are on the spot.

Three fine harbors adjoin Mackinaw; the one on the east being the most
spacious, and the best protected. The new United States charts show
the depth of water sufficient for vessels of the largest size
navigating the lakes. As many as thirty vessels have been at anchor in
this harbor. The country in the rear of Mackinaw rises gradually
until, at the distance of a mile or two, it rises into an elevation of
high table land, from points of which there is a fine view of the
straits and surrounding islands. A mountainous ridge extends up to
within two miles of Mackinaw, covered with a dense forest of hard
wood. The southern extremity of this range reaches to the head waters
of the Grand and Saginaw rivers. From two to ten miles south of
Mackinaw are several beautiful lakes, surrounded by a rich, warm soil
of great fertility and covered with a heavy forest of hard wood, some
of which has attained a gigantic growth. These lakes abound with fish
of different varieties. Turtles have been taken from them, measuring
from one and a half to two feet in diameter. Almost every kind of game
can be found in the woods bordering upon these lakes, such as the
black bear, raccoon, martin, fox, lynx, rabbit, ducks, partridges and
pigeons.

CHAPTER XI.

The entrepot of a vast commerce -- Surface drained --
Superiority of Mackinaw over Chicago as a commercial point --
Exports and imports -- Michigan the greatest lumber-growing
region in the world -- Interminable forests of the choicest
pine -- Facilities for market -- Annual product of the
pineries -- Lumbering, mining and fishing interests --
Independent of financial crises -- Mackinaw, the centre of a
great railroad system -- Lines terminating at this point --
North and South National Line -- Canada grants -- Growth of
northwestern cities -- Future growth and prosperity of
Mackinaw -- Chicago -- Legislative provisions for opening
roads in Michigan -- The Forty Acre Homestead Bill -- Its
provisions.

The physical resources of this region are of such a nature and variety
as to make Mackinaw city the entrepot of a vast commerce. This will
appear, if we consider that it is the nearest point of that extensive
district, including the entire north of the lakes inaccessible to
Chicago. When all the lines of internal communication are completed,
and the different points on the lakes settled down upon, then the
real l