The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-05-26
"THR BURNT DISTRICT
Visit of the Governor and Relief Conn
missiOn-Its Present Condition-In "a
Fair Way for Recovery-Adventu
nnd ExperienceS.
From the Detroit Free Press.


Fair Way for Recovery Adventures
and Experiences.
From the Detroit Free Press.l
The exploration of the "burnt dis
trict by the Governor of Michigan and
the Relief Commission was accomplished
last week under numerous difficulties.
In the first place, ex.Gov. Baldwin's
mishap prevented his being one of the
party. His absence was a matter of re-
greet to himself, as he had taken a warm
and unhagging interest in the work of
relief, as we'll as to the people OF that
region, who would have been glad to see
him and express their gratitude for the
share he has taken in the work of help
ing them out of their trouble and peril.
SLOUGH OF DEsPoND.
If Christian In the "Pilgrim's Pro-
Qress," while stuck in the midst of the
Slough of Despond, had been surrounded
by a roaring fire, he would have been
situated very much as hundreds of peo-
pie found themselves in the "burnt dis
trict" the first week of September, 1881.
To get them out of this slough, set them
on their feet again, shelter, feed and
clothe them, and provide for the sur
viving cattle, horses and sheep, has been
the work laid out for and accomplished
by the benevolent people of Christendom
for the past six months. 1t has required
an outlay of money and supplies valued
at one and quarter million dollars. To
take account OF the spring harvest from
this winters sowing OF charity was the
object of the commissions last weeks
visit to the counties of Huron and San
lilac.
ENTERING THE DISTRICT.
A comfortable parlor car was hospita-
bly, placed at the disposal of the Gov
ernor and the commission by the Port
Huron and Northwestern Railroad Com
pany, in which they arrived at Minden
on Tuesday afternoon. Back of Minden
some of the worst devastation occurred.
The farms were under excellent cultiva.
ton, many of the buildings excellent,
the orchards well advanced, many of the
barns filled with crops, while fall work
had just begun.
CHANGE OF SCENE.
In place of these evidences OF cultiva-
ton, rude but comfortable houses made
of the rough lumber furnished by the
Relief Commission early in the fall now
dot the landscape. The country, so
nearly stripped of trees, lies open to the
eve as FAR as one can see. The skele
tons of new barns, many of them of
large size, are rising in all directions,
and the backened, fire-burned patches
are broken by the brown and yellow
patches of new-p,owed earth. In the
swamps and along the roads, where the
charred remains of the forests lie
stretched and bumped and scrawny with
overturned stumps, which project their
long fangs into the air, the settlers have
been all winter hauling away the ragged
remnants of the fire, piling logs length
wise, fence fashion. around their fields,
or dragging them to the hastily builtsaw-
mills and disposing of them for lurcber.
Much of the timber was charred slight
ly, and deep untouched heart has
yielded some excellent lumber.
THE WORK OF THE WINTER.
The green wheat covers many DESC
late spot with its brilliant verdure, as if
it were battlefield whose horrors had
been thus buried under the softness and
wealth and beatty of nature. Swamps
and stretches of timber, with an under
growth so dense that before the fire it
would have been hard to penetrate it
very deeply with a rife bullet, are titled
and cultivated fields this spring. Those
who had lived there but short time
and had not accumulated houses, barns,
machinery, Implements and stock, are,
thanks TO the benevolence of the people
of the United States, better off than they
were last fall. Their houses, furniture
and tools are, perhaps, better and more
abundant than those they then pos
sessed, while of cleared and cultivated
land they possess more than they did
previous TO the fire. Those, however,
to whom time, labor and frugality had
brought their neutrality-suspicious. i'm
provements, herds, implements and fruit
trees - are far worse off than they
were. They lost more because they
had more to lose. However, many
of these are doubtless better off
now than they were when they
first set foot in this territory. Some of
them, who have been twice victims to
the fire, naturally look upon life as a
hard, fruitless struggle, and, but that
they are confident that the territory
cannot again be purged with fire, they
would give up in despair. Even for
these it has its compensations, because
the fire has opened to settlement large
tracts of valuable land which will attract
immigration, and so enhance the general
value of the region. in which all will
share. Thus, the increased prosperity.
ten years hence, may more than equal
what it would have been had not the fire
removed so many obstacles to the immi-
grant, and added to the attractions of
this part of the country. Portions of the
soil are discovered to be of very rich
character-a gravelly loan, warm and
dry. Through this part of the country,
twenty or thirty miles from the shore,
the roads in dry weather are hard and
excellent, and even in wet weather are
very good, cut out and thrown up as
they are from the gravelly soil.
SIGNS OF INDUSTRY.