POPULATION.

The population of Michigan, previous to its final relinquishment by Great Britain, and for a long period thereafter, was inconsiderable, and mostly restricted to the confines of the three principle settlements,-at Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinac, and Detroit. The first enumeration after Michigan became a distinct Territory, was in 1810, five years after the erection of the Territory, at which time the number of inhabitants was 4,762. In the following ten years the population increased to 8,896, and the results of subsequent enumerations are as follows:

VALUATION OF TAXABLE PROPERTY.

The Constitution of the State (Article XIX., Sec. 13), requires the Legislature to provide for an equalization by a State Board, in the year 1851, and every fifth year thereafter, of assessments on all taxable property, except that paying specific taxes.

Previous to the year 1851, State taxation was upon the basis of equalization by the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties.

The valuation as equalized for various years, is as follows,

CAPITOL BUILDINGS.

Previous to the year 1823, when Congress provided for the government of the Territory by a Legislative Council, no very extensive provision was made or required for buildings for the accommodation of the government. In the year 1823 the first State-house was erected at Detroit, for the District Court of the United States and the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory.

The edifice, ninety feet in length by sixty feet in width, and surmounted by a dome one hundred and forty feet high, was constructed of brick, in the Ionic order, having a front portico supported by six columns, the entablature at the sides supported by pilasters.

The corner-stone of this building was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons of Michigan Territory-Grand Master WHITNEY presiding-on September 22, 1823. In 1870 the board of education of the city of Detroit, in making some alterations to the building,-which had been converted to school purposes,-removed the corner-stone and opened the box, the contents of which were presented to the State during the session of the Legislature of 1871, and are now re-deposited in the corner-stone of the new Capitol.

This building was occupied by the Territorial and State Legislatures, until the removal of the seat of government to Lansing, under an act of the Legislature, approved March 16, 1847.

The frame building situated upon block number 115, city

of Lansing, was ordered to be erected by the Legislature of 1847, by an act approved March 16th, and was first occupied by the Legislature in 1848. The Legislature of 1865 ordered an enlargement of the building, by the addition of sixteen feet upon the south end. The cost of this building, exclusive of repairs, is as follows:

In 1853, the Legislature, by an act approved February 14, provided for the erection of "a fire-proof building for the State Offices," upon block number 249, known as Capitol Square, and appropriated $10,000.00 for its construction. The building was erected at a cost of $15,562.00, and soon being found too small for the purpose required, the Legislature of 1863, by an act approved March 14, provided for its enlargement. An addition was consequently made upon the west side, at a cost of $6,482.00, making the cost of the building to that time, $22,044.00.

Governor HENRY P. BALDWIN, in his message to the Legisture on January 4, 1871, called the attention of that body to the necessity for the erection of a new Capitol.

"The present State House was built nearly twenty-five years ago, when the State was comparatively new, with a population about one-fourth as large as at the present time, and with about one-twelfth of the present taxable valuation.

"The present and growing incapacity of the State buildings, the insecurity from fire of the public records and library,--&

calamity likely to result in irreparable losses, and the requirement of several years' time to complete the building sufficiently for occupation, are, in my judgment, adequate reasons why immediate action should be taken to erect a new State House, with capacity sufficient for the proper accommodation of the Legislature and all of the State departments, and commensurate with the present and prospective wants of the State."

The recommendation of the Governor resulted in the passage of an act which was approved March 31, 1871, providing "for the erection of a new State Capitol and a building for the temporary use of the State offices." The act provides for the appointment by the Governor of three suitable persons, to be known as the "Board of State Building Commissioners," the Governor to be ex officio the Chairman of the Board.

It was made the duty of the Board to procure the erection of a building for the temporary use of the State offices, as the fire-proof building, erected in 1853, occupied the centre of the ground designed for the new Capitol, and must therefore be removed. For the Temporary Offices, the sum of thirty thousand dollars was appropriated. A contract for the building was entered into on the fifth day of June, and in the month of November following it was completed and accepted. It was occupied in the following month, and cost, including heating apparatus, $30,693.94. The building was constructed with a view to its adaptation to business purposes, upon the completion of the new Capitol, when it will no longer be required for the use of the State.

In response to an advertisement of the Commissioners, soliciting competitive designs for a new Capitol, twenty sets