the result of the increase of the rate of tolls from 4 to 6 cents per ton upon the tonnage of steamers.

The entire receipts for tolls for the year 1868 were $25,977.14; being $7,538.40 less than the year before. This falling off was owing, in a great degree, to the exceedingly depressed condition of the copper mining interest.

The canal had been in operation fourteen seasons prior to 1869. Very considerable repairs had been made during the two preceding years, which, with those now being prosecuted, will place it in as good condition as the wear and tear of this length of time would allow.

The board of control in 1868 authorized it to be dredged, to clear it of the mud and stone which had been borne down by the ice and current. Three hundred feet of a new pier were to be built on the north side, at its western terminus. The valves of the luck gates and the slope walls were to be repaired and improved. These improvements to be made under the charge of the superintendent, during the winter months.

This canal, though located in Michigan and under State control, is a national work, and of great national importance. At the time of its projection it was supposed to be of sufficient capacity for the transit of any vessels which the trade of Lake Superior would ever require, or which could pass through the shallow waters of the St. Clair Flats or the St. Mary river.

For the removal of these river and lake obstructions Congress has made large appropriations, and the work is now in progress.

Already the commerce which has been developed along the shores of Lake Superior has become so extended that the class of vessels which has been found most advantageous to be used in this trade cannot be loaded to their full capacity, for the lack of sufficient depth of water in the canal.

The great Northwest is yet in its infancy. Population is pressing into the States and Territories with wonderful rapidity. A railroad is already being constructed from the Mississippi, at St. Paul, to the head of Lake Superior, (completed in 1870,) which, during the season of navigation, must make this canal the great outlet for the products of northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Territories beyond. Should the Northern Pacific railroad be constructed, Lake Superior would become emphatically the key to the Northwest, and thus this canal, as its outlet, of still greater national importance.

Although this is a national work, Michigan-not alone the upper peninsula, but the whole State-is deeply interested in its improvement, and in all that will tend to make it the great avenue of the trade of Lake Superior and the Northwest. Since its construction, other avenues have been opened, through which no small portion of the trade and wealth of this region is being diverted to other States.

As not out of place in this connection, we submit a few particulars respecting the indebtedness of the State. On the first of January, 1867, the debt of Michigan amounted to $3,976,185, and in July, 1870, it had been reduced to $2,444,528. Besides this, the county and municipal debts of the State incurred during the late war, have been greatly reduced. There have also been large reductions in the rates of taxation. In 1867, the apportioned taxes amounted to $880,739, but before the close of 1868 they had been reduced to $713,747; and in 1869 the apportionment had been reduced to $465,264. The State derives its revenues from direct taxation, and also from specific taxes. The specific taxes are paid by railroads, mining companies, Masonic lodges, banks, insurance, and express companies, etc. These taxes yield annually an increasing revenue, which does not come

directly from the pockets of the people, but from rich corporations; and these taxes are devoted to paying the interest and principal of the State indebtedness. The revenue from these specific taxes, in 1866, was $101,606.88; in 1867, it was $251,325.42; 1868, $280,952.07; in 1869, the law taxing National bank shares having been pronounced by the courts illegal, it fell to $268,530.51. As the wealth of the State increases, the revenue from these sources must constantly grow, unless the rates are diminished. And the last report of the Auditor-General shows that, within another year, it is likely the specific taxes alone will yield sufficient revenue to provide for the State debt, so that the people may be entirely relieved of direct taxation on that account. With regard to the Banking institutions of the State, we may mention that the National Banks number forty-two, and have a capital of $5,535,000; State Banks two, with a capital of $200,000; and the private Banking Houses and Savings Institutions also number forty-two; and there are in the State thirty Insurance Companies.

THE INDIANS AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE STATE.

As a matter of convenience, we submit in this place a few particulars respecting the Indians and the antiquities of Michigan. The total number of the former, consisting of Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottowatamies, is about twelve thousand, among whom are located a few schools, supported by the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic denominations.

The Government pays to these Indians annually, in cash annuities, about $40,000, and in goods $3,000. It also pays for the support of schools, for smiths and smith-shop supplies, and for agricultural and mechanical purposes, some $20,000, and for agency expenses, including salary of agent and assistant, pay of interpreters, etc., nearly $8,000. Thus, the annual disbursments for Indian purposes in the State amount to something over seventy thousand dollars.

The Chippewas of Lake Superior mostly reside in Houghton county, near the head of Keweenaw bay. The Ottawas and Chippewas are principally in the counties of Oceana, Mason, Grand Traverse, Emmet, Cheboygan, Mackinaw, and Chippewa. The Chippewas of Saginaw, Swan creek, and Black river, are mostly in the counties of Isabella and Bay. The Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottowatamies are in Cass and Van Buren counties, and the Pottowatamies of Huron are in Calhoun county.

The early history of the State is replete with accounts of the labors of the old French missions. Many were the lives sacrificed and privations encountered by these men to win the native tribes to the standard of the cross. So long as the missionary was in their midst and superintended their labors, they yielded to his guidance and adopted his recommendations, so far, at least, as conduced to their comfort; but when he withdrew, with equal facility they glided into their former habits. The superstructure raised with so much care fell to the ground the moment the sustaining hand was withdrawn. At present, with the exception of a few points in the upper peninsula, there are to be found few traces of the Catholic religion among the Indians of the State.

As a general thing, it is impossible to induce them to conform to the usages of civilized life, and, except in the manufacture of a few baskets and the supply of a few furs, we see no evidence of their industry.

The effect of the contact of the two races has been to afford the Indian additional incentives to vice, while his intellectual and moral elevation has

been little advanced; and at this day, it cannot be said that he stands higher in the scale of civilization than when first known by the white man. With regard to the antiquities of the State of Michigan, it affords us pleasure to submit the following, which has been supplied to us by the writer:

In common with her sister States of the great West, Michigan can boast of her antiquities, the undoubted remains of a great people, who claimed for their land, long anterior to the so-called "aborigines"-a people of whom the earliest known Indians have no traditions. Of a precisely similar character with the "tumuli," "forts," and "mounds" of the Ohio valley, are the ancient remains in Michigan, and in addition to these are the remains of ancient "gardens "-traces of which are found in no other portion of the continent so distinctly marked as those of southern Michigan. The ancient "mounds," the probable use of which has given rise to more controversy than any of the other antiquities of the country, are of quite frequent occurrence in Michigan, being found in all parts of the State, especially upon or near the banks of the large rivers-the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand, Raisin, and Huron. The so-called "forts" are but seldom met with, and are uniformly of small dimensions, the principal ones being in the southeast, along the shores of the Detroit, Huron, and Raisin rivers, and occasionally upon Lake Erie, between the Detroit and Maumee rivers. The gardens are found principally in the rich prairies and "oak-openings" of southern Michigan, where their antiquity is clearly evinced by the fact that in the centre of the garden beds immense oak trees, evidently several hundred years old, are found growing. In the counties of St. Joseph, Cass, and Berrien, there are many of these ancient gardens still in excellent preservation, and having undoubted traces of their original uses.

In addition to the remains above alluded to, there are to be found in the great iron and copper mining regions of the northern peninsula, the most indisputable evidences that this region was once inhabited by a race superior in every respect to the American Indians of the present day-a race that understood the mode of working and the value of metals. The high antiquity of the evidences of ancient mining discovered by the present copper and iron miners of the Keweenaw, Ontonagon, and Marquette districts is inferred not only from the fact that the existing race of Indians were in perfect ignorance of the locality of the mines until pointed out by the whites, but that the ancient stone and metal tools discovered are entirely unlike anything now in use by the Indians in any part of the country. Still another evidence is had, as is the case with the gardens of southern Michigan, in the fact that trees of the largest size, evidently at least five hundred years old, are found growing upon the piles of rubbish that must have been thrown from the mines by the ancient miners. In the winter of 1847, while passing over a portion of the location now occupied by the Minnesota Mining Company, Mr. Samuel Knapp, the intelligent agent of the company, observed a continuous depression of the soil, which he rightly conjectured was caused by the disintegration of a vein. There was a bed of snow on the ground three feet in depth, but it had been so little disturbed by the wind that it conformed to the inequalities of the surface. Following up these indications along the southern escarpment of the hill, where the company's works are now erected, he came to a longitudinal cavern, into which he crept. He saw numerous evidences to convince him that this was an artificial excavation, and at a subsequent day, with the assistance of two or three men, proceeded to explore it. În clearing out the rubbish they found numerous stone hammers, showing clearly that they were the mining imple

ments of a past race. The following spring he explored another excavation in the neighborhood, which was twenty-six feet deep, filled with clay and a mass of decayed vegetable matter. When he had penetrated to the depth of eighteen feet he came to a mass of native copper, ten feet long, three feet wide, and nearly two feet thick, weighing over six tons. On digging around it the mass was found to rest on billets of oak, supported by sleepers of the same wood. The ancient miners had evidently raised the mass about five feet, and then abandoned it as too laborious. The vein was wrought in the form of an open trench, and where the copper was most abundant the excavation extended deepest. The rubbish taken from the mine is thrown out in mounds, which can easily be distinguished from the surrounding ground, and upon which large trees are now growing. In various other localities of the northern peninsula the most convincing traces are discovered, that go to prove that the mines were extensively worked by an intelligent race-at least far more intelligent than the present Indians. The workings appear to have been effected by the use of stone hammers and wedges, specimens of which are to be found in the greatest abundance in the vicinity of the mines. In some instances there are traces of fire, and pieces of charcoal have been discovered, showing that fire was used as an agent to destroy the cohesion of the copper with the surrounding stone. Metallic hammers and knives have been discovered in the mines, though the instances are very rare, the copper being evidently carried to a distance, where it was fashioned into the rings and ornaments frequently found in the tumuli of the Ohio. The immense labor required to sink these ancient mines-frequently through several feet of solid rock-is another evidence that the present race of Indians, or any race of men possessing their characteristics, could not have performed the work, for no amount of personal benefit could induce the Indian to undergo such physical exertion. According to Professor J. W. Foster, these ancient miners were none other than the Mound Builders, whose works are known to be scattered throughout the entire Northwestern States. The specimens of their genius which we find in Michigan are generally small, varying in height from six to ten feet, and in rare instances reaching a height of twenty feet. Some of the most remarkable that have been noticed are in Girard township, Branch county, and in Raisin township, in the county of Lenawee. One of the latter was opened many years since and found to contain a mass of human bones. On the north side of Grand river, ten miles from its mouth, there is an ancient mound about ten feet high, with an immense pine tree, nearly one hundred feet high, growing from its apex. A mound in the vicinity was opened, and nothing found until the ground below was penetrated to the distance of about three feet below the original level, where were discovered a quantity of human bones, several pieces of iron three or four inches long, several arrow heads, some pieces of brass, and the remnant of a brazen vessel much mutilated. In the southwest corner of the county of Calhoun, on the north side of the St. Joseph river, is a semicircular fort two hundred feet in diameter, and another in the southeast corner of the county, of the same dimensions, with an embankment from one to three feet high. In the county of Wayne, in Springwells township, on the north bank of the Detroit river, is a fort of the circular or elliptical kind, with an embankment two or three feet in height, and encompassing perhaps one acre, situated on firm land and surrounded by a swamp. On the east side, in approaching the fort, there are two parallel embankments of earth, within a few feet of each other, rising four or five feet, and crossing the swamp in a direct line towards the fort. Forts of the square or the rectangular kind are sometimes found. There is said

to be one two miles below the village of Marshall, one in the township of Prairie Ronde, several on the Kalamazoo, and in some other places. In Bruce township, in the county of Macomb, on the north fork of the Clinton, are several. The latter consist mostly of an irregular embankment, with a ditch on the outside, and including from two to ten acres, with entrances, which were evidently gateways, and a mound on the inside opposite each entrance. In the vicinity there are a number of mounds. Several small mounds have been found on a bluff of the Clinton river, eight miles from Lake St. Clair. In sinking the cellar of a building for a missionary, sixteen baskets full of human bones were found of a remarkable size. Near the mouth of this river, on the east bank, are ancient works representing a fortress, with walls of earth thrown up similar to those in Ohio and Indiana.

In this connection, after mentioning the fact that the popular name of Michigan is the Hoosier State, it may interest the reader to look at the meanings of the following Indian names associated with the State of Michigan: Kalamazoo, which means Looming, or Wuragi river; Numma-sapee, or River Raisin, River of Sturgeons; Minosa-goink, or River Rouge, Singeing Skin River; Waweawtonong, or Detroit, Place where you go round the sun in approaching; Getchigomme, or Lake Superior, Sea Water; Equabaw, End of deep water; Wassawassepee, River where fish are speared by torchlight; Iosco, Water of Light; Keewenaw, or The canoe is carried back; Muskegon, or Marshy River; Moskego-sepee, or Moskegon, Marshy River; Pocagonk, The Rib River; Titebawassee, River that runs alongside; Ottawa, or The Traders; Tuscola, or Warrior's Prairie; Nundee Norgon, or Ontonogon, Hunting River; Wrockumiteogoc, or Huron river, Clear Water; Owosso, Person warming himself; Cheboygan, or A place of metals; NagaikurSebee, or River Ecorce, Bark River; Sac-e-nong, or Saginaw, Sac Town; Michisawgyegan, or Lake Michigan, Great Lake; Manistee, or River with Islands; Chippewas, or Ojibways, The Ruling People; Mackinaw, Place of Giant Fairies, or Great Turtle; Washtenaw and Washtenong, or Grand River, Running over Shining Pebbles; Shiawassee, or Strait Running; Powetink, or Grand Rapids, Falling Waters; Powating, the Saute Ste. Marie, or Water Shallow on the Rocks; Yondotia, or Detroit, Great Town; and Cowthenake-Sepee, or Au Glaize river, Falling Tree River. According to J. H. Lanman, the Indian names which marked the prominent points of Michigan exhibit the mode in which the savages defined the topography of the country, and were used as land marks to guide them in their migrations. A general term, founded on a certain feature of natural scenery, was often used to designate a wide tract of territory.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS.

Under this heading we propose to speak of several distinct localities, which have been, and are at the present time, attracting the special attention of the public, viz-the Grand Traverse Region, the Saginaw Valley, the Straits of Mackinaw, and the Cheboygan Region. With regard to the first, Professor Alexander Winchell has declared it to be the most remarkable and desirable section of country in the Northwest, and as he is the only man who has thoroughly explored it, the value of his opinion cannot be questioned. In 1866 he published a report on its geological and industrial resources, and it is from that production that we gather the following particulars:

Grand Traverse Bay is a bay of Lake Michigan, about thirty-four miles long and of ample depth, and received its name from the French voyageurs.