A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I, Part 53

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 53


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


Gaylord, as a corporation, owns its waterworks and electric light plant. It has a modern graded school system of public education and a central building which cost $27,000. The large brick courthouse is a credit to the village and the county. Baptist, Catholic, Congregational and Methodist churches are well established, and the strength of the secret, social and benevolent societies, which have been organized for years, is told by the comfortably and attractively furnished halls in which meet the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. Behind much of the progress and good fellowship of Gaylord is the Commercial club, which never tires of "pushing any good thing along."


VANDERBILT


Vanderbilt received its village charter from the state legislature in 1901. It has over five hundred people; is a station on the Michigan Central, eight miles north of Gaylord, and is the site of a handle manu- factory and saw and shingle mills. The country around it is a choice dairy section, of which it is the center of trade. Its banking facilities are of the best. The village has a good union school and two churches. Its streets and houses are lighted by electricity and it is, all-in-all, a comfortable place in which to live.


CRAWFORD COUNTY


Crawford county comprises the southern portion of the great water- shed of Northern Michigan which turns the head streams of the Manistee and Au Sable rivers toward Lake Huron on the east and Lake Michi- gan on the west, and the main features of its early settlement are simi- lar to those of Otsego to the north. The lumbermen made the country at first and they are still largely in evidence. Originally the greater part of the county was covered with a heavy growth of white and Nor- way pine, maple, beech, birch and hemlock.


Crawford county is located in nearly the geographical center of the north half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The surface is just rolling enough to be pleasantly diversified, but rarely hilly so as to interfere with any kind of farm machinery. The Au Sable river and tributaries, traverse all parts of the county, offering an abundance of water, providing fine sites for live-stock ranches and, incidentally, fur- nishing some of the best trout fishing in Northern Michigan. A few miles from Grayling, near the west line of the county, is one of the natural reservoirs, or little lakes, from which issue the headwaters of the Manistee.


The Michigan Central is the chief iron-way of Crawford county, the only other line within its bounds being the Detroit & Charlevoix, which operates about a dozen miles of road from Frederic to the northwest. Grayling, the county seat, is the only incorporated village.


The soils of nearly one-half of Crawford county are composed of gravelly loams and will produce every standard crop. They are often spoken of as beech and maple or hardwood lands, but on much of this character of soil the original growth was pine. Thousands of acres of


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these lands are now available for settlers. Another class of soils com- prise the sandy loams, from which heavy growths of pine have been removed and replaced by second growths. Clover, potatoes and all kinds of root crops thrive therein. The so-called "plains" soil is the home of the native grasses and the delight of stockmen, who are found- ing profitable cattle and sheep ranches in many sections of the county. One feature of the soils of Crawford county is the comparatively small area of swamp or lowlands, this being almost confined to narrow strips along the streams, which, with proper drainage, can also be made productive.


All of the Crawford county soils excepting the light sands are good potato lands. Clover seed, although it has been raised but a few years


[Courtesy Northeastern Michigan Development Bureau]


ALMOST TOO MANY APPLES


in this section, is now generally known as "the money crop." Fruit raising is making rapid strides, apples being especially prolific and finely flavored.


Other features which enter into a proper estimate of Crawford county are thus set forth in a booklet lately issued by the board of supervisors : "Two hundred thousand people annually come to Northern Michigan for health, rest and recreation, and Crawford county receives her share. The high altitude of the county, on the very crest of the watershed of the Lower Peninsula, precludes any possibility of malaria and undoubt- edly contributes much to the bracing and salubrious quality of the air. The forests of pine and other timber undoubtedly do the same. Many farmers, so unfortunate as to have invalids in their families, have located here largely because of the climate and have found health for their people. Here the wonderful health-giving qualities of the climate and


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air are assisted by special opportunities for outdoor sport and recrea- tion. The cold, clear spring water of the Au Sable river and tributaries affords the best brook-trout fishing in the country, and there are also spring lakes stocked with black bass and other game fish. As far as wild game is concerned, the great stretches of second-growth timber on the cut-over lands, afford better feed and better protection for deer and other wild game than did the original forests, and they have held their


CRAWFORD COUNTY COURT HOUSE, GRAYLING


own in recent years in spite of the fact that hundreds are annually shot by settlers and sportsmen."


POPULATION


The population of the county as shown by the figures of the United States census bureau for the past three enumerations is as follows :


Civil Divisions


1910


1900


1890


Beaver Creek township


347


316


170


Frederic township


770


228


260


Grayling township, including Grayling village. 2,087 Grayling village


1,175


Maple Forest township


471


484


316


South Branch township


259


199


106


Totals


.3,934


2,943


2,962


1,716


1,558


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GRAYLING


Grayling, the county seat, was settled in 1872 and incorporated as a village in 1903. It is a neat, well-built, busy place, the center of trade both of a large produce region and a considerable lumber country. Located on the main channel of the Au Sable river and at the junction of the Twin Lakes branch of the Michigan Central with the trunk line, Grayling has connection with the best lumbering regions of northeastern Michigan and with the markets of the state north and south. The vil- lage conducts its financial operations through the Bank of Grayling, whose responsibilities are estimated at $500,000. She enjoys thorough systems of electric lighting and water supply and has a graded and well- organized union school. Her handsome courthouse, neat opera house ; several churches-the Catholic, Danish Evangelical, Lutheran, Method- ist, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Protestant Methodist-and the Gray- ling Mercy hospital, with its $25,000 building, all stand as evidences of a substantial, social, moral, charitable and religious community.


Vol. 1-32.


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CHAPTER XXIII


ALCONA COUNTY


PHYSICAL ADVANTAGES-POPULATION-THE FIRST SETTLERS-LEADING FISHERMEN-FOUNDERS OF HARRISVILLE-COUNTY ORGANIZED-HAR- RISVILLE-LINCOLN AND MIKADO.


Alcona is one of the picturesque counties of the Huron shore, whose greatest development has never extended far inland. Her early settlers were drawn to her territory because of the promising fisheries along the shore, while the products of her western timber lands were largely rafted down Hubbard lake or Wolf creek into the Thunder Bay river and so on to Alpena, or down Pine and Au Sable rivers to Oscoda. The eastern portions of the county are undulating and rolling, culminat- ing on the Huron shore in high banks covered with grass and trees. This natural feature is especially pleasing at Harrisville, the county seat, mating on the Huron shore in high banks covered with grass and trees. The natural feature is especially pleasing at Harrisville, the county seat, which overlooks the lake from a lofty green terrace. Inland a few miles are the pretty little hamlets and railroad stations of Lincoln and Mikado, both also incorporated villages.


PHYSICAL ADVANTAGES


The southern portions of the county are more level than the other sections, and are watered by the Pine river and its branches, while the Au Sable intersects the western townships. In the northwestern part of the county are the sources of Wolf creek, an affluent of the south branch of Thunder Bay river, which has its real source in the deep waters of Hubbard lake in the northern portion of the county. In a cluster of five lakes, sometimes called Twin lakes, about seven miles from Harrisville. rises Pine river. But, although the lakes in Alcona county are quite numerous. Hubbard is the only one of notable size. It was named after a Mr. Hubbard, a popular member of the United States surveying party which first came into this country. It is eight miles long by four miles broad, surrounded by a well-wooded country.


On the eastern shore, at an elevation commanding a bird's-eye view of the lake, there has long stood a weird monument of stone called the "Indian Worship." It marks the spot where Se-don-i-ka-to, a chief of the Chippewas, was said to be buried. It has long been held a sacred spot by the Indian hunter and trapper, and by white men, too, who


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


brought offerings of beads and tobacco and left them there, until some vandal violated it, pulled down the monument and dug up the grave.


Although the country around Hubbard lake is romantic, the shores of this beautiful body of water are being sprinkled with unique cottages. It is plentifully stocked with whitefish and its waters teem with bass, pike, pickerel and perch, while the small streams which empty into it are noted for trout.


Another noted trout stream is Black river, which enters Lake Huron in the northeastern part of the county. Its attraction for sportsmen and


NORTH END OF HUBBARD LAKE


summer visitors has been largely responsible for the settlement and postoffice of Black River.


Alcona county is chiefly indebted to the Detroit & Mackinac Railway company for her transportation conveniences. Its main line passes through Greenbush, Harrisville, Alcona, Black River and other Shore stations, and a branch enters the county a few miles west of the trunk and runs to Lincoln, while the Au Sable & Northwestern cuts across the southwestern portion of the county to the northern part of Oscoda.


The county presents a great variety of soil, from the rich, alluvial and sandy loam of the river valleys and lake regions, to the ordinary clay and gravel of the hill districts. Up to date the main agricultural advances have been made in the growing of garden seeds, peas, potatoes, clover and apples. Thousands of acres of hardwood and pine cuttings have, within a few years, been transformed into fine farms and orchards.


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POPULATION


For twenty years the county has been undergoing this transforming process, which is not conducive to rapid advancement in population. A study of the statistics of population furnished by the United States census bureau is illustrative of this statement :


Civil Divisions


1910


1900


1890


Alcona township


330


1,039


597


Caledonia township


616


386


190


Curtis township


599


487


364


Greenbush township


234


245


264


Gustin township, including Lincoln village


555


602


697


Lincoln village


122


Harrisville City


444


403


987


Ward 1


135


Ward 2


133


Ward 3


176


Harrisville township


764


852


936


Hawes township


304


291


Haynes township


651


791


973


Mikado township, including Mikado village. Mikado village


652


410


318


100


Millen township


232


117


Mitchell township


322


68


83


Total


5,703


5,691


5,409


THE FIRST SETTLERS


Thunder Bay island was a wooding station for steamers and a resort of the fishermen of the Huron region for some time before actual settle- ment commenced along the shore of the mainland at Alpena, Devil's River and points further to the south. Isaac Wilson, a "York state" man, came to Devil River, or Ossineke, in August, 1845, to run the tiny sawmill which had been built there the previous year by Birtch & Eldridge of Detroit. He brought with him his wife and infant son, and his family was the first to make a home on the Huron shore between Thunder bay and Lower Saginaw bay. During the year of his resi- dence at Devil River. various fishermen received shelter from the lake storms at his hospitable little log house, and he became known and loved all through that region.


Among the fishermen of Thunder Bay island who was not forced to seek port at Devil River was S. M. Holden, also a New Yorker; but his fishing boat, with himself. Robert McMullen and William Hill, in the month of September, 1846, was driven by a northwest gale to the high lands of Au Sable, afterward known as Springport, or South ITarrisville, about a mile south of the present city. At that locality. although Mr. Holden and his men found no friendly shelter, they did discover a tract abounding in excellent springs and large pine trees,


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the latter especially desirable for fish barrel staves. "Believing that it might prove good fishing ground," says Charles P. Reynolds in his his- tory of the county, "Mr. Holden resolved to occupy it. Accordingly he at once moved his family with six months' provisions and lumber for a shanty-his family consisting of his wife, two children and Miss Caro- line E. Kenyon, his wife's sister. This sudden change of base was effected on a small trading vessel then plying between Lower Saginaw (now Bay City) and Thunder Bay island.


"The steamboat 'Detroit,' sailed by Eber B. Ward, made weekly trips from Detroit to Mackinaw, carrying the United States mail. She was the first steamboat that visited Alcona county for business, calling for Mr. Holden's fish in the fall of 1846 ;- the old boat foundered off Point Au Banks in deep water. Mr. Holden was successful in his new fishing station and permanently located at the High Banks, and is there- fore entitled to all the honors of being the first actual settler in Alcona county proper."


LEADING FISHERMEN


Mr. Holden added cooperage to his fishing business, the abundance of pine around Springport suggesting the enterprise, which furnished employment to a number of men who became settlers and assisted to develop the country. The prosperous outlook at High Banks soon at- tracted other fishermen ; among others, Crosier Davison, an Englishman, who had resided at Birmingham, near Detroit.


In the fall of 1848 Mr. Davison came to Greenbush, then known as the Sliding Banks of the Au Sable river. He extended his operations up the shore, not only in fishing, but in the auxiliaries of the industry, such as making nets, building docks and manufacturing barrels.


William Hill, a Canadian, had located at the Cove, now Alcona. His business was also extensive and he was known along the shore as the Commodore of the Cove. Messrs. Holden, Davison and Hill were the leaders in the industries which made permanent settlements in what is now Alcona county. The Harrises were of a somewhat later day.


FOUNDERS OF HARRISVILLE


In 1854 Messrs. Holden and Davison located and purchased the pine lands and valuable mill privilege at Harrisville, built a small water mill and commenced the first manufacture of lumber in Alcona county, which Mr. Holden superintended personally. Mr. Davison closed up the fish business that he might center his investments in pine lands, whose rapidly increasing value offered better inducements to him than either fishing or making lumber.


Already the land hunters were swarming on every stream, and many were the races to the land office to secure choice tracts. Messrs. Holden & Davison sold out their mill to Harris & Sons of the state of New York, the new firm consisting of Benjamin Harris and his sons Levi O. and Henry H., of East Bloomfield, Ontario county, who were both mill- wrights and carpenters. The new company had within themselves the elements of success-integrity of character, genius and capital, and with such eminent qualifications their success was assured.


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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN


The mechanical genius of Levi O. Harris was soon apparent in transforming the water mill of one saw into a steam gang and siding mill, by using water and steam as motive powers; also by connecting the reservoir ponds for storing logs with plank shutes for running them to the mill with cheapness and dispatch. In every department of their business admirable labor saving inventions were the admiration of all beholders. The village and township were named after this enterpris- ing firm, and a postoffice was established with L. O. Harris as post- master, which was kept at their store-the first and only one, until 1866, in the county.


At the death of their father, the sons continued the business with unflagging energy. They built docks and purchased an interest in the propeller "Genessee Chief," which made weekly trips between Detroit and Saginaw, always calling at Harrisville-a great convenience to the people. They cleared a farm on section 10 and encouraged settlers who had ventured into agricultural pursuits with many acts of kindness. To all they were kind, social and genial, and entered into the sports and amusements of the settlers with an interest that endeared them to the people, to whom Levi O. frequently stood as physician, surgeon and dentist. as well as legal advisor, often ministering to the necessities of the sick and needy. Devoting all their energies to the manufacture of lumber-and both unmarried-it is not very surprising that they did not seek to develop the country. Why should they clear cedar swamps, pull stumps, lay out streets or make turnpike roads, in such a wilder- ness. for others? Their business was the manufactory of their pine exclusively, intending when that was accomplished to enjoy the pro- ceeds elsewhere.


In 1866 the Harris brothers sold out their extensive business. Levi (). married and went into banking at Buffalo, New York, and Henry H. continued the lumber business in Chicago, where he had opened a yard in the interest of the company.


At this time the Harrises departed from their "village;" the cedar swamps that bordered the shore of Lake Huron at Harrisville reached to the water's edge in a dense mass, and the village was a mere notch cut into it. The roads ran in zig-zag courses like cow paths in the woods : the large mud holes were corduroyed with logs, but the smaller ones were left to be shunned or waded through as best suited the con- venience and taste of travelers, who seldom had any choice in the matter. Good roads were made in winter to draw logs to the mill, or to accommodate the few outside lumbering parties. A scattering few had commenced to clear farms and found homes, and were nobly bat- tling in the woods back of the swamps and sand hills. A state road had been surveyed and cut out from Au Sable to Alpena, but it made a detour west of the village and was practically of little benefit to anyone in the township. A shabby excuse for a town road ran along the shore connecting its sparse settlements on which the entire highway traffic of the county had scarcely made a mark, as many of the settlers carried their pork and flour on their backs. The mill and docks, with the store. boarding house and a few rough board houses with stove pipes for lightning rods, was the "Up-Town" of the village of Harrisville.


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"Down Town" was down the shore among the pine stumps and through the land where the Exchange hotel greeted the travelers and ministered to man and beast. The population consisted principally of the hands, mostly single men from Canada and a few fishermen and lumbermen, according to the weather and the season. Such was Harrisville as it appeared to an eye-witness in the month of July, 1866.


COUNTY ORGANIZED


In the year 1868, it was determined to effect the organization of the county and a committee consisting of Geo. L. Colwell, Edward Chapelle and L. R. Dorr, of Harrisville, William Conklin, of Greenbush, and E. R. Hayes, of Alcona, were appointed to secure that object at the forthcoming session of the legislature. Robert White was selected to attend the legislature, and as a member of the Third house to attend to the interests of the proposed county. After much delay that object was effected, and the county of Alcona and the township of Greenbush were both organized. Harrisville was, of course, named as the seat of justice. The first election of county officers was held at the old school- house, April 5, 1869, and resulted in the choice of George W. LaChap- elle for sheriff, Edward Chapelle for treasurer, George Rutson for clerk, George Hamilton for register of deeds, J. P. Merchant for circuit court commissioner and Reuben Z. Roberts for prosecuting attorney and judge of probate.


The first meeting of the board of supervisors was held at the office of the county clerk, May 8, 1869, and there were present, Lawrence R. Dorr supervisor of Harrisville; Elijah R. Haynes, of Alcona; and Will- iam Conklin, of Grenbush. Mr. Dorr was elected chairman for the ensuing year. George Rutson was appointed assessor of the unorganized territory of Alcona county, and Messrs. Dorr and Conklin were con- stituted a committee to select a site for county buildings.


At the same time it was ordered that bonds be issued to the amount of $3,000 for the purpose of constructing a courthouse. The proposi- tion was submitted to a vote of the electors of the several townships, at an election held August 31, 1869, and the result was as follows: Alcona cast fourteen votes, all in favor of the loan; Harrisville polled forty- nine, of which forty-eight were for the loan and one against; Greenbush cast six votes, all for the loan. An additional loan of $3,000 was after- ward voted, at an election in April, 1870. The following June the work was commenced under the superintendence of Joseph Van Buskirk, the supervisor of Harrisville township, on a lot presented to the county by Messrs. Weston, Colwell & Company. The plan of this building was drafted by H. G. Rothwell, which, with the schoolhouse, which were "admitted by competent judges to be in good taste and ornaments to the village."


In the meantime the successors of the Harris brothers in the lumber business, Weston, Colwell & company, commenced to improve the roads of the vicinity, build new docks and breakwaters and do other things to advance their interests, but which had the obvious effect of further- ing the development of Harrisville and the sorrounding country.


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This was also the period when the settlers awoke to the agricultural possibilities of the region. A few farmers had made good in raising crops of fine potatoes and other roots and had also met with encourag- ing results in the raising of forage and some kinds of grain. Most of the farm clearings were just west of Harrisville. In September, 1866, the first meetings to encourage agriculture were held in the old school- house and were numerously attended. Out of these gatherings developed the Alcona County Agricultural society in 1872, the first officers of which were elected at the courthouse in the following year. Fair grounds were afterward purchased at Harrisville and suitable buildings erected. and today the county seat is the center not only of the judicial and civil affairs of the county, but of its agricultural interests, which have supplanted those of lumber and fish.


HARRISVILLE


The land composing the site of Harrisville passed from Harris Brothers to Weston. Colwell & Company, in 1866, when the former trans- ferred their property and left the country. After the organization of the county in 1868, the site increased in value and in 1870 the property was surveyed and platted by H. G. Rothwell. The lumber company donated the courthouse square and, as stated, Mr. Rothwell drew the plans for the county buildings and completed them in 1870.


Harrisville was incorporated as a village in 1887 and as a city in 1905. It is a neat little place of about five hundred people, situated on the main line of the Detroit & Mackinac railway, lighted by electricity and provided with other modern conveniences. As the county seat it has a good local trade and is now the center of a country of developing farms, fruit lands and live-stock ranches. Dairying is also a coming industry, and in the raising of garden seeds Alcona county is up to the high grade of northeastern Michigan. A good creamery and large seed house at Harrisville are evidences of the growth of both industries. At the county seat are also a roller flour mill, but slight evidence that it was ever a lumber town of considerable importance. In the vicinity are a number of trout streams that furnish plenty of sport in the open season and as the location of the little city is high and attractive, Harris- ville is becoming the center of not a little summer travel and trade.




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