A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 9

Author: Coolidge, Orville W
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

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The banner county of this fruit belt is Berrien county. In the production and value

of the fruits raised, Berrien county for many years has taken the lead.

The first apple orchard probably, in Ber- rien county, was planted by William Bur- nett about one hundred and twenty years ago. Reference has been made to this fact in the chapter on Early Settlement of the County. It appears also that the Indians cultivated the raising of apples to a small extent. The orchard of the Carey mission, planted by Rev. Isaac McCoy about 1826, consisted of about two hundred peach trees and one hundred apple trees. When the early settlers arrived at Niles, they found apple trees growing near the ruins of the old fort, evidently planted many years be- fore by the French occupants.

The peach industry in Berrien county commenced about the year 1848. Prior to that time seedling peaches had been raised to some extent. About 1833, Theo. G. Abbe planted an orchard of peach trees in the southern part of St. Joseph township. The trees were purchased by Mr. Abbe of a nursery in Rochester and were subse- quently removed to the farm of John Pike in Royalton. Fruit from this orchard was sold in 1837. The first shipment of peaches to Chicago was made by Captain Curtis

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

Boughton in the year 1839 in his vessel, the schooner "Henry U. King." These peaches were purchased of small producers in the vicinity of St. Joseph.

In 1840, David Byers of Bainbridge, purchased one hundred peach trees in Liv- ingston county, New York, and gave forty of these to his nephew, John Byers, of Bain- bridge. These were set out and in 1843, produced forty bushels which were shipped to Chicago, and sold for one hundred dol- lars.

In 1840, Eleazer Morton planted an orchard on his farm in Benton township, con- taining peach trees. He appears to have made the second shipment of peaches from this county to Chicago. The variety raised by Mr. Morton was what was called the "Yel- low Rareripe."

The real pioneers, however, in the in- troduction of peach raising were George Parmelee and Curtis Boughton. In 1847, Mr. Parmelee planted a small orchard of choice budded peach trees in Bainbridge township. In 1848 he set out an orchard of two and one-half acres mainly of peach trees, in Benton township. Captain Bough- ton set out an orchard of one hundred and thirty choice budded trees in St. Joseph in 1849. In 1852, he set out seven acres. In 1855, he made shipments to Chicago, re- ceiving from five to ten dollars per bushel.

Mr. Parmelee in an article in the state pomiological reports states as follows: "It was not till after Mr. Boughton and I had sold choice peaches from our imported trees, that there was much else than seedling trees planted, or budded trees from the bet- ter class of local seedlings. The first great impetus to peach planting was given when I contracted my first considerable peach crop for fifteen hundred dollars, to be delivered in St. Joseph."

Mr. Parmelee enlarged his peach orchard set out in 1848, till within a few years he had put out ninety-eight acres, when he sold his farm for $43,000. The main value of

the farm, although some valuable buildings had been constructed, was in the fruit trees. Shortly after, the so-called "Cincinnati Orchard," then the largest peach orchard in the State, was planted on lands of Eleazer Morton, located about a mile from Benton Harbor. Sixty-five acres were leased of Mr. Morton by Smith & Howell, bankers of Cincinnati, and set out to fruit trees. The lease ran twelve years. At the beginning of the tenth year, these parties sold their lease- hold right for the remaining three years for twelve thousand dollars. The purchaser netted fifteen thousand dollars on their crop the same year. In 1871, this orchard produced over thirty-seven thousand baskets of peaches, which brought about twenty thousand dollars net.

The culture of peaches during this first period of its development, reached its high- est mark about 1872, when it began to rap- idly decline. A destructive disease known as the "Yellows" appeared among the peach trees in 1868, and spread rapidly till in six or seven years, the peach industry had be- come insignificant as compared with former years. In 1872, Berrien county shipped about one hundred and forty thousand bush- els, while in 1879 the shipments amounted to only sixteen thousand bushels. The peach industry had then become practically extinct.

The cause of origin of this disease has not been discovered and no treatment has been devised by which the peach tree when once attacked by this disease, can be re- stored to a healthy condition. The disease is extremely contagious, and the only pre- ventive used to arrest its spread is to de- stroy the tree as soon as the existence of the disease is discovered. Rigorous laws have been enacted by the Legislature to secure this result. Commissioners are appointed whose duty it is to see that all trees infected with the disease are destroyed and for this purpose. they are empowered to enter the orchards if necessary and destroy the trees themselves.

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

The law has been generally obeyed, the producers being found ready and willing to aid in the destruction of the diseased trees.

The result of this radical treatment was to revive the peach industry after a lapse of about fifteen years. In the meantime, whole orchards had been destroyed, and the peach industry practically annihilated. Within the past fifteen years, however, the develop- ment of the peach industry has been rapid, and has assumed mammoth proportions in the counties of Berrien, Allegan and Van Buren. In 1905, the production and ship- ment of peaches were the largest ever had. There are now about sixteen thousand acres set out to peach trees in Berrien county.

In taking the state census of 1904, the census takers were required to make a defi- nite report of all agricultural and horticul- tural products in each township for the year 1903. Estimates have only been made for the years 1904 and 1905.

The year 1903 was not a "peach" year as compared with 1905, but, other fruits were raised in abundance that year, and it will be of interest, as showing the extent to which the culture of fruit has reached in this county, in certain townships, to refer to the census reports for the year 1903. Reference will also be made to the production of fruit in some of the other fruit producing counties of the State, as showing the comparative value of the fruit industry in Berrien coun- ty. In 1903, Allegan county produced the most peaches of any county in the State, Berrien county standing second. The four counties of Allegan; Berrien, Van Buren and Kent produced nearly three-fourths of all the peaches raised in the State.

The following table shows the number of acres planted with peach trees, the num- ber of trees and the production in bushels for the year 1903, in these four counties :

Acres set out.

No. of trees. Bushels.

Allegan 12,067

1,089,418 463,81I

Berrien 13,276

1,377,734 370,535

Van Buren

1,201,166

177,4II

Kent

861,405 127,473

It will be seen from this table that Ber- rien county had the most trees, and this fact had its effect upon future production.

In Berrien county, the township of Ben- ton took the lead in the production of peaches. The peach producing townships in 1903 consisted of the following: Benton, St. Joseph, Pipestone, Hagar, Lincoln, Bainbridge, Watervliet, and Sodus. The following table shows the acreage, number of trees and production for the year 1903. The city of Benton Harbor is included with Benton township and the city of St. Joseph with St. Joseph township. The production in the cities was, however, small.

Acreage.

Trees.

Bushels.

Benton

2,692

270,223

114,408

St. Joseph

990

118,399

64,77I

Pipestone

1,027

94,061

44,704

Hagar

1,5II

155,58I

35,937

Lincoln

939

126,862

34,660

Sodus

558

54,463

22,646

Bainbridge

2,387

208,817

14.366

Watervliet

89,75I

7,572

Some reference to the largest peach or- chard in the county may be of interest. Ro- land Morrill has one hundred and twenty- five acres of peach orchards of which eighty- five acres are in bearing. These orchards are located in Benton township. In 1905, Mr. Morrill obtained twenty thousand bush- els of peaches from about 50 acres. The first orchards of Mr. Morrill came into bear- ing about fifteen years ago and since that time he has not had a failure although there have been three light crops. In 1899, when the peach crop west of the Rocky Mountains was an universal failure, he received thirty- five thousand dollars for the product of forty acres. From four acres of Elbertas that year he received six thousand four hundred dollars. Mr. Morrill ascribes his success to the great care exercised in preserving the vitality of his trees through proper fertili- zation and cultivation, together with keep- ing the crop down to reasonable limits. He

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

is now general manager of the Morrill Or- chard Company of Morrill, Texas, in which company he is a heavy stockholder. The company owns twelve thousand five hundred acres, devoted to the raising of fruits and vegetables, twelve hundred acres of which are planted with peach trees.

The West Michigan Nurseries, whose office is at Benton Harbor, in addition to their nurseries, have extensive fruit or- chards upon their farm of eight hundred and seventy-three acres, situated in Pipe- stone township, half a mile from Eau Claire. This company has planted about 30,000 peach trees on this farm for bearing pur- poses, also about 10,000 plum trees, 8,000 pear trees, 5,000 cherry trees and 5,000 ap- ple trees. The total planting of orchards amount to about five hundred acres. The company has one hundred acres upon the Pipestone farm devoted to nursery, stock purposes, and also one hundred acres near Berrien Springs. Through the summer months the company employs about one hundred and twenty men in working in the orchards and nurseries.

Apples.

Apples are raised in nearly every county of the State, but the counties of Allegan, Berrien, Van Buren and Kent produced more than one-fourth of all the apples raised in the State, in 1903.

Allegan produced. 1,208,949 bushels

Berrien produced

1,157.653 66

Kent produced

773.319 66

Van Buren produced

814,190

In Berrien county the townships lead- ing in yield of apples, produced as follows :

Bainbridge 196,646 bushels

Benton

125,015

Sodus

106,015

Watervliet

104.728

Oronoko

88,175 66

Pipestone

86,10I

Each of the townships of Berrien, Hagar, Royalton, Weesaw and Buchanan produced about 50,000 bushels. In several of the townships the production of choice varieties of apples for shipment has become a specialty, and the value of the apple crop in 1903 was nearly equal to that of the peach crop.

The largest apple orchard in the county is that of Robert H. Sherwood, consisting of about 300 acres, situate in Waterviet township on the bank of Paw Paw lake. Peach, pear and plum trees were planted in the same orchards with the young apple trees, to fill up the time before the latter commenced bearing. These orchards are known as the Lake View orchards. About 2000 apple trees were set out about thirty years ago, by Hon. Harvey C. Sherwood, since deceased, who was the father of Robert H. Sherwood, and until the last year when the apple crop failed in Michigan, these trees produced on an average annually 2000 barrels for the last fifteen years. Most of the trees were set out eight years ago.

Pears.

In the production of pears, Berrien county stood first, producing nearly one third of all pears produced in the state. The production of Berrien county was 108.450 bushels. St. Joseph township and city pro- duced 49,739 bushels. Hagar. 15,073 bushels, and Benton 10,001 bushels.

Strawberries.

Berrien county, in 1903. stood first in the production of strawberries, producing in bushels, 155,868; Allegan, 45,626; Van Buren, 49,874, and Kent, 32,272. These four counties produced more than one-half of the strawberry crop of the State.

Lake township has made a specialty of raising strawberries and is the banner straw- berry township of Berrien county.

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

The following named townships pro- duced as follows :

Lake 31,582 bushels

Lincoln

20,212

Sodus

15,617

Bainbridge

16,666

Benton

16,06I

Hagar

11,418

Royalton

10,254

Raspberries.

Berrien county in

I903 produced 71,245 bushels of raspberries, or more than one-third of the raspberry crop of the State. Kent county came next with 13,665 bushels.

The following named townships of Ber- rien county produced as follows :

Lake 11,501 bushels

Lincoln

10,523

Royalton

9,399

Benton

7,143

Sodus

6,120

St. Joseph

6,002

Hagar

5,830

Blackberries.

Berrien county produced more than one half of the blackberry crop of the state in 1903, amounting to 91,115 bushels. The production of the other counties was insig- nificant, comparatively.

Lincoln township produced. 27,945 bushels St. Joseph and City 14,847

Lake

12,77I

Benton

11,562 66

Royalton

6,851 66

Grapes.

The counties of Berrien and Van Buren produced three-fourths of the entire grape crop of the State in 1903. Berrien county produced 13,949.552 pounds, and Van Buren 13,461,546 pounds. The amount produced in any other county was trifling comparatively. The townships of St. Joseph,

Benton, Royalton and Oronoko produced most of the grapes in this county.

St. Joseph Tp. and City pro-

duced 6.031,550 1bs.

Benton

1.536,890

Royalton

1,245,378

Oronoko 755.670

The most extensive grapery in the State of Michigan has recently been established in the township of Chikaming, by the Lake Side Vineyard Co., which has its office at St. Joseph. The following are the officers : Jos. H. Burkhard, president ; M. J. Beckett, secretary ; F. J. Burkhard, treasurer. These gentlemen and Wm. Habel and Benj. Ryan constitute the board of directors. This cor- poration owns 642 acres devoted to fruit raising, of which 525 acres are set out to grapes. The enterprise was started in 1902 and nearly all of the vines have been recently planted. 200,000 Concord vines have been set out. About 18,000 baskets of grapes were raised last year. The proprietors esti- mate from present apperances that the yield this year will be over 300,000 baskets.

The Burkhards, who planned this im- portant enterprise, are well known and en- terprising grocers and fruit dealers of St. Joseph.

In addition to these fruits, Berrien county in 1903 produced also considerable quantities of plums, cherries, gooseberries and other small fruits.

The value of all these fruit products of Berrien county in 1903 was estimated at about $1,250,000. The value of the fruit products of Allegan county which stood next, was nearly $900,000.

For the year 1904 and 1905 nothing but estimates of the fruit crop have been made. The peach crop in Berrien county in 1905 however, was enormous, and it appears from estimates that Berrien county largely ex- ceeded any other county in that year in the production of this fruit.

Some idea of the magnitude of this in- dustry may be formed from a statement of

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

the shipment of peaches made by boat and at certain railroad stations. With this statement will also be included items as to other fruits. In 1905 the boats shipped the following :

Baskets of peaches 1,125,728

Bushel baskets of peaches 381,469

Crates of berries 679,680

Baskets of grapes 1,160,425

Half-bushel baskets of fruit. . . 82,847 Barrels of pears and other fruit .. 48,249

Bushel crates of muskmelons .... 130,142

There were shipped by car at the Pere Marquette station in St. Joseph in 1905 as follows :

Car-loads of peaches 305

Car-loads of grapes. 334

An average fruit car contains 400 bushels of peaches and 3000 one-fifth bushel baskets of grapes.

There were shipped at the Pere Mar- quette Railroad station at Benton Harbor in 1905 approximately as follows :

Car-loads of peaches 350

Car-loads of grapes. 150

Car-loads of berries I5

There were shipped at the Benton Har- bor station of the C. C. C. & St. L. Railway Co. (Big Four) during the season of 1905, 666 carloads of peaches. Other shipments were made at other railroad points. It may be inferred from these reports that over one million bushels of peaches were shipped abroad from Berrien county during the sea- son of 1905. The shipments by rail equalled those by boat, large amounts being sent to eastern and central States.

AGRICULTURE.

"Honor waits o'er all the Earth, Through endless generations, The art that calls her harvests forth, And feeds the expectant nations." BRYANT.

In the production of corn and wheat, Berrien county is exceeded by many of the

counties of the State. In 1903 it was ex- ceeded in the production of corn by ten counties, in that of wheat, by fifteen coun- ties. The four leading counties in the pro- duction of corn were Lenawee, Hillsdale, Calhoun and Monroe, which produced enor- mous crops.

The agricultural product of Berrien county, however, is much diversified, so that the aggregate production of all agricultural products places the county in the front rank. Different classes of vegetables have been raised in large quantities for the Chi- cago market, certain townships making a specialty of raising some particular class.

In the production of wheat Bertrand township took the lead in the county pro- ducing 54,597 bushels. For many years this township produced more wheat than any other township in the State. In 1878 the yield of wheat was more than 125,000 bushels. The highest yield of wheat for any township in 1903 was that of Prairie Ronde, Kalamazoo county, which produced 76,270 bushels. Of late years, however, the farmers of Bertrand have turned their at- tention to other crops.

The following townships came next to Bertrand, viz .: Niles, with an almost equal production, 54.318 bushels; Berrien, 40,635 bushels, and the townships of Buchanan and Oronoko with about 30,000 bushels each. The total production of the county was 439,569 bushels.

In the production of corn, Bertrand took the lead in 1903, producing 145,000 bushels. Niles produced 137,000 bushels, Berrien 112,000 bushels, Oronoko III,000 bushels, Pipestone 103,000 bushels, Buchanan 97,- 000 bushels, and Weesaw 96,000 bushels. The total production was 1,459,378 bushels.

The total production of oats was 470,515 bushels. The townships of Pipestone, Wee- saw, Buchanan, Three Oaks and Ber- trand each raised from 35,000 to 40,000 bushels.

The county produced 16,868 tons of

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

clover hay valued at $125,264 and 34,281 tons of timothy valued at $289,277.

The production of potatoes was 405,761 bushels, valued at $217,758.

It is worthy of note that two townships have made a specialty of raising cabbage, Three Oaks and Bertrand. Three Oaks pro- duced 349,000 heads and Bertrand 157,000.

Oronoko produced one-quarter of the to- matoes raised, amounting to 6,025 bushels.

Lake, New Buffalo and Weesaw each raised over 10,000 bushels of cucumbers.

Niles and Three Oaks raised about 3,000 bushels of onions, each.

The melon industry has become exten- sive in four townships, viz .: Benton rais- ing 315,000 melons, Bainbridge 171,220, Watervliet 61,380, and Hagar 51,360. The value of the melon crop in 1903 was about $21,000.

The shipments made of these vegetables have been large and added materially to the wealth of the county. The estimated val- uation of these vegetables in 1903 was over $425,000 and a large portion of them was shipped abroad, or sent to canning establish- ments, the product of which finds a ready sale in the markets of the country.

CHAPTER VI

BERRIEN COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR.

"When treason first began the strife That crimsoned sea and shore, The Nation found her hoarded life, On Freedom's threshing floor; From field and prairie, East and West, From Coast and hill and plain, The sheaves of ripening manhood pressed, Thick as the bearded grain." -HOLMES.

It is fitting that the gallant part which the soldiers of Berrien county played in the great drama of the Civil war should be duly commemorated in any historical sketch of the county. For this purpose, a list is given of all the officers and soldiers in the Civil war who resided in this county at the time of enlistment so far as can be ascertained from authentic records. It is impossible to give the record of any individual com- pany execpt as identified with the regiment to which it belonged. A short sketch there- fore, of the career of those State regiments to which any considerable number of soldiers from Berrien county belonged, is given, fur- nishing a general view of the movements of the regiments and mention is made of the principal actions in which they were en- gaged.

The historical facts stated are mainly derived from "Michigan in the War," a volume published by the State and edited by John Robertson, adjutant general. For de-

tailed information with regard to the history of each Michigan regiment the reader is re- ferred to that work. In making out the lists of soldiers in Michigan regiments from Ber- rien county, the History of Berrien and Van Buren, published in 1880 and edited by F. Ellis, has been mainly used, on account of the convenient and compact form in which the lists are made up. Considerable addi- tions, however, have been made to these lists, derived from the series of volumes re- cently published by the State, entitled "Rec- ord of Service of Michigan Volunteers," and edited by General George H. Brown, adju- tant general. It is probable, however, that many omissions have been made on account of the fact that large numbers of soldiers from Berrien county, whose record cannot be ascertained, enlisted in the regiments of other States. An attempt has been made to give the names of soldiers who enlisted abroad, so far as State and other available records have disclosed them.

HISTORY OF BERRIEN COUNTY

SECOND INFANTRY.

"When weary, watching traitor foes The welcome night brings sweet repose, The soldier weary from the fight, Sleeps sound, nor fears the rebel's might, For Michigan's on guard tonight."

On April 14, 1861, the next day after the surrender of Fort Sumter to the Confed- erates, President Lincoln issued a procla- mation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers for three months.

At this first call for troops, a company of infantry was raised at Niles, composed of persons residing there and in the vicin- ity. This was the first company organized in the county, for service in the Civil war.

The first officers of the company were Robert Brethschneider, captain; Benjamin Brownell, first lieutenant, and Jerome Beales, second lieutenant. The ladies of Niles presented a handsome flag to the com- pany, which afterward became the flag of the Second Michigan Infantry, to which it was afterward assigned. The company left the city of Niles for the cantonment at De- troit on April 26, 1861, when it was as- signed as Company "E" of the regiment re- ferred to.

Before the Second regiment could be mustered into service, the government re- fused to accept any more three months soldiers, whereupon nearly all the regiment, and practicaly all of Company "E," volun- teered for three years. The regiment left for Washington on June 5, 1861, and was the first three years regiment from this State. The first battle in which this regiment was engaged was the disastrous one of Bull Run, fought July 18, 1861. At this battle it belonged to Richardson's brigade, which covered the retreat, and came to camp in perfect order and discipline.

At the important battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1861, it took an important part. In a communication relating to this battle, Gen- eral Philip Kearney says, "General Beny's

regiment fought most desperately. It was one of them, Colonel Poe's Second Michi- gan, more directly under my control, which maintained the key point of our position. Two of its companies led off with the first success of the day, while covering the ar- tillery. I especially notice him (Colonel Poe) for advancement. His loss in killed, wounded and missing is sixty."

General Poe, a very able officer and ac- complished gentleman, was very proud of his regiment. After his promotion to higher rank, removing him from the command of the regiment, he wrote a letter to a friend, in which he said: "There is something sub- limely grand in the steady, quite courage of those men of our 'Second,' They never yet have failed in time of need and they never will. I would ask no higher honor than to ride at their head through the streets of De- troit."

No regiment probably in the service of the government, surpassed the Second Mich- igan Infantry in heroic service and excellent discipline. It was engaged in many of the most important battles of the war and its losses from death, wounds and disease was enormous.

Company "E" never returned from the war as a company. A few individuals re- turned but the great majority had been re- moved by death, or broken down by wounds, disease and hardships innumerable. Only one member of this company is now living in our midst, Pope McClary, of Niles, who received no less than seven wounds.

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A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan, Part 9

Author: Coolidge, Orville W Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Coolidge, Orville W
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1314