A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan, Part 4

Author: Collin, Henry P
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing
Number of Pages: 1198

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It is to be borne in mind that the U. S. survey of the land that became Branch county was made after Indiana had become a state in 1816, and

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

while Michigan was a territory, and that the creation and naming of the boundaries of our county was an act of our territorial authorities in 1829. The southern boundaries of all the counties in Michigan's southern tier are coincident of course with the boundary lines between the state and the two states south of it, Indiana and Ohio. The history of these state lines is the history in general of the county boundaries. We have given in brief the history of the Indiana state line and of its particular connection with Branch county. Branch is the easternmost of the four counties having the Indiana line, a due east and west line, as their entire southern boundary. Hillsdale county has about one mile of this line in its boundary, which then follows the Indiana boundary south about two miles, when it reaches the Ohio line at its starting point eastward.

But the northern boundary of Ohio is not exactly a due east and west line, as a careful look at any accurate map of Ohio. and Michigan will disclose, and the same is true of course of the southern boundary of Michigan and of all the counties bordering upon Ohio. These state lines have a long, large and interesting history, and this is especially true of the one between Ohio, and Michigan. But Branch county does not touch Ohio even at its corner, and it must suffice for a his- tory of this county to merely indicate the movement in men's thought and the chief events which took place in the course of the settlement of the Ohio and Indiana state boundaries on the north.

People's thought relating to these boundary lines found its first formal legislative expression in that great regulative document, " The Ordinance of 1787 for the Government of the Northwest Territory." Article 5 of this ordinance named the eastern, southern and western boundaries of what be- came Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and then said: "If Congress shall find it hereafter expedient, they shall have authority to establish one or two states in that part of said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." May 7, 1800, Congress made the eastern part of our peninsula a part of the Northwest Territory along with what is now Ohio, while the western part was included in Indiana territory. The country now forming Branch county belongs to this western part along with what is now the state of Indiana. April 30, 1802, Congress passed an enabling act, according to which the people within certain boundaries might form a state to be called Ohio. The northern boundary of the new state was to be the east and west line of the Ordinance of 1787, running east from the western boundary named for it. The west- ern boundary named was what it is today, and as this line lies a short dis- tance cast of Branch county's territory, Ohio's boundary lines formed no actual part of Branch county's boundaries that were to be. Uncertainty arose in the minds of the Ohio people, when their convention came to con- sider the enabling act, as to where the line running due east from "the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan " would strike Lake Erie. Not- withstanding this uncertainty and a proviso adopted by the convention to meet it, Congress admitted Ohio as a state, February 19, 1803, with the due east and west line of the ordinance as its prescribed constitutional bound-

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HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

ary. But the uncertainty remained, and immediately began to produce trouble between the state and the people of the territory of Michigan.

The dispute over the exact location of this boundary line lasted from 1803 to 1837. the year in which Michigan was admitted to the Union. Janu- ary 26 of that year the act of Congress admitting Michigan, with the consti- tution which had been adopted for it, was approved by Andrew Jackson as president. That constitution declared definitely what the southern boundary of Michigan should be, and the act of Congress settled the dispute which had been troubling the people of Michigan for thirty-four years, in which the people of Branch county had become involved along with the rest. Article I of the constitution of our state describes its boundaries, and the portion relating to the line between it and Ohio bears so many interesting marks of its history that we quote it: "Commencing at a point on the eastern boundary line of the state of Indiana, where a direct line drawn from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the most northerly cape of the Maumee bay shall intersect the same-said point being the northwest corner of the state of Ohio, as established by the act of Congress, entitled 'An act to establish the northern boundary of the state of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the state of Michigan into the Union upon the conditions therein expressed,' approved June fifteenth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, thence with the said boundary line of the state of Ohio till it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Canada in Lake Erie."

This boundary line between the two states, as finally fixed, was not a due east and west line, as we have already stated. It runs a little north of east. Branch county's southern boundary has not been at all a part of that state boundary line. Our entire southern boundary is a part of Indiana's northern line, but this was defined and laid out with a reference to the same point from which the Ohio boundary line at first and finally was determined, namely, "the southern extremity of Lake Michigan." Moreover, Branch county people in 1835 took part in the so-called Toledo War, which arose in the controversy over that Ohio line.

We have already narrated the action of Congress and of the people of Indiana, by which the northern boundary of Indiana as a state was estab- lished in 1816, and made to be a line due east from Lake Michigan running ten miles north of the east and west line of the Ordinance of 1787. Through all the nearly thirty years from 1787 to 1816, the people of the Michigan peninsula had assumed that the Ordinance line east from the southern ex- treme of Lake Michigan was to be recognized as the boundary line of states south of them .. In 1818 the authorities of Michigan territory protested that Congress liad no right to include in the state of Indiana the strip of land ten miles wide north of that line. They continued to insist upon their just claims to this strip even up to the years of 1835 and 1836, when the people through their conventions were seeking admission as a state. The convention at Ann Arbor, December 14, 1836, finally agreed to the condi- tions set forth in the act of Congress for the admission of Michigan as a

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

state, namely, that Michigan should accept the boundaries claimed by Ohio and Indiana and should receive the Upper Peninsula as a compensation there- for. The congressional act of admission soon followed, and from January 26, 1837, the boundary lines therein laid down have been accepted without serious question.

Thus we have seen that the southern boundary of our county as a legally described line came into existence in 1816, that that line was de- scribed with reference to a geographical point used in the Ordinance of 1787, and that it became the boundary of our county as it now is by territorial act in 1829. But this line as the northern boundary of Indiana was not actually run and marked off until 1827 and 1828. In the former year a bill was passed by Congress providing for its being run and marked. The work was begun October 8, 1827, by Mr. E. P. Hendricks, under the authority of the surveyor general of the United States.

The four small townships of our county bordering on Indiana were not laid off by the United States surveyors until 1828, and, as appears quite plainly from the Field Notes of the county, not until after the Indiana boundary had been run and marked by Mr. Hendricks. These four are town- ships 8 south, of ranges 5, 6, 7 and 8 west, or what afterward became Calı- fornia, Kinderhook, Gilead and Noble. The Notes show naturally that the township of range 5, or California, was the first to be surveyed. Over the date and name, "April 7, 1828, Robert Clarke, Jun. D. S.," stands the fol- lowing note of the east boundary of this township: "Intersected N. bound- ary of Indiana 30.89 west of 104th mile post. Set post." April 13th fol- lowing, Mr. Clarke ran the western boundary of this township to the Indiana line and set a post at the intersection of the two. "Snowed this day three inches deep," he wrote as a beginning of our weather bureau records. April 23d he did the same for the western boundary of Kinderhook, or the eastern boundary of Gilead; April 30th, the same for the western boundary of Gilead; and May 6th, 1828, he ran and marked the western boundary of T 8 S. R & W, or of Noble township, and set a post, which marked the southwest corner of the county when it came into existence in 1829, and which marks it probably today.

The southern boundaries of these townships, or the southern boundary of the county, may also be described in terms of latitude, if the boundary between the two states has thus been determined and recorded, inasmuch as the former boundaries ought to be identical with the latter one or the latter ones. The 1906 edition of Lippincott's Gazetteer gives the north boundary of Indiana as " the parallel of 41 degrees, 46 minutes, north," and the south boundary of Michigan as " the parallel of 41 degrees and 42 minutes north." There seems to be a difference of four minutes between the latitude of the north boundary of Indiana and that of the south boundary of Michigan, though there is no difference among authorities as to the exact location of the one line forming the two boundaries on the surface of the ground.

The exact courses of the line referred to in the Ordinance of 1787, of the Harris line run in 1816 for the northern boundary of Ohio, and of the

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

line named as the northern boundary of Indiana, and becoming the southern boundary of Branch county, the exact courses of all these lines depended upon the exact location of one point, namely, the point assumed to be the southern bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. When this point was actually deter- mined and marked by the United States surveyors I have not been able definitely to ascertain. The first actual survey of a line from this point, of which I know, was the one run in part in 1815, and which was begun anew and completed in 1816 and 1817 by a Mr. Harris, in accordance with the proviso of Ohio's state constitution. The point must have been established. therefore, as early as the surveys of 1815 and 1816, at any rate. In 1820, under the direction of President Monroe, a line was run and marked for the northern boundary of Ohio in accordance with the act of Congress of May 20, 1812, that is, due east from that point.

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

CHAPTER III.

TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF BRANCH COUNTY-THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM.

Branch county, situated as it is midway between Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, occupies the highest position in the lower tier of counties. Its average elevation is between ten hundred and eleven hundred feet above sea level.

Its surface structure is easily seen to be due to glacial action. In fact Branch county is situated upon the crest of a moraine beginning near Sagi- naw, Michigan, and extending southward into Indiana. The soil, rocks, hills, valleys and lakes all' bear unmistakable evidence of a glacial origin. There are no mountains in Branch county, and but few conspicuous eleva- tions. " Warner's hill," immediately south of the city of Coldwater, is the highest hill in Coldwater township, but it is a comparatively gentle slope whose elevation is, perhaps, sixty feet. Its crest extends almost east and west and finally merges itself into the surrounding country about two and one-half miles east of the state road running south of Coldwater. There are notably two other hills in the northeastern portion of Algansee township conspicuous for both height and slope. They occur one directly after the other, their elevation being about seventy feet and their slope making an angle of about fifty degrees with the horizon. These are three of the more noticeable hills in Branch county, but all of them will bear practically the same description.

Branch county owes its beauty almost entirely to its many beautiful and picturesque lakes. In tracing out its system of lakes it is natural to start with its largest, viz .: Coldwater Lake.

Coldwater Lake lies in the southeastern part of Ovid township in sec- tions 26, 27, 34 and 35, and also sections 2 and 3 of Kinderhook town- ship. Its extreme length from north to south is about two and one-half miles and its greatest width from east to west about two miles. An island consisting of 80 acres lies in the southeastern portion of the lake and is almost entirely within section 35.

There are three places along its shores where cottages have been built for purposes of summer resort. Sans Souci, designating the largest assembly of cottages, is directly opposite the island on the eastern shore. Crystal Beach is next in size, and is located on the eastern shore near the northern extremity of the lake. The third, Idlewild, is on the western shore facing Crystal Beach and about one-half a mile from it. The scenery at Cold-

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

water lake is so picturesque and attractive that many resorters from other parts of the county and from other regions spend a great part of the sum- mer there.

The outlet of Coldwater lake starts about one-fourth of a mile south of Idlewild in section 27 of Ovid township and runs in a generally westerly direction through that section. It just cuts across the northeastern corner of section 28, and pursues a northerly course through the eastern portion of section 21 into section 16, where it changes to a northwest course and enters section 9. in section 9 it again runs straight west into section 8, where it empties into the eastern end of a small lake. At the western end of the lake it resumes its westerly course and keeps it as far as the southwest corner of section 8. At this point it receives the waters of Little lake, Lake of the Woods, and Bingham lake.

Bingham lake lies in the northwestern portion of section 30 and covers about 100 acres. The water of Bingham lake empties north into a very beautiful lake called, Lake of the Woods. This lake lies mostly in section 19. but it also occupies parts of sections 20, 17 and 18. It is about 300 acres in extent. Its outlet is in the southeastern quarter of section 18. It flows north and empties into Little lake, which is about equally divided between sections 17 and 18. Little lake empties northward into the outlet stream of Coldwater lake at the point mentioned above.

This stream, which is called the Branch of the Coldwater river, now flows north through sections 7 and 6 of Ovid township into section 31 of Coldwater township, where it empties into the millpond at the Black Hawk mills. From this millpond it flows north through section 30 into section 19, where it takes a northeasterly course through the southeast portion of sec- tion 19 into section 20, emptying into the western side of South lake, which lies just west of the city of Coldwater. Into this lake the other outlet of Cold- water lake also empties.

Returning now to Coldwater lake, we will speak of the two lakes, Mud lake and Bartholomew lake, whose waters flow into it.

Long lake is situated almost entirely in section 23 of Ovid township, lying diagonally across it. One peculiar feature of this lake is its great depth. Of several people who have attempted to sound its depths each claims to have been unable to reach bottom. The shore on almost all sides plunges down almost perpendicularly. It is almost as if an earthquake had opened up a great deep fissure which had afterward filled up with water. Long lake occupies also small portions of sections 14 and 13. In the southwest corner of the latter section Long lake receives the water of Mud lake, also in section 13.

Between Mud lake and Bartholomew lake, a distance of perhaps half a mile, there is a natural watershed, dividing the two chains of lakes form- ing the two sources of the two streams, the Coldwater river and its branch, which unite west of Coldwater. Some years ago a channel was cut through this watershed, when it was found that the waters of Bartholomew and of the lakes north of it would flow south into Mud lake. The channel at this

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

point was afterwards closed. An account of this channel is given elsewhere in this work.

Bartholomew lake lies in the central portion of . section 7 of Algansee township and empties by a channel into Middle lake, lying for the most part in sections 7 and 5 of Algansee township. A channel connects Middle lake with Marble lake, a comparatively large body of water, about half the size of Coldwater lake and located in sections 4 and 5 of Algansee township and sections 32, 33, 28, 29 and 21 of Quincy township. Cedar Point on the eastern shore of the lake in section 33 is the location of a summer resort of increasing popularity. A small but exceedingly picturesque lake in the northwestern corner of section 9 erdpties into Marble lake. This lake is also very deep, no bottom having as yet been found, although it has been sounded with more than 300 feet of line. It is called Hanchett lake.

Marble lake has two outlets, the one leaving the lake almost on the north line of section 32 at the middle point, the other in the northeastern quarter of section 29. The former flows northwest through the southwest corner of section 30, where it turns to the northeast back into section 29 again. The latter flows west, uniting with the first branch in the north- west corner of section 29. From here the stream is called the Coldwater river, and flows northwest through section 20 into section 19, where it pur- sues a westerly course into section 24 of Coldwater township. Immediately over the border line its course is changed to the southwest, running into section 25. From here the stream runs approximately west through the northwest part of section 26. It leaves this section, entering the southeast corner of the city of Coldwater, through which it flows in a west-northwest- erly direction.

The stream through the city alternately divides and unites four times, finally entering South lake west of the city in two separate places. It is for the most part shallow, deepening only where it has been dammed.

From South lake the water flows into a channel (natural, but dredged out by the Wolverine Cement Co. in 1905 and 1906) running due north into section 17, where it empties into North lake. From North lake through what is practically a continuation of the same lake the current passes into McCrea's lake and then into Randall's lake in section 5. From here through what is known as " The Narrows " the current flows into Morrison's lake, which occupies about one-half of section 32 of Girard township. Resorters have also built a few cottages on the eastern edge of this lake, which are known as Templar Beach.

At its northwestern portion Morrison's lake sends its water into an outlet, which runs a short distance north, then makes a bend eastward and with another northward turn expands into something of a lake, situated in section 29. From this the Coldwater River again takes up its course as a stream considerably larger than before it entered South lake. Its course is a meandering one, its general direction being westerly through sections 29 and 30 of Girard township into sction 25 of Union township, where it flows into the Hodunk millpond. Pursuing a westerly course on the boundary

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

line of sections 24 and 25 it widens considerably in a northerly direction in section 23. Soon after leaving the Hodunk millpond it receives the waters of Hog creek, which serves as the outlet of Vincent lake in section 4 of Girard township and also of a few minor lakes. In section 23 the Coldwater river narrows again and takes a northwesterly direction through sections 23 and 22 into section 15 of Union township; here it runs due north through sections 15 and 10 to section 3. where it turns abruptly to the west into section 4. Here it again turns to the north and then west into Union City, where it receives the waters of another small stream from Calhoun county. From here on the stream is known as the St. Joseph river.

The St. Joseph river now flows west through Union township into section 12 of Sherwood township. From here it pursues a generally southwest di- rection through Sherwood township into the northwest section of Matteson township. After only about a mile in this township it leaves Branch and enters St. Joseph county. In section 21 of Sherwood township the St. Joseph receives the waters of the outlet of Sherwood lake and several minor lakes near it. This stream also drains Haven lake and two smaller lakes and also Blossom lake in sections 31 and 30.

To summarize, it is seen that the St. Joseph river has two sources, both in Branch county and within a few miles of each other, viz .: Coldwater lake through the branch of the Coldwater river, and Marble lake through the Coldwater river; west of Coldwater both streams unite and continue their way through the chain of lakes to Union City. This system takes in nearly all the lakes of Branch county. The remaining lakes empty into minor streams and creeks.

South of Coldwater lake in Kinderhook township, between Silver lake and Crooked lake, there is a natural watershed. As we have seen, the Cold- water lake system flows north. Silver lake of section 25, Kinderhook town- ship, and Fish lake of section 14 of the same township empty southeast into Indiana. Crooked lake of section 8, Pleasant lake of section 17, and Lavine lake of sections 18 and 20 of Kinderhook township are distant from Silver lake only by a mile or two on the other side of the divide and have Prairie river flowing west as their outlet.

Matteson lake of section 23, Matteson township, empties west into Little Swan creek.

The numerous marshes which accompany such an abundant supply of lakes have been for the most part drained and turned into tillable land. The rainfall supplying these lakes is between 60 and 70 inches annually, the greater portion falling in the months of April, May and June.

The soil of Branch county is very fertile, and except in a few places not stony.

The mineral wealth of Branch county, except for the marl occurring in nearly all the lake bottoms, which, mixed with clay, is used in the manu- facture of cement, is nil.

In general Branch county is a prairie pitted here and there by prehistoric

HISTORY OF BRANCH COUNTY

glacial action and these pits are now filled with water forming the beautiful and extensive lake system we have described.

THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM.

In Branch county in the year of this writing there are in round num- bers four hundred public drains, approximating a total length of one thousand miles. The four townships of Algansee, Bronson, Bethel and Butler, which have received the greatest benefits from this system, have had their land valuations nearly doubled. Since 1898 an average of about $30,000 has been expended each year on this department of public works. Although under the direction of a county drain commissioner, an officer elected each two years by the board of supervisors, these improvements are, in a very important sense, not "public works." The cost of every drain is assessed entirely on the area benefited, not on the county or township, and the en- terprise is thus one of concern and expense to the group of individuals who receive the varying benefits. But in viewing the system as a whole, and its effects on the county, the conclusion is easily and inevitably reached that the drainage work done during the last fifty years has actually created wealth to the aggregate of millions of dollars. One strikiing illustration will suf- fice. For years a large portion of the township of Bronson was impractic- able for agriculture because of its low, swampy nature. About twenty years ago a community of Polish people settled there, bought the swamp lands in small lots, instituted a proper system of drainage, and now own some of the most productive farm lands in the county and have nearly doubled the valuation of the township.

Drainage began in a limited way during pioneer times. The settlers in the valleys of the many sluggish waten courses were compelled to ditch chan- nels to carry off the water that otherwise would have stood for a large part of the year on the arable land. The clearing away of the timber and brush and the breaking up of the soil and consequent destruction of the grassy turf that had become matted through centuries of growth, all contributed to more effective drainage. To get rid of the excess of surface water was a live question sixty and seventy years ago. In fact, it demanded partial solu- tion at once. But the means already indicated were so far effective that the greater portion of the lands became available at an early date, without any general system of co-operation.

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A twentieth century history and biographical record of Branch County, Michigan, Part 4

Author: Collin, Henry P Publication date: 1906 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Collin, Henry P
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing
Number of Pages: 1198