Detroit

Detroit (Fr. detroit, a strait), so-called from its situation on the strait which joins Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie, is a port, and the largest city of Michigan. The site rises gradually from the waterside, and the town is generally well-built and has some fine public buildings. It is in a flourishing condition, being centrally placed for trade, and being also in the direct track of Western emigration. The harbour is one of the finest in the United States, and is deep enough to receive the largest vessels. There are many industries, the chief of which are saw-mills, flour-mills, ship- and boat-building, foundries, tanneries, blast-furnaces, pork-curing, tobacco and cigar making, breweries, and locomotive-building. The French formed a settlement here in 1701. The Detroit River or Strait of St. Clair is 28 miles long, 3/4 of a mile wide opposite Detroit, increasing in width lower down, and is navigable for the largest vessels. A tunnel has been projected beneath the river at Detroit to connect the American and Canadian sides, thus giving more direct railway communication between Quebec, Toronto, and Chicago and the Far West than exists via Sarnia and Port Huron.