Along the Bowstring, or South Shore of Lake Superior Paperback - 5201

From the publisher

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891 Excerpt: ... place. MACKINAC'S SCENIC BEAUTIES. From many pens whose touch has been inspired by the beauty of this "Island of the Dancing Fairies," I gather these descriptions of its charms: The natural scenery of the Island of Mackinac is unsurpassed. Nature seems to have exhausted herself in the clustered objects of interest which everywhere meet the eye. The lover of Nature may wander through the shaded glens, and climb over the rugged rocks of this island for weeks, and even months, and never grow weary; for each day some new object of beauty and interest will attract his attention. As you approach the island it appears a perfect gem. A finer subject for an artist's pencil could not be found. In some places it rises almost perpendicularly from the very water's edge to the height of 150 feet, while in others the ascent is gradual. Parts of the island are covered with a small growth of hard-wood trees--beech, maple, iron-wood, birch, etc.--while other parts abound in a rich variety of evergreens, among which spruce, arbor-vitae, ground-pine, white-pine, balsam and juniper predominate. Henry R. Schoolcraft, who first visited the island in 1820, wrote that "Nothing can exceed the beauty of this island. It is a mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Huron, and reaching an elevation of more than 300 feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself. Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in pinnacles, like ruined Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in some places; and in these caverns the ancient Indians, like those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and canoes. The harbor at its south end is a little gem; vessels anchor in it, and find good holding. The li...