USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 61
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CHAPPEAU AND FARNSWORTH, RIVAL TRADERS
Chappean was a French Canadian voyager, familiar with the life and customs of the Indians, and for this reason he was able to live here through those trying years of conflict for the possession of the country ; but he virtually took his life in his hands when he located alone and far from any other white man in the very heart of the savage tribes. It is true he had his helpers; that he built his trading post almost after a fashion of a fort, with heavy palisades, and that he was heavily armed ; but it must have required much courage and diplomacy on his part to live as he did under those circumstances. He seems to have preferred the solitudes and savagery of nature to the civilization he left behind, and he continued that solitary life, with only the Indians and his helpers as his companions, until the year 1818, when Willam Farnsworth made his first visit here, but again left the solitude to Chappeau until 1822 when he returned, accompanied by his partner Charles Brush, for permanent settlement, only six years after the government garrisoned Fort How- ard, at the head of Green bay.
The coming of Messrs. Farnsworth and Brush, from Mackinac, in 1822, seems to have been without invitation from the theretofore sole possessor of the realm, and it was the signal for a contest for suprem- aey, a contest to be waged in the courts of nature which knew no other law than that "might makes right." Farnsworth eame as a representa- tive of the American Fur Company, and was a man of ability and keen perceptions; and here it may be said that to the sagacity of his wife, who will be hereinafter referred to, is attributed a large degree of his snecess. He realized that the future held greater promises in store than even the then present afforded, and he kept a keen eye on events with the one main object of supremacy in view. He did not have to wait loug. Chappeau got into diffienlty with some of the minor chiefs of the local tribes, and in an affray lost a thumb. To show them his power and convince the Indians ju general that they could not deal with him in that way, Chappeau sent to Fort Howard and had these three sub- chiefs arrested and there imprisoned. They were made to believe, and it was given out generally, that more severe punishment awaited them, and as a consequence consternation was spread abroad throughout the tribe. At this juncture Farnsworth realized his opportunity, went to the fort and there interceded in behalf of the imprisoned chiefs and seenred their release.
This master stroke secured for Farnsworth the friendship of the Indiaus, and, to show their appreciation, it is claimed they made to him an extensive grant of lands, taking in the territory on both sides of the river from the month to a point above and including the location of Chappeau's trading post ; though there seems to be nothing but tradition to evidence the grant. With this claim of title Farnsworth again
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watched a favorable opportunity for an advance movement, and to pos- sess himself of his property. One day when Chappean and his trappers were all away from the post Farnsworth and his followers entered, pitched all of Chappean's movables out, and forcibly held possession.
Chappeau's dismay may be more easily imagined than described, but Farnsworth had the greater force and the advantage of possession, and Chappeau had left to him but one alternative. Making the best of his bad plight he loaded his provisions, belongings and helpers into bat- teaux and made his way up river, landing at the foot of the rapids that have since borne his name, at which point he established himself and built another trading post, and where he made his home and continued his traffic with the Indians until his death, which ocenrred there in 1852. Of Mr. Chappean. Judge Ingalls, who came to Menominee while the . memories of Chappean were fresh in the minds of all the citizens, in his "Centennial History of Menominee County, " says: "He was a French- Canadian voyageur, with sufficient education to keep what books were necessary for an Indian trading-post, and was apparently the right man for the place. He was stirring and active, and had sufficient cour- age and nerve for any emergency that might arise. He had a large number of men, picked up from that class of Canadian voyageurs who preferred a life in the solitude of the forests to a home with civilization ; ' his post sometimes presented the appearance of a well-garrisoned fort. and at other times he was left almost solitary and alone to defend it if hostile Indians approached. His post was solidly built of logs with palisades made of heavy timbers set in the ground around it. Some por- tions of the one near Chappee's Rapids were remaining when the writer of this came in the country in 1859.
"A story is told illustrating his nerve in danger as well as the nn- comfortable position an Indian trader is sometimes placed in when his post is far ont.on the frontier, away from civilized men. I state the story as it was related to me by the late John G. Kittson, several years before his death.
"All of the white men belonging to the post had been sent away on various expeditions, leaving only Chappee and one white man. A band of Indians from a distance, who were none too friendly, came to the post. and before Chappee had discovered the character of his visi- tors. they had come within the stockade and inside the building used as the store room. At first they began peaceably to talk of trade, but soon got noisy and threatening, and it was not long before he became satis- fied, from their actions, that the object of their visit was to rob him of his goods and probably to lift his scalp. To fight them was out of the question, for not only were they inside of the stockade, but were crowd- ing around his small counter inside the store building; and all of his reliable men were miles away, whence he could not recall them. He tried by pleasant words to still the storm and avert the danger, but without avail ; they grew more and more threatening, and when, as he thought, the crisis had approached. he rolled out a keg of gunpowder
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which was open at the end, and catching up a loaded pistol he cocked it and pointed it into the gunpowder, and with flashing eyes turned to their chief, told him that if every Indian was not ont of the stoekade in two minutes he would fire into the gunpowder, and send them, and go with them into the happy hunting grounds. They knew by his tone and the flash of his eye that he meant business, and. being suddenly impressed with the idea that discretion was the better part of valor, in less than two minutes not an Indian was to be seen inside the stockade. The best of the matter was that they beenme so favorably impressed with his bravery, they immediately made friends with him, he got a good trade with them. they always remained his friends, and often after- wards visited him."
FARNSWORTH AND THE FIRST SAW-MIL.
Before coming here, William Farnsworth had been for years an em- ployce of the American Fur Company which was organized by John Jacob Astor. For some time after coming he continued in the same business, but, with an eye to the future, he discerned a prospect in the direction of lumber and fish as commercial commodities, and realized the abundance of the local supply. To fully appreciate the situation, however, the reader must remember that the middle west was still a wilderness; there was then no Chicago or Milwaukee to furnish a mar- ket, and no railroads or steamboats to furnish transportation. At Green Bay there was a fort on one side of the river and a small village of fur traders on the other, but the only market of consequence for the local prodnets was to be found in the east. As for fur, large values procured at little eost could be done up in small packages and readily trans- ported by the then primitive methods of lake transportation, but the question of transporting fish and Imber furnished a vastly different proposition.
Messrs. Farnsworth and Brush, with confidence in the future rapid development of nearby markets, built the first saw-mill on the Menom- inee in 1832. It was a small water-mill on the Wisconsin side and near the trading post. For power to run the mill, they built a dam from the main bank of the river to the island. and this made a pond and gave them a head of water sufficient for their power; their mill having a ea- pacity of only six or eight thousand feet per day. The establishment of this mill was the first commercial diversion from the monopoly which had theretofore been held hy the fur trade.
Even though there were no courts in the immediate vicinity. there is a tradition that this mill built by Farnsworth and Brush met with finan- cial disaster, and was sold at sheriff's sale to one D. M. Whitney, of Green Bay, who thereafter traded it to a Sammel H. Farnsworth for eighteen barrels of whitefish. Shortly thereafter Mr. Farnsworth sold whatever interest he acquired to Dr. J. C. Hall, who came to the river in 1839; and from that time it seems that Dr. Hall and the original Farnsworth and Brush operated the mill for two or three years, when the dam was washed out and the mill was abandoned.
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The locating of the dam for the mill also had the effect to afford an excellent opportunity for fishing. It is said that by the construction of a weir below the dam the fish were so guided that, at certain seasons, great quantities were taken by means of seoop-nets; and in this way the catch of a single season is reported to have been as high as five hundred aud fifty barrels. And so the second commercial diversion was also inaugurated hy Messrs. Farnsworth and Brush.
From the small beginning in the saw-mill referred to, the lumber in- dustry of the Menominee river grew until, in a little more than a half century, this port attained the record as the greatest lumber shipping point in the world.
MRS. WILLIAM FARNSWORTH (MARINETTE)
We cannot pass Mr. Farnsworth's portion of the pioneer work of this locality withont mentioning the fact that when he came to the Menominee he brought with him as his wife, Marinette, and her two children by her former husband. John B. JJacobs, with whom she had lived and from whom she had parted at Mackinaw. She is said to have been then a handsome and brilliant half-breed. She was a granddaugh- ter, on her mother's side, of Chief Wabashish, of the Menominees, com- monly known among them as "The Martin," and her father was Bar- tholomew Chevallier, an early French trader. The two children who came with them were Elizabeth and John B. Jacobs, Jr. The latter afterwards became a prominent citizen of Green Bay, while the daugh- ter, Elizabeth Jacobs, became the wife of Charles MeLeod, one of the carly settlers and traders who had his home on the Michigan bank of the Menominee river a little below the present site of the lower dam.
Farnsworth and wife lived at the original location, in Marinette, and there Marinette continued to live at what was for a long time thereafter known as Marinette's honse, after the death of her husband, he having been one of the unfortunates who was lost on the "Lady Elgin," Lake Michigan. Marinette is often mistakenly referred to as "Queen Mari- nette," but she is remembered by those of our early settlers who still remain as an exemplary woman and a very brilliant and extremely shrewd business manager.
JOHN G. KITTSON
Of the settlers that followed, among the most prominent we may mention John G. Kittson, who came in 1826 as a "conrier du bois" and as a representative of the American Fur Company. He located a trad- ing post at the Wausaukee bend of the Menominee river about thirty miles above Menomine, the site having had the advantage of a beautiful location as well as being the point of crossing the river by the great through Indian trail which led from the far south up through Shawano, crossing the river on a natural ford nt Wansaukee, and continning on to the ancient copper mines of the Lake Superior country, Kittson was a very prominent figure in general matters from the time of his
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coming, and much conkl be said in his behalf. To him is accorded the honor of starting the first farm in the county, which is located at the site of his first trading post. He died in 1872 leaving several descend- ants who are respected citizens of the locality, on both sides of the river. It is said his death was hastened by exposure and suffering endured during the great woods fire in October, 1871. Judge Ingalls says of him: "Ile was a very intelligent and stirring man, and was all his life actively engaged in the fur trade or in farming, and he had the honor of elearing and working the first farms ever opened in this county, one at Wausaukee hend above Grand Rapids, and another at Chappee's Rap- ids, near the old trading post, where he resided for many years before the great fire. He had great influence over the Indians, and was at all
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JOHN G. KITTSON
times a friend to their interests The Indians always spoke of Mr. Kitt- son as 'The Writer,' a name they gave him on account of his doing all the writing for them in their various transactions with the government. ยท One son, John Kittson, was killed in the War of the Rebel- lion in Sherman's march to the sea."
Joseph Dunean also came to the river in 1826, and was employed as a packer by the American Fur Company. He lived here for many years until a very old man, making his home most of the time with Charles McLeod.
In 1832, Charles MeLeod. Baptiste Primean, and Joseph DeCoto, came as permanent settlers, all took prominent parts in the affairs of the settlement, and all have left descendants who have reason to look back with satisfaction on the parts played by their ancestors in the trade, and development of this section before the days of local civil gov-
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ernment. Messrs. MeLeod and Primeau located on the Menominee side, nearly opposite the Farnsworth trading post, while DeCoto located a farm and trading post up the river at what is now known as White Rapids, where he lived to a good old age.
A good story, somewhat illustrative of the times and conditions, is told by Judge Ingalls, involving DeCoto and Kittson: It is as follows: "DeCoto is French and does not talk the best of English. He had a law suit with John G. Kittson with whom he was not on the best of terms, about a horse which Kittson replevined. DeCoto could not speak the name Kittson, but always called it 'Dixon.' Soon after the time of the suit with Kittson a Catholic priest who made occasional visits to the Menominee river and through the wild settlements, came here and vis- ited DeCoto at White Rapids, and DeCoto made him a present of a pony to assist him in his travels and missionary journeys. The matter of his suit with Kittson would occasionally come up when he would in- variably work himself into a passion, and after exhausting every exple- tive in the Canadian-French vocabulary, he would cool off with 'vell, I gife vay two hoss: I gife von to de Lord an I gife von to de devil; I gife von to de priest an I gife von to John Dixon,'"
It is said that in 1836 the first steamboat touched at the port of Me- nominee, coming in for fuel (wood) and it is reported that she confis- cated a kiln of charcoal that had been burned by Farnsworth and Brush. She was the steamer "New York," and aboard of her was Daniel Wells, Jr., who then made his first visit here, and who has since been very prominently connected with the large lumbering interests of this locality.
In 1839 Doctor C. J. Hall, as before mentioned, came and purchased an interest in the Farnsworth and Brush mill, and thereafter, in 1844, he built another mill farther up the Rapids, and there, at the site of the present sorting gap, he constructed a dam from each bank of the river to the island, thus effectually damming the river. This dam caused con- siderable trouble, as it interfered with the "rights of navigation" that had theretofore been enjoyed by John G. Kittson, and by Joseph De- Coto. each of whom had trading posts farther up the river, as before mentioned, and both of whom had been accustomed to take their supplies up river by boat. Kittson, being much wroth, adopted the only law then commonly resorted to in the locality, came down with his force of help- ers, and forcibly tore away the dam, standing gnard with a gun over the men at work. Dr. Hall started out to seck redress in the courts, but their remoteness combined with the attendant expense caused him to give second thought, and he sought out his adversary, and a compromise was effected.
This was really the third mill on the river, a small one having been built by Charles MeLeod almost wholly of wood, except the saws and the immediate connections that were essentially of iron. This second mill was built in 1841, eighteen miles up river at Twin Island Rapids, but the same only run for a short time as the expense of getting the huimber to market would not warrant it.
Vol. 1-36
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In 1839 the first government surveys were commenced in this locality and it was some years before sub-divisions were made that would per- mit of putting the lands upon the market. A government map of the Menominee river, made in 1842, shows "Menominee city" as located on the Marinette side of the river, very near where the Boom Company's office is. It shows "Chappeau's Trading Post" on the Menominee side at the foot of Chappeau's Rapids, and it also shows " Kittson's Trading House" at Wansaukee Bend.
EVELAND AND QUIMBY
Andrus Eveland came and settled in 1842, and built the first frame dwelling in what they termed the Village, in 1853, Charles MeLeod hav- ing constructed his frame house the previous year, on the site of his former cabin, on the banks of the river. "above the village."
John Quimby, another pioneer, came in 1845 and was prominently identified with the development of the village. Both Quimby and Eve-
ANDRUS EVELAND
land engaged in the fishing business in which for years they played prominent parts, and both took active parts in the laying out of the vil- lage. Quimby platted the original village as "Quimby's Lots," and also additions thereto. Eveland also platted an addition.
Mr. Quimby at one time owned very much of the land on which the city now stands, and from his then point of view fully performed his part of the work of building the village, though he never realized that the settlement would ever become of very great importance, which fact finds illustration in his laying out of the first village plat, wherein Main street was only thirty feet wide. There are those living who re- member having heard the old gentleman remark that he did not want to live longer than to see a railroad through these woods. It would not be appropriate to pass the mention of Mr. Quimby's part in history
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without also making mention of his good wife. Almira Quimby, also very well known and remembered for the conspicuous part played by her. She survived her husband for many years, and the writer, as do many others, remembers her as living in the old homestead where Arm- ory Hall now stands. She was a benevolent, whole-souled woman, who, in her position as landlady of the "Quimby Hotel," had opportunity to and always did exhibit her good qualities by her generous attention to and nursing of the sick and unfortunate, and her universal kindliness to all. Her photograph appears with that of Mrs. E. S. Ingalls, Mrs. S. M. Stephenson and other pioneer women.
With the opening of the government land to market came the induce- ments to development, and the situation was reached at which the pio- neers referred to in the beginning of this article came upon the seene and began the active development there spoken of. There were still no railroads, no wagon roads, and no means of travel except by boat upon the rivers and the bay. The surrounding country was almost an un- broken forest, and pine lands on either side of the river came on to the market at $1.25 per acre on the "first-come-first-served" plan ; and there were fortunes lying at the feet of those who knew and recognized the opportunity.
It was at about this juncture that the late lamented Dr. John J. Sher- man came upon the river, and. at the request of the writer, he, a few years ago, penned a reminiscent article upon the happenings of those early days from which extracts have been quoted in the chapter per- taining to lumber. The Doctor's own honest. fearless. just and upright disposition is depicted in the style of his narrative, and his story of those times brings to the reader a clearer idea of the reality than could be gained by any amount of history written at second-hand. The good Doctor lived an exemplary life of much usefulness, and has passed to his reward. leaving the best of earthly heritages "a good name," and many friends to cherish it.
ONLY MILL ON THE RIVER
In the few years preceding 1850, the mill which had been con- structed by Dr. Hall in 1844 became the subject of numerous transfers, and undivided interests therein were owned at various times by men named Jerome, Spaids, Henry Bentley and Zenas Cobb, the last of whom resold the property to Dr. Hall about the year 1847. That pio- neer in the lumber industry of Menominee seems to have been the sole mill owner as the half century mark was passed, and the only mill on the river at that time had a capacity of six million feet of lumber per year under favorable conditions. The last half of the century began its Iumbering history under most unfavorable conditions, so that the mill was surrendered by Dr. Hall to his creditors in 1851, the principal of whom was the firm of Gardiner & Baker, who, in 1853, sold the mill to Elsworth, Shepard and Donglass, which latter firm, shortly thereafter, transferred it to Ludington and Fawes. The mill burned in 1856, and
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PIONEER WOMEN OF MENOMINEE
Mrs. E. S. Ingalls Mrs. S. M. Stephenson Mrs. Wilham Holmes
Mrs. William Lehmann
Mrs. J. R. Brooks Mrs. John Quimby
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the dam and remaining buildings connected with it soon thereafter went to ruin. This mill is the one that was familiarly known as the "Old Water Mill." and it stood near the site of the present third or upper dam,
In 1854 a mill was built on Cedar river, then called "Big Cedar," about two miles up river from its mouth. It was a water mill and was constructed by Hackbone and Boyden. Joel S. Fisk, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, purchased the interest of Hackbone in this mill, and about the year 1855 sold it to Samuel Hamilton and Sylvester Lynn, who, un- der the name of Hamilton and Lynn abandoned the old plant, and built a steam mill at the mouth of the river where the present village of Cedar River now stands. Lumbering in this part of the country had not yet assumed a substantial foundation and interests in this mill passed to various parties, including Boyden and Spinner, James McCaffrey, and through his creditor, the Marine Bank of Chicago, to JJ. M. Underwood of that city, who acquired it in 1862, and who put it in charge of Sal- mon P. Saxton, as manager. Hle run it until 1864, though it was sold by Mr. Underwood to Jesse Spalding and Robert Law, of Chicago, in 1862. In 1864 Mr. Saxton removed to Menominee, and the interest of Mr. Law was transferred to H. H. Porter, the firm name became Spald- ing & Porter, and these gentlemen were thereafter associated in various Inmbering and other industries on the Menominee river and in this county for many years.
PIONEER CEDAR RIVER MILL
As to this pioneer Cedar river mill, it has had a prosperous career. It passed from Spalding & Porter into the hands of Lemoyne. Hubbard and Wood, and then again, in 1876, back into the hands of Jesse Spald- ing, who continued to be its sole owner until he had manufactured into Immber practically all the pine upon Cedar river and its branches, and tributary to the mill along the Bay Shore, when he soll it, with his large holdings of lands, on which there remained vast quantities of hemlock and other hardwoods, to Sammel Crawford & Sons, the present opera- tors, of whom mention will be made later. At the time of its construc- tion this mill was considered as of very large capacity, that of 12.000,000 feet of lumber per year.
OTHER NOTABLE EARLY MILLS
The year 1856 was a suitable one for the Menominee river, for during that year several of the mills that have since had connected with them nantes which are indelibly impressed upon the pages of our Inmbering history, saw the beginning of their existence. The New York Inmber Company began the construction of its mill on the main shore of the river on the Wisconsin side, at what was then called Menekaunee, but is now East Marinette. The N. Ludington Company began the con- struction of its mill on Mission Point, near where the second or middle bridge is now located, and Abner Kirby, in the same year, began the
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