Saginaw's river system was important to settlement in the area. The Shiawassee, Tittabawassee, and Saginaw Rivers converge at a place called Green Point. It was here that Native Americans lived long before the first white man came. Louis Campau was the first permanent white settler. Later, Gen. Louis Cass arrived and was commissioned to negotiate a treaty with the Indians for the purpose of acquiring a large portion of their lands. Settlers began to arrive, along with trappers and fur traders, but the city did not begin to grow until men from the East found that a fortune could be made in lumbering white pine trees. Men such as Curtis Emerson, Norman Little, Jesse Hoyt, Wellington R. Burt, and Little Jake Seligman prospered because of the lumber boom. When lumbering waned, many of the lumber barons remained in Saginaw and established new businesses. Saginaw has legendary leaders and heroes in the areas of medicine, education, agriculture, business, and industry. Many are highlighted throughout the chapters of this book.

Who would have thought a city would one day stand where there was nothing but swamp, with long grass--where there was scarcely an opening in the woods, and in which the wolves made plenty of howling. This observation was made by Leon Trombley, one of the first to try to settle in this part of the Michigan "frontier" in the early 1800s. His nephews, Mader and Joseph, would soon follow and ultimately become noted among the area's first permanent residents. The residents of Bay City have always aspired to be legendary, whether by design, accident, or sheer determination. Annie Edson Taylor, the area schoolteacher turned daredevil who would ride her Bay City-built barrel over Niagara Falls (and survive!), is only one among a large group of local legends that includes Olympic champions, community leaders, artists, musicians, scholars, philosophers, and historians.

In Legendary locals of Marana, Oro Valley, and Catalina, readers will discover the historical riches, courage, and determination of the western spirit that shaped the state and the country.

During the early 1900s, a large reservoir built to provide water for Fort Worth, Texas, also opened up opportunities for businesses to develop. Casino Beach, Casino Ballroom, and a large bathhouse became popular spots for thousands. A nearby village, with increasing population, soon had a small school, churches, and other establishments. With nearby Jacksboro Highway running from downtown Fort Worth past the beach area, gambling increased, as did gangster activity. After a long while, with much intervention, these unlawful situations became history. Legendary Locals of Lake Worth spotlights the founders of the small village and features individuals who impacted the areamany for the better, others for the worst. Some may never have received proper recognition until this books acknowledgment of them.

Detroit sports a very uneven background. The city dates from 1701, when Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac planted the flag of New France, some 75 years before America became a nation. Almost two-thirds of Detroit's history was spent as little more than a frontier military outpost--home to French farmers and fur traders who shared the quarters with the soldiers. But as the 20th century arrived, the impact of the automobile roused the city from its slumber. Within a century's time, the industry set in motion by Henry Ford produced a skyrocketing population, a diverse mosaic of ethnic groups, and levels of culture and affluence rivaled by few other places. The literature of Joyce Carol Oates, the architecture of Albert Kahn, and the music fostered by Berry Gordy enriched life and created the "Paris of the Midwest." But growing pains were inevitable: growing racial instability culminated in the insurrection of 1967, inflicting deep wounds yet creating new opportunities for harmony and justice that were capitalized on by Rev. William Cunningham. Today, efforts continue to remove the tarnish from this corner of the "Rust Belt."

" ... The following pages feature a sampling of Fort Worth's characters--from the notorious to the unsung to the inspiring ... For every person highlighted in this project, dozens more could be--and should be--included. An encyclopedia could not contain the stories that make the founding and continued growth of Fort Worth legendary ..."--Introduction.

Theodore J. Karamanski's sweeping maritime history demonstrates the far-ranging impact that the tools and infrastructure developed for navigating the Great Lakes had on the national economies, politics, and environment of continental North America. Synthesizing popular as well as original historical scholarship, Karamanski weaves a colorful narrative illustrating how disparate private and government interests transformed these vast and dangerous waters into the largest inland water transportation system in the world. Karamanski explores both the navigational and sailing tools of First Nations peoples and the dismissive and foolhardy attitude of early European maritime sailors. He investigates the role played by commercial boats in the Underground Railroad, as well as how the federal development of crucial navigational resources exacerbated sectionalism in the antebellum United States. Ultimately Mastering the Inland Sea shows the undeniable environmental impact of technologies used by the modern commercial maritime industry. This expansive story illuminates the symbiotic relationship between infrastructure investment in the region's interconnected waterways and North America's lasting economic and political development.