USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 36
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAPE INDUSTRY
Out of the hardships of the lean years was born the great grape- growing industry. It is true that for years prior to 1890 the grow-
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ing of grapes and other fruits in what is known as the Lawton dis- triet was a business of some magnitude, but the carloads shipped each year were numbered by the score and not by the thousand. In 1868 A. B. Jones of Lawton set out a plantation of one hun- dred grape vines, Concords and Delawares. That year, or the next, N. H. Bitely, planted a small vineyard. Mr. Jones made the first shipment of grapes, sending them to Lansing, where they sold from twelve to fifteen cents per pound. These grapes, after being picked, were "wilted" for twenty-four hour's, picked over and packed with great care. Mr. Jones, in speaking of his second crop, said : "The grapes were put up in three-pound baskets and crated, twelve baskets to the crate." This fruit was also shipped to Lan- sing and sold as high as nine dollars per crate. The soil and cli- matic conditions proved to be exceptionally favorable for produc- ing good crops of finely flavored grapes, and as their culture was found profitable the industry steadily extended. In 1890 there was a considerable acreage devoted to vineyards. This area rapidly increased during the years immediately following. The introduc- tion of the eight-pound basket and of refrigerator cars widely ex- tended the market.
In the latter part of the nineties the great majority of the grow- ers were getting substantial incomes from their vineyards. Then it was that hundreds of the farmers of the eastern part of the county, suffering from the low prices of the "lean years," turned their attention to this new industry. Thousands of acres of grapes were planted. The years of low prices and hard times were passing, and the first crops from their new vineyards were very profitable. Then came the "boom;" men with no experience in farming and having no knowledge of agriculture, bought vineyards "set out to sell," or bought land and planted vineyards of twenty, thirty or forty acres in extent. On lowlands and highlands, on table-lands and in valleys and frost holes, on steep side hills, on sand and on the best of beech and maple timbered lands, grapes were set by en- thusiastic amateurs. A new era of prosperity, greater than the old, seemed to have set in.
And then the inevitable happened. Men who tried to raise grapes at long range found it impossible to hire sufficient numbers of men, skilled in the details of grape growing. Spring frosts cut short the crops on land that lacked air drainage; the great freeze of October, 1906, completely destroyed a large portion of that year's crop and, to a great extent, killed the buds that should have produced the crop of 1907. The cut-worm, the rose bug and other insects exacted a heavy toll and, to crown all, the dreaded "black rot" overspread the grape growing district. Many men who had so enthusiastically rushed into the industry found it wise to get
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out. Hundreds of acres of vineyards were pulled and many others have been woefully neglected. The greater number of the grow- ers, however, have stuck manfully to their task. They have learned to handle spraying machinery; they have mastered the chemistry of sprays and the method of their proper and effectual application. The great yields of 1908, 1909 and 1911 have demonstrated the ability of Van Buren county vineyardists to grow grapes, but the problem of marketing crops that are numbered by the thousands of car-loads, in such manner as shall leave a profit for the producer, is yet to be solved
Van Buren county, because of its proximity to great markets, its varied soils, and its especially favorable climatic conditions, will always be a great fruit-producing region. The grape, the peach and the apple grow to a degree of perfection not surpassed in any portion of the country. The great muck beds, once the home of the fragrant peppermint, about which a chapter might be written, are rapidly being utilized for less exhaustive and, in the long run, more remunerative crops, while the great diversity of upland affords the opportunity for an equally varied system of agriculture. The disadvantages of the rural home are being gradually eliminated by modern inventive genius; country life is becoming more desirable, and when the time shall come, as it will, that the profits of agriculture equal those of other industries, then the population will flow toward the farm, instead of away from it. When that time comes, men better educated and better trained than we are, working in the light of greater knowledge, will develop systems of agriculture that will enrich rather than deplete the soil and, at the same time, will continue to provide ample supplies of food for the people.
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CHAPTER XIV TALES OF THE OLDEN DAY
DECATUR WAR SCARE-SNOW NOT TURNED TO OIL-FIGHT WITH A WOLF PACK-WOLF BOUNTIES-WOODS FULL OF "PAINTERS" -MRS. RICE'S REMINISCENCES-NARROW ESCAPE OF EDWIN MEARS-INDIAN MOUNDS IN LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP-JOSEPH WOODMAN LOCATES AT PAW PAW (1835)-STORIES BY MRS. NANCY (HICKS) BOWEN-"GOOD TIMES" OF THE OLDEN DAY.
It is related that just after the breaking out of the Civil war, a meteor fell on the south side of the great Decatur swamp, with a loud explosion, and which was the occasion of a good deal of ex- citement. One valiant and brave citizen of the village, it is said, was sure that the commotion was occasioned by the advance of a column of the enemy on the peaceful village of Decatur. He rushed into his home in great excitement shouting "The rebels are shelling us, the rebels are shelling us!" and proceeded to bar- ricade the doors and windows, put his family under arms, and, seizing his trusty fowling piece, he declared that he was ready for them and that he would guarantee to whip a dozen rebels single handed. His misunderstanding of the cause of the explosion was the occasion of much merriment and "joshing" at his expense.
SNOW NOT TURNED TO OIL
During the "hard winter" of 1842-3 a considerable number of the inhabitants in some parts of the county became much exercised over the predicted approaching "end of the world." This was the time when "Millerism" was rampant and great numbers of people in different parts of the country so firmly believed the prediction that they gave away their property and prepared their "ascension robes." The idea of some of the people who placed credence in Miller's prophesies was that the great body of snow that had fallen would, by some miraculous power, be turned to oil and set on fire, thus destroying the entire world. It is certain that this notion be- came so prevalent as to cause no little uneasiness in the minds of superstitious people, which was only dispelled when the warm
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spring rains and the soft southern breezes turned the snow to water instead of oil.
FIGHT WITH A WOLF PACK
Wolf stories without number are related by the earlier settlers of the county. The following incident was told by the late Robert Nesbitt, one of the earliest pioneers of Hamilton and who made the first entry of government land in that township. Coming home on foot from Kalamazoo and while passing through the for- est about night-fall, he was attacked by a pack of ravenous wolves. He lost no time in climbing a tree. He was only about a mile from his home, and from the tree-top he could plainly see the light in his cabin. The wolves surrounded the tree and, with savage howls, waited for him to descend. The weather was bitterly cold and Mr. Nesbitt soon realized that it was up to him to "get a move on," as there was no possibility of any outside aid. Being wholly un- armed, he cut a heavy club and determined to make a fight for life. He descended rapidly and made such a vigorous onslaught on the hungry pack that they fell back. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he ran to another tree and braced himself for battle, with his enemies, which had returned to the charge. In this man- ner he fought his way to the shelter of his cabin, which he reached in safety, although nearly exhausted with the strenuous fight and the attending excitement.
WOLF BOUNTIES
During the earlier years after the organization of the county both the county and the state paid a bounty on wolves. At their first meeting the board of supervisors "voted to pay five dollars per head for each wolf and panther which may be killed during the ensuing year." The state, at the same time, was paying a bounty of eight dollars, so that wolves (dead ones) were worth thirteen dol- lars apiece. The following named hunters received such bounties during the year : Luther Branch, four wolves; John Condon, three; Joseph Butler, one; Cahcah, an Indian, one. In 1838 the county bounty was raised to eight dollars, but the next year it was re- duced to four. Bounties were paid for twenty-four wolves during that year. From 1840 to 1847, inclusive, bounty was paid on sixty-eight slaughtered wolves and wolf whelps. The breeding of wolf whelps seems to have been a growing industry, and in 1844 the supervisors reduced the bounty on baby wolves to the meager sum of $2.40, which seemed to put a quietus on what promised to be a remunerative occupation. There is no record of the payment
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of any bounty for killing a panther. Evidently those savage beasts were not very abundant.
WOODS FULL OF "PAINTERS"
Apropos of panthers, the following amusing story related by one Abe Norwood, who was knowing to the circumstances, may not be out of place. Two young men, Will Shutter and Zade Rose- brook, brothers-in-law, many years ago planned to have a little sport at the expense of the good people of the township of Ham- ilton. They took a tin can and punched a hole in the bottom, and through this hole passed a stout linen string, which was then well resined. To operate the machine the string was held taut and drawn back and forth through the hole. It required some prac- tice to get the best effect. The result was a noise resembling the growl of some savage beast or the scream of a panther (They used to call them "painters" in those early days). When everything was in readiness, one of the boys went to the house of one of the residents and said he had heard an awful strange noise as he was passing through the woods and that he thought it must be made by some wild beast. Going out of doors they listened, and sure enough they could hear the sound, but it was hard to locate, some- times seeming near and the next minute far away. Next day all the people in the vicinity knew about the exciting news, and it was planned to put an end to the "panther," as the people be- lieved it to be. They did not succeed in finding the beast although they heard it first in one direction and then in another. Night after night the thing went on. Although the creature was so timid that no one could get near enough to see it, the people were as timid as the supposed wild animal and went armed when they had to pass through the haunted neighborhood.
The narrator of the incident says: "I remember one night a wagon load of armed men drove up to a squad of hunters who were listening to the growler. They did not get out of the wagon. They could hear just as well in it. Besides, if the beast should make a charge, those in the wagon would be in the safer position. They could fight just as well and in case of being compelled to make a speedy retreat they would save the time required to clamber into the vehicle and would be in less danger of being left at the mercy of the fierce growler.
"Rosebrook's wife being in the secret, told a chum and she told her husband and he in turn told another man and they each made a "panther" and went into the forest to help the boys carry on the farce. And so it seemed as though the woods were full of wild animals. It was several weeks before the secret of the scare was
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revealed and then there were a lot of mad fellows. Some were so angry that they threatened to prosecute the originators of the affair and actually went to see the public prosecutor in regard to the matter. After listening to their story he laughed at them and told them to go home and let the boys alone, for they had hurt nobody and that he thought it a pretty good joke.
MRS. RICE'S REMINISCENCES
Mrs. Allen Rice, of Lawrence, says: "I think I am the oldest person that has lived in Lawrence since 1837. (I am inclined to think she is the only one .- Editor.) My father moved his fam- ily to Lawrence in 1837, when I was in my fourteenth year.
"My father, Uriel T. Barnes, was the first settler between Law- rence and Breedsville, and in comfortable weather there were very few nights that we were not called upon to entertain people going to or returning from Paw Paw, which was the nearest place where supplies could be obtained, and settlers from the north and east could not make the trip in a single day. The usual reward for the entertainment was 'Thank you, Uncle Barnes. When you come our way, call on us.' The pioneers were poor, but were glad to help each other.
"The general election of 1840 was held at my father's house and my mother and I cooked dinner for the town board and as many of th voters as cared to partake.
"Thanksgiving evening of the second autumn of our wilderness life, we were surprised to see a group of eight men emerging from the woods. They were the captain and crew of a schooner wrecked at the mouth of Black river (now the city of South Haven). Guided by their compass, they had found their way to the 'Barnes Place,' where they were entertained over night, when they went their way hoping to find some conveyance to St. Joseph.
"After the road was opened from Lawrence to Breedsville, a postoffice was established at Lawrence and John R. Haynes was ap- pointed postmaster. It was the custom that whoever went to Paw Paw on Friday should bring in the mail. That was the day that we expected to receive the weekly mail. Letters cost twenty-five cents apiece, payable by the receiver. There was no talk of 'penny postage' in those days. On one occasion James Gray, who lived a mile or so east of the postoffice, brought in the mail. Three young girls, of whom I was one, called at his place and Mr. Gray jestingly remarked 'now you girls can carry the mail and save me the journey.' We took him at his word and thought it a great lark. We hung the mail on a stick and a girl at each end carried it along. It wasn't very heavy.
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"The first Fourth of July celebration took place, I think, in 1839. (Mrs. Rice evidently has too early a date. See Mrs. Bow- en's allusion to this same event .- Editor.) Some of the women thought we should have a celebration and decided to undertake it. They would invite all the settlers to join with them. Two of the ladies planned to put the milk of their cows together and make a cheese which would be ripened sufficiently to be eaten by the time of the celebration. The pioneers were pleased with the plan and joined in heartily. A table was set in the woods near where the Shultz store now is and spread with such dainties as the times af- forded. Pies made from huckleberries and wild gooseberries, cakes made with maple sugar, chickens and partridges, and to cap the climax, a young man named De Long brought in a deer roasted whole, with head and horns still on and a knife and fork stuck in its back. It was braced so that it stood up on its feet as in life. The people assembled in the schoolhouse where patriotic exercises were held. The Declaration of Independence was read, a young man sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' and John Mellen, the black- smith, furnished his anvil, and considerable powder was burned- the first time the surrounding forest was ever awakened by the echoes of a patriotic celebration of the birthday of Freedom."
Mrs. Rice relates how young Allen Rice, afterward her husband, met with a pack of wolves in the forest, in the winter of 1837. The trees were too large to climb and he was some distance from home. He armed himself with a cudgel and made the best time possible out of the woods, escaping with nothing, more serious than a bad scare. She says: "The first sheep were brought into the township in 1841 or 1842 by Nelson Marshall. My father bought six and I bought two with money I had earned teaching. Late the next fall all of father's sheep, except the buck. were killed by wolves, while they spared mine, and so my sheep became the basis of the flock which my father afterward raised.
"Those pioneer days were not free from tragedies. I recall one as I write. It was in the fall of 1841. The weather was very dry and the leaves were falling and forest fires were burning. Warren Van Fleet had harvested his first crop of wheat, which was stacked a few rods from the house. His wife was alone with her babe, just old enough to sit alone. Fearing that the fire would reach the wheat, she placed the child in a place that she thought was entirely safe and began to rake back the leaves to prevent the flames from reaching the stack. Suddenly she heard the screams of the little one and saw it enveloped in flames. The wind had carried a burning leaf to the straw where the child sat. The poor little thing lived but a short time and died in great agony.
"In 1840 Norman Bierce, 'Uncle Norman' as he was afterward
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familiarly known, came to Lawrence and set up a turning lathe and began the manufacture of chairs, bedsteads and spinning wheels. I have now in my possession a wheel on which I have spun yarn to make many yards of flannel, specimens of which I still re- tain, also several chairs, a rolling pin and a neat wooden cup holding about half a pint, all of Uncle Norman's' make."
NARROW ESCAPE OF EDWIN MEARS
About the year 1836, Edwin Mears, a young man living in Paw Paw, with a half dozen or so companions, set out on a hunting expedition. Young Mears became separated from his companions and could neither find them nor could he find his way home. He wandered in the forest for four days and nights, suffering ter- ribly with cold and hunger. At the end of the fourth day he found himself on the shore of Lake Michigan, many miles from home. He had about made up his mind that he would surely per- ish, when he heard voices and was rescued by a searching party that had set out to find him. He was so nearly dead that it was feared for a time that he would not recover from the effects of his terrible experience, but he survived the ordeal and lived for many a long year thereafter.
INDIAN MOUNDS IN LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP
There were well defined traces of what were called "Indian mounds" in the township of Lawrence, especially on sections seven and eighteen. Just north of Sutton's lake were three of these mounds, each about four feet in height. They were located in the form of a triangle and were about ten feet apart. Other smaller mounds were found on section eighteen. A hunter opened one of these mounds in 1843 and discovered human bones, arrow heads, etc. At that time trees a foot and a half in diameter were grow- ing on some of the mounds. The Indians had no tradition concern- ing them and it is generally thought that they were the burial places of some prehistoric race. This is all the more probable from the fact that although the Indians used these arrow heads when they became possessed of them, they did not, themselves, make them.
JOSEPH WOODMAN LOCATES AT PAW PAW (1835)
Joseph Woodman, one of the early settlers of the township of Antwerp, related the following experience : "I landed at Detroit," said Mr. Woodman, "in the spring of 1835, and made my way to Vol. 1-22
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Kalamazoo, through mud and mire, with two teams, a span of horses and a yoke of oxen, and I often had to double up my teams in order to get through. I frequently met stages, with the pas- sengers on foot, carrying rails or poles with which to pry the ve- hicles out of the mud holes. They said it was hard fare and that the driver wanted them to carry two rails apiece, but they couldn't see it that way.
"I started alone from Kalamazoo for Paw Paw, eighteen miles distant. I was told that I could not get through that night; that I would be eaten by wolves, but being young and vigorous I pushed on and, without mishap, reached a cabin known as Dodge's tavern standing upon the site of the now flourishing village of Paw Paw. The next day, Saturday, in company with Silas Breed, I went land-viewing and returned to the tavern that evening. I asked Dodge if they had Divine worship, and was answered in the negative. I told him we had a minister in our party-Mr. Wood- man was himself a clergyman-and that we would have a meeting Sunday, which we did, holding it in a slab shanty. The next day, I went out on the Territorial road and located my land. I brought my family on from Kalamazoo-wife and six children-and es- tablished them in a blacksmith shop, Rodney Hinckley's shop in Paw Paw. I built a log house into which I moved on the 10th of May, 1835. I went to clearing land, plowed seven acres with a wooden plow, and raised a fine crop of corn, potatoes and other vegetables."
STORIES BY MRS. NANCY (HICKS) BOWEN
Mrs. Nancy (Hicks) Bowen has told of some of her interesting pioneer experiences. She says: "We came from the state of New York in 1845. Our first home was in the township of Arlington. There were twenty acres cleared on the place; the rest was heavy timbered land and the forest reached for miles around. We had one neighbor, a mile and a half distant. Myself and husband and a little one year old girl constituted our family. It was useless to think of fruit. I made mince pies, using pumpkin instead of ap- ples, and venison instead of beef. I well remember my uncle call- ing on me one time on his way home. He was tired and hungry and I gave him a lunch. When he came to his pie he said 'Why, Nancy, where did you find apples ?' He could hardly believe me when I told him what I had used. Our house was of logs, with a chimney in the center which supported three fire-places. I did my baking in a tin oven placed before the fire, or in a bake kettle. (The present generation will need to go to their grandmothers to find out what a tin oven was, or how their ancestors baked in a
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bake kettle .- Editor.) I was ironing one evening and stepped out of doors to get some wood. I noticed a black log lying by the wood pile and wondered that I had not noticed it before. The next morning the 'log' was gone. It was a bear. We soon found that the bears would come in the night and try to get our pigs out of the pen. There were a good many hogs running in the woods, and sometimes there would come a drove of them near the clear- ing with their shoulders and sides torn and bleeding where the bears had bitten them. The woods were full of bears, deer, wolves, foxes, wildcats, wild turkeys and many other kinds of game. My husband and Mr. De Long once sat up all night to roast a deer they had killed. They took it to the first Fourth of July celebra- tion held at Brush Creek (now Lawrence) where they arranged it to stand on the table, as it stood in life.
"We then had two children, and all the latter part of the fall they were both sick. The little boy had the ague for a long time and the little girl had erysipelas. Her father thought he'd better take her to Paw Paw to see a doctor. He had to go on horseback, a distance of about eight miles, or else with a yoke of oxen and a lumber wagon-there were no carriages in those days. So he got ready, with a pillow in his lap for the little girl, Mertice, to sit on. The doctor readily told him the trouble and also gave him some medicine for the boy. We had something of a task in those days to care for our children and do the work that had to be done.
"One winter there was a good deal of excitement about the Indians. It was said that they were going to Canada to prepare to fight the people of Michigan. Indians and snakes were my greatest fears of life in the wilderness. One night we were aroused from sleep by a noise and a light shining through the window. There were several Indians at the door who wanted to come in and stay for the night. It was cold and rainy and Mr. Bowen let them in. They built a fire and lay down in front of it, but it was little sleep I got the remainder of that night.
"In the spring of 1848 Mr. Bowen rented the place and we packed up our things intending to go back east, but when we got to Paw Paw Judge Dyckman prevailed on Mr. Bowen to abandon the eastern trip and go to Pine Grove, and so, on the 2d day of July, we went there into what was to be a boarding house. It was an unfinished log house, without doors or windows, and the floor was laid down just as the boards came from the mill. Three days afterward twelve men came to work and the family num- bered from that to twenty until the last of the next March. Dur- ing the summer a number of families came there to live and we had a good neighborhood there in the woods. The next nearest set- tlement was two miles distant, with 'blazed' trees to mark the way.
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