city and country, has been greatly enhanced in value. The State Board of Equalization, for 1881, has put the total amount at $810,000,000, a considerable addition to the aggregate of $654,005,885 as equalized by the county Boards of Supervisors.

GROWTH SHOWN BY POPULATION.

At the period when the French explorers of the Peninsula visited this land, the number of Indians in the neighborhood of Grand Rapids was estimated at about 3,000. The number inhabiting the district now comprised in the county was estimated at 7,000. Years rolled by and the story of the Frenchmen's travels were repeated in every Indian lodge; thousands went south and west to the sunny lands, other thousands were swept away by the smallpox. Emigration and disease thinned their ranks, until at the riod of Rix Robinson's advent the Indian population of the county did not exceed 900, and even this number decreased to 800 before the settlement of Louis Campau. Then the American settlers began to pour in, and even as the white population grew apace, so did the savage decline until now scarcely a vestige is left to tell of their possession of this land.

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In the section of this work devoted to the pioneers and old settlers, the names of the men who settled here up to the close of 1837 are given. Those, with the members of their families and the Indians, numbered 1,200 at the beginning of 1838. In the following table the census returns from 1845 to 1874 are given, showing a steady advance of population:

1837 | 1845 1850 1854 | 1860 1864 1870 1874

The following returns are taken from the census bulletin in pos session of General Pierce, the Superintendent of Census for this district in 1880:

The population of Cedar Springs in Nelson and Solon townships is 1,141, and of Rockford in Algoma and Plainfield townships, 816. During the six years ending June, 1880, the advance in population was almost equal to that attained during the nine years of immigration ending in 1854. The figures do not show such an advance as those dealing with the period after the war to 1870; yet they are sufficiently significant to show that the county has not at all attained her full strength,-that each decade for a century to come will mark a similar if not a greater progress.

During the year 1880 there were recorded in the County Clerk's office no less than 1,720 births, 846 deaths, and 635 marriages. The greater number of the births were registered during the latter half of the year. During the first six months of 1881 there was still a greater number of births and fewer deaths than recorded for

the corresponding period of 1880; so that from this source alone it may not be too extravagant to estimate an addition to the population, since June, 1880, of 1,000 souls, giving full credit for the number deceased. The growth of the population within the past year is considered to be over 2,000, which, with the number given in the census returns, would place the present population of the county at about 76,000.

The population of the county is large compared with the other divisions of the State. Still it will not be a matter of surprise to the people of the near future to learn that the population has been doubled. Albert Baxter, speaking on lands, says there are good chances for farmers wanting to settle in new homes throughout the western and northern part of Michigan-room enough and good lands enough for many times the present population. As for prices, they vary greatly, according to location and amount of improvement. Farmers with from $1,000 to $5,000 can get good places within easy reach of Grand Rapids, though there are many improved farms worth much more. Wild lands to the northward of Grand Rapids vary in price from $2 to $10 or $15 per acre. It is now a good time to invest in real estate in Michigan. The cities and villages of Kent are growing steadily. Money judiciously invested in farms within 15 or 20 miles of Grand Rapids, will probably prove better than loans at high rates of interest in the advance in value alone, together with the support of families gained from them, for years to come, as they are steadily rising in value.

The manufacturing population, which the growing industries promise, will add materially to the number fostered by agriculture and commerce.

PUBLIC HIGHWAYS.

It is a remarkable fact, that so long as the Indian traders dwelt over the land no attempts whatever were made to improve the zigzag Indian trail. The contrary has marked the settlement of the country by the American pioneers. Immediately after erecting their loghouses, the next object was to cut short roads, and again to extend such roads to distant settlements. In 1836-7 the road from Grandville to Bronson village, or Kalamazoo, was laid out, and also one from Grandville to Black river. This was the period when the star of Grandville was in the ascendant; while yet, Squire Coggeshall, of Kent, looked on his Grand Rapids neighbors with suspicion, mingled with contempt, and they in turn look upon him with pity.

In 1837 the Grand Rapids Toll-Bridge Company was chartered, yet six years later there was only the well-remembered narrow foot bridge, erected by James Scribner and Lovell, Moore, in 1843.

The Port Sheldon and Muskegon roads were projected in 1839. Though the Legislature authorized the laying out of these highways, little or nothing was accomplished toward rendering them fit for travel until 1854, when the plank road to Kalamazoo, author

ized in 1850, was completed. Previous to this time two days were occupied in making the journey by stage to Bronson's settlement. The W. H. Withey stages were placed on the route in 1854, and performed the journey in one day. The toll-gates which adorned the old road were abolished in 1869; subsequently the planks disappeared, to give place to the gravel-bedded thoroughfare of the present time. The State road from the Rapids to Grand Traverse was laid out in 1855-'6. The county roads were gradually opened until now fully 1,800 miles of macadam and gravel roads render travel throughout the district easy and agreeable.

RAILROADS.

The Detroit & Milwaukee railroad, built in 1857-'8, extends across the lower peninsula between Detroit and Grand Haven. It enters the county at Lowell, runs parallel with Grand river along its southern bank to the village of Ada, and westward through the townships of Grand Rapids and Walker, with a depot at the northern limits of the city. This road is 189 miles in length. It connects at Grand Haven with the Milwaukee boats, thus forming one of the quickest routes between Detroit and the Northern States. The first train which ever entered the city signaled its approach July 10, 1858. It was but the beginning of the railway era, the signal of enterprises which have led the county to prosperity.

The Grand Rapids & Indiana R. R. extends from Little Traverse bay to Richmond, Ind., a distance of 421 miles, where it connects with the C., H. & D. R. R., 71 miles from Cincinnati. The road was opened from the city to Cedar Springs, Dec. 23, 1866, and to Fort Wayne, Ind., Oct. 10, 1880.

The Grand Rapids & Newaygo, now consolidated with the Chicago & Western Michigan R. R., was completed in June, 1872, from Grand Rapids to Morgan, a distance of 46 miles. The company has about completed the procuring of the right of way for the extension of the Newaygo division to and across the river. One of its

latest purchases was of a site for the west end of the bridge, bought of Tuttle Bros. for $1,525. Work on the bridge has already begun at the Toledo bridge works.

The Grand Rapids division of the M. C. R. R., or Grand River Valley R. R., was built in 1869 from Grand Rapids to Jackson, a distance of 94 miles, where it connects with the M. C. R. R. The first passenger coaches entered Grand Rapids over this line Jan. 17, 1870.

The Kalamazoo, Allegan & Grand Rapids railroad, operated by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern R. R. Co., extends from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo, a distance of 58 miles. The first train arrived in the city March 1, 1869.

The Chicago & Western Michigan was built in 1872 from Grand Rapids to New Buffalo, a distance of 115 miles, with a branch from Holland to Pentwater, 80 miles, and one from Muskegon to Big Rapids, 55 miles.

CHAPTER X.

THE COURTS AND BAR.

As man is the capital of nature, so does he afford to man a subject for deep inquiry. It has been understood throughout the ages that crime is hereditary. The gambler, who placed his fortune at the small mercy of a die long centuries ago, may possibly be the ancestor of a notorious mountebank of the present time; and the creature whose passions led him to the crime of murder, while yet Cæsar ruled the Roman empire, may possibly have been the first of a race whose representatives disgraced every generation of the past and continue to stain the civilization of our time. Whatever faith may be placed in the hereditary theory of crime by the great majority of people, it seems to be approved by facts: demonstrations of passions transmitted from father to son are common, and therefore it is not a matter of surprise to learn that he who is convicted of a great crime followed in the very footsteps of some ancestor. Though the advance of civilization has materially retarded an indulgence in criminal acts, it has not stayed the workings of nature in regard to the fierce passions of man. They who in former times followed the vocations of their fathers, now seek out varying labors, and thus the tendency of intuitive viciousness is held in check, though it can never be wholly subdued.

Very few hereditary criminals join the fortunes of an early settlement: they come in after years, often with the best intentions, and for a time observe all the conventionalities of life; but afterward the ruling passion begins to re-assert its terrible superiority over the mind, and there sult is crime, sometimes insignificant, but generally monstrous and shocking.

To preserve the lives and properties of the people against the machinations of such men, the State promulgated her "statutes," or legal rules, which not only prescribed the penalties and punishments to be inflicted on transgressors, but also defined the manner in which the laws should be administered.

The people of Kent put these laws in operation the moment they organized the township of that name. The old justices, associate judges and chief justice were the centers of equity. The primitive appearance of the early courts, the desire to do justice, evident in the words and gestures of the judges, their genial dispositions, and the free and easy characteristics of the bench, bar and clients, made the administration of the laws admirably democratic, fully suited to the requirements of the time, and capable of adjusting all discords that might creep into existence within the young county.