MICHIGAN, mish'i-gon(Algonquin in kb 1, great puma, water). One of the Stales of the American Union, situated in the region of the Great Lakes. It lies' between 42' and 32' north latitude and 24' and 31' west longitude, and consists of two natural divisions, the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula, with an extreme length of 318 miles, and an extreme width at Kewecnaw Point of 164 miles, is bounded on the north by Lake Superior and on the south by Wisconsin and Lakes Michigan and Enron. On the east the Saint Nary's River separates it from the Prov ince of Ontario, Canada. and the Menominee River forms about one-half of its Wisconsin boundary. The Lower Peninsula is in the form of a mitten, the thumb being separated from the hand by Saginaw Bay, the whole division being surrounded, except in the south, by Lakes Michi gan and Huron, the Saint Clair River, Lake Saint Clair. the Detroit River. and Lake Erie, and bounded on the south by the States of Indiana and Ohio. It has a length of 300 miles from north to south, and an average width of 200 miles. The State has an area of 58.915 square miles, including 1485 square miles of water, rank ing eighteenth in size among the States of' the Union.
TopoGRAPITY. Michigan occupies an exceptional position. Lying within the embrace of the three largest of the Great Lakes. it possesses a. coast line longer in proportion to its area than that of any other state in the Union. Further, the coast waters possess many good harbors and are navi gable for large craft. Ships of 2000 tons can sail within sight of land all round the State. The surface of the State is in general level and monotonous, the northern peninsula being some what rugged and rocky. The highest elevation is in the west end of the northern peninsula in the Porcupine Mountains, a gentle ridge running northeast and southwest. into Wisconsin. It in cludes the famous Copper Range. The highest point in the State is about 1800 feet above the sea, or about 1200 above lake level; in the southern peninsula the elevation nowhere ex ceeds 600 feet above the lakes. The mean eleva tion of the State is less than 200 feet above lake level. There are two high areas to the southeast and northwest of Saginaw Bay. re spectively. The glacial sheet descending from the northeast encountered this resisting wall and split, turning in the direction of the softer rocks on each side into the Huron-Erie and the Lake Michigan reg,ions, and cutting nut basins for the present lakes. Southern Miehigan is marked by
two parallel ridges or topographic axes running northeast and southwest. The southern axis runs along a line roughly from Ann Arbor to Pontiac: the northern axis runs from the region north of Saginaw Bay southwest. toward the Muskegon iver.
The rivers of Michigan follow the morainal valleys around in a eircular course—usually southward. The largest streams in the Upper Peninsula are the and Ontonagon, draining into Lake Superior, and the Ford. Es can:ilia, and lanistique, draining into Lake The Lower Peninsula is watered by the Manistee. Muskegon, Grand, Kalamazoo, and Saint .losepli. which flow into Lake liclrigan; by the Cheboygan. Thunder Bay, Au Sable, and Saginaw. flowing into Lake Burnt]; and by the Huron and Raisin, flowing into Lake Erie. Most of the rivers are small, and the largest are navigable by river boats only for short distances. The morainal districts are also crowded with lakes and ponds. some tributary to the rivers. draining the valleys. others deep tarns caught between the moraines rind possessing 110 outlet. These lakes and ponds of _Michigan are estimated at friar] 5000 to 15,000 in number. The Kalama zoo Elver alone has within its basin 175 tribu tary and 150 non-tributary lakes, and other rivers are similarly supplied. They are valuable sources of water supply, and when they disappear their beds furnish a black muck soil with a shell marl subsoil which is excellent for garden cul ture. Other lakes owe their origin to the erosion of limestone bullring eaves and sink holes, or to the sand bars built across the mouths of hays or rivers by the Great Lakes at the present or at a higher stage of elevation. Still another source of these numerous lakes is the tilting of the earth's crust, which flooded old river valleys- and landlocked the waters- within. If Professor Gil• hert's theory is true. this process is even now going on. If the land is rising five inches a century per hundred miles along an axis through Niagara Falls and northeastern Michigan, it is easy to see that Saginaw Bay will SO011 be a lake. In faet, even now it is practically stagnant.