Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1883-10-30
LETTER FROM MICHIGAN.
ANN ARBoR, MIcH., Oct. II. ga

I'D. WoRLD:-It was our intention
upon leaving your place to keep you
informed of our wanderings, but be-
ing prevented through unavoidable
circumstances, we will now commence
anew, adhering to the old adage.
"better late than never,'
The thing that strikes a Pacific
coaster, as the strangest in this coun-
try, is the smallness of the farms
Little. patches of land that in Califor-
MA would hardly make gardens, are
here called farms. This is undoubt-
edly very good state of affairs, as it
prevents land grabbing by monopo-
hes. Almost every farmer has
what he calls a "grove"- little clump
Of the original forest preserved to
furnish wood, and il they are maple
trees, to. furnish also that delicious.
sweet, maple sugar.
The surface of the country here in
Michigan, is rolling, and advantage is
taken of this to insure crops against
frosts. Corn and other tender plants
are planted on the south slopes Of the
hills. In West Michigan there are
lany peach orchards, and they are
invariably planted in the same man
ner. Frosts are much more common
here than In Idaho, and often occur
late in the summer, as was the case
last July. The year 1888 has been a
very disastrous one to Michigan farm
ers. Heavy frosts were of frequent
occurrence, and ultimately destroyed
the corn crop. There came great
freshet in July last which drowned
everything out, and then a great cy-
clone--to wind it up drouth and
more frost. The farmers thereat are
very much discouraged, and many
look with yearning eyes to that much
talked of promised land,,' the great
West. Many are the inquiries con-
corning Idaho and Washington Ter
ritories, and in my opinion, if 'S4 re-
sembles this year, you may look for
quite an emigration to your country.
After this general introduction, we
may take look at some of this States
principal towns: Detroit, about 40
miles from here, is the largest city in
Michigan, and is said, possesses more
attractions than any other, but as
have not been there, description had
better not be attempted. Grand Rap
ids, in the western part of the State,
is, we will say, the great manufacture
ing city of the West. 1t has a pop
ulation of about 10000, which is, to a
great extent, made up of live and
energetic citizens. No matter where
you look your eyes will be confronted
with the slnokestacks and formidable
walls OF manufactures. There you
will find great furniture factories, fur
the world with furniture, ship
ping it to England, all Europe, and
even to China and Japan. There are
great rolling mills, agricultural ma
chine factories, breweries, distilleries,
tobacco factories, and in fact, every
industry is here represented. The
greatest interest is probably that of
lumber. For miles along the Grand
River the water is hidden by immense
collections of logs held in check by
booms. These logs are taken from
the river in canals and hoated into
saw mills where they are cut into
lumber und loaded on cars and ship
ped to all points. North of Grand |
Rapids there are great forests of pine |
timber, from whence the logs are OBJ
tanned and RATED down the river.