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HISTORY OF ALPENA COUNTY AFTER 1870 BY WILLIAM BOULTON IN 1876
It presents few attractions for the loafer or the lazy individual, but to a person of enterprise and energy, it proves a real friend and gives back many fold for labor invested.
The city extends on the bay about a mile, and back from the bay along both sides of the river about the same distance. It contains numerous fine residences, which have an air of comfort about them pleasing to behold, while the grounds around them are, generally, tastefully arranged. Except in business centers, almost every house in town occupies a lot of generally about one-fifth of an acre, and thus the city is spread over a large extent of ground for the number of inhabitants. The streets are paved with sawdust, or pulverized plank as they are jocosely termed, and it tends in a great measure to deaden the sound of vehicles as they pass up and down the streets. The greatest fault that is found with the patent pulverized pavement is its great inclination for visiting—its greatest desire being to get on some other street, and it is nothing uncommon to see half a dozen streets so badly mixed up by the wind, that even the street commissioner is unable to tell which is which.
Numerous trees have been planted along the line of the streets, and in the ime to come will aid considerably in beautifying The city. The streets, as a general rule, are laid out at right angles with each other, but a few cut across diagonally, notably among which is Washington avenue, which is laid out on section line. The weather, generally, is very agreeable, although we some-times experience a few hot days, but the nights are almost always cool and refreshing.
The river divides the city into two parts, and furnishes a very convenient dace for vessels to load.
Alpena Michigan
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