be
but little less than 400,000 square miles. Vast as this is, it could
not support a great commercial city, if that were a barren plain.

"Hence, we must now consider how far the products of the earth will
sustain the city, which such lines of navigation, such means of
commerce, and such an extensive, surface leads us to anticipate.

"The soil is the first thing to be examined. The peninsula of
Michigan--that of Wisconsin and the Copper region--of Minnesota and
Canada, which make up the larger portion of surface drained by the
currents of Mackinaw, has been supposed to be cold and wet. But is it
more so than northwestern Ohio or northern Illinois, which, but twenty
years since, were scarcely inhabited, but now are found to afford some
of the richest lands in the country? On this point, we have numerous
and competent witnesses, and whatever character they give to the
country, we shall adopt as the true criterion of its producing
resources.

"First of the Superior Country, the least agricultural portion of this
district, we have the concurrent testimony of geologists, miners,
settlers, and travelers, that it is one of the richest mining
districts in the world. But in the midst of it are found some fertile
sections. Of these, Mr. Ferris, in his account of the Great West,
says: 'The surveyors report some good agricultural lands (of which
many townships are specially enumerated), and these tracts of fertile
land will become of great value, when the rivers shall have been
opened and a mining population introduced, creating a sure and
convenient home market for the productions of the farm.'

"_Disturnell_, an accurate authority, speaking of the Superior region,
says: 'The traveler finds the whole district to within a few miles of
Lake Superior, abounding in every resource which will make a country
wealthy and prosperous. Clear, beautiful lakes are interspersed, and
these have plenty of large trout and other fish. Water and water
powers are everywhere to be found, and the timber is of the best
kind--maple groves, beech, oak, pine, etc. No thing is now wanted but
a few roads to open this rich country to the settler, and it will
soon teem with villages, schools, mills, farming operations, and every
industrial pursuit, which the more southern portion of our State now
exhibits.'

"Turning to the immense territory north and northwest of Superior and
the Straits, now constituting a portion of the British Dominions, and
every