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Michigan Jackson
The prison grounds were first inclosed with tamarack logs sharpened and set deeply into the ground so close together as to form a continuous and comparative substitute for a wall. The buildings and shops first erected were of the same temporary character. For several years the prison was known all over the state as the "Tamaracks."
The State of Michigan did not, like many others, proceed at once upon a settled plan, and finish the prison buildings, the shops and the walls. The course pursued by the state has been the direct reverse of this, and a small appropriation year after year has resulted in a hideous piece of patch-work still unfinished, known as the "Michigan State Prison." The walls as originally built were too low, and did not include sufficient space; they have been topped-out and the area increased. First, the west wing was built with a few cells, these were built on tier after tier until the highest tier was finished. The central building has been built and rebuilt until it has assumed shape and proportion in defiance of all style of architecture. The east wing was built much after the same fashion as the west, and the year of grace, 1878, finds more cells being built and more wall being raised, forty years after the passage of the " act to locate the State Penitentiary."
Jackson
Section 3
Page 32
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