USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A history of Van Buren County, Michigan a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume I > Part 34
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THE SILURIAN
The emergence at the end of the Richmond ended the Ordovician and the succeeding submergence of the land and encroachment by the sea was the beginning of the Silurian age. The sea gradually became clearer until the muds, now the Medina, Clinton and Ro- chester shales-the latter often dolomitic-gave place to the thick (270-600 feet) deposits of dolomites and limestones of Niagaran age.
During the period from the Richmond to the Medina and Clin- ton, there was an abundance of iron in the muddy sediments, es- pecially in the Clinton, which from New York to Alabama and in Wisconsin has an iron content that makes it locally of considerable commercial importance. In the southwestern part of the state, some of these ferruginous shales do not appear to have been de- posited. These formations, though often more than 2,000 feet be- low the surface. are much better known. as drillings at Kalamazoo and in many parts of the state have pierced them.
As the Trenton marks the period of the greatest transgression of the sea upon the land in the Ordovician, so the Niagaran marks a similar period in the Silurian. All of Michigan seems to have been covered by the great sea, which extended from the Gulf of Mexico across the Arctic zone and southward into Europe. Vast as the Niagaran sea was, it was still a shallow sea with a fauna
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characteristic of clear, shallow, warm water. The Niagara is one of the thickest and most extensive deposits of coralline limestone known in any age. If forms the shore of western and northern Lake Michigan and of northern and eastern Lake Huron, and the precipice over which the waters of the Niagara river tumble. Its outcrops in Alabama, Iowa, Alaska, Greenland, Spitzenbergen, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Russia, China and Southern Europe give an idea of the enormous extent of the Niagara limestone. Wells in the southwestern part of the state show that the Niagara limestone occurs from about one thousand to nearly two thousand feet below the surface.
Following the great limestone age, there came one of excessive aridity. The Michigan sea was nearly, if not quite, enclosed by land, so that great deposits of salt, anhydrite, and limestone were laid down. These form the Salina (or Lower Monroe) of the Mid- dle Silurian age, which carries most of the beds of rock salt in the southeastern part of the state. No rock salt occurs in the strata under Van Buren county and the Monroe is much thinner than it is in the eastern part of the state. This suggests the possibility that the western part of the state may have been out of water for a time, so that there may have been an erosion instead of a depo- sition of sediments. This western Michigan bar appears to have divided the Michigan sea into two parts,-a closed eastern sea like Great Salt lake, in which both gypsum and salt were deposited, and an open western one in which obviously conditions necessary for the deposition of gypsum or salt could not obtain. Toward the end of Silurian time, normal conditions gradually returned with a corresponding gradual transition upward in the deposits from salt and anhyrite to limestones, now the Lower Monroe dolomite.
THE DEVONIAN
At. the very end of the Silurian age or at the beginning of Dev- onian time, a very pure white sandstone, the Sylvania, was laid down. This bed is so pure that it is used for glass manufacture in some states. Toward the north, in Michigan, the bed grades into calcareous sand or into limestone. Above this bed, lie the lime- stones of the Middle and Upper Monroe formations. These carry beds of anhydrite or gypsum, indicative of the recurrence of arid and Mediterranean conditions. An emergence at the end of the Upper Monroe occurred, as shown by the superposition of the Dun- dee limestone unconformably upon the eroded surface of the former. This is significant in the explanation of the deposits of salt and anhydrite in the Middle Monroe, as just such an emer-
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gence would cause the Michigan gulf to become a closed or Mediter- ranean sea.
Middle and Upper Devonian rocks are mainly alternating beds of heavy limestones and shales, indicative of a somewhat variable character of the age as a whole, though the heavy limestone show that stable conditions existed for part of the period. The three divi- sions of these sediments are the Dundee limestones, the Traverse formation of limestones and shales, and the black Antrim shales. The latter have often been mistaken by the oil drillers for the black shales just above the Trenton. This error has been made in drill- ings in the southwestern part of the state. The Trenton horizon probably has never been penetrated in Van Buren county, nor in any of the southwestern counties.
LOWER CARBONIFEROUS
The Berea grit at the base of the Mississippian or Lower Car- boniferous, is another very pure sandstone. It is indicative of a general emergence of the land, as it is so widespread in Ohio and Michigan. The brines, which it contains, are extremely salt, so that Mediterranean conditions must have obtained for a time, but the concentration was not carried to such an extent that salt was deposited. This bed, the Berea, is found all along the eastern side of the state in wells but it gradually disappears toward the west, so that it has not been recognized in western Michigan.
Very muddy seas prevailed for a long time after the deposition of the Berea as nearly one thousand feet of shales lie above it. These are the Coldwater shales, which everywhere underlie the loose surface deposits of Van Buren county. These shales, in the western part of the state, are really shaly limestones rather than shales. The western part of the Michigan sea therefore seems to have been clearer, thus favoring the deposition of calcareous sedi- ments.
THE PLEISTOCENE (LAST CHAPTER)
If other deposits were laid down upon the Coldwater shales of Van Buren county, they were afterwards eroded away so that no trace of them remains. At the end of the Carboniferous period, the land east of the Mississippi was elevated above water and Michi- gan was never covered by the sea again. Thus, during the enor- mous period elapsing between the end of the Carboniferous and the beginning of the Pleistocene, or Ice Age, a period represented by nearly half the time scale since the Algonkian, the land surface of Michigan was exposed to the agents of erosion, so that it may have been much eroded and worn down to base level by great river systems, which must have existed in what is now the Great Lakes
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region. Probably a thick mantle of soil had accumulated, but of this we know little or nothing, for in the Pleistocene or Ice age, great continental ice sheets from Canada invaded the whole region north of the Ohio and the Missouri rivers and removed the loose sur- face accumulations from nearly the whole region. One of the sheets spread from a center west of Hudson bay, and another from Labrador. The ice advanced in the form of tongues or lobes. The basins of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Sag- inaw Bay, etc., were each occupied by one of these lobes which not only scoured their respective basins deeper but scraped the soil mantle clean from the adjacent lands. The bed rocks were also much ground and worn away. Their surfaces, where exposed, are nearly always found to be smoothed and polished, with grooves or striae cut in them, showing the direction of the ice movement. The ice movement in Van Buren county was chiefly from the north- west, as the ice moved radially outward from the Lake Michigan lobe. The hills in general were rounded off and, while valleys as a rule were worn deeper, some were filled up with loose materials such as clays, sands, and gravels.
With the melting away of the ice sheet, the glacial materials be- neath and within the ice were left in irregular masses, or in more or less level sheets, sometimes six hundred feet or more in thick- ness. In Van Buren county, the glacial drift is not nearly so thick, being sometimes less than one hundred feet, and rarely much more than three hundred feet in thickness. The irregular hilly tracts, the accumulation of glacial materials along the melting ice front, are called moraines, while the level or gently undulating tracts, the accumulations of glacial debris beneath the ice, are the till plains. The latter are mainly composed of clay, except where running water from the melting ice has more or less worked over the glacial material or drift, so that we have beds of sands and gravel. The till plains of clay form the finest of soils and the basis of much of the farming in Michigan.
Wherever the water was for a time ponded in front of the ice or in the depressions we have lake sands and clays. A large lake called Lake Chicago occupied the southern end of the Lake Michi- gan depression, being ponded in front of the ice border to the north. The lake stood at so high a level that its waters flowed through an outlet near Chicago into the Mississippi. The waters of this lake covered much of Van Buren county and in the western part of the county near Lake Michigan there remains an area of the resulting lake clays and, in the northern and northwestern, there are considerable areas of the light lake sands. Large streams from the melting ice front worked over a large part of the glacial material or drift and, in the eastern part of the county, spread it
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out into gravelly or sandy plains called outwash aprons. Most of the material in the central and western parts of the county is a boulder clay, or till, as it is called, and was a direct deposit under the ice. In places, it has been partially worked over by streams, giv- ing rise to sandy or gravelly strips.
The long range of irregular hills running north and south through the western part of the county and an irregular hilly area in the central and northern part are morainic accumulations in front of the ice margin, when the latter remained stationary for a considerable time-that is, the ice advanced just about as fast as it was melted away. Thus a great deal of glacial debris would be left in irregular masses, forming a line of hills running parallel to the ice front for hundreds of miles. The moraine, or the range of hills mentioned above, extends from Muskegon county through Van Buren county and around the southern end of Lake Michigan into Wisconsin. It marks the position of the ice front in one of its many halts during its retreat. The materials of these deposits are mainly clays, sandy loams, clay loams, etc., and form good soils, but their hilly character often renders them less adapted to ordinary farming than the till plains.
With the deposition of this material from the retreating ice sheet, and its partial reworking by water, the last chapter in the geological history of Michigan was closed.
1
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ORCHARDS IN BLOOM
CORN FROM RECLAIMED SWAMP LAND 1
CHAPTER XIII
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE
WESTERN VAN BUREN-LAKE MICHIGAN, A BENEFACTOR-FRUIT RAISING AT SOUTH HAVEN-FRUIT BELT WIDENS-COOPERATION THROUGH SOCIETIES-"MASTER L. H. BAILEY"-A. S. DYCKMAN AND T. T. LYON-CROPS OF THE COUNTY-SEMI-AGRICULTURAL IN- DUSTRIES-AGRICULTURE IN EASTERN VAN BUREN-"OAK OPEN- INGS" FIRST CULTIVATED-PIONEER FARM IMPLEMENTS-AFTER THE CIVIL WAR-LIVE STOCK-GOLDEN ERA (1865-90)-THE LEAN YEARS OF THE NINETIES-DEVELOPMENT OF THE GRAPE IN- DUSTRY.
Fruit has been grown on a commercial scale in the western part of Van Buren county for over fifty years.
The first orchards in this section were set sixty years ago, and for the greater part of those six decades fruit-raising has been its chief industry. It has always been more important in this section than either grain-farming or stock-raising, and this is increasingly true as one approaches Lake Michigan.
Except for the earlier years of the community, from its first settlement to the close of the Civil war, during which period the timber industry in its various branches was the leading one, the fruit industry has held undisputed sway as the chief interest and principal support of this thriving and prosperous community.
LAKE MICHIGAN, A BENEFACTOR
Natural causes brought about this condition. Chief among them was the proximity of Lake Michigan which acts as a vast regulator of temperatures. The lake modifies the extremes of heat and cold all through this region; it protects the fruit trees by checking a premature development of their buds in spring, and by retarding their growth in the fall; it prevents in a large degree frosts in spring and fall, and in times of drought is a great reservoir for disseminating needed moisture.
During the earlier days of the fruit industry, and particularly
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in the decade of the seventies during which it forged to the front, these influences of the lake were carefully observed and records kept that showed the advantages derived from that body of water. And Van Buren county, situated as it as at the eastern edge of the broadest part of the lake, gains the fullest measure of benefit from this source.
Contour of the land for favorable water and air drainage and suitable soil have also been elements contributing largely to the development of the fruit industry, and a no less potent factor has been the nearness and accessibility to markets, particularly the magic city of Chicago, which not only consumes vast quantities of the fruit and other farm products from this section, but affords a center for the speedy and economical distribution of the surplus to sub-centers serving millions of people in the middle west, north- west, southwest and south, and even east and southeast.
FRUIT RAISING AT SOUTH HAVEN
Orcharding at South Haven dates from 1852 when Stephen B. Morehouse and Randolph Densmore set out apple orchards, and the former also set out a peach orchard.
Mr. Morehouse came to South Haven from Albion for the pur- pose of engaging in the fruit business His peach orchard stood in what is now the business district of South Haven city, in the block bounded by Center and Phoenix streets and the main ravine. His apple orchard was on the property now owned by E. B. Ket- cham along North Shore Drive, and many of the original trees are still standing and in bearing. The orchard set by Mr. Densmore was just south of that, its southern boundary being about where Wells street now runs.
These orchards were set only two or three years after the old Parmelee orchard of seven acres at St. Joseph, so that the birth of the industry in the two localities was nearly simultaneous. It grew more rapidly at St. Joseph for the first few years because of the greater extent there of lands already cleared and ready for trees and vines, while around South Haven were the forests that had first to be removed.
Among the other early orchardists of this section were James L. Reid, Joseph Dow, S. G. Sheffer and C. M. Sheffer. The first vineyards were set in 1858-one and one-half acres by Orris Church and one acre by A. S. Dyckman-and Aaron Eames was another early grape grower. Mr. Dyckman was also among the pioneer peach growers, having set an orchard of four acres in 1857.
In 1855 and 1856 L. H. Bailey set out the apple orchard that is notable not only as one of the first and one of the largest in this
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section but as the school in which his son, Liberty H. Bailey, Jr., received the practical training that started him on the way to be- coming the foremost authority on horticulture in this country if not in the world.
From these beginnings along and near the lake shore have spread the orchards and vineyards that cover so large a portion of the western part of the county. As the forests receded before the axe of the lumberman and the settler, fruit trees and vines sprung up to replace them and to provide the means through which the set- tlers should derive so much of their sustenance from the soil that had long been given over to the "forest primeval."
FRUIT BELT WIDENS
Receding from the lake the proportion of fruit to grain and stock lessened steadily. This was due in large measure to the belief in the earlier years that the beneficent influence of the lake only extended over a narrow strip, estimated by some to be as narrow as two miles in width, but with the gradual dispelling of this notion and the continuing prosperity of the fruit growers, the "Fruit Belt" has been increasing in width until it is now fair to say that the fruit industry is the leading one of the western half of the county.
It was just about the close of the Civil war that the fruit in- dustry began to compete with the timber business for supremacy in this section, and for a few years they kept on fairly even terms. But with the fruit steadily gaining and the other standing still or falling behind, it was only a few years before the former and securely established itself in the van where it has since remained.
Previous to 1865 the lands were mainly purchased for the tim- ber and the majority of the residents were more or less directly concerned in the various branches of the timber industry. Many of the small clearings made in the pursuit of the timber trade were set to fruit trees and vines, and as these came into bearing with their luscious and profitable crops, attention was turned to the possibilities of their culture. The example of the pioneers who have been named in a preceding paragraph was followed by scores of others, and the beginnings of permanent settlement really oc- curred in this period of the community's history.
Large tracts of land, particularly the cut-over parcels were pur- chased and set to fruit, mainly to peaches which have since been the leading crop, though in recent years the apple has closely pressed its less hardy sister fruit for first place in extent of or- charding, volume of product and profits derived. The peach has a record of more than half a century of annual crops, except for Vol. 1-21
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two or three years. Aside from the freeze of October 10, 1906, there has never been any loss of trees by severe cold, except from preventable causes, like poor drainage, over-fertilization, late culti- vation, and the like, and no loss of trees or fruit by extreme cold in winter, or by spring or fall frosts, when the air current has been off Lake Michigan which has tempered the winds before they reached the orchards and vineyards.
COOPERATION THROUGH SOCIETIES
Cooperation has, from the outset, been a dominant principle of the fruit-growing interests of this section. Possibly no one factor outside of the natural conditions previously mentioned, has con- tributed so much to the rapid and healthy growth of this industry in this community as the willingness of the growers to share with each other the lessons learned by experience and observation and the study of successful methods in other fruit sections.
The existence of this spirit of cooperation led to the organization in December, 1870, of the South Haven Pomological Society, now known as the South Haven and Casco Pomological society.
This society extends its influence and benefits not alone over the townships mentioned in its title but over a wide section of the west- ern portions of Van Buren and Allegan counties. It has an un- broken record of holding weekly meetings part or all of the year for the forty-odd years of its life, to its discussions have contributed the foremost fruit growers of this section, many of whom can justly claim a like preeminence in state and nation, and it is fair to say that the story of the society is the history of the fruit industry in the section from which the society draws its members and over which it spreads its benefits.
Concerning the purposes of the society and the record of its first year, let us quote from the report made by its secretary, C. T. Bryant, in December, 1871, to the secretary of the State Pomological Society. Mr. Bryant says: "By way of introduction, it falls to me to write briefly of our organization and its work. Convinced that our superior advantages of climate and soil for growing fruit and facilities for shiping to the best markets, indicated that fruit culture was to be the principal business of this community and justified us in striving for the highest attainments and in expecting the greatest possible success and profit in this branch of agricul- ture as a reward for well directed effort, those interested, in Decem- ber, 1870, organized the South Haven Pomological Society; the specific object of which is, 'to develop facts, promulgate information as to the best methods of growing the best varieties of fruits for our vicinity, and for our own profit and improvements.'
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"This society has steadily increased in members and interest. The meetings are well attended; the discussions are spirited; the expressions of opinion, and statements of experience, candid; the feeling harmonious; and we are more and more assured that our interests are mutual and that the greatest obstacles in the way of making fruit growing a constantly profitable business may be overcome by cooperation."
Such a paragraph as the last night be written is summarizing each year the efforts of the members to carry out the concisely stated but comprehensive purposes set forth in the preceding paragraph.
The first officers of the society were: President, Norman Phil- lips; vice president, C. H. Wigglesworth ; secretary, C. T. Bryant ; treasurer, C. J. Monroe; executive committee, I. S. Linderman, John Williams, H. E. Bidwell and J. Lannin.
From the formation of the society South Haven and its tributary territory took increasing prominence in the field of horticulture. Among the features that contributed toward making the society and its efficiency and energy well-known throughout this state and to a considerable extent over the nation was the meeting at South Haven of the State Pomological Society September 3 and 4, 1872.
Within two weeks the local society raised the funds and built complete the hall in which the meeting was held, an example of energy and enterprise that received much comment from the visitors in their addresses and discussions at the sessions, and was com- plimented in the resolutions adopted at the close of the meeting.
"MASTER L. H. BAILEY"
Just a year later to a day, the State Society again met at South Haven and at that meeting there was read an essay on "Birds" by "Master L. H. Bailey, a lad of fifteen years," as noted in the reports of that meeting. This was probably the first appearance before the state society of this young man who was to become so great an authority on horticulture. His essay is published in full in the annual reports of the state society, and it shows throughout the combination of the practical and the poetic that has so char- acterized his work as gardener, farmer, educator, lecturer, author and adviser. In recognition of his interest in horticulture and particularly in the relation of birds thereto, the local society elected "Master" L. H. Bailey as its Ornithologist in 1873. The discus- sions of the local society for 1873, as recorded by the secretary, are published in full in the report of the state society for that year, the only instance of the kind in which any local body has been thus honored in the history of the state organization.
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The society and its members have taken awards at many of the international expositions, commencing with the Centennial in 1876, and continuing through the Paris exposition to its triumphs at the more recent exhibitions.
A. S. DYCKMAN AND T. T. LYON
Space forbids individual mention of the many persons who have contributed so much to the development of the fruit industry and to the work and influence of the society. But no sketch of the industry and society would be complete that did not pay tribute to the service of A. S. Dyckman and T. T. Lyon.
Mr. Dyckman was, as has been seen, one of the pioneers in the business, and was for many years the most extensive grower and shipper of this section. He served the state and local societies as president and in many other capacities.
Before coming to Van Buren county from Wayne county, Mr. Lyon had won a national reputation as a pomologist, and that repu- tation he greatly enhanced during the years that he dwelt in Van Buren. He, too, served the state society as president, and that for a period of fifteen years, through successive annual re-elections. He was the first director of the sub-experiment station established at South Haven in 1889 by the State Board of Agriculture, and arranged its facilities and organized its work on the practical, scientific basis that has enabled the station, despite inadequate space, to be of the greatest benefit to the fruit growers of Michigan.
CROPS OF THE COUNTY
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