What is the importance of the Great Lakes to Michigan?
- Great Lakes shipping brings in raw products like iron ore and coal that support Michigan’s automobile and power industry. Michigan’s Great Lakes shoreline, including long expanses of beaches and dunes, provide recreational opportunities for boating, fishing, and vacationing (See Recreation, page 18).
What are Michigan’s most valuable natural resources?
- Agricultural land remains one of Michigan’s most valuable natural resources. Agriculture is Michigan’s second leading industry, contributing about $35 billion to the state’s economy annually. Cash receipts from the sale of crops and livestock were $3.5 billion in 1998, 22nd in the nation.
Who was the first white person to visit Michigan?
- The French Era The first whites to see Michigan were French explorers. The earliest encounters between Europeans and Native Americans in this region were strongly influenced by a man who probably never visited Michigan, Samuel de Champlain.
Who was the first person to settle in Michigan?
- Beginning in 1665, Father Claude Allouez spent twenty-five years working among the people in the Keweenaw region, Green Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Illinois, and southwestern Michigan, where he devoted most of his efforts. Father Jacques Marquette founded the first permanent settlement in Michigan at Sault Ste.
Michigan's heritage as driving force behind America's auto industry is well known and highly regarded. The Olds Motor Vehicle Company in 1896 and Ford's introduction of the Model T in 1908 helped define the state's ambitious spirit.