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MICHIGAN'S OLD STATE CAPITOL SUCCUMBS TO THE FLAMES AFTER THIRTYFIVE YEARS OF SERVICE
From the Lansing Republican, Dec. 19, 1882
There was scarcely a house in the neighborhood, and the site of the present city was covered with a dense growth of timber. But the commissioners went to work, cutting roads, cleaning streets and squares, and putting up buildings. Lumber for finishing purposes was hauled in wagons all the way from Flint, but in the face of all difficulties the "old capitol" was built and some sort of provision made for the members who met in January, 1848. The new village was first called Michigan, and then Lansing.
REMINISCENTIAL
BY GEORGE P. SANFORD
From the Lansing Journal, Feb. 22, 1883
As we are about to clamber down from the editorial tripod of the Journal office, we feel disposed to reminiscences. The September day in 1856 when we mounted the stage coach at Jackson to penetrate the north woods of Michigan's Capitol was bright and balmy. We had a new sheepskin from the Normal School authorities, and, having just turned our majority, we sallied out in life to take a new field of labor. Life lay before us.. Heart within and God o'erhead buoyed us with hope and confidence.
As we made our way northward we penetrated a dense smoke from the burning forests, marshes, and swamps of central Michigan. As evening came on, while we were yet ten miles away, the darkness became impenetrable. A man with a lantern in the road ahead to pilot the way, and two others beside the leaders, enabled the driver to pick his way only with difficulty. All the passengers walked, including two ladies. A little girl of one of the ladies not being old enough to walk, a gentleman of the party took her in his arms and
carried her. I noticed the gentleman closely. Tall, erect, with a benign intelligent face, a deep, rich, cultured voice, he was a man to be noticed any place.
MICHIGAN
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