Excerpt from Semi-Centennial Reminiscences of the Sault Canal (Lake Superior): 1852-5

The following sketches of semi-centennial incidents came under the personal observation of an active partici pant, who, at this late date, can certify as to their correct ness, and which owe their preservation in the present form to the offer of the undersigned to edit the same, with the exception of the first (and also the third in the series, bearing the title The Widow of Michael Phelan. This was written at the urgent solicitation of the editor of the Magazine of Western History, in 1889, when the writer was spending his summer vacation in the Maritime Provinces of Canada. More contributions of the kind were wanted, but the author did not respond as desired. The editor of the M arine Review was in correspondence with Mr. Harvey for nearly two years before the first of this series was obtained. His friends have heard him narrate incidents of a trip made by him along the south coast of Lake Superior in a small boat in December, 1855, which he has been urged to have recorded in print but has never complied. In a recent published letter to the governor of Michigan, when presenting a unique his torical document to the State, he refers to that journey as one when on three several occasions his life was not worth a five minutes purchase. He has, however, prom ised that if this compilation reaches a second edition he will furnish for it a more full account than the one referred to. In some of the sketches he is styled the agent, for brevity's sake, instead of his official title of general agent, and also for a short time before his appointment to that office.

The recognition which the congress of the United States and the legislature of Michigan have accorded to the Sault canal in providing for a semi - centennial cele bration of its inauguration has afforded an argument for the publication of local reminiscences which has proved potent to the extent covered by these pages, and which the compilers trust will add to the zest of that occasion, as well as form a valuable addition to the history of the local ity for reference in after years.

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