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DETKOIT DEUCALION 53 home for the friendless, the retreat for the in- sane, and the Hebrew widows' and orphans' society. In the ladies' industrial school va- grant children are taught the elements of learning and industry. The public schools are under the control of a board of 22 inspectors (two from each ward), elected by the people for two years, who appoint the superintendent of schools. A school census is taken between Sept. 1 and Oct. 10 of each year. In 1871 there were 28,779 children between the ages of 5 and 20 years, of whom 13,699 did not at- tend school during the year, and 12,092 be- tween 8 and 14 years of age. The schools are divided into five grades : the high school and senior grades, in each of which the course is three years, and the junior, secondary, and primary grades, in each of which the course is two years. The statistics for the year ending Dec. 31, 1871, are as follows: number of schools, 131, viz. : 1 high, 18 senior, 30 junior, 37 secondary, 43 primary, and 2 mixed ; num- ber of teachers, 170, of whom 8 were males; pupils enrolled, 11,866; average daily atten- dance, 7,749 ; value of school property, $505,- 810. The receipts for the year ending April 1, 1872, were $162,615 from the city appropria- tion for schools and school houses, $13,054 from the primary school fund, and $2,629 from other sources ; total, $178,298. The expendi- tures for the same period were $192,024, of which $76,413 were for teachers' wages, and $61,703 for building and furnishing school nouses. At the close of 1871 there were 22 school buildings, with accommodations for 8,517 pupils, and two nearly completed, which would raise the number of sittings to about 9,500. There are a German-American semi- nary, a German Lutheran school, and several Catholic schools. The Detroit medical col- lege was organized in 1868, and the Detroit homoeopathic college in 1871. The public li- brary contains more than 20,000 volumes ; that of the young men's society, about 12,000; the library of the mechanics' society, 4,000 ; and the bar library, 3,100. The newspapers and periodicals are: 8 daily (3 German), 3 tri- weekly, 14 weekly (3 German), 7 monthly, and 2 quarterly. Besides the opera house, there are the German Stadt theatre and 23 public halls. There are 64 churches, including 5 Baptist (1 French, 1 German, and 1 colored), 2 Christian, 2 Congregational, 7 Episcopal, 2 Jewish, 7 Lutheran (German), 10 Methodist (2 German and 2 colored), 1 New Jerusalem, 6 Presbyterian, 9 Eoman Catholic (1 French and 2 German), and 1 Unitarian ; also 1 Spiritualist and 2 Christadelphian societies. There are 12 mission Sunday schools (1 French and 1 Ger- man), having an average attendance of about 1,800, and 3 convents (1 German). The site of Detroit was visited by the French as early as 1610 ; the first permanent settlement was made by a party under Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701, when Fort Pontchartrain was built. In 1763 it passed into the hands of the Eng- lish, and immediately afterward was besieged for 11 months by Pontiac in his attempt to ex- pel the whites from that region. In 1778 it contained about 60 log houses, 300 inhabitants, and one Eoman Catholic church. The same year the British erected a fort, at first called Fort Le Noult, but after the war of 1812 known as Fort Shelby, which remained till 1827. By the treaty of peace in 1783 Detroit was ceded to the United States, but the Americans did not take possession of it till 1796. It was destroyed by fire in 1805, one house only escaping. In 1807 the present city was laid out. During the war of 1812 it fell into the hands of the British by the surrender of Gen. Hull, but came again into the posses- sion of the Americans in 1813, after the battle of Lake Erie. It was incorporated as a village in 1815, the government being vested in five trustees, and in 1824 a city charter was granted. Destructive fires occurred in 1836, 1840, 1848, and 1865. Upon the organization of the territory of Michigan in 1805, Detroit became the seat of government, and was the capital of the state from its admission into the Union (1837) till 1847. DETROIT RIVER, a strait connecting Lakes St. Clair and Erie, and separating Canada from Michigan, about 22 m. long, and varying in breadth from 3 m. to less than m. Its course from Lake St. Clair to just below Detroit is S. W., from which point it flows nearly due S. The total descent is about 2 ft. The river rises and Sails with the level of the lakes it con- nects; the average annual variation is only about 1 ft., and the extreme variation, from February, 1819, when it was the lowest, to July, 1838, when it was the highest ever known, was only about 8 ft. The principal island is Grosse Isle, near Lake Erie ; there are several smaller ones, which are used as fishing stations, from which large quantities of white fish are caught. Riviere aux Canards, near Maiden on the Canadian side, and the river Eouge near Detroit, small streams, are the principal affluents. As it has great depth of water and a strong and uniform current, the navigation of the Detroit is not affected by ob- structions. The Canadian shore rises abruptly from the water to a height of from 20 to 25 ft., while the American shore is low, and in some places marshy. DEUCALION, king of Phthia, in Thessaly, son of Prometheus and Clymene. According to tradition, being forewarned by his father of an approaching deluge, he built a ship in which he and his wife Pyrrha were saved from an inundation which destroyed all the rest of mankind. When the waters subsided, their vessel rested upon Mount Parnassus, and their first care was to consult the oracle of Themis as to how the world should be repeopled. Being advised to throw behind their backs the bones of their mother, and interpreting mother to mean the earth, they cast stones behind them, from which sprang men and women.