On January 8, 1831, mail started arriving in Detroit from the East on a daily basis but it still took fourteen days and nights to receive a letter from New York.
The arrival of daily mail in Detroit marked the beginning of what became the “Michigan Decade.” According to one observer, “It appeared that everyone was coming to Michigan.” Through the 1830s, immigrants, many traveling along New York’s Erie Canal, arrived in Detroit before heading inland. Michigan’s population in 1830 grew to more than 212,000 by 1840.
Sources:
Mich-Again’s Day.
Michigan History magazine