CHAPTER XIV.

THE STATE ENTERS UPON INTERNAL IMPROVE

MENTS.

THE years 1835, '36, and '37 were years for the building of air castles everywhere, but especially in the new West. Nowhere were the imaginations of the people more active, or more excited with visions of great prosperity than in Michigan, and nowhere was there greater excuse for it. Every steamboat on Lake Erie was loaded with people on their way to the Peninsular State, and the road through the Black Swamp from Cleveland to the Maumee exhibited a continuous moving caravan of emigrant wagons slowly and laboriously dragged along. The Erie and Kalamazoo railroad, with its little cars of stage-coach fashion, was doing what it could to help the procession move on into Michigan: it carried "baggage at the risk of the owners," but its speed was not such as to put life at much risk, except perhaps when a broken strap rail ran a "snake head" up through the car floor. In the interior might be heard on every side the sound of the woodman's axe and the crash of falling trees; new houses,

very primitive but each sheltering a family, were being put up everywhere; and crops were being gathered where only the year before all was wilderness and solitude. A magical transformation was going on before the eyes of the people, which had been rendered possible through the construction of the Erie Canal, whereby De Witt Clinton, Myron Holley, and their associates had added so vastly to the wealth and importance of the Empire State, and won for themselves immortal renown. It was a striking evidence of what improved means for the transportation of persons and property might do for a state; and the proof that the people were awake to its importance is seen in the fact that in forming their constitution, preparatory to admission to the Union, they took pains to impose upon the legislature the duty of following the example of New York. The provision to this end was the following: "Internal improvements shall be encouraged by the government of this state; and it shall be the duty of the legislature as soon as may be, to make provision by law for ascertaining the proper objects of improvements, in relation to roads, canals, and navigable waters; and it shall also be their duty to provide by law for an equal, systematic, and economical application of the funds which may be appropriated to these objects." As this section neither gave power to the legislature nor undertook to set bounds to power otherwise possessed, it was obviously out of

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place in the constitution, where only the outlines and fundamental principles of government are looked for; but it was indicative of prevailing thoughts and aspirations, and had no little influence upon subsequent state action. It may therefore be regarded as a significant landmark in the history of the State.

The laudable ambition of the first governor to distinguish his own administration and to advance the growth and prosperity of the State would naturally lead him to act promptly upon this mandatory provision. The surface of Michigan was such as to admit of easy and economical construction of both railroads and canals, and it might well be deemed a reproach to the State should it be behind the rest of the Union in these great and now indispensable conveniences. Accordingly the governor in his annual message reminded the legislature that "the period has arrived when Michigan can no longer, without detriment to her standing and importance as a state, delay the action necessary for the development of her vast resources of wealth. Nature has bestowed upon us the highest advantages of climate, a fertile soil and peculiar facilities for commerce; and with a prudent and wise forecast to be exercised by the legislature and the people, we cannot fail soon to reach that high destiny which awaits us." It is impossible to mistake the spirit of this message: the emphatic words are words of action: we can

not longer delay: we must soon-not by steady and measured steps, but immediately "reach that high destiny which awaits us," if we have the "prudent and wise forecast" which perceives the opportunity for greatness, and embraces it without hesitation or faint-heartedness.

Accordingly the governor recommended surveys to determine how and by what routes the waters of Lake Michigan might be connected by canals with the waters of the eastern part of the State; and he suggests a series of state railroads, and the purchase by the State of certain roads which had already been begun by corporations. The legislature responded promptly to this action. An act was passed for the location and construction of three lines of railroad across the State: one from Detroit to the mouth of the St. Joseph River; one from Monroe to New Buffalo, and one from the mouth of the Black River to the navigable waters of Grand River or to Lake Michigan. The sum of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars was appropriated to begin the construction, and further sums were voted for the survey of a canal route from Mount Clemens to the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, and of a canal around the falls of the St. Mary, and for various minor projects which may now be suffered to rest in the oblivion to which the State long since very properly consigned them. To provide funds for these purposes, the governor was authorized to borrow on the credit

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283

of the State the sum of five million dollars, at an interest which should not exceed five and a half per cent., and to issue state bonds therefor. The sum borrowed was to constitute an internal improvement fund, and it was declared that the proceeds of all railroads and canals constructed by the State, the interest on all loans which might thereafter be made by the State from the internal improvement fund, and the dividends arising from all bank stock owned or which might thereafter be owned by the State, so far as necessary, should constitute a sinking fund for the payment of the principal and interest of this loan. The bonds were not to be sold at less than par. The sum to be borrowed was subsequently increased by two hundred thousand dollars, that the State might advance to each of two railroad companies then engaged in building roads the sum of one hundred thousand dollars.

Five million two hundred thousand dollars was a large debt for a state whose people, less than two hundred thousand in number, were still struggling under the hardships and privations of pioneer life; and a little more experience in the manner in which public moneys are expended in state works would have satisfied any considerate person that this amount would be only the beginning of what would be required to complete the magnificent system of public works which the legislature had planned. This, however, was not generally