A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I, Part 46

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


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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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Not long after Maqueston & Clark, of Sherman, became proprietors of the land on Little Clam lake which was to be the village site, George A. Mitchell, an Indiana merchant and an old soldier who was thereafter to become identified with every leading movement in her advancement, in his travels through this new country noted the advantages of the location from a business and lumbering standpoint. He therefore bought the land and in October, 1871, a few months before the rail- roads reached the locality, platted the village of Clam Lake. In Janu- ary, 1872, a postoffice was established with John S. McLain as post- master ; the stage thus being set for the grand entry of the Grand Rap- ids & Indiana Railroad. Six months after Mr. Mitchell started the vil- lage of Clam Lake his wife paid him a visit. and thus describes her journey and what she found at the end of it: "It was in March, 1872, I accepted Mr. Mitchell's invitation to visit Clam Lake (now Cadillac), it being then about six months old. We took the G. R. & I. road at Kendallville. Ind., came to Grand Rapids and remained over night, as Mr. Mitchell had business to attend to. Next morning resumed our journey, and as there was but one coach for the passengers it was soon crowded full of men, but few women, and the further we came the less in number. We passed through a new rough-looking country. and af- ter leaving Reed City there were no clearings, just the track through a wilderness of tall pines. After much jolting about we reached Clam Lake, tired and hungry. There were two places where food and lodg- ing could be had, one a log house near where the sash and blind factory now stands, the other also a log structure, but larger, stood just north of MeAdie & Co.'s. foundry, fronting on Lake street, and was called the "Mason House." There were very few divisions on the first floor, one sleeping room and the kitchen, the remainder was used for general purposes. Across one end was a long table with benches for seats, where


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food was served, always the best the town afforded. On the upper floor a small room was partitioned off for Mr. Mitchell, the remainder of the floor being occupied by beds.


"There were the usual buildings that start a town, the general store, blacksmith shop and postoffice, with plenty of energy. My first visit was limited to a few days on account of the accommodations, but as the town grew rapidly, better accommodations could be found, and I enjoyed spending several weeks with Mr. Mitchell, particularly in the summer. Finally, in December, 1876, we decided to make Cadillac our home."


VILLAGE AND CITY CORPORATIONS


Two years after the village of Clam Lake was platted by Mr. Mit- chell, the voters living within the tract decided to be incorporated. This action was taken April 15, 1874, and the circuit judge according to law issued on order declaring the village duly incorporated. The first election, May 11th of that year, resulted in the selection of J. Shackleton for president of the village board, David A. Rice clerk, and L. O. Harris, F. W. Hector, Daniel McCoy, George Holbrook, A. N. McCarthy and J. W. Cobbs, trustees. Two months afterwards the su- preme court declared the general law under which the incorporation was effected to be unconstitutional and these officers were therefore thrown out of office; but in the following winter the legislature incor- porated the village and they were virtually reinstated.


In the winter of 1877 efforts were made to get a city charter under the name of "City of Cadillac" and an act was introduced in the state legislature for that purpose. So skillfully was this work done that Wexford county had a city within its boundaries before half a dozen of the citizens, outside of those living in the village of Clam Lake, knew it. The first city election was held on the first Monday of April, 1877, at which the following officers were elected: Mayor, George A. Mitchell; marshal, Horton Crandell; clerk, Lorenzo Ballou; treasurer, D. F. Com- stock; collector, Horton Crandell; street commissioner. Charles Cole; school inspectors, Levi O. Harris, three years, Jacob Cummer, two years, Charles M. Ayer, one year; justices of the peace, H. N. Green, four years, E. F. Sawyer, three years, J. B. Rosevelt, two years, Robert Christensen, one year; aldermen at large, M. J. Bond, two years, D. W. Peck, one year.


The act of municipal incorporation provided for dividing the city into three wards (now four) and giving to each ward a supervisor, who, of course, was a member of the county board of supervisors, thus giving to the township of Clam Lake a representation of four on the board, one from the town and three from the city that was within the limits of the town, except a little strip that was taken from the township of Haring. There were only about six or seven hundred people in the new city, the school census for the previous year showing but three hundred and fifty children of school age in the entire township of Clam Lake, including the village. But the city of Cadillac had her


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MITCHELL STREET AND BOAT CLUB HOUSE, CADILLAC


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eyes set on the county seat and argued that she would have a better chance to secure it as a city than as a village. As we have seen she realized this ambition within five years, after several hard campaigns against Sherman and Manton.


DEATH OF GEORGE A. MITCHELL


The year following her incorporation as a city, Cadillac mourned the accidental death of her founder and steadfast friend, George A. Mitchell. Although a city, the place was yet in its infancy and the main streets were incumbered with the stumps from which the pine trees had been cut. Mr. Mitchell had a shingle mill at that time on Pine street, and while returning to his home from the mill on August 5, 1878, he was thrown from his buggy, his head striking against a stump by the roadside, rendering him unconscious and causing his death, from concussion of the brain, three days later. He died on the 8th of August, and his death was a severe blow to the community. He was a very public-spirited man, having donated sites for the different churches in the village and giving liberally of his means toward the erection of religious edifices. When the War of the Rebellion com- menced he was given the appointment of paymaster. He proved such a competent and energetic official that when the war closed he had risen to the rank of brevet lieutenant colonel. During his services in this position he received and paid out millions of dollars for the gov- ernment, and it was said of him that his accounts always balanced to a cent. It had been one of his greater desires to see the county seat located at Clam Lake and he had reserved block "F" of the original plat for such purpose, but his death came nearly four years before the change was made.


When the county seat was removed to Cadillac in 1882, the second story of the building then owned by Fred S. Kieldsen was rented for county offices and court room. This building stood on the site now oc- cupied by the city hall. The county continued to occupy the second floor until 1887, when it rented the second floor of the Laber & Corn- well building, which it occupied for several years. When the Masonic fraternity decided to erect a temple in Cadillac a committee was ap- pointed to confer with the board of supervisors with a view to having the second story of their proposed building fitted especially for the use of the county, provided the county would contract to rent it for a period of ten years at a rental to be agreed upon between the contract- ing parties. This arrangement was carried out, and in March, 1890, the county moved into its new quarters, where it has remained until the present time. The new quarters consisted of a large court room, a commodious supervisor's room, a suite of three rooms for the clerk and register of deeds, two rooms for the prosecuting attorney and one each for the judge of probate, sheriff, treasurer and superintendent of the poor. One or two attempts have been made to have the board of supervisors pass a resolution submitting to the people the question of bonding the county house, but without success.


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THE PRESENT CITY


Cadillac has been twice reincorporated as a city-in 1885 and 1895 -and is divided into four wards. She is now a well built, progressive municipality of about nine thousand people and, as seen by the census figures already published, has nearly doubled her population within the past twenty years. She has long ago outgrown the status of a crude lumber city, but, as the events of her progress have proven, it was her good fortune to have around her both forests of soft and hard wood; for as the pine gave out her manufacturers learned the use and value of the hard woods. Gradually her industries in this line in- creased in bulk and variety and the territory from which the raw ma- terial was drawn greatly expanded. But Cadillac learned her first les- sons in the manufacture of hardwoods when the supply was at her


CADILLAC CITY LIBRARY


doors. These products now include not only lumber, but more finished articles such as cooperage, furniture, woodenware, veneer, flooring, last blocks, handles and carriage stock. An outgrowth of her hardwood in- dustries also appears in the form of plants devoted to the manufacture of wood alcohol, acetate of lime and other chemicals. Charcoal and pig iron are in the list, as well as potash and cement blocks, not omit- ting the plants found in every growing modern community which man- ufacture flour, which saw and plane lumber, make boilers and turn out other necessities of present-day activities. As the city has a large out- side trade and is the center of a very productive agricultural district, the fact is readily explained that the freight credited to Cadillac con- stitutes about one-fourth the total receipts of the Grand Rapids & In- diana road north of Grand Rapids. The Ann Arbor road also adds her


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CADILLAC'S FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE IN SUMMER AND WINTER


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facilities of convenient shipment and transportation. The business of the city is financially handled through two good banks, of which the Cadillac State Bank with a capital of $100,000 is the oldest and largest.


The Cadillac State bank was the outgrowth of the private institution started by D. A. Blodgett & Company in 1883. The first one was es- tablished by D. F. Comstock in 1876. In 1895 Mr. Blodgett withdrew from business in Cadillac and it was then that the Cadillac State Bank was organized.


As a corporation Cadillac possesses most excellent systems of water supply. electric lighting, fire protection and public education. Her first system of water works was inaugurated by H. N. Green in 1878. The mains laid at that time were of wood bound with iron, the largest having only six inch bore for water. In 1893 a franchise was granted to W. W. Cummer to furnish a water supply for thirty years. The wooden mains were then replaced with iron pipes, the largest of which are twelve inches in diameter, and the entire system reconstructed along modern lines.


About the time that Mr. Cummer secured the water franchise he established an electric light plant, using the same building that con- tained the pumping outfit for his dynamos. In 1902 a gas company was organized and mains laid in the principal streets of the city. Gas is furnished for heating as well as lighting. So that the citizens can pay their money and take their choice either of gas or electricity.


The schools of Cadillac had their origin in the little class which met in a log building owned by Mosser & White in the spring of 1872. A fractional district had been organized from parts of Clam Lake and Haring townships, and in June of that year a small building had been erected on the square donated by Mr. Mitchell for school purposes. The census taken in September. 1872. gave the number of children of school age at one hundred and twenty-five. A larger building was erected in 1876 and in 1890 the present Central school was completed, replacing the one built in 1881 which had been destroyed by fire. Be- sides the Central there are now four good school buildings for the ac- commodation of the different wards.


The Methodist and Presbyterians of Cadillac erected church build- ings in 1873; the Swedish Evangelical church was established in 1874; the Free Methodists organized in 1875; a Baptist society was formed in 1876: St. Ann's Catholic church was founded in 1881; the Congre- gational and Swedish Mission churches opened in 1882; the Swedish Baptist in 1883 and the German Evangelical Lutheran in 1884. Later forces for religion and morality which have entered the local field are represented by the Seventh Day Adventists, Christian Scientists and Salvation Army.


MANTON


There appears to have been a village plat of Cedar Creek laid out before 1872 and including the site of Manton, but it was not recorded until after the railroad plat of Manton. The first settlers came in with the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad. in 1872, but the plat was not made a matter of record until 1874.


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Ezra Harger and George Manton were the first persons to see the advantage of having a village at this point, having reached that point on a prospecting trip in the summer of 1872. Mr. Harger purchased twenty acres of land and put up the first building in the place, which he filled with merchandise in the fall. William Meares also became in- terested in the place during the same fall and both he and Mr. Man- ton put up store buildings before the winter set in. Mr. Manton was a shoemaker by trade, and his stock of goods was mostly in that line, and he also had a shop in the rear end of the store for making and re- pairing footwear. The next year a saw-mill was erected and a hotel.


The first religious service held in the new village was held in the railroad depot by the station agent, H. Brandenburg, in the winter of 1872-3. Mr. Brandenburg was a Methodist and during the summer of 1873 organized a class of eighteen members. He was appointed local preacher in August of that year.


The first school building in the village was erected in 1873. A term of school had previously been taught in a private dwelling house by Mrs. O. J. Golden.


Early in this year a postoffice had been established with O. P. Carver as first postmaster.


So rapidly did the settlement grow that in 1877 it was supporting three good hotels and five general stores and had two sawmills in op- eration. In that year it was incorporated as a village, and held its first local election in the following February.


During the past twenty years Manton has nearly doubled in popu- lation, its inhabitants at the present time numbering some eleven hun- dred. The village has some of the best agricultural lands in the state around it and is a brisk trading center owning its own electric and water works and having wide and well-paved streets; a substantial bank, pretty opera house, $16,000 Union school, township library, two sawmills, stave and flour mills, a pickle factory, last block mill and a goodly array of business houses. The religion and morals of the com- munity are also well conserved through the activities of four churches.


HARRIETTA


The village of Harrietta was platted in April, 1889, by the Ashleys, who were building the Toledo & Ann Arbor Railroad. Gaston and Campbell platted an addition in April, 1890, and a year later the Og- den addition was platted. The first "boom" the town had was upon the arrival of Gaston and Campbell, who built a sawmill and manufac- turing establishment for the purpose of making novelties from the hardwood with which the village was surrounded. They bought expen- sive machinery and quite large tracts of land and started out with every prospect of success, but the hard times overtook them and failure followed. Other more substantial enterprises came in later, and the place has largely recovered.


The village was incorporated in 1891 under the name of Gaston, which so grated on the nerves of the Ann Arbor Railroad that its offi- cials threatened to discontinue the station unless a return was made to


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the more euphonious Harrietta. Accordingly, in 1893, the legislature rechristened it Harrietta. The village lies in both Boon and Slagle townships-the larger part in the former. It has an up-to-date graded school, a substantial bank and is the center of a fair country trade.


SHERMAN


The old county seat and village of Sherman corners on Antioch, Hanover, Springville and Wexford townships, a portion of her site be- ing.in each, but her total population is less than three hundred. The early history of the settlement has already been given. In 1869 the site was platted by Sanford Gasser as the village of Sherman, which at that time comprised one house and one store, the latter kept by Lewis J. Clark. "Dr." John Perry also lived near by.


In January, 1870, the first effort looking to the organization of a church society was made. Presiding Elder Boynton, of the Methodist Episcopal church, visited Sherman, accompanied by Rev. Mr. Cayton, a Methodist minister living in Grand Traverse county, and perfected arrangements for preaching services every alternate Sunday, which were to be conducted by Mr. Cayton. At first these meetings were held at the home of L. P. Champenois, and later at the Maqueston hall un- til the school house was built in the fall of 1871, when that was used for church purposes. Soon after Mr. Cayton entered upon his work the first sacramental service in Wexford county was held at the home of H. B. Sturtevant, the only communicants being Mr. Sturtevant, his wife Rhoda and T. A. Ferguson. At the Methodist Episcopal confer- ence held in the fall of 1870, Rev. A. L. Thurston, who had located a homestead in Thorp (now Selma) township, was designated as "sup- ply" for the church work at Sherman and held regular meetings there, unless prevented by the inclemency of the weather. His home was about sixteen miles from Sherman and it was no easy task to cover the distance upon such roads or trails, as existed at that time, especially in the winter months.


In 1869 Hon. T. A. Ferguson, the first lawyer in the county, settled here and built a house. His first suit was held before Isaac N. Carpen- ter, Esq. The first term of the circuit court was held in August, 1869, Hon. J. G. Ramsdell on the bench.


In 1870 the village plat was purchased by Mr. Sanford Gasser. In 1872 the court house and jail were built, and the various interests of a business community began to gather. During this year Lewis J. Clark built the pioneer drug store and occupied it a short time. William Mears was also one of the early merchants of the place.


But the fortunes of Sherman commenced to decline when the Grand Rapids & Indiana line passed far to the east of her through the county, in 1872, and another hard blow was dealt when she lost the county seat to Cadillac ten years later. She was chartered as a village in 1887 that it might be possible to issue bonds for the purpose of securing connec- tion with the Ann Arbor road which was then being pushed from Har- rietta, Wexford county, to Frankfort, Benzie county. Although the village was chartered, an election held in May, 1887, and the bonds is-


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sued, owing to a decision of the state supreme court, it was found diffi- cult to negotiate them and they were returned to the village authori- ties. The result was the expected spur was never built from the main line, but instead the village and railroad station of Mesick was estab- lished which has served to cut into the trade which would otherwise have centered at Sherman.


MESICK, BUCKLEY, BOON AND YUMA


The village of Mesick, on the Ann Arbor road, a few miles south- west of Sherman, was platted in February, 1890. It was incorporated in 1902, its first election being held on the 5th of March, the following officers being chosen : R. M. Harry, president; F. E. Rice, clerk; W. W. Galloway, treasurer, and B. C. Halstead, assessor. As stated, it is quite a shipping point, as it provides railroad and banking accommo- dations for much of the adjacent country. Mesick has the Springville township library, and there are four churches established in the midst of her people.


Buckley, on the Manistee & Northeastern railroad, in the northern part of the county, is of still later birth, its act of incorporation as a village dating from 1907. It is the center of a good country trade and provides the farmers and fruit-raisers of quite a district with banking accommodations. The lumber, planing, shingle and feed mills at Buck- ley also add to her local importance, while her four churches indicate the prevailing tone of her citizens.


Boon in the southern part of the county, and Yuma in the western, both stations on the Ann Arbor line, were platted respectively in 1889 and 1893.


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CHAPTER XVIII


MISSAUKEE AND KALKASKA


MISSAUKEE COUNTY-PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL-POPULATION AND PROP- ERTY-ORGANIC-FIRST EVENTS, PERSONS AND THINGS-LAKE CITY -McBAIN AND OTHER CENTERS-KALKASKA COUNTY-STATISTICS- FIRST SETTLERS AND POLITICIANS-COUNTY ORGANIZATION-KAL- KASKA. THE COUNTY SEAT-BOARDMAN.


Missaukee is one of the central counties of Northern Michigan, east of Wexford. It is chiefly drained by the head streams of the Muskegon river and a branch of the Manistee, which rises a few miles northeast of Lake City, the county seat, and runs northwest into the parent river.


Although Missaukee county lies east of the trunk lines of the Grand Rapids & Indiana and the Ann Arbor railroads, its chief centers of population are well provided with transportation facilities, and raisers of produce, fruit and grain crops have no trouble in reaching good markets. Lake City, Jennings. Missaukee and other stations rely upon the eastern branch of the Grand Rapids & Indiana, which runs from Missaukee Junction. Wexford county, to Missaukee, this county; a spur from the Missaukee branch running south to Falmouth, the old county seat, and east to Ardis. McBain and Lucas, the former the largest village outside of Lake City, are in the southwestern part of the county on the Ann Arbor line, while Stratford, near the northern county line. is a station on the Kalkaska branch of the Pere Marquette Railroad, which pushes down from the northwest.


PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL


Missaukee county has an area of three hundred and sixty-two thou- sand two hundred and forty acres of land, some one hundred and twelve thousand of which is in farms. and another two hundred thousand acres available for fruit raising and general farming. Its northwestern and southwestern portions are generally rolling and the soil somewhat sandy and gravelly-especially well adapted to the raising of fruit, corn and potatoes. The central and eastern portions are generally level. with heavier elay loam soil. more adapted to raising wheat, hay and such crops. That. of course, is the rule, but one can find the various kinds of soil. from heavy clay and black muck, to light, sandy soil. Wheat, oats, peas. beans. rye, barley, buckwheat, clover and timo-


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A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY OF ROLLING PLAINS


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thy, alfalfa, cucumbers (there are two salting stations in the county) ; potatoes, sugar beets, celery and all kinds of root crops; apples, plums, cherries, pears, peaches and all kinds of small fruit; all are raised in Missaukee county, the profits realized from the crops depending almost entirely on personal effort and aptitude. The favorable conditions are there. and the good farmer, gardener or fruit-raiser will do well.


POPULATION AND PROPERTY


As judged from the standpoint of population, also, Missaukee county is well-to-do, and has been advancing more rapidly than many of the. other interior counties of Northern Michigan. The national census figures show her population at the end of the last three decades.


Civil Divisions


1910


1900


1890


Aetna township


631


384


169


Bloomfield township


390


284


159


Butterfield township


323


221


Caldwell township


687


708


405


Clam Union township


1,381


987


678


Enterprise township


174


Forest township


389


285


193


Lake township, including a part of Lake City village


1,405


1,099


636


Lake City (part of)


Total for Lake City village in Lake and


Reeder townships


740


816


663


McBain city


546


709


Ward 1


251


Ward 2


129


Ward 3


166


Norwich township


695


789


441


Pioneer township


196


263


154


Reeder township, including part of Lake City village


1,335


1,439


832


Lake City village (part of)


734


806


663


Richland township


1,187


1,052


534


Riverside township


841


773


617


West Branch township




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