Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/544

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520 SAGINAW SAGO cut river. The village contains a cotton mill, a flour mill, three cigar manufactories, a sa- vings bank, two private banks, a union school, two weekly newspapers, and Baptist, Episco- pal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Cath- olic churches. SAGINAW, a river of Michigan, formed at Saginaw City by the confluence of the Cass, Shiawassee, and Tittibawassee rivers. It flows nearly N. for 18 m., and empties into Saginaw bay. It is navigable by the largest steamers. Its branches and tributaries, flowing from all points, drain a large area. SAGINAW, an E. county of Michigan, drained by the Saginaw river and its affluents; area, about 900 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 39,097. The surface is level or gently undulating, and the soil very fertile. The principal exports are fish and pine lumber. Water power is abun- dant. It is intersected by several railroads centring at Saginaw. The chief productions in 1870 were 37,255 bushels of wheat, 43,349 of Indian corn, 52,295 of oats, 86,999 of po- tatoes, 14,926 tons of hay, 16,086 Ibs. of wool, and 318,275 of butter. There were 1,894 horses, 3,077 milch cows, 3,775 other cattle, 5,258 sheep, and 3,216 swine; 36 manufactories of carriages and wagons, 42 of salt, 86 saw mills, 6 planing, mills, 5 flour mills, and 7 brew- eries. Capital, Saginaw. SAGINAW, or Saginaw City, a city and the capi- tal of Saginaw co., Michigan, on the W. bank of the Saginaw river, here formed by the con- fluence of the Cass, Shiawassee, and Tittaba- wassee rivers, and crossed by three bridges, 18 m. above Saginaw bay, and partly opposite East Saginaw, 115 m. N. W. of Detroit; pop. in 1860, 1,899; in 1870, 7,460; in 1874, 10,064. It is finely situated and tastefully laid out and built. The ground rises from the river to a moderately elevated table land. The corporate limits extend about 4 m. along the river, with an average width of 2 m. Washington street, a fine avenue, extends through the city parallel to the river. E. of it are most of the business places, while on the W. side are the county buildings and most of the churches, school houses, and residences. A good supply of wa- ter is furnished, on the Holly plan. Horse cars run to East Saginaw. The city is con- nected with Detroit and other points in the state by the Michigan Central, the Flint and Pere Marquette, and the Saginaw Valley and St. Louis railroads. Saginaw has an extensive business in furnishing supplies for the lumber regions, and possesses large interests in saw mills and salt works in the adjacent country. The principal manufacturing establishments within the city limits are eight large saw mills, three planing mills, sash and door man- ufactories, extensive stave and barrel works, four shingle mills, and eight salt works. The city contains a national bank, a private bank, several hotels, a central and five ward schools, two weekly newspapers, and Baptist, Episco- pal, German Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyte- rian, Reformed Lutheran, and Roman Catho- lic churches. Saginaw was first settled in 1822, and received a city charter in 1859. SAGINAW, East See EAST SAGINAW. SAGINAW BAY. See HURON, LAKE. SAGO, a form of starch obtained from the trunks of several species of palm. Sagu (also written zagu and saga) is the Malay name for the starch and the tree which yields it, and is in Java the name for bread prepared from the farina. It was formerly supposed that sago was the product of cyeas revoluta, a palm-like tree belonging to a very different family, which is even mentioned in some recent works as its source, and the tree is still to be found in greenhouse collections as the "sago palm ;" while its trunk contains starch, it affords none of the sago of commerce. Several of the Sago Palm (Sagns Eumphii). palms, especially those which flower but once, accumulate in the tissues of their trunks a large amount of starch, as a preparation for the nourishment of the future flower and fruit ; and in countries where palms abound, the inhabitants make use of this as food, while it is not known in commerce. (See PALM.) The sago of the shops is mainly produced by sagu Icetis, the smooth, and S. Rumphii, the prickly sago palm, both natives of the islands of the Indian archipelago and other islands of that part of the world ; the smooth species grows from 25 to 50 ft. high, while the other, which mainly differs in having its leaf stalks and the spathe or sheath to the flower cluster armed with sharp prickles, is rarely over 80 ft. Both have graceful crowns of large pinnate