LAKE SUPERIOR COUNTRY page-2

In short, the Sault fell from its ideal and boasted commerce, as the metropolis of Lake Superior, to a very dull village, with grass-grown streets and rotting wharves and warehouses. The troops stationed at Fort Brady had been withdrawn to Mexico with no promise of return. But few of the Anglo-Saxons remained, and the pleasantly situated village of the Falls was given up to lounging Indians and contented Frenchmen, who could laugh and grow fat on a diet of fish and potatoes; cheering their evenings with the violin and dancing.
Attracted by the salubrious climate and excellent fishing, tourists from the south enlivened the dull aspect every summer by their cheerful presence and full purses.
I may here remark in passing, that within the last ten years, Lake Superior Country the Sault has taken a new lease of life and is now a flourishing town. The agricultural resources of Chippewa county, of which the Sault is the county seat, have proved unexpectedly great. The lumbering interests, too, are of importance.
Between 1847 and 1857 the iron mines had been opened and developed to a considerable extent and the lake port and metropolis of that region, Marquette, had sprung into being with a promise of a great future,now being realized. (The first steam railroad on the lake was built during this period, reaching from Marquette to the mines, for the ore traffic.

Tagged as: Anglo Saxons, Fort Brady, Lake Superior, Mexico