AND 3985-2 ITS RESOURCES. SKETCHES OF THE GROWTH OF THE STATE, ITS INDUSTRIES, AGRICUL- FINANCIAL CONDITION, AND THE SITUATION OF ITS GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AS A HOME. COMPILED UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE STATE BY FREDERICK MORLEY, COMMISSIONER OF W. S. GEORGE & Co., STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 1882. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The first edition of this pamphlet, which was issued about the middle of December, 1881, consisted of 12,000 copies, and at the date of this publication (April, 1882) the supply is exhausted. Its distribution has not been forced and indiscriminate, but has been made almost entirely in response to applications elicited by announcements of the fact that such a book was in existence. Considerably more than three-quarters of the entire edition have been sent out of the State, largely to the Eastern and Middle States. Numerous requests for copies have been received from the Western States and Territories, from all the Canadian provinces, and from Great Britain. Correspondence on file contains demands for them from every State and Territory of the Union. An epitome printed in the German language has also gone in large numbers into Germany. The interest thus manifested in the State cannot fail to gratify all who appreciate its almost unbounded resources and advantages, and the necessity which has resulted of issuing a second edition of the book has been employed to give freshness to the statistics it contains and some additional features to its pages. Besides a revision of the financial and educational statistics of the State, and the latest reports concerning its institutions and its leading industries, including the copper, iron, lumber, and salt interests, there have been added a column to the table showing for a series of years the average cash value per acre of the more important crops in ten principal farming States, and another table demonstrating by the figures of the federal census the superiority of Michigan farms in the production of wheat; later information concerning the railroads of the State, their mileage and freight charges; an extended compilation of the distances and fares from various railroad centers to numerous distributing points in the newer counties; and a collection of facts which are of special interest and importance to immigrants from foreign countries. Some of the columns in the table printed on the face of the map have also undergone revision by the aid of more recent official publications, and the map itself has been carefully corrected to meet the existing condition of railroad development. Every department of the pamphlet has been subjected to a conscientious review, and most of its pages have been more or less reconstructed, added to, and, it is thought, improved. The changes which have been made in the figures representing the comparative area of this and other States, in the opening paragraph, are based upon the authority of the official geographer of the tenth census. The reception which has been accorded to the first edition of this pamphlet, the large correspondence resulting from its publication, the continued daily demand for it, and the avidity with which many who read it desire copies to send to their friends, justify the belief that a more intelligent idea of the greatness of this State has impressed itself upon the public mind than had previously existed. Whatever contributes to a knowledge of Michigan contributes to its growth. Persons having friends in this or any other country who are engaged in a search for new homes, and who will be interested in the information contained in these pages, are requested to send their names and addresses to the Commissioner of Immigration, Detroit. |