1809. A General Assembly was authorized to be called as soon as satisfactory evidence should be produced to the governor, that such was the desire of a majority of the freeholders; though the number of free white male inhabitants, of twenty-one years, did not amount to 5000. The representatives to the General Assembly to be not less than seven, nor more than nine, to be chosen for four years, and to be apportioned by the governor in the several counties, according to the number of fre white males. By an act of 27th February 1809, delegates to congress were to be chosen by the citizens at the time of electing their representatives to the General Assembly, and to have the same powers as heretofore granted to the delegates from the other territories. Congress passed an act, on the 18th of February 1818, authorizing the inhabitants of this territory to form a constitution and state government, and to be admitted into the union, on an equal footing with the original states. The convention to be chosen for this purpose, were to meet on the first Monday of August 1818. Slavery is abolished by law, and by act of 5th February 1813. Books and Documents relating to this Territory. Lettre du Pere Vivier, Missionnaire aux Illinois.

Lettres édifiantes écrites des Missions Etrangères.

Hutchins's Topographical Description of Virginia, &c. compre hending the river Illinois, and Villages in the Illinois Country. London, 1778.

Brown's Western Gazetteer. Article Illinois.

Birkbeck's Letters from Illinois, 1818.

Maps. There is a Map of this state compiled from surveys by Samuel Williams; and a Map of the Bounty Lands by John Gar

CHAPTER XXX.

MICHIGAN TERRITORY.

MICHIGAN, formerly Wayne county, was erected into a territory with a separate government in 1805, with the following limits: north, by the straits of Michillimackinac; west, by Lake Michigan; south, by a line running from east to west, which separates it from the states of Ohio and Indiana; cast, by Lakes Huron and St Clair, to Lake Erie. The southern line has not yet been accurately fixed. It is situated between 41° 50′, and 45° 20′ of north latitude, and 5° 12′, and 9° west longitude from Washington. It includes a surface of 34,820 square miles, or 22,284,000 acres. Its length from south to north is 250 miles, its breadth from east to west 160 miles. This territory forms a peninsula bounded on the north, east, and west sides by the great Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Soil. The surface has a gentle elevation from the western and northern borders towards the middle, which is generally level, and without hills or mountains. Extensive meadow lands stretch from the banks of the St Joseph's to Lake St Clair, some of which, called "high prairies," are equal in quality to

those of Indiana, and are of very different soil from the low prairies, which are sandy or marshy. Other parts are covered with extensive forests. The lands on Saganaum river are of a good quality; meadow lands extend from its banks to the distance of four or five miles. Thence to Flint river, fifteen miles, the country is level, the soil excellent, and covered with trees; thence to the Huron river the surface is waving, covered with oak without underwood, and interspersed with lakes, resembling the county of Cayuga in the state of New York. From Huron to Detroit the soil is rich, but low and marshy. The soil of the banks of the rivers St Joseph's and Saganaum is of an excellent quality. Along the Straits of St Clair there are fine meadows interspersed with rich wood lands. The banks of the Huron and Rouge rivers are also very fertile and well wooded. Those of Swan creek are low and unhealthy within a mile of the lake, beyond which there is high and good soil. lands of Rocky and Sandy creeks is The alluvial soil of the rivers Raisin and Miami is excellent near their outlets; but at some distance becomes light and sandy. Along a considerable part of the coast of Lake Michigan are sandy eminences, formed near the mouths of the rivers by the action of their current operating against the swell of the lake. Along the western shore of Lake Huron there is a narrow tract of poor soil, from half a mile to a mile in breadth. It is believed that this territory contains twenty millions of acres of excellent soil, of which eight millions have been ceded by the Indians to the United

That of the up

poor and sandy.

States, who have sold above 200,000 to different individuals. General Hull was employed by the United States to purchase the Indian lands from the Miami of Lake Erie nearly to Saganaum bay, including some branches of Saganaum river, the Miami, Raisin, Huron, Rouge, Huron of the Lake St Clair, Trent, &c. and containing, according to his estimate, a surface of seven millions of acres. He says, the lands on all these rivers are fertile. The country is generally level and easy to be cultivated; affords, in its present state, good pasture, and is well adapted for wheat and fruits of all kinds. He thinks the country will be healthy after it is cleared. His family were at Detroit eight years, and were more healthy than when they lived in Newtown, which is thought to be as healthy as any town in Massachusetts. The climate is much milder than in the same latitude on the Atlantic.

The Indian lands were ceded by the chiefs of the Pottawatamies, Ottawa, Wyandot, and Chippawas, assembled at Detroit, in November 1807, with a line of limits running from the mouth of the Miami river of the lakes, and thence up the middle of this river to the mouth of the Great Au Glaise river; thence due north until it intersects a parallel of latitude to be drawn from the St Clair; thence north-east, until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Upper Canada in said Lake; thence southwardly, following the said boundary line, down this lake, through the river St Clair, Lake St Clair, and the river Detroit, into Lake Erie, to a point due east of the Miami river; thence west to the place of beginning. Within these limits the Indians have reserved different tracts, leaving about four millions of acres at the disposal of the United States.

Climate. The northern situation of this country would seem to indicate a considerable degree of cold; but it is found to be so modified by the waters of the lakes, that the winter is warmer than in some more southern latitudes. This season commences about the middle of November, and lasts till the middle of March; and the ice on the rivers and borders of the lakes, during this period, is generally strong enough to support sledges. There is but little snow. Towards the state of Indiana, the climate resembles that of the western counties of New York and Pennsylvania; but along the coast of Lake Huron, the winter commences two weeks earlier than at Detroit. Lake St Clair is frozen over every year from December to February. According to the observations of General Wilkinson, made in 1797, the thermometer between St Clair and Michillimackinac never rose higher at noon than 70°, and in the morning and evening it often sunk to 46°.

Lakes. This territory is nearly environed by the great Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, and a great number of small pieces of water are interspersed throughout the interior parts.

Bays.-Saganaum Bay, on the western side of Lake Huron, runs up the country sixty miles in a south-westerly direction; its entrance is thirty miles in breadth, and it is deep enough for the navigation of large vessels.

Rivers of Lake Michigan.-1. The St Joseph, which rises in Indiana, falls into Lake Michigan near its south-eastern extremity. Though rapid, and full of