt organized, contains l,04S square
miles. The general surface of the
country is level, varying from 30 to 80
feet above the surface of the river, and
the soil consists Of rich loom, ut in
teTvals of sandy nature, on sub
stratum of clay, and is extremely rich
and productive. 1t abounds III heavy
timber of every description, and its
pine lands, i'll extent and accessibility
for the purposes of the lumber trade,
are perhaps unequalled by any in the
State.
The history of Saginaw dates back
TO 1919, during which year treaty
was made by Gov. Cass with the Chip
eway nation, by which the Indian III
tie was extinguished to all that section
of the Peninsula, 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 po-
session of the Indians. There was Il
French trading post, under the charge,
we believe, of one of the Campaus of
Detroit, and subsequently, during the
late war with Great Britain, a militia
ry Post was established on the site on
which the city of Saginaw is now built;
but until the country was rghtfully
open to immigration, there could be no
extensive agricultural settlements
The subsequent survey of these lands
by the L. $. Government, and their
sale to settlers, may be said to be the
beginning of the history of the Sagi-
nav Valley. Yet rs late as 1880,
most of the territory around Saginaw
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, the climate severe, and the
country filed with wild beasts and saw
ages.
In 1881, the Territory Of Michigan
began to attract the attention of adj
vcnturers, and the Southern counties
to the st. Joseph River, and Washte-
nav and Oakland were rapidly filling
up with hardy immigrants, and small
villages began to form the centre of
trade; but the Saginaw country was
entirely overlooked. We cannot, per-
haps, give our readers n more inter-
csting illustration Of the views which
were taken of that country by mtelli-
gent citizens of Detroit, or by observ-
ing strangers in that day than by quo
ting passage or two from the "Mem-
oirs, Letters, and remains of NJ. dc
Tocqueville," the distinguished French
traveller, and author Of Democracy in
America, who visited this country i'll
1881, and whose observations and
notes have Just been translated and
published in English. In a chapter
on a Fortnight in the Wilderness"
he announces that one of the things
he was most curious about, on arriving
i'm America, was to visit the extreme
limits of European civilization; and in
order to CRAFTY that laudable curiosity
he came to Detroit, then on the from
tier of civilization, thinking that infor-
nation might be easily obtained to ac-
complish his purpose. But he met
with an unexpected difficulty at the
threshold. To cross almost impenetra
bic forests; to swim deep rivers; to en-
counter pestilential marshes; to sleep
exposed to the damp air of the woods;
"These are efforts" he writes, (which
an American "easily conceives, if
'dollar is to be gained by them--thats
'the point But that man should
'take such journeys from curiosity, he
'cannot understand. Besides dwell
''ing in wilderness, he prizes only
'man's work. He sends you to visit a
'road, bridge, pretty village; but
chat you should admire large trees,
cor wild scenery, is TO him incompre-
"hensible. We could make no one
understand U.S."
AT last he called upon Major John
Biddle, the Register of the Land Of
fee, and, with a friend, represented
themselves as persons who had not
quite made up their minds to establish
themselves in the country, but were in
terested to know the price and situa-
ton of the Government lands. De-
Tocquoville adds:
"Major Biddle understood perfectly
"what we wanted, and entered into a
number of details, to which we ear
"nestly listened. This part he said,
"(showing us on the map the River st.
Joseph seems to me to be best suit
"ed to your purpose. The land is
"good, and large villages are already
founded there; the road is SO well