A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I, Part 39

Author: Perry F. Powers
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 597


USA > Michigan > A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I > Part 39


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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"The Glen Lake Valley reaching from Burdickville to Maple City contains some of the best lands in Leelanau county. This valley lies entirely in Kasson township, within the limits of which have been found some of the finest stands of hardwood timber in the country. This fact is a testimonial to the richness of the soil. Down the valley is a good road to Burdickville where is located a large warehouse at which all kinds of produce is received for shipment and is bought. Freight is here loaded on cars, ferried across Glen lake to the rail- road at Day's mill, hauled to his dock on Lake Michigan and forwarded by the Northern Michigan Transportation Company steamers to Chi- cago and other lake points."


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It may be added that lands in Empire, Kasson and Glen Arbor township are especially well suited to the raising of fruits; that fine orchards are being planted and the proprietors locating. Neither is the Glen lake region a new country. It is well settled, has good roads, telephone service, rural delivery and well established schools and churches; in a word, it is a good region for those looking for homes.


POPULATION AND PROPERTY


Besides Empire, in the Glen Lake region, the only other incorporated villages are Northport and Sutton's Bay on Grand Traverse bay, places of about four and five hundred people respectively. North Manitou island is civilly attached to Leland township and South Manitou to Glen Arbor. The status of these communities, as well as the several townships of the county, is fairly indicated by the census figures for 1890, 1900 and 1910.


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


Civil Divisions


1910


1900


1890


Bingham township


744


811


927


Centerville township


1,051


1,285


927


Cleveland township


586


506


552


Elmwood township


744


824


734


Empire township, including Empire village Empire village


1,212


1,155


596


578


609


Glen Arbor township


550


593


353


Kasson township


838


685


558


Leelanau township, including Northport village .. Northport village


1,668


1,620


1,397


Leland township


1,248


946


708


Solon township


766


888


367


Sutton Bay township, including Sutton's Bay vil- lage


1,201


1,243


1,033


Sutton's Bay village


402


398


...


Totals


10,608


10,556


7,944


The assessed valuation of property for 1910, as equalized, is as follows : Real estate, $2,597,207; personal property, $420,170; total, $3.017,377.


FIRST SETTLERS


It is claimed by some that the first white settler within the present limits of Leelanau county was a Frenchman named Nazaros Dona, who lived about two miles south of the present site of Leland, then called Shemacopink. It is not probable, however, that he lived there except while engaged in fishing. or that he could be considered a set- tler of the county.


In 1847 John Lerue came from Chicago to the Manitou islands in search of health. At that time there was a pier, or wharf, on each of the two islands where passing steamers used to call for wood, the one on the north island being owned by Mr. Pickard, that on the south by Mr. Barton. On the north Manitou were two fishermen without families. The lighthouse was kept by a man named Clark. There were no white men at that time in Leelanau county. Farther south, at the mouth of the Betsey river, there was living a white man named Joseph Oliver, with an Indian wife, who supported his family by trapping and fish- ing. There were no Indians living on the Manitous, but they fre- quently came there to trade. Finding the climate favorable to his health, Mr. Lerue commenced trading with the Indians, and the next year moved his establishment over to the mainland, locating at what was then called Sleeping Bear bay, now Glen Arbor, and was probably the first permanent white settler.


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


NORTHPORT FOUNDED


The most prominent figure in the earliest history of Leelanau county is that of the late Rev. George N. Smith, a minister of the Congrega- tional church who had spent ten years in missionary work among the Indians of Black river, Ottawa county. Visiting the bay in the sum- mer of 1848, with some of the Mission Indians, he selected a location on the shore some distance north of the site of the present village of Northport.


The arrival and the first experiences of the party are related by James J. Mclaughlin, long a resident of Elk Rapids, and a son of James McLaughlin. "It was a beautiful morning," he says "in the early part of June, 1849, that the schooner 'Merrill' rounded Cat Head Point and stood up the bay. She had on board three families that were to make the first commencement where Northport now stands -those of James McLaughlin, the owner of the vessel, who was in the employ of the government; Rev. George N. Smith, missionary and teacher among the Ottawa Indians, and William H. Case, a brother-in- law of the owner of the vessel. These parties had been ordered by the government to Grand Traverse, then almost unknown to white men, with an Indian mission from Allegan county in this state. It seemed to us, as we gazed upon the beautiful scenery that met our eyes at every turn, that we had found the 'Eldorado.' The forests were unbroken; the axe of the white man had not marred its beauty ; the beach of the bay was not strewn with the refuse of the sawmill, but all lay in the state that Dame Nature had kept it, beautiful beyond description.


"The place decided upon as the point to settle was near the creek where Northport is. The vessel was anchored off there the morning of the 11th of June. The men, armed with their axes, went ashore to prepare to build a house. The women and children enjoyed a walk on terra firma once more. Soon the sound of the axe broke the still- ness of the forest, logs were cut, the ground cleared and everything made ready for the first raising on the west side of Grand Traverse bay. But right here arose a difficulty; the logs were cut for a house nine- teen feet square, good sized logs too and there was no team to haul them with. We couldn't go to the neighbors and borrow one, for the nearest neighbors were fifteen miles away and they across the water. But the pioneer is generally equal to the emergency; at least he was in this case. The vessel was now resorted to and blocks and ropes were brought ashore and a purchase rigged, by which, with the help of every man, woman and child that could pull on a rope, the logs were hauled into their places, and the house began to rise, and in the course of two or three days it was ready for the roof. Right at this point we found there was no roof ready, but taking a few boards that were in the vessel we stuck one end in a crack, the other on a beam, thus obtain- ing a sort of a shelter for the beds. We learned that lumber could be obtained at the head of the bay, the schooner was started for some, and in a short time we had a very fair house.


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


FIRST FOURTH IN TRAVERSE REGION


"It seemed a very short time before what should come along but the Fourth of July; the glorious old Fourth, and that must be cele- brated in good old style! But what were we to do? We had no cannon, no flag, nor any of the prerequisites necessary for celebration; but an old man-of-wars-man that had left the vessel to stay with us on shore, brought to light a red flannel shirt, and with a sheet for the white, he soon made a respectable flag. The morning of the Fourth was ushered in with a salute from all the guns we could muster, and our flag flying. The whole force of the settlement, numbering fifteen all- told. started for a picnic on the little island out in the bay. We ate our dinner, spent the day pleasantly and toward night returned home well pleased with ourselves and everybody else. Thus passed the first Fourth of July celebration in the Grand Traverse region, a small be- ginning, but as full of patriotism and love of country as any that has ever been held since. With early fall preparations were made for a long northern winter, supposing of course that in this high latitude, we would have at least six or eight months of winter; but we were agreeably suprised to see the fall months pass away, and no snow until the 12th of December, and instead of the cold dreary winter we had anticipated it was a mild, pleasant winter that would compare favor- ably with that of the south part of the state. There was but very lit- tle ice in the bay, and not enough at any time to obstruct navigation. The spring opened early, the first of April finding the snow and every vestige of ice removed, and the ground ready for the farmer .to go to work; but there were no farmers to go to work."


About fifty families of Indians followed their missionary to the site of the present Northport. A log schoolhouse was built and an Indian village there established, named Wau-ka-zoo-ville in honor of one of their noted chiefs. During the first years of his residence, Mr. Smith devoted himself solely to mission work among the Indians, but afterward he or- ganized a Congregational church among the whites of which he was pastor for many years. His death occurred on the 5th of April, 1881, after a brief illness caused by long-continued physical exposure, and his remains were buried near the home he had hewed out of the forest on the shore of Grand Tranverse bay.


FIRST YEARS OF GROWTH


The development of Leelanau county was very materially retarded by an extensive Indian reservation, lying in the midst of an active white population. This reservation was made a few months after the set- tlement of Northport. It extended from the village of Northport south to township 28, and embraced the entire county as far west as range 13 west. leaving only the small triangle north of Northport as the sustain- ing back country for that village. The term of reservation expired in 1866.


In 1858 and 1859 farmers began to come in slowly, and from that


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


time development was steady. Leelanau county was mentioned in the winter of 1862 as follows: "The county of Leelanau embraces the entire peninsula formed by Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse bay and extends south seven miles below the mouth of Betsie river. It is bounded on the east by Grand Traverse bay, on the west and north by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Manistee. It has eighty-six miles of lake and forty miles of bay coast. There are five organized town- ships, viz: Leelanau, Centerville, Glen Arbor, Crystal Lake and Ben- zonia. Leelanau contains 720 whites and 319 Indians; Centerville 411 whites and 237 Indians; Glen Arbor 252 whites, no Indians; Crystal Lake 127 whites, no Indians. Total: 1,603 whites, 554 Indians; grand total, 2,157. As Benzonia was only organized last fall we have no means of knowing its number of inhabitants. It includes the Benzonia or Bailey colony, where it is in contemplation to build a college. Many of the best lands in the county are held by and reserved for the Indians, which has greatly retarded its settlement.


"The village of Northport is in the township of Leelanau. It is pleasantly situated on a safe and capacious harbor of the bay. About ten miles from its mouth, and is the largest village on the bay, containing four hundred inhabitants. The old Indian village of Wau-ka-zoo-ville and Northport are now one and the same, the Indians having sold out and abandoned it. It is an important wooding point for the propellers trading between Chicago and the lower lakes, and has two extensive wharves, five stores, three hotels, several saloons, one sawmill and a number of mechanic shops.


"The new Indian mission under the charge of Rev. Mr. Dougherty is also in this township. It is delightfully situated on a commanding eminence of the bay six miles south of Northport.


"Centerville joins Leelanau on the south and extends nearly to the head of the bay, and westerly from the bay to Lake Michigan. It em- braces Carp lake-some eighteen miles long, and from one to two miles wide-a beautiful sheet of water abounding in choice varieties of fish.


"The principal business point is Leland, at the confluence of Carp river with Lake Michigan. Messrs. Cordes & Thiess have an extensive wharf here for wooding propellers, and they have also a saw and grist- nill. John I. Miller has a beautiful farm in the immediate vicinity of the bay, among which are those of James, Robert and Thomas Lee, Messrs Bates, Sutton and Cumberworth. Further up the bay Mr. Nor- ris has a tannery, a gristmill and an excellent water power.


"Glen Arbor lies north and west of Traverse City and is an excellent township of land. The settlement is mostly on the western side of the town in the vicinity of Lake Michigan. There are two villages, Glen Arbor and North Unity, the latter a German settlement. Glen Arbor is at the cone formed by Sleeping Bear Point and is a wooding point for propellers."


At the time the foregoing was written Leelanau county had just been born as a civil and political body.


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[Courtesy Western Michigan Development Bureau]


EIGHT YEARS FROM TIMBER LAND


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


COUNTY ORGANIZED


In 1840 that portion of the state lying west of the county of Omeena and of Grand Traverse bay, including the Manitou islands, was laid off and designated as the county of Leelanau. It was attached to Grand Traverse county for judicial purposes. It was not regularly organized, however, until in the winter of 1862-3, when the legislature passed the enabling act.


AN ACT


To organize the county of Leelanau and define the county of Benzie : "Section 1. The people of the state of Michigan enact that all that part of the county of Leelanau which lies north of the south line of township 28 north shall be organized, and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges and powers to which, by law, the inhabitants of other organized counties in this state are entitled.


"Section 2. At the township meeting to be held in the several town- ships in said county on the first Monday in April next there shall be an election of all the county officers to which, by law, the said county may be entitled, whose term of office shall expire on the first day of January, A. D., eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and when their successors shall have been elected and qualified.


"Section 3. The board of county canvassers under the provisions of this act shall meet on the second Tuesday succeeding the day of election, as herein appointed, in the village of Northport in said county at the house of Joseph Dame or at such other place as may be agreed upon and provided by such board, and organize by appointing one of their number chairman and another secretary, and shall thereupon proceed to discharge all the duties of a board of county canvassers as in other cases of the election of county officers as prescribed by the general law.


"Section 4. The location of the county seat of said county shall be determined by the vote of the electors of said county at a special election which is hereby appointed to be held by the several townships of said county on the first Monday in June next. There shall be written on the ballots then polled by the qualified electors of said county, one of the following names of places, to-wit: Glen Arbor, Leelanau or Northport, and that one which shall receive the greatest number of votes shall be the county seat of the county of Leelanau.


"Section 5. It shall be the duty of the several boards of township inspectors in each of the townships of the said county to conduct the elections authorized by the provisions of this act and to make returns thereof in accordance with the general provisions of law for conducting elections in this state, so far as the same may be applicable thereto.


"Section 6. The board of county canvassers for the special election for locating the county seat shall consist of the persons appointed on the day of such special election by the several boards of township inspectors, and said board of county canvassers shall meet on the second Tuesday succeeding the day of said special election at the house of Otto Thies, in the village of Leland, and having appointed one of their number chair-


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


man, and the county clerk of said county acting as secretary, shall pro- ceed to canvass the votes and determine the location of the county seat in accordance therewith, and it shall be the duties of the clerk of said board to file a copy of the determination of said board as to the location of the county seat, signed and certified by him, and countersigned by the chairman, with the secretary of state and with the township clerks of the several townships in said county.


"Section 7. All that part of the county of Leelanau which lies south of the south line of township 28 north, shall be and remain the county of Benzie, and the several townships thereof shall be attached for civil and municipal purposes to the county of Grand Traverse.


"Section 8. The secretary of state is hereby directed to furnish the township clerk of the township of Leelanau with a certified copy of this act, and it shall be the duty of said clerk to give the same notice of the elections to be held under the provisions of this act that is re- quired by law to be given by the sheriff of unorganized counties.


'Section 9. That the said county of Leelanau when so organized shall be attached to the tenth judicial circuit, and the judge of said circuit shall hold courts in said county as be law in such cases made and provided.


"Section 10. All acts and parts of acts contravening the provisions of this act are hereby repealed so far as any provisions therein may con- Hict with this act.


"Section 11. This act shall take immediate effect. "CHARLES S. MAY, President of the Senate. "SULLIVAN M. CUTCHEON, Speaker of the House of Representatives. "Approved February 27, 1863. AUSTIN BLAIR, Governor."


NORTHPORT, FIRST COUNTY SEAT


The first business operations which led to the founding of the present village of Northport were inaugurated and advanced by Joseph Dame, a New England and New York lumberman who, in 1840, became a trader with headquarters at Mackinaw City. He carried on a trade in lumber, clocks and general goods and was employed by the government as a teacher of the Indians. From Mackinaw he finally moved to Old Mission, Grand Traverse bay, where he was employed in teaching farming to the Indians. Mr. Dame remained there until 1845 when he went to Wis- consin and bought a farm in Spring Prairie, Walworth county. He made his home there seven years and then returned to the Traverse region, and, leaving his family at Old Mission, bought a tract of land where now stands the village of Northport. He commenced the construc- tion of a dock, engaged in trade and platted a village to which he gave the name it still bears. Writing at that time to the New York Tribune he gave such a description of the country that it speedily attracted at- tention, and from this and other causes the tide of immigration turned in his direction. His coming and labors eventuated in opening the neigh- boring country to settlement, and making Northport the distributing point of travel and supply. Mr. Dame built and conducted the Traverse


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Bay Hotel, the first house erected for the care and entertainment of the public. He also commenced the construction of a wharf in 1853, which was afterward completed by H. O. Rose.


Northport received quite an access of population within the fol- lowing few years. In 1856 a sawmill was running, and Mr. Rose, in partnership with Amos Fox, had established quite a business in sup- plying the steamers with wood for fuel. By 1858 they were handling from 13,000 to 15,000 cords of wood on their Northport docks, being under regular contract to supply the boats of the Northern Transporta- tion Company plying between Ogdensburg and Chicago. They also


MILL STREET, NORTHPORT


shipped hemlock bark and cedar posts, and these lines of industry and trades were taken up by others who located in the village, or built docks for that purpose in the vicinity. The first settlement on the site of Northport is said to have been made June 11, 1849, but Mr. Dame was its first permanent and substantial citizen.


In 1855 Northport was organized into a school district-the first in the county-and in the following year a small one-story frame build- ing was erected to accommodate the few scholars in attendance. The postoffice was also established in 1855.


Of course the first religious exercises conducted on the site of North- port were by Rev. Mr. Smith, the Congregational minister, as already stated. In 1858 Rev. Lewis Griffin organized the Methodists into a class, and in 1863 the Congregationalists formed a regular society.


Thus were laid the foundations of the trade and industries, the educational and religious institutions, and the general community life


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


of the village of Northport, the seat of justice from the organization of the county in 1863 to the year 1882 and which was incorporated by the board of supervisors of Leelanau county in October. 1903. Wilber E. Campbell being its first president.


The village of Northport has one of the best harbors in Grand Trav- erse bay and has railroad facilities over the Grand Rapids & Indiana line. With active flour and lumber mills, still maintaining quite a fishing trade, and backed by a country which is productive of fruit, vegetables. seeds and grain, Northport is one of the most promising centers of population in Leelanau county. The village transacts its business through the Leelanau County Bank, enjoys electric lighting and shows its moral stamina by supporting six religious organizations -one Methodist, one Congregational, one Catholic, one Swedish Mission and two Norwegian Lutheran.


LELAND, PRESENT COUNTY SEAT


Leland has been the county seat of Leelanau county from 1882 to the present time. It lies at the mouth of the Leelanau river, about mid- way along the shore of Lake Michigan, and, although not an incorporated village, has a population of some four hundred. Its nearest railroad point is Provemont, four miles to the southeast on the Manistee & North- eastern railroad, with which it has stage connections. Aside from be- ing the county seat, Leland has a canning factory and a shingle and sawmill, and still maintains quite a fishing trade; shipments include fish, hardwood lumber and railroad ties. It has a light and power plant, a township library, a good school and two churches.


The story of the founding of Leland is the usual narrative of "ups and downs." In 1848 Antoine Manseau and John I. Miller, both lum- bermen, prospected in the Grand Traverse region in search of a desir- able location for a sawmill. Mr. Manseau partially decided to locate at a point just above Traverse City, afterward called Norrisville, but the land being entered ahead of him he and Mr. Miller located at the mouth of the Carp river. At that time there was an Indian village on the hill near where Mr. Miller's house afterward stood, but the In- dians soon left believing that the land had all been bought by white men and would soon be seized by them. But nothing was done at this point until June, 1853. when Mr. Manseau and his son Antoine arrived and built a sawmill on the river. A dam was also constructed and the mill put in operation.


In the following September, John I. Miller arrived and settled on the land which was long his homestead. The elder Manseau died in 1856 and his widow in 1860, and Antoine, Jr., moved to a locality near Sutton's Bay. Mr. Miller was the first postmaster at Leland, and held the office until June 1861, when he was succeeded by Simeon Pickard.


The first religious worship at Leland was conducted by Father Mrack, one of the early Catholic missionaries, who began to visit the place in 1855. After him came Fathers Young and Herbstrit. In 1870 the society. Holy Trinity. built a church edifice.


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Mr. Miller and the Manseaus were soon followed by John E. Fisher, John Porter, H. S. Buckman, John Bryant, Sr., Frederick Cook, Dr. W. H. Walker and George Ray. A pier was built, several stores erected, the water power was improved, and several mills put in operation. In March, 1867, the dam was carried which seriously interfered with busi- ness for some time. Great expectations centered in the iron furnace erected by Detroit capitalists in 1869, but early in the summer of 1872 the property was sold to Captain E. B. Ward, who interested others in the enterprise. Although the plant was twice burned and rebuilt, and employed quite a number of men it is said to have proved a detri-


EMPIRE AND SURROUNDING COUNTRY


ment to the town, as the company controlled a large amount of village property which it kept out of the market and barred, in a way, from improvements. Leland became simply a creature of the iron company, whose furnace was finally abandoned. Her later history is chiefly con- nected with her position as the county seat since 1882.




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