Morris tribune., 1883-04-25
UPPER MICHIGAN.

M1n1nS regions are pfOVefOlally oar
rem and rocky, and the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan-at least that portion of it
which is so productive of iron ana cop
performs no exception to this rule. 1t
is old-older than most of our hills, for
it was the first land that was attached to
the original Laurentian nucleus about
which our continent has been formed.
1t has, in consequence, always been .
favorlte field for geological study, and
its novel industrial features make it no
less interesting to the ordinary traveller.
The face of the country is rugged and
scanned and worn. Were it not for its
mineral wealth it would remain perman-
entity wilderness. Lumber companies
would invade here and there, and retire
after having robbed the forest Of the
pine which is found in o few scattered
patches. It would be an eddy where the
stream of Western migration had left
a few Indians and woodsmen to subsist
by the methods Of primitive life. The
land is generally valueless from the farm
ers point of view, for the soil is a light
drift-too light for wheat-and the eli
mate a winter modified by season Of
summer weather too short for Indian
corn to ripen. Hay, oats and potatoes
yield the farmer fair return, but the
climate is so rigorous that the securing
of shelter and fuel calls for SO large an
amount of energy that little is left to de-
vote to cultivation. It is proof Of this
\ that very inconsiderable fraction of the
population attempts to subsist by farm
ing, although the freight from Chicago
Is added to the price of all the staple ar
tcles of probationary, for instance,
being from $40 to $25 a ton, and
milk 10 cents quart. Curiously enough
strawberries and currants reach a per-
lection unknown in more hospitable
attitudes, Marquette strawberry re-
sembling in size Seckel pear and in
flavor wild strawberry. This is owing,
no doubt, to the fact that in northern
acknowledgements is about as far
north as Quebec-the few summer days
have from eighteen to twenty hours Of
sunlight and after-glow, and vegetable
growth is virtually uninterrupted by
darkness. Light, the botanists tell us,
bears the same relation to aroma that
heat does to sweetness. Such strawber-
ries as these must be seen to be appre-
ciated, and must be visited to be seen,
for they are TOO large and too delicate
to bear travel themselves.
I have spoken of the climate as q
winter modified by short summer.
The July and August weather I can
vouch for as delightful. Even when the
sun is hottest you feel instinctively that
there is no Frustrating power in it, and
the nights are invariably cool. In July
the mean daily range was 10 deg, and
the monthly range so deg, the lowest
recorded temperature being 3s deg.
Near the lake the presence of so large q
bodyof water, which at Marquette never
falls below 50 deg, and on the extreme
northern end of the peninsula never
below 4S deg, acts an equalizer, and
restricts the range within comparatively
narrow limits. This low temperature
of the lake water, which is higher than
that of any of the streams entering it,
precludes the idea of bathing. As q
consequence few of the lake sailors can
swim, and it would be of little avail to
them as means of saving life if they
could, for the most robust man if he
falls into Lake Superior chills and dies
in few moments. The numerous trout
streams in the woods are of an icy cold
ness. The SNOW, which falls to depth
of six or seven feet, melts and sinks into
the sandy ground, to reappear from
deep-seated springs with temperature
of 80 deg, which is exactly equal to the
average annual temperature of the place.
The thick forests prevent the sun from
warming the ground or the water. And
finally the lake is 30 deep-its bed reach
ing several hundred feet below the level
of the sea-that the summer air has lit
tie effect on it before it is again COW
cred with ice. There is no other place
on the globe where 80 large body Of
cold fresh water lies at an elevation of
six hundred feet above the sea. The
air in contact with this deep, chilly
o water seems to acquire peculiar WHY
ing and refreshing quality, quite impos-
sible to describe, but very easy to ap-
preeiate. Here must be the great sum-
mer sanitarium or cooling-oAf place for
Chicago and Milwaukee.-F Jo'