USA > Michigan > A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I > Part 48
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Cheboygan county, which includes the northernmost territory in Northern Michigan south of the straits of Mackinac, is washed for forty miles by that grand connecting link of the Great Lakes and Huron to the east. Cheboygan river and its main tributary. the Black, bind to- gether a fine chain of inland lakes which occupy much of the northern districts of the county. Black lake, in the east, is the reservoir of the river by that name; Indian river connects the largest of the lakes, Mullet and Burt; Pigeon river flows through half the county into the southern end of Mullet lake and Sturgeon river virtually parallels that stream, emptying into Indian river at the little village by that name. Wolverine, the largest village in the county, lies well toward the south- western boundary, at the forks of Sturgeon river. The southern part of Cheboygan county is thickly veined with streams and small lakes, making its entire territory, stretching forty miles north and south and twenty-four east and west, a thoroughly watered country; it is esti- mated that it has a water surface of more than one hundred and fifty thousand acres.
WATERWAYS AND THEIR INFLUENCE
This striking feature of Cheboygan county well merits more ex- tended notice, for her waterways are the greatest of her natural ad- vantages. As stated Cheboygan river is the outlet of the chain of lakes extending. with their connecting streams, for a hundred miles into the interior and adjoining counties. Toward the southwest the system cul- minates in Crooked lake, Emmet county, and thus Cheboygan has been placed in direct water communication with Petoskey and the entire summer resort region of Little Traverse bay. At a distance of about three fourths of a mile from its mouth, the flow of the river is arrested by a dam which affords an excellent water-power. Locks prevent ob- struction to navigation. About three miles above the dam is the junc-
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SCENES ALONG CHEBOYGAN'S INLAND WATERWAYS
1. Fishing at Indian River. 2. Tow Boat Black Lake. 3. Summer Boating. 4. Wading. 5. Ice Boating. Boating. 6. A Pleasant Corner.
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
tion of the Cheboygan and Black rivers. The river banks are high with a sloping ascent. The soil is a mixture of gravel and clay, the lat- ter predominating. Thrifty crops and a vigorous growth of timber give evidence of its fertility. Ascending Black river in a southeast di- rection about twelve miles Black lake is found, a body of water about ten miles in length and six miles wide. Its eastern shore is within seven miles of Hammond's bay or Lake Huron.
Near Black lake is Long lake, which empties into Black river. Its waters contain a great abundance of fish, affording the finest of angling. Ascending the Cheboygan river about four miles above the junction, the broad expanse of Mullet lake appears in view. It is a most beau- tiful sheet of water, about twelve miles in length and five miles wide. Its waters are of crystal clearness and abound with fish. The shores ascend gradually, and beyond are successive rises of ground. At the head of this lake is the entrance to Indian river, which is three miles in length and, as mentioned, forms the connection between Mullet and Burt lakes. The latter is twelve miles in length and six miles wide. It receives as tributaries Maple and Crooked rivers. Crooked river proceeds from a lake of the same name which in turn receives a river which takes its rise within about a mile of Little Traverse bay. Tribu- tary to these lakes are several rivers from the south which drain a water-shed which embraces Otsego, Montmorency, Cheboygan and a part of Emmet counties. This entire system of waterways, which na- ture has so lavishly decked with beauty, is alive with man's creations designed to give pleasure and restore vitality to the tired workers of the world. We call them "summer resorters;" and they pour forth from Cheboygan both through the great exterior lakes and the spark- ling chain of interior bodies, pearls of a necklace strung along Che- boygan, Black, Indian and Crooked rivers.
The climatic influence of the great bodies of water along its north- ern shores and this matwork of inland lakes and rivers is such that Chebyogan county usually escapes the late frosts of spring and the early ones of fall, preventing the blighting of fruit blossoms and in- suring the maturity of potatoes and garden produce. Its snow falls are characteristically clean, dry and abundant, and serve as a protect- ing blanket for latent vegetation of all kinds. Seldom is winter-killed grain heard of, and clover and grass emerge from their thick covering green and vigorous in the spring. Winter after winter passes without the ground freezing under the snow, which also assists in moving logs, lumber and produce throughout the winter season.
SOIL AND ITS PRODUCTS
The soils of Cheboygan county range from a gravelly loam to the rich clay of the hardwood lands, which bear such fine growths of beech, maple, basswood and elm. The surface is gently rolling, self-draining, seldom overflowing, and, from the nature of the soil, holding moisture like a sponge. The well-watered and porous soil. bracing air clear warm days of spring and summer, and cool nights, are advantages in fruit-raising which have made Cheboygan a banner county of North-
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
ern Michigan. It is truly the home of the "Big Red Apple." Besides the fine, well-kept orchards around the city of Cheboygan there are many scattered throughout the county. At Indian river, Wolverine and Black river and in Wilmot, Benton, Munro and Nunda townships the apple is king. The pioneer and perhaps most extensive apple grower in the county is Dr. A. M. Gerow, whose orchards are four miles from Cheboygan. Little or no attention was paid to fruit culture until about a dozen years ago, but the progress since then has been steady and rapid. especially in apple-raising. Pears, cherries, strawberries and plums are thriving crops, and climate and soil are particularly adapted to the growing of pears. Several of the most prominent seed firms in the country annually contract with the farmers of Cheboygan county
CORN IN CHEBOYGAN COUNTY
to raise thousands of bushels of field and garden peas for seed. The pea canning industry has also been stimulated, one factory in the city of Cheboygan with a capacity of 100,000 cans daily paying thousands of dollars to raisers annually, while another seed house distributes $60,- 000 to the farmers of the county. Cheboygan is no exception to the general rule that the lake-shore counties of Northern Michigan are prolific potato-producers, and that every product of the vine, from the cucumber to the pumpkin, is thoroughly at home and flourishes like a hardy family. Even corn is raised with profit.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES
The county is unusually fortunate in its transportation facilities. Its shape is that of rather a narrow parrallelogram, traversed from north to south by the Michigan Central and the Detroit & Mackinac railways. These lines. in connection with the conveniences provided by the in- terior waterways so thoroughly cover the subject that it is claimed no
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HARVESTING THE BIG RED APPLE
[Courtesy Western Michigan Development Bureau]
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
point can be found in the county which is farther than ten miles from some means of transportation. The city of Cheboygan, in which is centered the commerce of the county, is one of the important meeting- places in Northern Michigan of transportation by land and water. There are many fine harbors on the Michigan shore, but hers is the only good one on Lake Huron north of Alpena, and hers is the main com- mercial and passenger gateway between northeastern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. The great bulk of the industries is also centered in the city of Cheboygan. whose population is over a third of that of the entire county.
POPULATION AND PROPERTY
To complete this general picture of Cheboygan county we present its table of population based on the national census enumeration of 1910, and the acreage of the different townships and value of real and personal property as equalized by the county board of supervisors.
Civil Divisions
1910
1900
1890
Aloha township
332
Beaugrand township
446
506
332
Benton township
1,011
1,063
770
Burt township
557
404
376
Cheboygan city
6,859
6,489
6,235
Ward 1
282
Ward 2
2,373
Ward 3
1,356
Ward 4
1,934
Ward 5
914
Ellis township
341
326
159
Forest township, including Tower village. Tower village
1,064
622
161
Grant township
462
542
459
Hebron township
394
379
207
Inverness township
1,647
1,589
1,153
Koehler township
433
....
Mackinaw township, including part of Macki- naw City village
706
606
475
Mackinaw City village (part of)
571
466
333
township, Cheboygan county, and Carp Lake township, Emmet county
697
564
333
Mentor township
425
463
391
Munro township
543
418
254
Nunda township. including part of Wolverine village
1,238
967
581
Wolverine village (part of)
765
Total for Wolverine village in Nunda and Wil- mot townships
794
..
.
...
. .
...
. .
. . ...
....
....
....
...
545
....
. .
Total for Mackinaw City village in Mackinaw
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
Civil Divisions
1910
1900
1890
Tuscarora township
650
711
380
Walker township
153
Waverly township
321
115
53
Wilmot township, including part of Wolverine village
290
316
...
Wolverine village (part of)
29
....
...
Totals
17,872
15,516
11,986
Civil Divisions
Acreage
Value of Property
Aloha
1,750,231
$ 99,800
Beaugrand
1,531,383
85,415
Benton
3,525,001
281,270
Burt
2,309,255
261,254
Ellis
2,174,100
117,230
Forest
2,070,240
160,570
Grant
1,632,913
137,030
Hebron
2.036,261
106,045
Inverness
2,054,123
780,176
Koehler
2,513,609
165,650
Mackinaw
5,647,745
517,320
Maple Grove
1,654,005
56,370
Mentor
2,228,926
207,760
Munro
1,821,279
181,815
Nunda
4,118,209
241,830
Tuscarora
1,580,860
204,390
Walker
2,141,152
180,940
Waverly
2,740,363
194,760
Wilmot
2,293,610
235,685
Cheboygan City
2,351,970
First Ward
53,945
Second Ward
337,490
Third Ward
435,555
Fourth Ward
973,775
Fifth Ward
551,205
Totals
45,823,265
$6,527,180
COUNTY ORGANIZATION
In the year 1840 all that portion of the state lying north of the line between towns 36 and 37 north, and east of the line between ranges 4 and 5 west was laid off as the county of Cheboygan and attached to Mackinac county for judicial purposes. In the same year all that por- tion of the state in towns 33, 34, 35 and 36 north, ranges 1 east and 1, 2 and 3 west, was laid off as a separate county to be known and des-
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
ignated as the county of Wyandot, and attached to Mackinac county for judicial purposes.
When Cheboygan was laid off from Mackinac, in 1840, Messrs. Burt and Mullet came into the new country to make the surveys for the state. They accomplished the work by 1843 and left their names stamped on the beautiful lakes which give a charm and commercial value to the county.
As to the name Cheboygan-we pass over the play upon the word (She-boy-a-gan) and the story of the old Indian chief who wished for a he-boy-and adopt the most reasonable derivation, which is from
COURT HOUSE AND JAIL IN 1850
the Chippewa word Cha-boia-gan, signifying a place of entrance, a portage, or harbor; referring to the mouth of the Cheboygan river which was a favorite harbor of refuge for Indians and whites alike, who sought shelter behind Bois Blanc island from the fierce winds which swept over Lake Huron.
Some of the pioneers insisted the word was always pronounced by the Indians Che-pog-an, meaning pipe; others that it is a corruption of Che-boy-ganning, the place of the wild rice fields; but the more common acceptation of its derivation is that of a portage or harbor.
In the year 1849 the county of Cheboygan was organized by the legislature into a township by that name, and in 1850, by an act of leg- islature, the name of the town was changed to that of Inverness.
In the year 1853 the counties of Cheboygan and Wyandotte were consolidated and organized into one county under the former name, and so much of range 4 west as had been included in Cheboygan county
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
was detached from the same and annexed to Emmet. The act under which the county was organized is as follows:
"Section 1. The people of the state of Michigan enact that the counties of Cheboygan and Wyandot shall be organized in one county by the name of Che- boygan, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights, privileges, and im- munities to which by law the inhabitants of other organized counties are entitled.
"Sec. 2. There shall be elected in the county of Cheboygan on the first Tues- day of May next, all the several county officers to which by law the said county is entitled, and said election and the canvass shall in all respects be conducted and held in the manner prescribed by law for holding elections and canvasses for county and state officers: Provided, that the canvass shall be held in the village of Duncan, in said county, on the Monday next following said election; and said county officers shall be immediately qualified and enter upon the duties of their respective offices, and their several terms of office shall expire at the same time they would have expired had they been elected at the last general election; and provided further, that until such county officers are elected and qualified, the proper officers of the county of Mackinac shall perform all the duties appertaining to the officers of said county of Cheboygan, in the same manner as though this act had not passed.
"Sec. 3. The board of canvassers of said county, under this act, shall consist of the presiding inspector of each township therein, who shall organize by appointing one of their number chairman, and another secretary of the board, and shall there- upon proceed to discharge all the duties of a board of county canvassers as in ordinary cases of elections for county and state officers.
"Sec. 4. The county of Cheboygan shall have concurrent jurisdiction upon the Lake Huron, and Thunder and Saginaw bays, with the other counties contiguous thereto.
"Sec. 6. The county seat of Cheboygan county is hereby fixed and established at the village of Duncan on Cheboygan river in said county.
"Sec. 7. The counties of Presque Isle, Alpena, Montmorency, Otsego, Crawford, Oscodo, Alcona, Iosco, Ogemaw, and Roscommon are hereby attached to the county of Cheboygan for judicial and municipal purposes.
"Sec. 8. This act shall take effect immediately.
"Approved Jan. 29, 1853."
This act is quoted verbatim to illustrate that Cheboygan county is the father of northeastern Michigan.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
It goes without saying that the locality comprising the present vil- lage of Mackinaw City was old as a settlement before the villages of Duncan or Cheboygan were ever dreamed of. But the place commenced to decline when the fort was moved to the island and had been vir- tually deserted for many years when the first settlers commenced to erect their fishing huts. their cooper shops, boat yards and sawmills at the mouth of the Cheboygan river. At that time-in the late forties -the sole relic of the days when Mackinaw was the center of life and trade was itself a ruin. Reference is made to the little gristmill, the first within Cheboygan county, which was located on the south shore east on old Mackinaw on Douseman's creek. It was built by the American Fur Company, afterward bought by Michael Douseman of Mackinac island, and ceased running in 1839.
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[Courtesy "Cheboygan Democrat"] POOR HOUSE COURT HOUSE, 1898
COUNTY JAIL
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
FOUNDING OF CHEBOYGAN
In the spring of 1844, Jacob Sammons left Chicago and came to Mackinac island, which was still the headquarters of enterprising traders and craftsmen who were looking for locations in this remote northern land. Mr. Sammons was a cooper by trade, owned a sail scow and, within the succeeding few months, decided that among all the localities which he had visited the mouth of the Cheboygan offered the best outlook for a cooper shop. From Rev. W. H. Ware's "Centen- nial History of Cheboygan County" it is learned that Mr. Sammons re- mained at Mackinac island until the autumn of 1844 when he came over to Cheboygan and put up a shanty on what is now Water street. Upon the return of the scow to Mackinac for supplies it brought over Alex- ander McLeod, who built a log house twelve feet square, thus giving Cheboygan county two residences. In the following spring, that of 1845. Mr. Sammons brought over his family and afterward built a little cooper shop near his house. He employed M. W. Horne and several others to assist him in making fish barrels, the first of which were put together by Mr. Horne. The latter became the first village marshal of Duncan; but that is going too far in the story.
The year 1846 was full of events for Cheboygan; for during that year the first mail route (dog trains) in the county was established from Saginaw to the Soo, via Cheboygan, which had just been named as Duncan postoffice from J. W. Duncan, a new arrival and enterpris- ing sawmill man. This gave Duncan a fixed place in the geography of the country.
In the winter of 1847-8 Jacob Sammons and Peter Mckinley erected the first steam sawmill in the county at the mouth of the river on the west side. It was operated for a number of years, but the mills at Duncan bay on the other side of the Cheboygan river were more prosperous and around them grew the village which, in 1853, was named in the act of county organization as the seat of justice.
The first ship carpenter was John Vincent, who located soon after Mr. Sammons. He built the first vessel which was a sloop-rigged scow, called at that time the "Elizabeth," constructed in 1847 for Alexander McLeod & Company for use in constructing the dam up near the water mill, which had been completed by that firm during the previous year.
The next was a schooner-built scow, named the "D. R. Holt," length eighty-four feet keel, twenty-two and one-half feet beam and six feet hold, constructed in 1848, also by John Vincent, for A. and R. McLeod Company. Its first cargo was twenty-eight cords of stone from Cheneaux for Waugoshance light-house.
In the same year the first schoolhouse was built on M. W. Horne's land. what is now the northeast corner of Main and Pine, and the class of twelve scholars which met there was taught by Miss Harriet McLeod.
The first village thoroughfare was Main street, which was laid out in the year 1850. The road prior to that time ran near the river, about where the Benton House, Fountain House, M. W. Horne's resi- dence and Bullen & Nelson's store were subsequently located. and thence to the water mill.
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
The first steamboat touching at Cheboygan was the "Stockman," in 1851. About the same time it brought over a pleasure party from Mackinac island and landed at Duncan. The first steamboat that en- tered the Cheboygan river was the "Columbia," Captain Pratt, in 1851. It ran from Sault Ste. Marie to Green Bay. It brought three cows, one for M. W. Horne and two for M. Metivier. These were the first cows in the county.
As already mentioned, the first mill built here was erected by A. and R. McLeod, in 1846-47. This was the water mill which stood above the mill afterward erected by W. & A. McArthur. These gentlemen built a dam and secured large tracts of land and planned for exten- sive lumbering operations. They also built the docks at Duncan bay. In 1850, the McLeods were succeeded by the firm of J. W. Duncan & Company. The upright saws in the water mill were changed to muley saws and a siding mill added to the main building. In 1853 a large mill was completed at Duncan. In 1854 Mr. Duncan died, after a year or two the estate went into court, business operations ceased and during the succeeding nine years the property was idle. This was such a blow to all progress at and near the mouth of the Cheboygan river that the outlook was indeed dark, and nothing occurred for nearly a decade to a warrant a hope that a commercial, business and industrial center might be built up in that locality. But it was not in the order of historic happenings that such natural advantages as were there as- sembled should go to waste.
.
From 1850 to Mr. Duncan's death in 1854 was a period of great activ- ity in the life of the village of Duncan and the settlement at the mouth of the river. In the year first named J. W. Duncan & Company ob- tained control of the property around the bay, which had been docked and otherwise improved by the McLeods. In 1851 the first lighthouse was constructed, situated on the mainland about a mile and a half from Duncan and opposite the south point of Bois Blanc island. It marked the east entrance into the south channel of the straits of Macki- nac, which at that point are three miles wide, and at once emphasized the importance of the locality as one of the most secure harbors of refuge for the lake marine. From that time the steamboats com- menced to touch at Cheboygan.
In 1852 a road was cut for a tramway to connect the settlement which had grown up around the water mill and the dam with the vil- lage of Duncan around the bay. It united the two sections of the embryo Cheboygan. In the following year, as has been seen, the county of Cheboygan was organized with Duncan as the county seat. Then came a period of stagnation, enlivened only by such incidents as the building of a wharf by Jacob Sammons and Lorenzo Wheelock. in 1855, on the river above First street; the transfer of the land office from Flint to Duncan in the same year, and the erection of another mill near the first one in 1860. The building material for the latter was composed of stones taken from the ruins of the old Dousman mill near Mackinaw.
Vol. I-29
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
CHURCHES
The first religious services in Cheboygan county were held in 1852 by a little band of Catholics who said mass under the ministration of Rev. A. D. J. Piret in the house owned by Charles Bellant which stood on what is now the southwest corner of Third and Water streets. Father Piret was then a resident of Mackinac island. There were then but four or five families at the mouth of the Cheboygan and a number of single young men who worked in the sawmill. A chapel was erected in 1856. This was the commencement of St. Mary's church.
The First Methodist church of Cheboygan was organized in 1868, although services had been held as early as 1860 in the first school- house of the county. These were the commencement of Protestant ac- tivities.
The Congregationalists held their first services in the fall of 1871 and organized a church in July, 1872, with twenty members and Rev. J. L. Maile as pastor. The Episcopalians organized in October, 1878; the Baptists in August, 1880 and the Lutherans in the fall of 1881.
Cheboygan has now ten churches including two Catholic, St. Mary's and St. Lawrence; German Lutheran, St. Thomas; Methodist and Bap- tist.
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT CONTINUED
In 1865 the mill property on Duncan bay was purchased of the Duncan estate by a number of outside capitalists and about 1871 the tract was divided, the western part being laid off in village lots and improvements pushed also in the milling section. Duncan had been made a port of entry in 1866.
The first tug to enter Cheboygan river was the "Frank C. Ferro," owned by Charles Bellant, in the year 1867. It carried passengers as well as towed vessels. It was the first boat to go above the locks, to Vorce & Barker's mill, in 1870, and then returned, and was the first tug belonging to a resident of this county.
The first steamboat connection made regularly with Cheboygan was the side-wheel steamer "Marine City," in 1869. It sailed then between Cleveland, Detroit and Mackinac island, touching at Cheboygan each way.
IMPROVEMENTS OF WATERWAYS
The works by which the interior system of waterways was made accessible to the outside world were commenced by the Cheboygan Slack Water Navigation Company in 1868 and completed in 1869. They consist of a canal eighteen feet wide and eighty feet long with a lift of nine feet. In 1870 the first tugs entered the lakes-the "Hattie D. Hoyt" plowed the waters of Mullet lake and the "Bismarck" stirred up Burt lake.
It was soon found that something more was necessary than to en- able boats to enter the lakes, and enterprising citizens of Cheboygan
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[ Courtesy "Cheboygan Democrat"] 1. SECOND WARD HOSE HOUSE 2. CITY HALL 3. THIRD WARD HOSE HOUSE
4. WATER WORKS
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
and Emmet counties pooled their issues to improve the navigation of the entire inland system. The initiation and progress of this movement, so important to Cheboygan county especially, are described in Ware's "Centennial History." "In April, 1874," says that publication, "Mr. Frank M. Sammons conceived the idea of carrying the mail through Cheboygan river, Indian river and Burt lake, to a point in Crooked river near the state road. In September of that year, he went up to the mouth of Indian river with a span of horses and four men (two whites and two Indians) and ploughed and scraped the bar going into Burt lake, working in water at places from sixteen inches to three feet deep, and made a channel through which the tug 'Maud Sam- mons' passed into Burt lake, carrying supplies for lumber camps. Finding the enterprise of conveying the mail through this route too much to accomplish single-handed, he suggested to William McArthur the advisability of attempting inland navigation on a broader scale. As a result of this suggestion, Messrs. McArthur, Smith and Com- pany and Thompson Smith decided in 1874 to make an attempt to se- cure it. They expended labor at the entrance of Burt lake in forming the piers to the amount of about $3,500. The undertaking being found rather too large for private means, no work was done in 1875. This project culminated finally in August, 1875, in the idea of securing the aid of the state by means of appropriation of swamp lands. Through the persistent energy of the Northern Tribune several public meetings of the citizens were held, at which measures were adopted resulting in a preliminary survey being made and a delegation going to Lansing, who laid the matter before the board of control of state swamp lands. A survey was ordered by the state board in October, 1875. In De- cember the board made an appropriation of $20,000 in swamp lands to do the work. Contracts for doing the work were let in February, 1876, to F. M. Sammons, David Smith and O. B. Green. The route opened for navigation is between Lake Huron, at Cheboygan, through Cheboygan river, Mullet lake, Indian river, Burt lake, Crooked river and Crooked lake, making a distance of about forty-five miles. The depth of water to be obtained is five and a half feet into Burt lake and five feet into Crooked lake. Active operations were commenced on the work June 25, 1876. William Chandler was appointed local commissioner, and the work is rapidly progressing toward completion under his supervision.
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