the State from our
connection with Cincinnati _per se_, if not so general, will be even
more marked and important than those to which we have above referred.
The prices of provisions will be equalized, giving our lumbermen and
miners the benefit of reduced rates throughout most of the year, and
when speculation is rampant, and the price of pork, the great staple
of our neighbors, reaches an extreme figure--as has been the case for
two successive seasons, and will be the case again--our farmers will
reap the benefit of the movement. The growth of Cincinnati is
altogether without parallel in the world, taking into account the
character of that growth--its _quality_, so to speak. All its great
interests, particularly its manufactures, have kept pace with its
numerical increase. It is indeed difficult to determine whether
manufactures or commerce is most intimately identified with its
prosperity. The connection with her will give us new and desirable
customers for some of our surplus products, particularly our choice
lumber.

The entire line of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, as located,
is 172-1/2 miles; track laid and completed, 7-3/4 miles; additional
length graded 24-1/2 miles, the ties for which have all been
delivered.

It is thought that hereafter twenty miles per year will be completed
without difficulty until the whole is completed. This road will be
important in developing the resources of a very rich tract of country.

On the line of Amboy, Lansing, and Grand Traverse Railroad, the entire
distance from Owasso to Lansing, twenty-six miles, is ready for the
iron, except three miles. On the division from Lansing to Albion,
thirty-six miles, the work of grading and furnishing ties is
progressing, and some one hundred men at work. Between Owasso and
Saginaw, thirty-three miles, arrangements are nearly completed to
start the work. The work of grading and preparing for the iron is
done by local subscriptions, of which $3,000 per mile has been
subscribed and is being paid.

The existence of copper on the shores of Lake Superior appears to have
been known to the earliest travelers, but it has been only a few years
since it has entered largely into Western commerce. But the country
had long been a favorite resort for fur traders, and as long ago as
1809, and perhaps still further back, the Northwest Company (British)
owned vessels on Lake Superior. This organization was at that period
the great trading compan