rdered by too many swamps to be included in
the salutiferous group.'

"'On reaching Mackinaw, an agreeable change of climate is at once
experienced.' 'To his jaded sensibilities all around him is fresh and
invigorating.'" Dr. Drake looked upon Mackinaw as one of the
healthiest portions of the whole Northwest, and to which, in time,
tens of thousands of persons, even from the furthest south, would
resort to be reinvigorated in body, refreshed in mind, and delighted
with the contemplation of the sublime and beautiful scenery in that
region of expansive waters, of rocky coasts, of forest-bearing lands,
and distant islands.

"Here the great currents, which are the natural lines of _movement_
for the people, commerce, and productions of half North America,
concentrate around a single point. No other place has the same
advantage of _radial lines_. Quebec is relatively on the Atlantic. The
upper end of Lake Superior is comparatively on an inhospitable land.
Chicago is at a lateral point on the south end of Lake Michigan,--three
hundred miles from the main channel of commerce. At Mackinaw
concentrate all the radial lines of water navigation in the upper
lakes. Which will be seen, if we take the following distances of
direct navigation from this point to the principal points on the upper
lakes:

"From Mackinaw to Fon du Lac (west end of Lake Superior), 550 miles;
to Chicago, 350; to east end of Georgian Bay, 300; to Detroit, 300; to
Buffalo, 700; to Gulf of St. Lawrence, 1,600.

"Here are two important points to be observed. Any city which, by
competition, or the rivalry of production, or the power of wealth, can
be supposed to interfere with the growth of Mackinaw, must arise on
Lakes Michigan or Superior; for _there_ only can be any commercial
mart to receive and distribute the products around those immense
bodies of water. But in consequence of the form and surface of those
lakes, no lines of transit to the waters of the St. Lawrence can be
made so short or cheap as the water transit through the Straits of
Mackinaw. The concentration of products will, therefore, be ultimately
made at Mackinaw, for all that immense district of country which lies
around the upper lakes. Again, it will be seen that as the water
transportation to that point is the best, so the radial line from that
point to the Atlantic by water, is much the shortest. A steam
propeller, leaving any one of the principal points on the upper lakes
for either B