Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1879-09-17
which ought to make any citizen
of northern Michigan proud of all

that "history repeats ITSELF" an
that as the Saginaws fought inch b
inch against the prejudice Of a
2 the State up to their present in
pregnable position in business, man
ufactures, commerce, and especial
ly agriculture, so is Alpena fight
ing against like prejudice, yer.
little of which | am happy to say
, finds Judgement among the re-
, preventative men of Saginaw, anC
she too may well say of her newly
, discovered farm districts as Sagin
aw so quotefully says of hers
"Mig-e-we-win."
Commencing about fifteen mile:
west from Alpena is a district en-
bracing several townships of land
where so many years ago there was
a heavy growth of hard timber,
with enough bass wood, ash, elm,
red oak, etc, to indicate a strong
and fertile soil, as patches" where
this timber having escaped the tor
nado and the fire stands as wit
ness of its former surroundings
demonstrate. Then came the tor
nado, and the windfall, concerning
which no woodsman will require
any explanation and afterwards the
fire, which swept the whole region
as with the Bosom of destruction, in
many places literally wiping out
every vestige of timber, root and
branch. limb, leaf and ligament.
A growth of brush followed and by
many these are now called the
brush lands, counted worthless for
many years by men experienced in
farming, but about eight years ago
few settlers made clesrings; the
cost for fitting the land for the
plow-the stumps having been re-
moved by the same agencies which
made the windfall and the subse-
quent conhagration-being as a
rule six dollars an acre; tried the
business of farming, and it having |
proved successful beyond all ex-
pectations, others followed, and |
now in the district noted, farmers
are numbered by the hundreds,
while the settlement, though sparce
at points, is continuous from the
southern line of the lower burn
ings by the Sunken lake route
through to the Polish settlement
in Pressure Isle county, which is
farming community and
extends from the southern bounda-
ry of Pressure Isle county through
TO Lake Huron in the vicinity of
Rogers City and Crawford's Quar-
". (
The soil upon the burnings is in ,
he main light colored loan, hav-
ng as a rule the peculiar adhesive
properties of moulding sand with {
never any drifting tendencies un- l
ierlying this loan, which is gener-
lily of dark color in the depres- 8
ions and lighter on the hills, il I'M
formly a bed of brown clay in C
many instances coming prone to +
he surface, but loose, friable, full S
f limestone pebbles, working I'M a
Ter the plow very like most of the i
lay in Saginaw county, full of the G
ssential elements of plant growth Il
nd mixing readily with the sur Il
ace soil, which handles beautifully b
n any reasonable season, admits of O
be most thorough cultivation and O
PRODUCES in proportion to the @
horoughness and persistence of a
he aforesaid cultivation. {
The land is rolling, with hand S
ONE elevations and graceful de- /
'ressions, but no abrupt hills and il
10 unsightly marshes. In many {
Instances the depressions are occu- Q
led by beaver meadows which to u
ne first settlers were of great e
alue in furnishing pasture and 4
ay for their stock before the high a
r lands could be got in condition s
Or seeding down. Standing upon f
he highest elevation of the farm |
my pleasant friend John Kea- b
ng, which farm is 800 acres in ex- g
INT, half of which is under cultiva- s,
on, the eye takes in q range of S
Ountry near five miles in extent, C,
every direction, a large pro- o
ortion of which is cultivated fields b
Gifted with dwellings, barns, hay Il
nd grain sheds, school houses, h
lechanics shops, teeming acres
nd teaming harvesters, gathering Il
,e golden grain. Thunder Bay Il
yer a little to the south furnishes il
n adequate general water course. r,
nd an ample supply of water and n
'ater power for all general uses of Il
ne vicinity. c,
Specify g. Hopper have a small u
Nv and grist mill about three miles "
istant, which does good work and Il
doing good business east and d
est, and north to the green woods al
hich marks the dividing line be- al
cen the burnings and the heavy &C
mbered land. Some pine but chief al
hardwood farming country, as far m
the eye can reach are seen farms, fc
rms, farms, looking with fields
ereft OF stumps and covered either
it'll grain in the sheaf or covered
ith growing crops of clover and
otatoes as fresh and green as they