USA > Michigan > A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I > Part 30
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The pretty villages, resorts and lakes of Leelanau county to the northwest are also within easy reach of Traverse City, whose summer trade and travel therefore form quite a proportion of her local activ- ities and attractions.
Outside of Traverse City, there are no large centers of population in the county. The only incorporated villages are Kingsley, formerly Paradise and in the town by that name in the southern part of the
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county, and Fife Lake, in the extreme southeastern part. Kingsley, which has about five hundred people, has a slight advantage of Fife Lake in population. Both are stations on the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, and were founded as a result of the building of that line through the county in the early eighties.
PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL
Grand Traverse county was never more prosperous or developing faster as a producer from the soil. Grand Traverse county is one of the most important potato-growing sections in the state, raising nearly two million bushels annually. Potatoes are a good crop for newly cleared land and they can be grown at a profit between the rows of trees in newly-set orchards. The annual yield varies from seventy-five to two hundred bushels to the acre, according to the richness of the soil, the attention given the growing crop and the favorableness of the season.
Timothy hay is also a profitable and large crop in the river valleys and about the shores of the many inland lakes of the county, the aver- age rainfall of thirty inches per season ensuring a constant and large vield. The raising of clover for seed is another large and growing in- dustry, especially among the farmers of the Williamsburg section.
Alfalfa is just becoming popular, although the plant has been grow- ing upon the Grand Traverse Peninsula for thirty years. The gravelly, sandy soil which predominates seems to be just the thing for alfalfa. In several parts of the region the ground is strewn with pebbles and boulders that are filled with fossil remains. As these disintegrate, lime and other valuable elements of plant food are released and become part of the soil, and thus are available for the support of vegetation, par- ticularly alfalfa, which is a lime-loving plant.
And fruits have not even been mentioned! In Grand Traverse county. as in other sections of the region, "the apple is king," the varieties which especially flourish being Alexander, Baldwin, Canada Red. Duchess of Oldenburg, Grimes Golden, Hubbardston, Jonathan, King. Maiden Blush, Greening, Snow and Spy. The Grand Traverse apple tree acreage is so great and the crop so important that each sum- mer and fall a large number of buyers establish headquarters in Trav- erse City, going into the fruit sections to buy the fruit on the trees.
As a cherry-producing region the Grand Traverse Peninsula 'has become one of the most important sections of the country. At first it was thought that cherries could be grown successfully in commercial quantities only at the tip end of the peninsula, but now it is comp knowledge that the whole Grand Traverse country is adapted to the growing of both sour and sweet cherries of exceptional keeping qual- ities and delightful flavor. The time is near at hand when a large share of Leelanau county and a goodly portion of the water front sec- tions of Antrim, Grand Traverse and Benzie counties will be given over to the cherry-growing industry. The first special fruit train out of the Grand Traverse region left Traverse City one July morning in the summer of 1909. It was loaded with cherries.
Peaches and plums constitute leading fruit crops of Grand Trav-
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CHERRY HARVEST IN GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY
248
HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
erse county. As the peach is from two to three weeks later in this sec- tion than in Southern Michigan it is usually marketed at high prices. In the growing of small fruits, such as raspberries, blackberries, straw- berries, currants and gooseberries, the country is also rapidly pro- gressing.
It is only a few years ago that thoroughbred livestock was in- troduced to the Grand Traverse region, which is an ideal country for this branch of agricultural industry. The scores of inland lakes, swift- running streams and bubbling brooks, with abundance of nutritious forage, constitute most favorable conditions for the breeding of blooded stock, or milch cows. And, as has been so well stated: "Stock raising and fruit growing are two industries that dovetail into each other. The one requires the maximum of attention in the winter, the other in the summer. The former furnished the fertility that is so essential to the success of the latter."
TWENTY YEARS' GROWTH
Increase of population is one of the strongest evidences of growth, as people do not multiply and reside in a county permanently unless they find means for bettering themselves and adding to the general fund of prosperity. Uncle Sam, through his Census Bureau, furnishes evidence of the continuous growth of Grand Traverse county in his enumerations of 1890, 1900 and 1910.
Civil Divisions
1910
1900
1890
Acme township
731
692
Blair township
891
797
676
East Bay township
663
553
1,018
837
1,019
810
Fife Lake township, including Fife Lake village. Fife Lake village
340
456
394
Garfield township
932
986
843
Grant township
882
699
498
Green Lake township
793
787
371
Long Lake township
745
663
492
Mayfield township
977
878
560
Paradise township, including Kingsley village .. Kingsley village
1,747
1,693
1,357
Peninsula township
1,262
1,134
957
Traverse City
12,115
9,407
4,833
Ward 1
1,666
Ward 2
2,301
Ward 3
4,388
Ward 4
1,406
....
....
Union township
219
208
148
Whitewater township
990
963
792
Totals
23,784
20,479
13,355
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497
419
Ward 5
2,354
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
STEPS IN ORGANIC LIFE
In the civil and industrial development of Grand Traverse county certain important steps were taken which it is necessary to notice, in addition to those which may be traced in the general history. In 1840 that part of the state embraced in towns 25, 26 and 27 north, ranges 9, 10, 11 and 12 west, and town 28 of ranges 9 and 10 west, and including all the peninsula at the head of Grand Traverse bay, was laid off as a separate county and designated as Omeena. This was the mother of Grand Traverse county, which was organized by act of the legislature, approved April 7, 1851. In the winter of 1853 an act was passed to
COURT HOUSE, TRAVERSE CITY
complete the organization of Grand Traverse county and to make it coextensive with the original unorganized county of Omeena. The coun- ties of Antrim, Kalkaska, Missaukee, Wexford, Manistee and Leelanau were attached to it for judicial and municipal purposes. The county seat was fixed at Boardman's Mills, the nucleus of Traverse City.
The first county election was held at the house of Horace Boardman, founder of the settlement, on the 4th of August, 1851. Twenty-eight votes were polled and the following officers elected: Sheriff, William H. Case; clerk and register, L. O. Schofield; judge of probate, George N. Smith; county judge, Joseph Dame; treasurer, Horace Boardman : prosecuting attorney, Orlin P. Hughson.
A special election was again held May 9, 1853, at which seventy-one votes were cast and the following county officers elected: Judge of probate, George N. Smith ; sheriff, Norman B. Cowles ; clerk and register. Thomas Cutler; treasurer. Hosmer R. Cowles; prosecuting attorney,
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Robert McClelland; surveyor, Abram S. Wadsworth. The first regular election was held November 7, 1854.
OLD MISSION FOUNDED
The real history of Grand Traverse county commences in 1839 with the advent of the Protestant missionaries. In May of that year, Rev. John Fleming and Rev. Peter Dougherty arrived at the little cove on the northwestern shores of East Bay and the upper portion of the pen- insula, known as Mission Harbor. They had come by boat from Macki- nac, where they had spent the previous winter and had now ventured into this new region around Grand Traverse bay as agents for the Presbyterian Board of Missions.
The day following their arrival an Indian chief with a number of men visited the missionaries, who informed the red men that they had come by direction of their agent at Mackinac, Henry R. Schoolcraft, and by permission of their great father, the president, to establish a school among them. After some uncertainties as to location, the mouth of Elk river at the present site of Elk Rapids being at one time almost decided upon, the school was finally located at the original site, Old Mis- sion. The decision was made definite by the arrival of Mr. Schoolcraft on June 20th, and on the following day the school and mission were established.
In the fall .John Johnston arrived at the Mission, having come by appointment of Mr. Schoolcraft to reside there as Indian farmer. Dur- ing the winter the mission family consisted of four men, Dougherty, George, Greensky and Johnston. Mr. Johnston had brought with him a yoke of oxen for use in Indian farming. There was no fodder in the country, unless he may have brought a little with him. Be that as it may, he found it necessary to browse his cattle all winter.
In the spring of 1840 the log house which had been built at Elk Rapids the previous year was taken down and the materials were trans- ported across the bay and used in the construction of a schoolhouse and woodshed. Until the mission church was built, a year or two after, the schoolhouse was used for holding religious services, as well as for school purposes.
In the fall of 1841, besides Indian wigwams, there were five build- ings at the mission-the schoolhouse and four dwellings. All were built of logs, and all, except Mr. Dougherty's house, were covered with cedar bark. The dwellings were occupied by Mr. Dougherty, missionary, Henry Bradley, Mission teacher, John Johnston, Indian farmer, and David McGulpin, assistant farmer. Mr. George was still there, and there had been another addition to the community in the person of George Johnston, who had come in the capacity of Indian carpenter. As re- gards race, the little community, the only representative of Christian civilization in the heart of a savage wilderness, was somewhat mixed. John Johnston was a half Indian, with a white wife; McGulpin was a white man with an Indian wife. All the others, except Greensky, the interpreter, were whites.
In 1849 there were three stores at Old Mission, viz., Lewis Miller,
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
A. Paul and Cowles & Campbell. Business was conducted at a great disadvantage. During that winter the mail arrived only twice. In the fall a man was sent on foot for it to Mackinac, but on his arrival at the straits he was compelled to wait until they froze over before he could get across to the postoffice on the island.
Thus was founded Old Mission, the first settlement in Grand Trav- erse county. The Mission consequently has the credit of being the origin of many "first things," among others of the pioneer school in the county whose founding and "first term" make an interesting chapter.
FIRST SCHOOL
In November, 1851, five young men arrived at Old Mission, in the schooner "Madeline," with the intention of wintering in the vicinity. Three of them were brothers named Fitzgerald. A fourth was William Boyce. The name of the fifth, who was employed by the others as cook, is not known. The five were all good sailors and three of them had been masters of vessels during the past season, but all were deficient in educa- tion. None of them were even fair readers and one of the number was unable to write his name. An eager desire to learn was the occasion of their coming. Here in the wilderness they would be removed from the allurements that might distract the attention in a populous port. It is probable, also, that diffidence arising from a consciousness of their own deficiencies made them unwilling to enter a public school where their limited attainments would be displayed in painful contrast with those of younger pupils.
At Old Mission, the man who had been engaged as teacher failing to meet the contract, S. E. Wait, then only nineteen years of age, was em- ployed at twenty dollars per month and board. Bryce and the Fitz- geralds were to pay the bills, the cook receiving his tuition in compensa- tion for his services. The "Madeline" was brought round to Bowers' Harbor and securely anchored for the winter. The after-hold was con- verted into a kitchen and diningroom and the cabin used for a school- room. Regular hours of study were observed, and the men voluntarily submitted to strict school discipline. Out of school hours they had a plenty of exercise in cutting wood and bringing it on board, to say noth- ing of the recreation of snow balling in which they sometimes engaged with the delight of genuine schoolboys. The bay that year did not freeze over until March. Previous to the freezing, the wood was brought on board in the yawl; afterward it was conveyed over the ice. Except by way of Old Mission, to which occasional visits were made, the party was entirely cut off from communication with the outside world.
The progress of Mr. Wait's pupils in their studies was a credit to themselves and their youthful teacher. Their after history is not known, except that four of them were captains of vessels the following season.
FIRST SHIPBUILDING
On the 4th of October, 1853, the schooner "Robert B. Campbell," which was built by Cowles & Campbell, merchants, at Old Mission, was
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
completed and launched at that place. She was built entirely of timber obtained at the head of the bay and sailed between Chicago and Old Mission. This was the first attempt at shipbuilding in the Grand Trav- erse region. The business, which on account of the abundance of timber adapted to that purpose, ought to have been extensively engaged in, does not seem to have prospered since. About this time the Pishaba Indians, then inhabiting the foot of the peninsula about eight miles north of Traverse City, built a fore-and-aft schooner sixty feet in length, with deck and cabin, called the "Maguzee," which sailed about the bay a few years; but as might have been expected she was poorly built and soon became worthless. The schooner "Arrow" also, in the winter of 1850-1, was brought from Mackinaw to Boardman river, where she was cut in two and lengthened out from forty-eight to sixty feet. She afterward ran regularly between Mackinaw and Old Mission for three years.
THE MISSION AND OLD MISSION
"Concerning the mission," says Dr. Leach's history, "it only re- mains to mention that the financial embarrassment of the board, growing out of the war of the rebellion, necessitated the discontinuance of the work. The school was finally broken up, and the mission farm passed into other hands. Looked at from the Christian standpoint, the mission seems to have been moderately successful. A good understanding was always maintained between the missionaries and the Indians. Mr. Dougherty testifies that the latter were uniformly kind. Both at Old Mission and Mission Point, a considerable number were hopefully con- verted."
Old Mission was platted in 1879 by L. N. Beers as Old Mission Har- bor, but as a postoffice it is still known by its original name. It is some- what of a summer resort, but chiefly interesting for its historic associa- tions.
FOUNDING OF TRAVERSE CITY
The first settlement on the present site of Traverse City by Horace Boardman and his mill hands, in 1847, has already been described in the early history of lumbering. In the summer of 1848 a small wharf was commenced on the shore of the bay, and a tramway built for the purpose of transporting lumber to it from the mill. The next winter a beginning was made toward getting out timber for the construction of the contemplated large mill on the river. Mr. Boardman from time to time varied his business by getting out shingle bolts and hemlock bark for tanning purposes for the Chicago market. He cleared three or four acres of land, and was successful in the cultivation of garden vegetables.
The summer of 1849 was marked by several incidents that added interest to the life of the settlement. A man of the name of Freeman came and got out a considerable quantity of hemlock bark for ship- ment, employing Indians to perform most of the labor. The bark was stripped from trees growing upon government land. There was no one
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
in this remote region whose interest it was, or who considered it his duty, to prevent spoliations of the public property.
The government had found it necessary to order a resurvey of the lands in the vicinity of the bay. For some time the surveyors' camps were pitched in the vicinity, the settlement being for them a sort of headquarters and base of supplies.
In the employ of Risdon, one of the surveyors, was Henry Ruther- ford, afterward well known in the settlement, whose wife was with him. Word was brought to the women at the mill one evening that there was a woman in Risdom's camp. The announcement was sufficient to produce
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OLD HANNAH RESIDENCE, TRAVERSE CITY
a flutter of excitement. Mrs. Duncan had visited the ladies at Old Mission, but Mrs. Gay, since her arrival at the river, had not seen the face of a civilized person of her own sex, except the two who had come with her. Setting out alone the next morning, she found her way to the surveyors' camp and spent the forenoon with Mrs. Rutherford, re- maining to dinner in response to a cordial invitation from the latter. The cloth was spread on the ground, where there was a bit of clean grass, outside the tent, the company sitting around it in oriental fashion. The viands consisted of pork and potatoes, fried, with huckleberries for des- sert. The next day Mrs. Rutherford returned the visit, dining with Mrs. Gay. Mrs. Rutherford was partly of Indian descent, nevertheless she was regarded as an important acquisition to the society of the colony. In this way was laid the foundation for the future society of Traverse City.
In 1851 the firm of Hannah, Lay & Company located at what is now known as Traverse City and started upon a business career which proved wonderfully successful. Mr. Hannah had previously visited that local-
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
ity and ascertained by personal examination the great quantity of pine timber along the Boardman river, and, having had considerable ex- perience in the lumber business, saw at once that there was a grand open- ing for a lucrative business. The firm bought a large quantity of pine land that cost them only one dollar and a quarter per acre. They started in a moderate way, for in those days markets were limited, prices were low, and transportation facilities were confined exclusively to sailing vessels on the lakes and it took from six to nine days to land a small cargo of lumber in Chicago from Traverse Bay. Their first saw- mill was the one heretofore mentioned as having been built by Mr. Boardman and which they purchased of him. This what was known as a "Muley Mill," having but one upright saw, which under the most fa- vorable circumstances would not cut more than two and a half or three thousand feet of lumber in twelve hours. This proved to be altogether too slow a process even for those slow times and accordingly, in the spring of 1852, they commenced the construction of the first steam saw- mill ever built in Northern Michigan. Having already cleared out the Boardman river far enough to reach the first or nearest of their pine lands, they were in position to do what was then considered a "big lum- ber business."
The advent of Hannah, Lay & Company was the "dawning of the morning" in the settlement and development of the whole Grand Trav- erse region. They furnished work for all applicants. They supplied the wants of all newcomers, and by their liberal and honorable dealings did much to encourage those seeking homes. But the home seekers were not numerous for the first few years. The vast unbroken forest that stretched back from the little opening made at Traverse City to a seem- ingly unlimited distance was not very inviting to those who had lived in an old settled country. So the fifties passed by and the total popula- tion in Grand Traverse county (Indians excepted) was twelve hundred and eighty-six. This included the people who were connected with the mill, the boardinghouse, the lumber camps and those who had been bold enough to strike out into the forests to make homes for themselves. It is needless to say to anyone who has ever entered the Grand Traverse region that the successors of Hannah, Lay & Company, known since 1883 as Hannah & Lay Mercantile Company, are still behind much of the ad- vancement of the Grand Traverse region.
The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held at the store of Cowles & Campbell, in the town of Peninsula, on Wednesday, July 27, 1853. Little was done and an adjournment was taken to the following day, the meeting place to be at the store of Hannah, Lay & Company in Traverse City. Another adjournment was effected before the board felt equal to business. A resolution was then adopted to the effect that there being a vacancy in the office of circuit court commissioner, the governor of the state would promote the general welfare by appointing Robert McClelland to said office. A petition requesting the board to legislate against the practice of throwing sawdust in the bay was promptly tabled. Orlin P. Hughson having escaped from the custody of the sheriff while under arrest a reward for his apprehension was au- thorized by the board.
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A proposition was received from Hannah, Lay & Company, offering to donate ground to the county for the use of county buildings, which was accepted and placed on file. Another proposition from the same firm to advance $600 for the erection of a courthouse and jail was also ac- cepted.
It was voted to expend the $600 in the construction of a courthouse and jail, and Robert Campbell, Wm. McKilip and Thomas Cutler were appointed a building committee.
The first county buildings erected in 1854 were destroyed by fire about eight years afterward and rooms were rented by the county. For a good many years the county officers were located in the Leach build- ing. In 1882 the question of erecting a new building or buildings, which had been agitated upon for some time was acted upon. The ques- tion of location then came up and a committee was appointed to ascer- tain the exact location of the county site. They reported that Hannah, Lay & Company had donated block 10 as a site, provided the county should erect a courthouse and jail within a year from the conveyance of the property, June 5, 1854, and that the same parties had conveyed block 10, without reservation, March 7, 1860. Courthouse and jail were completed in February, 1883.
LAND OFFICE TRANSACTIONS
What has been known as the Traverse City district was created out of the Ionia district and the office located at Duncan, Cheboygan county, with C. H. Taylor, register, and H. A. Rood, receiver. The first entry was made September 1, 1852. On November 1, 1857, Jacob Barns was appointed register and O. A. Stevens, receiver. March 1, 1858, the of- fice was moved to Mackinaw Island, and July 1, 1858, was closed there and opened at Traverse City, August 2, 1858. June 1, 1861, Morgan Bates was appointed register and Reuben Goodrich, receiver, and they were superseded, May 16, 1867, by L. G. Wilcox as register and E. Anneke receiver. May 18, 1869, Morgan Bates and Reuben Goodrich were reinstated in their old positions. July, 1, 1872, Perry Hannah suc- ceeded Reuben Goodrich in the receiver's office. Morgan Bates died March 2, 1874, and on March 23, Seth C. Moffatt was appointed to the vacant registership, and held the position until July, 1878, when the office was discontinued, the books and papers pertaining thereto were transferred to Reed City and the two offices consolidated.
When the office was moved to Traverse City, Northern Michigan was a vast wilderness. The state had already selected its "swamp lands" and the great reservations of the Grand Rapids & Indiana and Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Railroads had been made. Since then several "In- demnity" reservations have been made by the state and the extensive agricultural college grant located. During the nineteen years and eleven months that the office was kept at Traverse City, the business transacted was as follows :
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Acres.
Entered with warrants, act 1842
256.20
Entered with warrants, act 1847
2,440.00
Entered with warrants, act 1850
16,872.29
Entered with warrants, act 1852
320.00
Entered with warrants, act 1855
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