Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1897-10-15
Michigan Geography on Wheels i


course of his recent peregrinations. We
editor measured the long distance from
our southeastern corner TO the copper
spur that juts out into our great inland
sea. From Adrian TO Detroit on the
Wabash railroad, SO miles; from De
troit TO Mackinaw City by the Michigan
Central, 290 miles; from Mackinaw City
to ST. Ignace by the Gerry, six miles;
from St. Ignace to Houghton on the
Duluth, South Shore x Atlantic, 249
miles. A total of GOA miles, or as far
as from Adrian to Atlanta or Kansas
City as the crow flies.
So much for miles! The Jump was
from a farmers fair to "A copper county
teachers institute. From broad and
fertile fields, level and fruitful farms.
to rocky heights and wooded hills.
From corn TO copper. from buckwheat
to boulders, from milk to minerals, from
ui'NdONS W lllhCS, NUN Slalh l Sloh'
lite, from seeding to smelling. from
dragging to drilling, from soiling to
stamping, from dairying to drifting,
from Silos to Stag, from oats to ore, from
wheat TO WINES, from ploughing to
Stopping, from stacks TO stulls.
When the afternoon vas far spent,
yours truly sorrowfully lief his friends
shouting over the third heat of a pacing
race, and was soon spinning along over
the exceedingly level country around
Detroit.
Night and sleep shortens the long
trip TO the straits, and when morning
dawns a Transformation scene has been
effected. Smooth, broad and level
fields of wheat and corn, grass and
grain. had given place to sandy hills,
jack-pines and poplars. with occasional
glimpSes of mammoth forests of beech
and maple. Large and beautiful in
land lakes shone forth like bits OF mil
rors rejecting the rising sun. Then
comes the deep blue of the straits.
Here we are on historic ground.
Here Ojibways and Ottawas, voyageurs,
fur traders. soldiers and adventures.
priests and proselytes had made the life
of a century gone. Near the city of old
Mackinaw was the famous fort where
occurred the ball game massacre, one
of the bloody chapters in the history of
the crafty Pontiac. Beads may still be
found in the sand about the site-beads
that once were bartered for furs by the
thrifty traders. Here, We editor once
found a brass button which evidently
once adorned the coat of a faithful SER
want of the king. But the big ferry
stands ready, and on 1t our train is run
and the huge boat heads for st. Ignace.
To cur right lies Bots Blanc (Bau
Blau') island. In front of us, Macki-
nae Island, with Its white-washed fort,
steep and rocky bluffs, and big hotel.
At our left tie open strait to Lake
Michigan. All too short IS the run to
st. Ignace on the pleasant autumn morn
when the rising sun was scattering the
scudding flecks of rising mist. and light
ing up the deep green shores of the fir
clad islands.
ST. Ignace is a shoe-string city. stray
Cling along It's pretty bay, and thanked
by It's steep hills. Out we 90, skirting
the shore, past the great Marquette
rock, just catching Il glimpse of the
monument that marks the last resting
place of the noble missionary, Pere
Marquette, whose labor established the
mission where now Tepose his remains.
And now for a long strstch across the
eastern end Of the upper peninsula.
The road runs through great tracts OF
ilIbAOLoibuNlN ltN'l lbuh NONtlNN WIN
small trees or occasional stretches OF
larger forest growth. Now and then
"a marsh or moorland, a cedar swamp
or tamarack thicket varies the monot-
ony. The villages are small and wide
~ separated, and but little land is titled
along the line of the road. 70 the east
toward the Sault are found some fine
farming sections; to west along the
Minneapolis, St. Paul q Sault Ste.
Marie railroad are found both farms,
and forests. The forests are both OF
pine and hardwood.
At N~ewberry we see a smart looking
little village thanked by some large and
beautiful celery fields and the fine cot
tages OF the new asylum for the insane.
This asylum is already filled to its
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