Excerpt from Letter From the Acting Secretary of War: Transmitting, With a Letter From the Acting Chief of Engineers, Reports on Examination of Leland and Empire Harbors, Michigan, and Survey of the Latter The bottom of the lake is of very soft material. No trouble was experienced in forcing the sounding pole into it 4 or 5 feet, and in places the pole would sink over 2 feet, of its own weight. The portion of the lake and its banks south of the railroad bridge are used for the storage of logs, and the narrow stretch of beach on the west as a lumber yard. The north end of the lake is shoal and marshy. The southerly 3, 560 feet of the lake is within the corporate limits of the village. A sketch showing the relative position of the two Bar Lakes, the railroad, mill site, bridge piers, and village limits is transmitted herewith. 3. In the village of Empire there are 3 general stores, 1 hardware and implement store, 1 dry goods store, 1 drug store, 1 cigar factory, 1 furniture and undertaking establishment, 1 livery and feed barn, 2 barber shops, 2 saloons, 1 shoe shop, 1 meat market, 1 hotel, 1 bank, 1 novelty store, 1 blacksmith shop, 1 machine shop, 1 gristmill, 1 small sawmill for custom work, 1 large sawmill cutting eight to thirteen million feet annually, 1 job printing office, a weekly newspaper, 2 churches, and a high school. The streets are all graded and all sidewalks are concrete. The village also has a waterworks system furnishing fire protection. 4. The chief commercial enterprise at present is that of the Empire Lumber Company, owned by the T. Wilce Company, of Chicago, 111. The first mill, erected in 1885, was burned in August, 1906, and at a cost of $47,000 was rebuilt into a more modern mill, during the winter of 1906-7. In 1908 the mill cut was between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 feet b.m., mostly hard wood. All the output except hemlock is shipped by boat to Chicago, where it is made into flooring. The hemlock is distributed, mostly by rail, in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. Just at present the mill is running night and day and it is expected that the cut this year will be close to 11,000,000 feet b.m., 2,000,000 of which will be hemlock. The mill is operated eleven months during the year, closing down one month for repairs. This firm also cultivates 600 acres of farm land in the immediate vicinity, producing fruit, hay, grain, and other products. In the mill, lumbering camps, and on the farm the firm employs about 250 men. The firm now has 25,000,000 feet of standing timber in the adjacent townships of Empire, Kason, and Platte; 40,000,000 on North Manitou Island, and 15,000,000 on the south shore of the Upper Peninsula between Manistique and St. Ignace. Thus far this year the company has received most of its logs from North Manitou Island, the logs being loaded on board the steam barge Edward Buckley and unloaded on the company's pier at Empire, and taken to the mill on cars. This is the firms first experiment in this method of procuring logs, and, contrary to general opinion, it is found entirely feasible and profitable. Because of this development, it is believed that the life of the mill will be extended many years on account of the amount of timber that may be purchased from northern points easily accessible by vessel, but to-day unmarketable, due to lack of railroad facilities and to the necessity of erecting expensive mills in each locality. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com