A Pleasant Peninsula - The Last Refuge

“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.” The official state motto of Michigan encourages both visitors and residents to enjoy their surroundings.

People who have never visited my home state think of it as an industrial state, home of the Big Three auto makers, so this statement may seem strange to you: Michigan is one of the most unusual of the fifty states. It is split into two peninsulas, and is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes, giving it 3,200 miles of coastline, more than the Atlantic coast of the United States. It has a beautiful and diverse landscape – virgin pine forests, beautiful waterfalls and inland lakes, fertile farmlands, and the tallest sand dunes in North America.

Did you know that we once had a king in Michigan? James Jesse Strang, a Mormon church elder, vied with Brigham Young, each of them claiming that Joseph Smith had named him to succeed as leader of the church. Young went to Utah, and Strang first went to Wisconsin, then to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. Strang proclaimed himself to be “King of the Kingdom of God on Earth”. To make a long story short, Strang was assassinated eight years later, in 1856.

Because of the Great Lakes, and their connection to Eastern waterways, the land that we now call Michigan was discovered as early as 1610 by French explorers. Michigan’s oldest city is Sault Ste. Marie. Pere Jacques Marquette visited an Indian village in 1668 and founded a mission there in that year. It should be noted that the Indians had lived there for at least 500 years before that time! Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit was founded as a French settlement in 1701 by Antoine Cadillac.

Though we think of Michigan as the home of the US auto industry, it has had many incarnations. First, there was the fur trade in the 1600’s and 1700’s. In the 1830’s the logging industry began, providing lumber to build the cities rising across the countryside, and the mining of copper and iron ore. Immigrants from Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and Sweden came to join the Michigan lumberjacks and miners. It was a time of great population growth.

Michigan also developed a salt industry in the 1800’s, mining the large salt deposits left by an ancient inland sea. There are still salt mines below the city of Detroit, and in other cities throughout the state.

In 1837, Michigan became a state. The Great Seal of the state of Michigan was inspired by the one used by the Hudson Bay Company. At the center of the seal there is an image of a man standing on the tip of the peninsula, rifle at the ready, watching the sun rise. A moose and an elk stand keeping the shield in place, and an eagle adds to the majesty. The motto, “Tuebor” means “I will defend”.

My own great-great-grandfather, Nathan Hurd, purchased his first 40 acres in Michigan on October 8, 1835. According to a published biography of his son, Nathan Jr, “This was at that time a wilderness, inhabited only by wold [sic] beasts and Indians. The nearest commercial point at that time was Pontiac, a small village of two or three stores and a grist-mill, to which they made a weary pilgrimage at long intervals for their grists and scanty groceries.” Farming has always been, and is today, a large industry in Michigan. Michigan, for instance, produces 75% of the tart cherry crop in the United States. Other crops include corn, soy beans and sugar beets.

The Underground Railway and The Republican Party.

More than 40,000 fugutive slaves made their way to freedom through Detroit to Canada on the underground railway, as two of the main lines crossed Michigan. One historical event had its roots in Michigan’s anti-slavery movement. Michigan defied the Federal fugitive slave law, which was designed in part to derail the underground railroad, by continuing to protect slaves on their journey to freedom. The Michigan legislature passed laws to protect the rights and liberties of Michigan citizens, both black and white, known as the Personal Liberty Laws. A direct response to the Federal fugitive slave laws were political rallies, resulting in a convention attended by 1,500 people in Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854, the intent being to make it clear that there was a united front against the extension of slavery. The most important resolution adopted here said that “we will cooperate and be known as Republicans until the contest is ended.” Michigan’s commitment to the Republican Party bore fruit with the election of Abraham Lincoln.

The waterways of Michigan were the main source of transportation for people and goods for many years both before and after roads and railroads were built here. Part of the growing transportation problem in moving minerals and people by water was the rapids of the St. Mary’s River between Lakes Superior and Huron. There was interest for some time to build a canal to bypass the rapids. Up until the 1850’s, sailing and steam-driven vessels were actually dragged over the portage. Michigan petitioned the national government for help, and in 1852 Congress granted 750,000 acres of public land to the state to sell to help defray the cost of construction. Work began in June of 1853, and two locks were constructed to raise and lower ships from one lake to the other. The first ships passed through in June 1855.

My great grand uncle, John McArthur, originally of Ontario, then of Port Huron, MI, was a lakefarer, as were his father and son. John McArthur captained the whaleback steamer, Christopher Columbus, during and after the Columbian exposition in Chicago in 1893, ferrying passengers to and from the exposition.

Whaleback Steamer,
“Christopher Columbus”

Michigan is a beautiful place to vacation in the summer, and in the winter, if you like the snow and cold! There are woods and lakes and rivers, not only “up north” but close to our major cities. Imagine that from my home I can get in my car and get to a boat on the Detroit river in 20 or 30 minutes, depending on the traffic. Although I never owned my own boat, I have friends who do, and have spent many pleasant days motoring and sailing the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River, and Lake Huron. Many times the boat doesn’t leave the dock, but we can sit and have a cocktail while watching the world go by – including Great Lakes freighters and the hydroplane races. We have even gone by boat to Canada for dinner! The hydroplane in the picture – qualifying for the Gold Cup race on the Detroit River in 2007 – was docked (technically, in the pits) about fifty feet from where my friends and I watched the races.

Michigan has more than 800 public golf courses and world-class golf resorts. Boating and fishing opportunities are everywhere. Enjoy skiing and snowmobiling in winter. Visit Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mackinac Island and Fort Mackinac, the “Soo” locks, and the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. We have art festivals, jazz festivals, country music festivals, and electronic music festivals. If you like sports, we have professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey.

Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, MI