USA > Michigan > A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I > Part 35
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Beaver group, north and south Fox and territory west of the same. The first election under this act was held at Little Traverse on the first Tuesday in June, 1855, and the towns of Little Traverse, La Croix, Bear Creek and old Fort Mackinaw were organized.
The county seat was established at Mackinaw City, but the county business was transacted at Little Traverse until 1867. In that year the county seat was removed to Charlevoix and in 1868 the board of super- visors met at that place. There was strong opposition to the county seat being removed to Charlevoix and in 1868 the county seal and some other property mysteriously disappeared. Dennis T. Downing, the county clerk, was supposed to be instrumental in their removal. An action for embezzlement was brought against him, but in 1869 the county of Charlevoix was organized and the county seat of Emmet re- turned to Little Traverse. Little Traverse, or Harbor Springs, remained in possession of the coveted prize until July 10, 1902, when Petoskey, which had outstriped it in population became the county seat by pop- ular vote.
The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held at Little Traverse in October, 1855, but there is no record of it among the county documents. The first election was not observed in any town- ship but Charlevoix, where Galen B. Cole, the Mormon, was elected supervisor. Remembering that he was the sole board, the records of his rule are really humorous. For instance, in the appendix to the ses- sion laws of 1857 it is recorded that Galen B. Cole, "as chairman of the board, and George T. Preston, county clerk, certify that the sev- eral acts for the organization of the new township were cast by a major- ity of votes of all the members elected to the board of supervisors, upon due notice and application according to law, at an adjourned sitting of the annual meeting of the board of supervisors, the 22nd day of October, 1855." The first supervisors' meeting which is recorded in the county archives was held at Little Traverse, October 12, 1857, but only two of the three supervisors were present and no business was transacted.
In 1869 the territory of Emmet county was divided and Charlevoix county organized, but no new towns were created in Emmet county un- til 1876. In 1875 the name of La Croix had been changed to Cross River township, and in the following year Friendship, Maple River, Bliss and Pleasant View townships were organized; followed by Read- mond and Littlefield in 1877, Center in 1878 and Carp Lake in 1879.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
Emmet county, which is at the northwestern extremity of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. contains 294,120 acres of land, and its general surface is characterized by north and south ridges. There are four of these ridges or ranges of hills, commencing on the north side of Little Traverse Bay. Two or three miles from the east shore of the lake commences the first range, rising to an altitude of about 350 feet, then descending gradually to a valley varying from one mile to two miles
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in width. Then commences another range like the first, running par- allel and also descending into a valley. So on to the fourth range, which reaches an altitude of some six hundred feet above the water in the lake. The valleys are undulating and vary in altitude from one hundred to three hundred feet. Many parts of these ridges are table lands, where the very best farming lands are to be found with great fertility of soil, and susceptible of the highest state of cultivation, while the hills are equally fertile, but better adapted to fruit raising. The valleys include the meadow lands, which are much the same character of soil as the ridges and are adapted to all the varied purposes of agriculture. The general character of the soil throughout the county varies from a grey to a black sandy loam, which reaches from one foot to three feet in depth with a subsoil of clay; beneath this are clay, limestone and gravel. This sandy loam is strongly impregnated with lime. Throughout the entire county limestone rock is to be found in abundance everywhere upon the surface, with outcroppings of lime- stone ledges, indicating great strength of soil, which is further em- phasized by the dense growth of hardwood in many sections of the county. This timber consists mostly of maple, elm and ash. Bird's- eye maple especially has become an important article of manufacture and wealth. In some parts of the eastern and northern portions of the county extensive cedar swamps furnish an important supply of timber for shingles, cooperage and other purposes. They are supplied with the purest spring water and are sufficiently elevated to be easily drained. Where cleared of their dense growth of timber, they have been transformed into valuable fruit and farm lands.
The county, though well supplied with fine springs of pure water, is not noted for its extensive streams. Maple river, the principal stream, heads on the north and bears south through the eastern portion of the county, emptying into Crooked lake east of Little Traverse bay. This stream is sufficiently large for rafting purposes, and is susceptible of slack water navigation; it also has sufficient fall for milling purposes. The next stream of importance is Bear creek, entering into Little Traverse bay at Petoskey. This stream has a magnificent water power. It has its source in Bear lake, Charlevoix county. These, with one other stream entering the Straits on the north, of sufficient size and fall to be utilized for manufacturing purposes, comprise all of any importance in the county.
Emmet county, like every other portion of the Grand Traverse re- gion, is a fine fruit and potato country. The raising of garden seeds has also been a growing industry for some years and alfalfa is one of the coming crops. Stock and poultry raising and dairy farming are other branches which are encouraging the settlement of agriculturists in the county. It is estimated that 150,000 acres of fruit and farming land are still available; the present area in farms amounts to over 97,000 acres.
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EARLY HISTORY OF EMMET
The Indian history applying to Little Traverse bay and the west- ern shores of what is now Emmet county has been set forth in previous chapters, as well as the labors of the earlier Catholic priests. As also stated, the points most prominently associated with Indian and mis- sionary history, in this territory, were L'Abre Croche, Cross village and Little Traverse. As L'Abre Croche occupied an elevated position that could be seen far out upon the lake and for a long distance along the shore, the name came to be applied to an extensive region. About
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OLD MISSION CHURCH, HARBOR SPRINGS
1825 the Catholics returned to this part of the Grand Traverse region to reestablish their missions. They first built a church at Middle vil- lage, a short distance below L'Abre Croche, but in 1827 moved the mission to Little Traverse. About this time a church was also built at Cross village. In 1853 business began at Little Traverse, and in 1855 Father Weikamp established the convent at Cross village. In 1852 an important movement was inaugurated at Bear creek, which was continued until merged in the greater enterprises of modern prog- ress.
The early history of Bear creek is almost entirely confined to mat- ters connected with the Presbyterian mission, which was established in the year 1852. The name Bear creek is applied to the region in the vicinity of the mouth of the stream known by that name. The In- dian name is Muhquh Sebing.
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THE PRESBYTERIAN MISSION
Dr. M. L. Leach, long of Traverse City, and Rev. W. S. Potter, of Petoskey, have both written narratives of what transpired at this mis- sion, and we quote portions of each : "About the year 1851 the num- ber of Ottawas and Chippewas living at this point was increased by the coming of several families from Old Mission, where Rev. P. Dough- erty had been laboring. Shortly after a request was made to Mr. Dougherty that a school might be established at Bear creek. By order of the Presbyterian board, under whose authority he was acting, Mr. Dougherty visited them in the winter of 1851-2 and made so favorable a report that the board determined to accede to their request, and Mr. Andrew Porter, who had previously spent some time as teacher at Old Mission, was appointed for the work.
"Mr. Porter, with his family, left his home in Pennsylvania early in May. 1852. arriving at his destination the first of June. From Mackinac he came in Captain Kirtlands vessel. the 'Eliza Caroline,' the captain bringing him for a very small sum. Mr. Dougherty had previously sent a vessel with a cargo of lumber for the construction of the necessary buildings. The pile of lumber on the beach served to guide Captain Kirtland to the proper landing. On leaving the vessel, the party were kindly received by the head man, Daniel Wells, or Mwa- ke-we-nah, whom the band afterward elected chief; and who a few years later laid down his life for the country in the War of the Re- bellion. He placed his best room at the disposal of Mr. Porter, till the mission house could be built.
"The place selected for the mission was on the high land west of Bear creek. half a mile back from the bay. How to get the lumber to the spot was a problem that caused some anxiety. The only domestic animal in the settlement that could be put to such work was a single pony and the only vehicle was a cart, and then the new road which had recently been cut through the forest by the Indians was too rough and uneven for a wheel carriage of any kind. The anxiety. however, was soon removed by the announcement that the Indians of Little Traverse were offering their assistance. Soon after. on a set day, about seventy men and seven ponies with sleds were found to have come together on the beach ready for work. The ponies did very well, but more than half of the lumber was carried up the hill to the site of the proposed buildings on the shoulders of men.
"Mr. Porter found the Indians uniformly kind. He never failed to secure their services, when the services of a friend were needed. On first coming among them. he and his family threw themselves upon their honor and honesty, never turning a key to prevent them from stealing, and. though they were then poor and often hungry, the con- fidence reposed in them was not betrayed."
Some time after Mr. Porter's arrival, a Catholic mission was es- tablished at this point. It was the intention to build a church upon high ground, but Mr. Porter would not permit them to cross his do- main and a small frame building was erected on the shore of the bay.
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For a considerable number of years after Mr. Guthrie's departure. the Bear creek church had no settled pastor. Mr. Porter continued his school and his religious work among the Indians.
During the continuance of the mission, the Indians made steady improvement in farming. In 1852 there was only one pony and one plow among them. The surface of their small fields was strewn with the trunks of fallen trees, among which cultivation was carried on with no implement but the hoe. Afterward, when they had to some extent been provided with teams and farming utensils by the government according to treaty stipulations, their fields were cleared and plowed. Oats, wheat, corn and potatoes were the principal crops. Of the last two enough was usually raised to supply their own wants and leave a surplus for sale. Unfortunately the men sent to that locality by the agents of the government as Indian farmers, whose duty it was to in- struct them in the art and practice of farming, were frequently too shiftless to do anything but draw their own salaries. A well remem- bered case will illustrate the statement. The Indians had become dis- satisfied with one of this kind, and resolved if possible to get rid of him. Accordingly an old chief was delegated to present a complaint to the agent, which he did in the following brief terms: "For the first year or two he would sometimes come out to the field where we were plowing, take hold of the plow handles and go half across the field, and then would say ' I am hungry,' and return to the village and remain there the rest of the day; but now he never comes near us at all." As the so-called farmer, who was sitting by and heard the com- plaint, had no defense to make, he was promptly discharged.
For the first two or three years the expense of the mission was borne wholly by the Presbyterian board. After the establishment of Indian schools by the government, the one at the mission was adopted by the agent as a government school, and the usual salary was paid to Mr. Porter as teacher. About 1871 the government funds set apart by treaty for the benefit of the Indians being exhausted, and the board finding itself straitened for means, the mission was discontinued. The landed property of the establishment passed into other hands, and in 1875 Mr. Porter returned to his Pennsylvania home.
Mr. Porter was for a long time justice of the peace and judge of probate. He was very popular with the Indians, and it is said had become so accustomed to their ways and habits that he was no longer contented after white people settled about him. In 1870 his mother, who was living with him, died at the age of ninety-six years. Hazen Ingalls was then living near by, and at Little Traverse were three or four white people. Mr. Porter, however, called about him his Indian friends and conducted the funeral services himself. By means of strings a long pole was fastened to the rude coffin, and with Indians as pall bearers his aged mother was buried in the grave he had dug near by.
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PETOSKEY, THE COUNTY SEAT
Petoskey is a beautiful city of five thousand people situated on an amphitheater of imposing hills overlooking Little Traverse bay. It shares the honors with Charlevoix as the most noted summer resort of Northern Michigan and one of the most popular in the country. Steamers from every port around the Great Lakes enter its splendid harbor both to deposit crowds of gay excursionists and summer visitors and to facilitate her large trade, which cannot all be handled by her railroads-the Pere Marquette and Grand Rapids & Indiana systems.
No resort in the country has a better reputation with asthmatic and hay-fever patients than Petoskey. This class of sufferers will appreciate " When Dust Is On the Rag Weed," from the pen of Rev. Warren W. Lamport, now of Mancelona, Antrim county, who has made rich contributions of poetry, both humorous and eloquent, to the Grand Traverse region in which he has long resided.
When dust is on the ragweed, and the ragweed's in yer nose, When yer nose is full o'sneezin', and the sneezin' full o' woes ; Then's come the time to pack your duds and quickly git away ; Petoskey is the Mecca then, why don't you come and stay ?
When dust is on the ragweed, and the ragweed's in yer nose, And you keep a-sneezin, sneezin' till it lifts you off your toes, Why don't you buy yer ticket quick and git across the land ? Petoskey is the Mecca then, for all the sufferin' band.
Petoskey's got the atmosphere, without the other stuff; : You don't go sneezin' round as though you'd been a-takin' snuff; But all the summer long you find you're scoopin' in the health, While hotels and the Midway are a scoopin' in the wealth.
There's lots o' fun an' frolic here, there's lots of things to do; And if religion's what you want, they got that at Bay View. So come along without delay, and don't forgit yer tin; The hotels an' the Midway, all 'Il kindly take you in.
And when the frost has nipped the fields, and the ragweed's lost its grip, Then you can pack yer duds agin and take the homeward trip. An' don't fergit to take along some souv'nirs of yer stay, And don't fergit we'd like to see you back agin some day.
IGNATIUS PETOSKEY
The city of Petoskey was named in honor of one of the original proprietors of the soil, and who had spent more than fourscore years of his life in its vicinity. In the year 1787 he was born at the mouth of a little creek near where the city of Manistee now stands. His fa- ther, Nee-i-too-shing (the Early Dawn) with others of his tribe, went
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down to the lake shore into the south country hunting and trapping, as was their custom. On their return well laden with skins and game they camped at Little creek near the mouth of the Manistee river. Here was born the "patron saint" of the village. Nee-i-too-shing put back
THE OLD INDIAN CHURCH, PETOSKEY
the deer-skin door of his rude lodge and looked up at the morning sky. Bright shafts of sunlight shot up like streaks of flame lighting the eastern woods. Just then the first cry of his new-born child came to his ear and he named him Pe-to-se-ga, which is translated as "the Rising Sun." The home of the Chippewas was the region about Little Traverse bay. and the lodge of Nee-i-too-shing was about seven miles north and west of the present village of Harbor Springs.
When Pe-to-se-ga was twenty-two years old, he took for his wife
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the daughter of a near neighbor, Keway-ka-ba-wi-kwa. They planted an apple orchard, the remains of which may still be seen. The mis- sionaries gave him the name Neyas. He was afterward persuaded that Neyas was an abbreviation of Ignatius, and thus it became Ignatius Pe-to-se-ga, and later, when a village was to be named it assumed a corruption of his last name, Petoskey.
When the government decided to try the experiment of schooling some of the brightest Indian children, Pe-to-se-ga sent his two eldest sons to a school in northern Ohio. It was a Protestant school and the priest objected and finally declared he must bring the children home or he would be excommunicated. His wife, womanlike, sided with the priest, and Pe-to-se-ga yielded, but so impatient did he become of such arbitrary rule that he left the spot where he had spent forty-three years of his married life, and moved with his family across the bay, settling on the south shore upon land now comprised within the limits of the city. He and his sons owned nearly all of what is now Petoskey. But the trouble did not cease. Protestant mission services were held within reach, and Pe-to-se-ga attended with his children. Mrs. Pe-to- se-ga would none of it, so she left her husband and went with his brother to her own relatives on the north side of the bay.
The chief took another wife. Several years passed, but the mother- love in the dusky breast overruled all other considerations and Mrs. Pe-to-se-ga came back to her family, and the woman who had usurped her place was dowered and sent forth. They had fourteen children, of whom eight sons and two daughters are still living. Mrs. Pe-to- se-ga died in April, 1881, at the age of eighty-six, and some years after she was followed by Neyas Pe-to-se-ga, the centennarian.
BEGINNING OF THE VILLAGE
The operations at Bear creek have already been narrated in the early history of the county, but other than geographical connection they had no relation to the city that has since grown up, and had not other and later influences combined to make this particular spot a center of activities. the associations of the locality might never have vested a populous community with historic interest. Of the early movements of the village we will now proceed to speak.
The building of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad was the in- centive to the development of the natural resources at this point and its improvement as a village site. Messrs. H. O. Rose and Amos Fox had been pioneer business men in the Traverse region nearly twenty years and had already laid the foundation of Northport and Charle- voix. They had traded at Little Traverse, now Harbor Springs, and were familiar with this entire region. Knowing of the vast limestone formation on the shore of Little Traverse bay, they purchased about two hundred acres of land at this point. In the summer of 1873 the railroad to Petoskey was approaching completion, and Mr. Rose came there for the purpose of beginning business. The material for his house was got out at Traverse City and shipped thither by boat. The
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firm of H. O. Rose & Company ( Ames Fox) first commenced selling from their miscellaneous and general stock of goods in a small log building near the residence of Ignatius Petoskey in June, 1873. As there was then no dock they were obliged to land their goods with a scow. In October, 1874, Mr. Rose wishing to devote his time more es- pecially to lime manufacture, made a change by which the store came into possession of Fox, Rose & Buttars, consisting of Amos Fox of Charlevoix, Hiram O. Rose of Petoskey and Archie Buttars of Charle- voix, Mr. Buttars taking sole charge of the store, as well as the one which the firm operated at Charlevoix. Afterward the Petoskey store was rebuilt and enlarged, and following the dissolution of Fox & Rose, in 1882, the firms of Rose & Buttars and Rose Brothers & Com- pany conducted and developed the business which did more than aught else to build up Petoskey in its early days. The Rose brothers were H. O., Eugene L. and Perry W.
The first house actually built on the site of Petoskey was the board shanty erected on the bluff by G. L. Smith, familiarly called "Pa" Smith, in the early summer of 1873. In the same year Dr. William Little, the first physician, came from Traverse City on the same boat which brought Mr. Rose's stock of goods. He was in poor health, but liked the atmosphere so well that he camped out on the lake shore, and in November, the month after the Grand Rapids & Indiana road reached the locality, sent to Traverse City for his family. By January 1, 1874, a frame shack had been erected by the Doctor which he called the Rose House. This was the first hotel of Petoskey's numerous progeny and from it developed the Occidental. Dr. Little, however, its builder, was not permitted to see the transformation of the region, but died at Grand Rapids, November 19, 1875. In the previous year he had issued the first newspaper of the county, the Petoskey City Weekly Times.
The year 1875 gave the settlement a general business start. Early in the winter the first lawyer arrived in the person of D. R. Joslin, who had already been a pioneer at Alpena and Cheboygan, and on April 30th the first number of the Emmet County Democrat was is- sued by Roselle Rose and local happenings commenced to be recorded. In August of this year the status of Petoskey was summarized as fol- lows: 118 houses, three hotels, ten stores, six saloons, one bakery, a blacksmith shop, two physicians, two lawyers, two churches, three lime kilns and one manufactory about to commence operations, with three dams across the river. Shortly after this summary was made the new school building was finished on Howard street and the first graded schools placed in charge of Charles S. Hampton, afterward editor of the Harbor Springs Independent.
AS VILLAGE AND CITY
So rapid was the growth of Petoskey that in the fall of 1878, the question of incorporating the village began to be agitated. On Novem- ber 30, 1878, a public meeting was held at McCarty's Hall for the pur- Vol. I-20
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pose of taking action in the direction of obtaining a charter. A com- mittee consisting of John G. Hill, H. O. Rose, A. S. Lee, W. M. Ever- ett and George S. Richmond was appointed to draft a map of the territory to be incorporated and take such other steps as were neces- sary. The boundaries of the territory were described as follows: Com- mencing at the west eighth line of section 6, on the shore of Little Traverse bay, thence south 111 rods to quarter line, thence east 40 rods, thence south 80 rods, thence east 80 rods, thence south 80 rods to section line between sections 6 and 7, thence east 380 rods, thence north 1 mile to town line, thence west 80 rods, thence north on the quarter line of section 32, Town 35 north, Range 5 west to a point on Little Traverse bay, thence westerly along the shore to place of beginning, including nearly two sections of land.
Hon. C. J. Pailthorp, representative in the legislature from this district, had charge of the matter, and in February, 1879, secured the passage of a bill granting the charter to the village.
There were three tickets in the field at the first village election held in April, 1879. No. 2, the winning ticket, comprised H. O. Rose as mayor; L. C. Watson and C. B. Henika, trustees; Thomas Quinlan, treasurer; M. F. Quaintance, clerk; Abner S. Lee, assessor; Isaac L. Austin, street commissioner, and Joseph A. C. Rowan, constable.
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