Legislation after the Civil War was concerned largely with the taxation of corporations. In 1889 the Australian ballot was adopted; a law providing for the election of Presidential electors by districts, instead of on a general ticket, was passed in 1891, but was repealed in 1893. A factory inspection act was enacted in 1894, and a stringent anti-trust law in 1899. Michigan has consistently supported the Republican Party since its formation, except for three lapses—in 1882 and 1883, when the Democrats and Greenback party in fusion elected their candidate for Governor, and in 1890, when the Democrats alone carried the State.
Bibliography. Michigan Geological Survey Report (Lansing, 1839 et seq.); Lamman, History of Michigan Civil and Topographical (New York, 1839); Sheldon, The Early History of Michigan (New York, 1856); Campbell, Outline of the Political History of Michigan (Detroit, 1876); Cooley, Michigan: A History of Governments (Boston, 1885); Farmer, The History of Detroit and Michigan (Detroit, 1889); McLaughlin, History of Higher Education in Michigan (Washington, 1891); Beal and Wheeler, Michigan Flora (Lansing, 1892); Champlin, “Industrial Prosperity,” in Michigan Political Science Association Publications (Lansing, 1897).
MICHIGAN, Lake. The second in size of the great fresh-water lakes of the North American continent, and the only one lying wholly in the United States, bounded on the north and east by Michigan, on the south by Indiana, and on the west by Illinois and Wisconsin (Map: United States, H 2). It contains an area of 22,450 square miles. It is over 300 miles long, and its mean breadth is about 75 miles; the mean depth is about 870 feet. It is 581 feet above the level of the sea, and has been found by accurate observations to have a slight lunar tidal wave. Its banks are low and sandy, containing rocky sections of sandstone and limestone, but few high bluffs. Inland the sand-hills rise to the height of 150 feet. On the Wisconsin side the land is being gradually worn away, while a gain is noticeable on the Michigan side. The lake communicates with Lake Huron through the Straits of Mackinac, and is connected with the Mississippi, supposed to have been its ancient outlet, by the old Illinois and Michigan Canal and the new Chicago Drainage Canal (q.v.) at Chicago. Like all the Great Lakes, it is subject to violent storms, and its shores are guarded by twenty-three light-houses. The best harbors are at the mouths of tributary rivers; the chief ones are Chicago, Milwaukee, Escanaba, and Grand Haven. Its islands are in the northern portion, forming the Manitou group; the largest, Beaver Island, is 50 miles long. It has two large bays—Green Bay, 100 miles long, and Grand Traverse Bay, 30 miles long—and three of lesser dimensions, Little Traverse Bay, Little Bay of Noquet, and Big Bay of Noquet. Ice remains longer in the Straits of Mackinac than elsewhere, and navigation is usually closed for four consecutive months. Lake Michigan has important fisheries; white-fish and lake trout are taken and exported in large quantities, fresh and canned. The largest rivers which empty into it are the Saint Joseph, Muskegon, Grand, Kalamazoo, and Manistee, all in Michigan; the Fox in Wisconsin, emptying into Green Bay; and the Menominee on the borders of Michigan and Wisconsin, also discharging into Green Bay. The lake forms, with the Saint Lawrence and the Lower Lakes, a natural outlet for one of the richest grain-growing regions in the world.
MICHIGAN, University of. A coeducational State institution at Ann Arbor, Mich., chartered in 1837. According to the terms of the charter, branches were established at various places to serve as preparatory schools of the university. These existed only a short time and were the forerunners of the State high schools, which are now in intimate relation with the university. The institution was opened in 1841, graduating its first class in 1845. It is intended primarily for the higher education of residents of the State, but receives students from all parts of the country on payment of a small tuition fee. The governing body is a board of regents, elected for terms of eight years. The university is organized in seven departments: literature, sciences, and the arts (including the graduate school); engineering (opened in 1853); medicine and surgery (1850); law (1859); pharmacy; the Homœopathic Medical College (1875); and the College of Dental Surgery (1875). Each department has its special faculty, with representation on the University Senate, which considers questions of common interest. The degrees conferred are bachelor and master of arts, science, and law; civil, mechanical, and electrical engineer; and doctor of philosophy, science, medicine, dental surgery, and dental science. The total attendance in 1902, including the summer session, was 3782, of whom 1400, including 668 women, were students in the department of literature, science, and the arts, 854 in law, and 513 in medicine. The total attendance of women was 725. The university, to 1901, had conferred 18,883 degrees, of which 1968 were given to women. The university was a pioneer in coeducation, women having first been admitted in 1870. They now constitute about one-fifth of the student body. Coeducation at the university has been uniformly successful. The libraries of the university, including a number of important collections, aggregated 165,000 volumes, with a recorded circulation of 167,949. The university museums contain collections illustrative of natural history, the industrial arts, chemistry, materia medica, anatomy, archæology, ethnology, the fine arts, and history, including a very full Chinese exhibit sent by the Chinese Government to the New Orleans Exposition and presented to the university in 1885. The Detroit Astronomical Observatory contains a meridian circle by Pistor and Martins, of Berlin, mounted clocks by Tiede and Howard, and a refracting telescope with a thirteen-inch object glass, constructed by the late Henry Fitz, of New York. A smaller observatory, used in the work of instruction, contains an equatorial telescope of six inches aperture and a transit instrument of three inches aperture. There are two hospitals connected with the university. The Waterman Gymnasium, for men, and the Barbour Gymnasium, for women, are free to all students, the general supervision of athletic sports is vested in a board of control of nine members, five chosen from the University Senate and four from the Students' Athletic Association. The university is a member of the Northern Oratorical League, which includes the universities of Chicago, Minnesota, and Wiscon-
