chapter 6

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Today the area around Traverse City is known for its cherries. There are 360,000,000 pounds of cherries harvested annually, and they celebrated that fact with the National Cherry Festival, held during the first week of July every year. Other fruits are grown as well: apples, strawberries, blueberries, some plums, but not peaches, as they are to far north to accommodate them. These crops are benefit from the truck cropping districts to be found along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Vegetables as well are grown seasonally. And, of course, grapes for wine are increasingly important to the regions economic well -being.
Back in the day (mid 19th century) lumber figured heavily in the areas profile but by 1915 it had been largely exhausted as a commercial resource. Still, there is some significant lumber available in the Upper Peninsula, but not in the Lower Peninsula, where Traverse City is. Despite having more than 19 million acres of forest-land in Michigan, less timber is harvested in Michigan than other Midwestern states that have fewer acres of forest. As a result, wood costs in Michigan are high, putting forestry jobs and the manufacturing jobs at risk.
Fishing is a somewhat important primary resource for the Lower Peninsula. Due to its proximity to the Lake Michigan a good deal of freshwater fish is available: whitefish, perch, bass, salmon and more. The commercial output is not that high but there is a good deal of sport fishing that takes place - keeps the retirees busy! The Indians have also been granted some exclusive fishing rights, which are often encroached on by white sports fisherman. Ironically, the Indians object to this trespass of their privately held property by the whites.

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