Minerals and In the upper pen insula, whose copper and iron mines are among the most valuable in the world, the chief competitor of lumbering and agriculture is min ing. Native copper was known and mined in the Lake Superior region by a primitive people hundreds of years ago. It is first mentioned in a book by Legardes published in 1836. Its commercial development was begun in 1842, by Boston capital, in Keweenaw County; the ginning of well-organized mining began in 18k6, with the discovery of the Calumet and Heels conglomerate lode, in Houghton County; that county produces more than four-fifths of Mich igan's output to-day, one-half of which is mined near Calumet. This copper averages about 20 pounds per ton of rock. The advantages for mining here are the relative purity of the cop per; the concentration of abundant pay-rock in mines fairly dry and needing little timbering; the altitude of the mine mouths, permitting the use of a natural incline to stamp mills at lake level; and an all-water route for shipment to market. The total product from these mines aggregates approximately 5,345,000,000 pounds, which gives Michigan rank in total produce sec ond only to Montana; in annual output the State is surpassed only by Montana and Ari zona.
Iron was discovered hi 1844, near Ishpem ing. The first ore was mined and smelted in 1841, by capital from Jackson, Mich. In the period centring about the Civil War, more than 50 cqmpanies were organized, the great demand for war purposes having forced the improvement of the Marquette Railroad and the Canal and led to a new period of settle ment in the upper peninsula. The chief iron regions are the Marquette Range, the Menomi nee Range and the Gogebic Range. In all of these there are unusual advantages for min ing; high grade ores, concentration in small area, down-grade short hauls from the mines, the proximity of timber and an all-water route to market. Most of the ore is shipped east for smelting; the first shipment, of 70 tons, from the Marquette Range, was smelted at Sharon, Pa. Michigan's share in building national in dustry has been largely through her iron sup ply to the markets of the East. The total pro duction has been approximately 450,000,000 long tons. The annual output of these mines is equaled only by that of Minnesota, in the United States; it is twice that of Russia, nearly three times that of Sweden and more than that of either France or Spain.
Other minerals are salt, gypsum, clay, lime stone, sandstone, granite, slate, marl, peat, coal and graphite. Michigan leads in salt, which is found chiefly in three belts, one from Wyandotte to Harbor Beach, a second in the Saginaw Valley and a third near Manistee and Ludington. The chief gypsum deposits are at Grand Rapids and Alabaster, the quarry at Ala baster being the largest in the world. Most of the limestone is buried too deep under gla cial drift to be quarried. The most valuable outcrops of sandstone are on the south shore of Lake Superior. Peat bogs abound in the lower peninsula, but have not been worked, owing to the relative cheapness of other fuel. The coal basin covers about 8,000 square miles in the cen tre of the lower peninsula, estimated to con tain about 80,000,000,000 tons, of which about half is in workable seams. This coal is mainly
of a low bituminous variety; of the annual out put of PA million tons, valued at about $3,330, 000, all but about 2 per cent is mined in Bay and Saginaw counties.
Manufacturing.— Michigan has over 9,000 manufacturing industries, employing about 300,000 men and a capital of over $500,000,000.
Its annual output in 1909, valued at $685,109, 000, gave it seventh place in the United States. The following table gives a comparative view of progress by decades since 1850: also for clothing and its accessories, particu larly furs. It is also the chief centre for ship building and for drugs and medicines. Michi gan ranks first among the States in the manu In the 10 years, 1899-1909, Michigan had a higher per cent of gain in value of manufac tures than any State which surpassed it in total value of output. In 1909 it had 18 industries, each of which put out a total product valued above $10,000,000. The bulk of the total prod uct is produced in the southern 20 counties, where are employed over three-fourths of the men. Michigan's rapid growth in manufac tures is due primarily to abundant resources in timber, iron and copper and cheap water trans portation; its rapid growth in variety of manu factures since 1890 is due to the release of capital from lumbering and the development of the automobile industry, in which Michigan now leads all the States. Outside of Detroit, which is the centre, the leading Michigan cities in the manufacture of automobiles, are Flint, Lansing, Pontiac and Jackson. This industry has stimu lated a great variety of associated manufac tures. The manufacture of lumber and timber products is the chief industry of cities in the northern part of the lower peninsula and in the upper peninsula except in the mining cen tres. Of the timber products, the chief are paper pulp, shingles and lath, charcoal and chemicals, veneer, tanbark, turpentine and rosin, and a great variety of wooden-ware. Foundry and machine-shop products, which rank ahead of furniture, are made chiefly in the large cities in the southern part of the State. Flour and gristmill products rank next and are widely distributed. The food industry is confined chiefly to Detroit, Battle Creek and the west central part of the lower peninsula. Furni ture ranks fifth ; over 150 furniture plants are distributed in over 30 important centres, among which Grand Rapids and Detroit lead. Detroit has about one-third as much capital invested as Grand Rapids. The chief factors in Grand Rapids' supremacy have been the initial impulse from the abundance of pine timber, the invest ment of capital since the decline of lumbering, skilled labor, facilities for marketing and the early organization of the industry on modern business lines. The Furniture Fair held there twice a year is a centre of interest to all the States and to foreign countries.. Supplies ac cessory to printing and publishing are an im portant industry. Leather goods and tobacco goods are also made in large quantities. De troit is the chief centre for all kinds of struc tural materials, including stoves and furnaces, facture of automobiles, salt, drugs and refrig erators; second in furniture and third in beet sugar.