The chronicles of Break o'Day #997887

For a territory containing no high mountain system, Michigan has a varied geography. In contrast to the sterile hills and grand, pictured rocks of the northern peninsula, the productive farms in the southern part of the state form an area of fertility unbroken save by a few patches of sand and some irregular strips of swamp. The largest and most remarkable of these swamps passes from north to south through Ingham and Jackson counties, extending beyond the borders of Shiawassee and Lenawee.
This marshy territory is covered by a motley growth of willows, huckleberries, spruce, tamaracks and a few pines, in places so thin as to afford no inconvenience to a footman, in other places so thick as to be almost inaccessible. Horse-thieves, escaped convicts, and deserters from the army, have successively sought its seclusion; and never has the asylum betrayed the confidence of one who trusted in its hospitality.
On the western side of the swampy belt lay a farm, which, according to the census of 1870, shared, with but four others in the State, the distinction of containing one thousand acres.