A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I, Part 40

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 40


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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EMPIRE


Empire in the southwestern corner of the county near Lake Michi- gan is the largest of the three incorporated villages of the county. It is on the line of the Empire & Southeastern railroad and is quite a lumber, fruit and produce market. A large hardwood manufactory is also located here. A good bank (Empire Exchange), well organized school, two churches and a number of general stores also add to the life and standing of the village.


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Empire had its beginning in a mere opening in the forest made upon its site by John Larue who brought his family into the country in the fall of 1851, soon after John Dorsey located at Glen Arbor. With years it developed into a brisk lumber town, and still later into the trading and banking center of a fine fruit and farming region. Of late years the Empire Lumber Company, under its various manage- ments, has been the strong stay of the village, particularly in its de- velopment of hardwood manufacturing. The basis of the industry, with its business auxiliaries, was laid in 1887 when the T. Wilce Com- pany bought the mill formerly operated by Potter & Struthers. Ex- tension of the plant and docks, building of the railroad and other im- provements followed and made Empire a fine little town. The com- pany has also invested in thousands of acres of timber lands in Empire and adjoining townships, and altogether has been a strong promoter of the best interests of the village and the entire Glen Lake region.


Empire became a village by an act of the county board of super- visors passed in October, 1895, and the first election held December 2nd of that year resulted in the choice of E. R. Dailey, manager of the Empire Lumber Company, for president; Fritz Rohr, clerk; Dr. S. A. Gates, treasurer; William Sullivan, assessor, and I. Nurko, R. Sullivan, James Daly, A. E. Willard and George Taylor, trustees. Michael F. Horen was the first village marshal.


SUTTON'S BAY


This village, incorporated in 1898, is located on the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad and is at the foot of the body of water from which it is named-Sutton's bay being at the head of the West arm of Grand Traverse bay where it joins the main body. It has a charming location, but its business is largely confined to lumber. Like Northport its earlier trade centered in cordwood and railroad ties, the former being supplied to the steamers of the Great Lakes. It has now a good sawmill and the usual minor industries of a small village and is the trade center of a considerable agricultural district, its transactions being conducted through the Leelanau County Savings Bank. The village has a thor- oughly organized school system and three churches-the Catholic, Con- gregational and Lutheran. The Catholics also have a parochial school and a convent conducted by the Sisters of St. Dominic. Sutton's Bay dates from the middle sixties, the following mention of the place being made in January, 1866: "A new village has also sprung into existence near the head of Sutton's bay, which, in honor of Mr. H. C. Sutton, the former and early owner of the soil upon which it stands, has been christened Suttonsburg, and bids fair to become quite a boy within a few years; and if it does not then the fault will be itself, for nature had dealt nobly with it. The bay, at the head of which this village is built, is a body of water four or five miles in length, and about two miles in width; is tributary to Grand Traverse bay, intersecting it from the west about twenty-four miles from its junction with Lake Michigan ; is deep enough to float any steamboat on the lake. Extend-


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ing in a southwestern course, as it does, there is but one direction from which the wind can approach and be at all violent; and then it is not sufficiently boisterous as to materially affect boats lying at its dock. The site of the village is a pleasant one, gradually rising from the bay and extending westward over an even, fertile piece of land, broad enough for a city of an untold number of inhabitants. Suttonsburg is situated about three and a half miles from the geographical center of the county, and therefore, if the county seat should ever be removed from North- port, will probably be the point fixed upon by a majority of the people for its permanent location."


PROVEMONT


Four miles west of Sutton's Bay, on the Manistee & Northeastern Railroad, is Provemont, which, although not an incorporated village, is a banking center for the county seat and also a shipping point for a considerable area of country. It has a saw and gristmill, a good school and is a neat little place. Provemont is also the seat of a Catholic convent and school conducted by the Sisters of St. Dominic.


Along in 1867 Provemont was a place of considerable notoriety. A. De Belloy was an early settler there and in the year mentioned the Grand Traverse Bay Mineral Land Association sunk a well but failed to strike oil. Afterward an artesian well produced some mineral water, but neither oil nor water brought the expected development of the vil- lage and the region around.


OMENA AND PESHABATOWN


Omena is a pretty summer resort located on the West arm of Grand Traverse bay five miles south of Northport and the same distance north of Sutton's Bay. To be more specific, it is on the Grand Rapids & In- diana Railroad and also on the shores of New Mission bay. Omena is on historic ground, also; at that point Rev. Mr. Dougherty of Old Mis- sion built the little Presbyterian church to serve as a nucleus for his labors among the Indians. And his work, even among the Chippewas, lives after him, for some of the children and grandchildren of those he converted and educated live along these shores, intelligent, moral and industrious men and women.


At the head of Sutton's bay, also on the line of the railroad, and a few miles south of Omena, is Peshabatown, or Pshawbatown, the only pure Indian village in Michigan-a memorial to the faithfulness of Father Mrack, who, in 1849, brought hither from the Soo his little band of Christianized Chippewas. Here a little community of their descend- ants, cultivating their patches of corn. beans, potatoes. squashes and pumpkins, or weaving their simple but beautiful basketry. As de- scribed by the Detroit Free Press of February 12, 1911: "Two long rows of log cabins, built in 1849, comprise the village. They show the battering of nearly three-quarters of a century of tempestuous north- ern winds and snows. Altogether the aggregation of buildings presents


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a forlorn and dilapidated appearance, with broken window panes, stuffed here and there with rags to keep out the cold. And in the midst of this desolation the old church and cloister stand like derelicts on a dead sea. Adjoining the church, and right in the center of the village, is the cemetery where lie all of the Pshawbatown dead who have de- parted for their happy hunting grounds. Like all the rest of the vil- lage, the cemetery has the same deserted appearance. Mullens, milk- weed and thistles grow in the space between the graves and clamber over the toppling crosses which mark the last resting place of once mighty Nimrods of the forest and add the finishing touches to a typical Goldsmith's deserted village.


"The one street of Pshawbatown is one and a half miles long. The reason of this is that the houses were built on the old Indian trail, which follows the indentation of the shore. A few of the houses scatter back toward the hills that form a background for the village, that are cold and bleak in the winter, but cool and green in the summer, and beau- tiful beyond description in the autumn when Neenabushoo has spilled his paint pots of crimson, russet, and gold over the hills and surround- ing woods.


"The doors of the houses all fasten with a latch string, a piece of. bent wire hooked over a nail or an occasional padlock. Outside the door of every house is a big iron kettle, one-time property of someone's ancestor, which swings over a fire by a heavy iron hook and chain. Dur- ing the summer the Indians cook their food over the fire just as they did in the days when they lived in wigwams. They also cling to their legends and their traditions, and no amount of baptism can wash away their superstitions concerning their manitou (the great spirit,) and their michibous (genii of the water) ; and their lullabys of today are the same that the gushnas (grandmothers) of a hundred years ago crooned to their papooses.


"The only building in the village that looks as if it had been built since the days of Noah's ark is the school, which was erected by Father Marak so that the nuns might teach the children. Since the departure of Father Marak this has become a district school, receives its share of the state primary money, and has a board who hires teachers and looks after the requirements just as all the other district school boards of Leelanau county do. The school board is composed of the follow- ing red men: Sam Chippewa, director; Pete Nanago, moderator, and William Macsauba, treasurer. There are twenty-five pupils enrolled, all of them Indian children. The school is taught by a pedagogue who must show the Indian board that she holds a third-grade county certif- icate, and she must sign a contract for the full term of nine months, which means complete isolation for her from early fall until she locks the school in the late spring."


GLEN ARBOR AND BURDICKVILLE


These are centers of early settlement in Leelanau county, particu- larly the former. In the summer of 1851 John Dorsey located at Glen


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NEAR GLEN ARBOR, SHORES OF GLEN LAKE


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Arbor. In the fall of that year John Larue brought his family into the country, spending the following winter at Northport. Soon after Mr. Larue's arrival, Mr. Mclaughlin, who had previously been en- gaged in building A. S. Wadsworth's sawmill at Elk Rapids, removed from Northport to that place, leaving the original number of three families at Northport-Smith's, Case's and Larue's. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Larue returned to his former location at Glen Arbor. John E. Fisher and Dr. William H. Walker arrived in 1854. They landed on Manitou islands and came to the main shore with their families and goods in small boats. The next season George Ray landed here with two families from Ashtabula county, Ohio, bringing with him a small sawmill. They landed from the propellor "Saginaw," August 28, 1855. That was the first boat that ever made a landing in this bay. The next summer Mr. Ray, with a partner, commenced building a dock, which was completed in 1857 and afterward known as the Central Dock.


In the late fifties William Burdick came to the site of the place which bears his name, and built a saw and grist mill, which burned about a decade later. In 1867 John Helm located on the present site of Burdickville, southeast of Glen lake, established himself there as the keeper of a general store and built up a fair business. S. S. Burnett was a later merchant of the little settlement.


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CHAPTER XIV


BENZIE COUNTY


THE COUNTY PHYSICALLY-POPULATION STATISTICS-FIRST SETTLERS- FOUNDING OF FRANKFORT AND BENZONIA-HOMESTEAD-COUNTY'S "DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE"-COUNTY SEAT CONTENTIONS- FRANKFORT OF TODAY AND YESTERDAY-THOMPSONVILLE-BENZONIA --- HONOR-LAKE ANN.


Benzie is one of the counties bordering the northeastern shores of Lake Michigan which is prospering both as a commercial, a manufac- turing and a fruit-raising section. Its chief point of commerce and trade is Frankfort with its splendid harbor and its favorable transpor- tation facilities by land and by water. The county as a whole is trav- ersed by the Ann Arbor, the Pere Marquette, the Empire & Southeast- ern railroads and the Manitou & Northeastern railroads, the last named cutting across its southeastern corner and through its .central section. Frankfort is the lake terminus of the Ann Arbor system which operates three fine ferries from this port to Menominee and Gladstone, in the Upper Peninsula, and Manitowoc and Kewaunee across the lake on the Wisconsin shore. Thus Benzie county has a remarkably free outlet for all it may produce and Frankfort is becoming an important shipping point for quite a section of the Grand Traverse region.


THE COUNTY PHYSICALLY


Benzie county has an area of 197,760 acres, of which about 100,000 are available for cultivation and some 80,000 are already in farms. The principal stream in the county is the Benzie or Betsie river, as it was originally called. As has already been stated, the name originated in Aux Bec Scies, as the French called the river, which American sailors and settlers corrupted first into Betsie and then Benzie. After flow- ing southwest it makes a loop in the northern part of Manistee county and then takes a general northwesterly course through Betsie lake, its mouth forming the harbor at Frankfort. Platte river, which drains the northern sections of the county, is the only other considerable stream.


Benzie county has fifty-nine lakes of sufficient size to be named, the largest ones being Crystal and Platte, in the northwestern townships not far from Lake Michigan. As the land is abundantly watered, it is naturally a goood dairy country, but as the soil is a warm, sandy


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PEACHES AND BERRIES IN THE GRAND TRAVERSE REGION


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and gravelly loam it is primarily adapted to the raising of such fruits as apples, peaches, plums and berries. Benzie is also in what may be called the "potato belt" of Northern Michigan. Poultry and bee-raising, especially on the shores of Platte lake, are industries which are attract- ing considerable attention.


The original forest growth of Benzie county was hardwood mixed with pine, and included such varieties as hard and soft maple, white and black ash, white and black birch, oak, elm, beech, basswood, cedar, tamarack, hemlock and spruce. This section has shared the general experience of Northern Michigan in the decline of its softwood manu- factures, but its hardwood industry and trade are still considerable.


POPULATION AND PROPERTY STATISTICS


As a basis for a presentation of an outline history of the county the tabulated statement of the United States census bureau for 1890, 1900 and 1910 is presented herewith:


Civil Divisions


1910


1900


1890


Almira township, including Lake Ann village


686


790


278


Lake Ann village


171


241


Benzonia township, including Benzonia village Benzonia village


1,325


1,122


506


Blaine township


640


498


346


Colfax township, including part of Thompson- ville village


744


962


404


Thompsonville village (part of)


168


233


Total for Thompsonville village in Colfax and Weldon townships


815


893


....


Crystal Lake township, including Frankfort village


2,024


1,903


1,472


Frankfort village


1,555


1,465


1,175


Gilmore township, including South Frankfort village


969


886


755


South Frankfort village (now Elberta) .


681


639


Homestead township


1,415


1,009


330


Inland township


652


485


419


Joyfield township


442


328


262


Lake township


189


126


170


Platte township


448


477


198


Weldon township, including part of Thompson- ville village


1,104


1,099


97


Thompsonville village (part of)


647


660


Totals


10,638


9,685


5,237


The total equalized assessment of real and personal property in Benzie county for 1911 was $4,967,751, as against $3,242,330 for 1910.


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FIRST SETTLERS


The first settler in Benzie county is said to have been Joseph Oliver, a Pennsylvanian who was a trapper and trader and located temporarily at the Manitou islands, Manistee and other places along Lake Mich- igan before he came to the mouth of the Betsie river and put up a rude log hut for his home, the first building erected on the present site of Frankfort. This is believed to have been in 1850.


In the same year the government sent Orange Risdon to reexamine the surveys in this section. He found Mr. Oliver, who had located four- teen acres on the south side of the river near where the Park House was afterward built, and bought his property. Both he and his wife purchased large tracts both on the river and the lake; and fishers and trappers commenced to plant their homes in this locality.


FOUNDING OF FRANKFORT AND BENZONIA


Then a peculiar incident brought the Betsie river to the notice of the "outside" world. George W. Tifft, a wealthy vessel owner of Buffalo, sent his vessel, commanded by Captain Snow of Chicago in the season of 1854. The craft was caught in a terrible west gale abreast of this place and became unmanageable. The boat was drifting towards the beach, which meant loss of crew, passengers and vessel. Sighting the mouth of Betsie river through the trees and knowing his craft was fated anyway, Captain Snow ordered all sails hoisted and headed for the mouth of the river, taking chances of grounding the bar. The water was fortunately sufficiently deep to float the craft and she sailed safely into the river, escaping the onslaught of the gale. This was the first vessel to enter Frankfort harbor.


Mr. Tifft, learning of the splendid location, determined to start a business opening here and bought all of the Risdon's lands and made other large purchases of government land in 1857. George S. Frost of Detroit, Ranson Gardner and others purchased all of Tifft's interests and began the first actual settlement of Benzie county.


The light house at Point Betsie, four miles north of Frankfort, was built in 1856. The light house keeper and his family together with three of four other families were the first residents of Frankfort and vicinity.


In the latter part of August and the following month of September, 1859, the Detroit colony organized by Messrs. Frost, Gardner and others of that city and under the direct management of Louis A. Doby and John H. Adams, arrived at the mouth of the Betsie river and prepared to make a permanent settlement. A small steam sawmill was con- structed that season, and soon afterward the "gang" began to improve the harbor. The channel at that time was just in front of where the Park House was erected. L. A. Doby had the contract for building the piers. A boarding house was built and William H. Coggshall came from Glen Arbor to conduct it.


In the meantime another colony had planted itself between Betsie


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river and the inland end of Crystal lake. In the year 1857 Charles E. Bailey and John Bailey of Medina county, Ohio, and Chauncey T. Car- rier of western New York, after hearing described in glowing terms the country around Grand Traverse bay through an article written by Deacon Dame, decided that they would come to Northern Michigan and establish a Christian colony, believing this to be one of the best agen- cies for laying a foundation for good in the world. As Mr. Carrier had business in Minnesota it was arranged that he should pursue his journey and that he should finally meet the Bailey brothers at the most northerly point in Grand Traverse bay, though none of them knew its name or had any definite idea of its location.


As the time for the appointed meeting approached, Mr. Carrier landed at Northport while the Messrs. Bailey landed on one of the Manitous, whence they passed over to Glen Arbor in a small boat. While they were making their way to Northport on foot, Mr. Carrier visited a location on the east side of Elk lake in Antrim county which seemed to him to offer important advantages for the establishment of the proposed colony. He induced his comrades to visit the place, it being stipulated, however, that before coming to a final decision the three should also examine a tract of country of which the Baileys had heard favorable reports lying between Traverse City and Glen Arbor. The tract near Elk lake not proving satisfactory to the Baileys, the party started in the direction of Glen Arbor. On arriving there the explorers were so well pleased with the country they had seen that they resolved to return and make a temporary home at that place until a more suitable site for their colony could be definitely fixed upon. How- ever, it was thought best to first take a look at a tract in Missouri that seemed to offer similar advantages for their purpose. C. E. Bailey and Mr. Carrier accordingly visited the northern part of that state, but returned fully convinced that all things considered the Grand Traverse country offered more and better facilities for their contemplated en- terprise.


A decision having been reached Messrs. John and Horace C. Bailey and H. A. Wolcott with their families moved to Glen Arbor in the fall of 1857. Mr. H. C. Bailey was not permitted to be a resident very long, for he died as a member of the new colony in June, 1858. C. E. Bailey remained for the winter at Illinois where he was preaching and where he prepared the articles of association for the colony. They are styled "Articles of Agreement and Plans for a Christian Colony and Institution of Learning, to be located in the Grand Traverse Bay Country, Northern Michigan."


Mr. Carrier never became a resident of the Grand Traverse country. At the breaking out of the Civil war he was living in Clinton county and gave his life as a Union soldier of the First Michigan Cavalry.


In the spring of 1858 a party of six set out on an exploring tour to fix upon a permanent site for the colony, including C. E. Bailey, John Bailey, H. A. Wolcott and Charles Burr, the last named having but recently arrived from Bellevue, Ohio. The place finally selected as the central point of the colony and village site was one mile south


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and two miles east of the present Benzonia. A minority of the party favored the site of the village which was afterward chosen. The lands having been selected, Messrs. Burr and Wolcott were delegated to visit the United States land office and make the purchase.


In the spring of 1858, when the projectors of the colony arrived, there were a few white persons already in the county. There was a man at the light house, three families at the mouth of Betsie river and a man named Averill had a sawmill at Herring creek. Just how long these people had been in the county is not known and not important as the development of Benzie county began with the advent of the Frankfort and Benzonia colonies.


During the summer of 1858 Messrs. John and C. E. Bailey made several visits to the proposed site of the colony. A sniall boat was con- structed that two men could carry. which was conveyed over the ridge that separates Lake Michigan and Crystal lake and launched on the latter. The vicinity of the purchase could then be reached from Glen Arbor by coasting along the shore of Lake Michigan to the portage over the ridge, crossing it and passing in the small boat up Crystal lake to its eastern extremity. Returning from one of these visits, they were once compelled by stress of weather to remain over Sunday near Point Betsie light house, when C. E. Bailey improved the opportunity to preach to a small audience in a fisherman's shanty. Captain Emory and his son, of the peninsula, happening to be present, were among the hearers. The sermon was the first ever preached in Benzie county.


The lumber for the first house had to be transported from Glen Arbor to the mouth of the Betsie river in small boats, and thence up that stream to a point as near the intended location as practicable. Several days were spent in clearing the river of obstructions. Becom- ing discouraged with the magnitude and difficulties of the work, Mr. Wolcott and the Baileys commenced explorations for an available land route for a portion of the way. While engaged in this project, they had occasion to pass over the tract on which the village has since been built and all became convinced, that. all things considered, it was a more suitable location for the central point of the colony than the one already selected. A change was accordingly agreed upon, and the lo- cation of the future village, now Benzonia, was permanently fixed.


Late in October, 1858, final preparations were made for permanently locating the members of the colony, and a vessel was chartered to con- vey their goods from Glen Arbor to the mouth of the Betsie, the women and children being conveyed in a small boat. It was eleven o'clock at night when they landed at the mouth of the Betsie where Frankfort now stands. This was nearly a year before the arrival of the Detroit colony, and there were only three Canadian French families to welcome them and shelter them for the night. Two and a half days were con- sumed in ascending the river. and at noon of the third day they ar- rived at their future home. Within the next five years the colony and village became quite a settlement. 1863 being especially fruitful of new comers; it is stated that sixty arrived within ten days during the early part of that year.




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