Visiting the Michigan Museum - Essay Example

Due Visiting the Michigan Museum: LAB Room: The First People (Michigan’s First People When did the first people arrive in Michigan? Where did they come from? Discuss the resources which were most significant to them. The majority of the origins of people in Michigan are Native American; which arrived between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. These Paleo-Indian peoples traveled from Alaska and Asia across the Bering Straits. The most important resources to these peoples were the herds of caribou, mastodons, and mammoths; they relied upon these animals for food and furs for clothing. Room: Lumbering (The History of Lumbering) 2. Back in the 19th century, Michigan forests became the resource on which the lumbering industry was dependent. How was lumber production dependent on weather? The lumber industry in Michigan was dependent on the weather due to their reliance on “good winter snowfall” (Michigan Historical Museum). Essentially it was the run off of that snow that would enable the loggers to properly float the logs they have cut down river. Also, in the earliest years of logging much of the work was done in the winter so that the logs could be moved on sleds. 3. State 2 ways that logs could be moved from the woods to the saw mill. How much did the loggers in the woods earn? What do you think were some of the dangers they may have faced? Per the previous question, there are two ways that logs were taken to the appropriate sawmills. The first it was by sled in winter or down the rivers. Although many Michigan men became wealthy in the logging industry the majority of the workers, like the lumberjacks made about $26 a month plus their room and board. This was not particularly much overall. 4. What do you think the landscape looked like after the loggers moved on? What effect do you think logging had on Michigan’s rivers? Bare ground, abandon branches, and low lying stumps were all that was left behind after the loggers had left an area. The rivers no doubt suffered, they would have changed and been damaged from the constant use and devastation to the surrounding areas. These areas became had little protective groundcover and created immense fire hazards that often would threaten untouched woods and settled areas. 5. Why does Michigan have so much public land in the Northern Lower and Upper Peninsula? So many people believed the propaganda being spread that the leads cleared by loggers was ideal for settlement and farming. For this reason many families spent all of the money they had on this land. However, the land was not fertile, the families could not pay their taxes, and the land became forfeit and given to the state. Room: Mining 6. What two important minerals were early miners after in Michigan? How were these minerals used? Copper and Iron were the two substances that miners were eager to find in Michigan. 7. What role did wood play in the salt industry? There are salt springs in Michigan. The lumbering industry provided the scrap wood that they could use to heat the waters that would evaporate and produce the needed salt. 8. Where in Michigan is the world’s largest limestone quarry? Rogers City, near Lake Huron, is where the largest limestone quarry is located. IT spans approximately 6,000 acres. 9. Where was coal mined in Michigan? Saginaw Valley in Jackson County was the location of coal mining in Michigan. Room: Settling a State 10. Why were plank roads necessary in Ingham County? How did plank roads differ from corduroy roads? Ingham County was the first to be settled. The roads were little more than mud pits, uneven, and difficult to travel. Corduroy roads were roads made from logs, it most cases they were later replaced with planks roads, which were much smoother. 11. What did Michigan get from giving up the Toledo strip? Was it a fair trade? By making a compromise and giving up the Toledo strip to Ohio, Michigan was able to gain its state-ship. 12. What was the population of Michigan in 1830, in 1860? Why did it increase so much? The population increase from, almost, 32,000 in 1830 to 341,591 by 1950.This was a ten times where it started. . Go to the “3rd Floor, The 20th Century” Room: Lakes and Land 13. Why were Michigan’s earliest communities located on the shores of the Great Lakes? This had a great deal to do with the trade industries they were in. They needed to ship ore, minerals, and wood products. 14. What were some of the environmental issues that began to worry the Michigan people in the 1960s and 1970s? The Michigan citizens in the 1960s and 1970s were concerned because the air quality was beginning to diminish, water pollution due to sewage and industrial waste. They began to take measures to improve and repair the damage being done to their home environment. 15. Michigan Statistics (fill in the table): Miles of rivers/lakes 36,000 miles Miles of shoreline 3,288-mile Number of inland lakes 11,000 Number of state parks 92 Record Snowfall 390.4 inches Room: Farm and Factory 16. What is a silo used for and what is silage? Also, why are silos round instead of square? The silo is a rounded tower-like building that is used for storing grains. Silage is the “finely chopped crops” that were fed to the farmer’s livestock (Michigan Historical Museum). A round structure worked better than square. Square silos allowed too much air seepage from the corners that would spoil the silage inside. 17. What scientific advancements allowed the dairy industry to grow in Michigan? The pasteurization process and the selective breeding of dairy cows allowed for growth of the Michigan dairy industry. 18. When did electricity come to houses in Michigan? How did farms produce power before electric lines were installed in rural areas? Electricity did not find itself in many Michigan homes until the 1890s, before that farmer’s would rely on gas generators to produce needed electricity. Room: The Great Depression 19. What is the CCC and what did it accomplish? The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) allowed many unemployed young people to work in productive ways doing reforestation and other conservational work in exchange for pay, food, and board. Michigan had 103 of these CCC opportunities throughout the state by 1935. Work Cited Michigan Historical Museum, . "Michigan Historical Musuem." Department of Natural Resources. State of Michigan, n.d. Web. 25 Jan 2014. . Read More