USA > Michigan > Alpena County > Centennial history of Alpena County, Michigan > Part 2
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In the spring of 1840, the Surveyor General gave contracts to survey about half of Alpena county, the whole of Presque Isle county, the most, if not all, of the county of Cheboygan, to John Hodgson, Sylvester Sibley, Henry Brevoort and Henry Mullet, all of whom, with their surveying parties, left Detroit soon after the opening of navigation in the spring, on the steamer Madison, for Presque Isle. The writer was employed by John Hodgson, as an assistant surveyor or compass-man.
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Hodgson had the sub-division of towns 31 and 32 north, and from range 4 east, to Lake Huron shore. We all had a jolly time on the boat going up, and were all landed, with our sup- plies, at Presque Isle. This was a wooding station for the steamboats going round the lakes, and the only inhabited spot at that time, between Mackinaw and Bay City. It was also the first fishing station on Lake Huron shore, north of Saginaw Bay. The fishermen used hooks, seines and gill-nets, and had considerable trade with the boats, in furnishing them with fresh fish. After stopping a few days at Presque Isle, to make ar- rangements for leaving the supplies, and packing them to the work, which supplies were to be carried on the backs of men and horses, the several parties started for their work. The writer, in making the survey near the mouth of the An-a-ma- kee-zebe, or Thunder river, as it was called by the Indians, dis- covered the site of a house that had been burned, some square timber, and an excavation for a mill-race; and on enquiry since, was told that Mr. Donseman, from Mackinaw, with other par- ties from the State of New York, had, some time prior, attempt- ed to build a sawmill at that place, and were driven away from their purpose by the Indians. In running the section line be- tween sections 22 and 23, on approaching the river near the foot of Second street, city of Alpena, we were discovered by some Indians, who were camped a little further down the river, and who were all drunk. They consisted of the Thunder Bay band, excepting Sog-on-e-qua-do and his family, who were camped at the "Ox-Bow," a peninsula made by a large bend in Thunder Bay river, and who gave us our dinner of boiled stur- geon the day before, which we all ate with a relish. It was the first sturgeon the writer had ever eaten, and being very hungry, thought it very nice. As soon as the Indians saw us, they be- gan to gather themselves up as best they could, and approach- ed us, having the old chief, Mich-e-ke-wis, or Spirit of the West Wind, at their head. They all looked very sour, and did
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not return our salutations. The old chief came very close to the writer, and said, in the Indian language: "White man no good. This place is all mine; you go away." The writer re- plied that the Great Chief at Washington had sent us to run lines and explore the country, and we did not like it, and as soon as we had done our work we would go away. He, finding I could answer him in his own language, and noticing that the writer gave some orders to the men, which they obeyed, said to the writer; "Are you chief?" and being answered in the af- firmative, he said, "You are welcome to do your work." Up to this time not a word had been spoken by any of the accompany- ing Indians; but when the old chief said "You are welcome to do your work," their countenances changed, and they all said, "aw-ne-gwi-naw," which is "certainly." Then each one took our hand and said, "bo-zoo." The old chief then said: "We have had a big drunk; we can give you nothing to eat or drink, for we have used up all the women left us to eat; but if you will go to the wig-wam, I will show you my regalia." We went with him, and he showed what the white man seldom gets a look at. The old chief took from a trunk, a large broadcloth blanket, worked with beads and ribbons, a large otter skin to- bacco bag, called a "koosh-kip-it-aw-gun," and elaborately worked with beads and ribbons, a large peace-pipe, beaded leg- gings, cap and moccasins. He had a splendid worsted sash, which was presented to him by the British Government, and beaded belts to wear round his leggings, to keep them in place, and some other things of minor importance. For the writer this was a feast. We borrowed the Indians' only canoe, and. crossed the river to camp, putting it out of their power to an- noy us during the night. In the morning, we used the Indi- ans' canoe to cross the river, and after establishing the corner of sections 23, 24, 26 and 27, in township 31 north, of range 8 east, and doing some meandering on the bay and river, we bid, as we supposed, a long adien to the first experiences at the
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mouth of "Thunder river." The Thunder Bay band of Indians then numbered about twenty-five, with Mich-e-ke-wis as council chief. He had seen nearly, if not quite, one hundred winters; was admired by his people for the wisdom of his counsel, and had much influence over them, in favor of the British Govern- ment, whose friend he was, and continued to be as long as he lived. He drove Mr. Douseman and his party away from the river, and showed the same disposition toward the writer, who probably saved himself and party some trouble, in being able to speak a little of the Indian language. He was the father of a large family, some of whom were then-1840-grown up men and women. The names of his older sons were Wa-ga- maw-ba, Ba-ga-nog-ga, and Nee-zhe-was-waw-ba. If his rec- ord was right, he had seen one hundred and ten years, ere he went to his Father, in the beautiful "hunting grounds towards the setting sun." He once said to the writer, at Ossineke: "I remember when thesc pine trees here were very small." Some four or five years prior to his decease, which occurred about 1857, he called all his children and people together, and told them that he was nearly blind, and no longer of any value to his family or his people. He then gave one of his sons, whom he had educated for his successor, his regalia, before described, and installed him in his office as council chief, and presiding over all their religious ceremonies. He then distributed his goods among his children; and never after was be seen dressed in anything but a common Indian blanket. He thus pre- pared himself to meet the "pale horse and rider," worthy the admiration of those who, in a Christian point of view, think themselves much wiser and better, and who style him
"The poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in the clouds, and hears Him in the wind."
Sog-on-e-qua-do, or Thunder Cloud, was a war chief. He was an O-taw-waw. He was not very well liked by his people, on account of his temperance proclivities; he was very much
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opposed to the Indians getting drunk, and he lectured them too severely to please them. He was the only Indian the writer knew who could keep whiskey in his wig-wam and not get drunk. He was brave and independent; none of his people ever wished to oppose him, or measure war clubs; nor did any avaricious trader ransack his shanty for furs, without his con- sent; and he could quiet an Indian drunken row in "double quick." He was honorable and scrupulously honest, as the following incident will show: In 1848, the writer cut and put up two stacks of wild hay, at Squaw Point. Late in the fall, Sog-on-e-qua-do's boys were playing near one of the stacks, and set it on fire, and it was consumed. He immediately came to see the writer, at Ossineke, and enquired of him what the certain stack of hay was worth. The writer, not knowing what his object was, mentioned the value of the hay to him. Sog- on-e-qua-do then said: "My boys, in their play, set it on fire and have burned it, and I have brought you these furs to pay you in part for it, and next spring I will bring you the balance." Being somewhat surprised at so beautiful an example of the Golden Rule, by a savage, the writer said to him, that, as he had been honest enough to come and inform him of the fact, and had offered to pay for the hay, he, the writer, would charge him only what the hay cost him to put it up; and that the furs he had brought would pay the amount. He looked at the writer a moment, and then putting his hand on his breast, said: "I am a man; I will pay the balance in the spring." The win- ter passed and spring came, and so did Sog-on-e-qua-do with a bundle of nice furs, worth much more than the whole stack of hay, and threw them down, and insisted that the writer should take them for the balance on the hay. Here is an act that challenges our admiration, and which is worthy to be placed on record as parallel with that instructive one related in the twen- ty-third chapter of Genesis, where Abraham bought the ceme- tery of Ephron, among the children of Heath. He bought a
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lot in Alpena, and built a frame house on it. He also built a small house at Squaw Point, where he lived much of his time, using a cook stove in his house, and cultivating a small piece of ground. He died, believing in the traditions and religion of his fathers, and was buried after the manner of the Indians, except that the Rev. F. N. Barlow preached a funeral sermon, and he was laid in the cemetery of the whites. Shortly after he was buried, his grave was desecrated by some unscrupulous thief, who took from the grave his gun and some other things that had been deposited in the grave with him, to use on his journey to the hunting ground beyond the setting sun. He left one son, by the name of No-quash-cum, who lives on the same land's that his father occupied before him.
Ba-zhick-co-ba, or Pnt Down One, was a strong, athletic man, who supported himself and family entirely by hunting and fishing. He was much in favor of the Canadian Govern- ment; despised the idea of living like a white man, and loved his "Scho-ta-waw-boo,"-fire soup-dearly.
Nain-a-go, or Ant, was a good hunter and a companion of Ba-zhick-co-ba in his trapping and hunting expeditions, and lived after his fashion. These men and their families compos- ed the Thunder Bay band of Indians.
After finishing up the survey work with Mr. Hodgson, the party went out to Presque Isle. Here the writer hired with Sylvester Sibley, to help him finish up his surveys. The im- provements at Presque Isle were owned by Lemuel Crawford, of Cleveland, Ohio, and consisted of a dock, store, and frame dwelling, a log barn, and a few log shanties. They were all built on Uncle Sam's land, which had not yet been surveyed, and therefore it was thought advisable by those in command, that they should be on the best of terms with the surveyors. As the survey of the harbor and its vicinity was assigned to the writer, he was treated with very kind regard by the propri- etor and his people. Here the writer made the acquaintance
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of Simeon M. Holden, William Cullings and Robert McMullen. They were mechanical geniuses, and well calculated to live in and promote the growth of a new country. Mr. McMullen had the greatest variety of talent, working when occasion required, in the blacksmith shop, the carpenter shop, the cooper shop, at boat building, and millwriting. Mr. Holden subsequently moved to Thunder Bay Island, where he built the first frame dwelling in Alpena county, in 1846. He was the first perma- nent settler in the county, his occupation being fishing with gill-nets. After residing on the island a few years, he moved to where Harrisville is now located, where, in company with Crosier Davison, he built the first sawmill in Alcona county. After working the mill a few years, he sold his interest in the property, and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was waylaid, murdered and robbed of five hundred dollars. Messrs. Cullings and McMullen still survive, and reside in Alpena and Alcona counties.
It was late in the fall when the surveyors finished their work and returned to Presque Isle, on their way home. It had been blowing a gale of wind for some time, so that no boats had gone up the lakes for a while, and only one or two was ex- pected down that season. Among the steamers expected down ยท was the Madison, which brought the surveyors up, and which was a high pressure boat, the exhaust of which could be heard for fifteen miles away. We were all very anxious to get this boat, for should we miss it, we might be compelled to travel on foot to Flint, if not to Pontiac, a distance of about two hundred miles. A watch was sei, day and night, to catch the first sound of the Madison's exhaust and signal her in, and to make doubly sure of her calling. After anxiously waiting for about a week, at 9 p. M. the watch yelled "Steamboat," and for ten minutes every one shouted at the top of his voice, "Steamboat! Steam- boat!" Such a shout Presque Isle never heard before, and probably will never hear again. The Madison came into the harbor, and we all boarded her for Detroit.
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The Government lands in Alpena and adjoining counties were offered for sale by the United States, in 1843. In the fall of the same year, the writer again visited Alpena county, accom- panied by a man by the name of Youngs, whom the writer hir- ed as a hunter and trapper, for the purpose of studying the na- ture and habits of animals, and obtaining their skulls as speci- mens of phrenology. Youngs stayed in the woods until Feb- ruary, when he came out to Thunder Bay Island, leaving the writer alone in the forest, who stayed until May, and obtained many fine specimens, some of which he now has, of the otter, beaver, lynx, marten, raccoon, fisher, bear and mink. These animals were then very plentiful, and easily taken. The writer learned much in regard to the nature and habits of these ani- mals, and unlearned very much that he had learned from books prior to his going into the woods.
Many who write works on Natural History, are not them- selves acquainted with the animals or things they describe, for they have never interrogated or examined nature for themselves, but have taken their knowledge from the schools, and the re- positories of dead men's hearsay knowledge and speculation. The writer's inexperience in trapping did not afford him a very large quantity of furs, but what pleased and paid him for his trouble and privation, was the fact that he found, upon exam- ination, and comparing the phrenological formation of the skulls of those animals he had studied, with their nature and habits, they harmonized beautifully, and in every respect with each other, and established in the mind of the writer, beyond a cavil, the fundamental principles of phrenology. If any man, however skeptical he may be, but willing to know truth, will go with me into the forest, and there study the habits of the beaver and the fisher, and compare their skulls with their habits, and with each other, he can not hesitate one moment to acknowledge the principal truths claimed for that science which enables us to know ourselves. In order to further prosecute his studies,
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and at the same time make a living, the writer prepared him- self as well as he knew how, for the further study of animals, and trapping for their furs. He hired a Frenchman, who pre- tended to understand trapping, but when the little schooner was ready to sail for Thunder Bay river, he refused to go. The writer, supposing he would find some one on his way, that he could hire, continued his journey, without finding any one to hire, and was landed on the 18th day of September, 1844, at the mouth of Thunder Bay river, alone. From that time to the 20th of May following, he saw not the face of a white man-for he had no glass-or heard the crack of any rifle but his own. On coming down to the mouth of the river, in the spring, he found Washington Jay, his wife and daughter, and a man by the name of William Dagget, who had moved there late in the fall, from Thunder Bay Island, for the purpose of making some staves for fish barrels. They built a log house, near Second and River streets, in Alpena, and cut timber and made some staves, on the present site of the city; but the most of their cutting was done near the great bend in the river, called the "Ox Bow." This was the second house built by white men on the present site of Alpena, and Mrs. Jay and her daughter Emma were, in all probability, the first white women that had ever visited the place; they certainly were the first to live here.
In September, 1844, Jonathan Burtch and Anson Eldred purchased two pieces of land at the mouth of Devil river, it be- ing the first lands purchased of the United States in Alpena county, and the patents were issued in 1848. In the fall and winter of the same year-1844-they erected a water-mill on Devil river, with two upright sash saws, and driven by two old fashioned "flutter wheels," and cut with both saws, when run twenty-four hours, the large sum of eight thousand feet of lum- ber. This was the first sawmill erected in Alpena county. At this time mulley saws were more generally used, and were re- ceiving many improvements; but large circular saws, for cut-
.
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ting lumber, were yet in the creation of genius. The mill that cut two million feet of lumber was Al on the list, and those were "few and far between." . Lumbermen did not then buy large tracts of timber lands, to lumber on, for they could cut all they wanted on Government lands, without being called "timber thieves," or asked for pay for the timber. This state of things continued until 1850, when Uncle Sam came down upon the lumbermen, like an avalanche, and threatened destruc- tion to them all. But a compromise was had, by which the lumbermen were to pay the costs made by the Government, and a promise "to do so no more." In 1845, Mr. Burtch located forty acres more at Devil river, and Mr. Eldred located two fractions on Thunder Bay river.
The writer sold his winter's catch of furs, in Detroit, for two hundred eighty dollars in silver, by stipulation, and two hun- dred eighty dollars in paper money. Furs being sold in for- eign countries, were about the only product that would com- mand the specie at this time. The writer then purchased a small stock of goods of B. G. Stimson, Theodore H. Eaton and Moore & Foot, of Detroit, Michigan, and took them to Thun- der Bay Island, where he built the first store in Alpena county. Thunder Bay Island had now grown to a large fishing station, numbering thirty-one fishing boats and one hundred and sixty persons. Their catch of fish in 1846, was a little over twelve thousand barrels. The people were mostly from Ohio and the Saginaws. In the summer of 1847, the writer purchased the Devil River mill property of Jonathan Burtch, and moved there late in the fall of the same year. The place was called by the Indians, "Shing-gaw-ba-waw-sin-eke-go-ba-wat." Shin-gaw- ba was, as the Indians believe, the name of a Divine Chief, who lived a long time ago. He told his people that, after his death, his spirit would come back to where these stones were placed, for the presents his people might deposit near them. The In- dians do verily believe that his spirit does come back to these
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stones, to receive the spirit of the things they present to him near these stones. This belief has the coloring of Spiritualism. Waw-sin-eke, signifies Image Stones. Go-ba-wat, signifies to put down more things than one. When the writer first vis- ited Devil river, in 1839, he saw, near the mouth of the river, two large stones standing together. One was a gneiss rock, with bands of quartz, and having the appearance of being worn into its present shape by the action of the water. It weighed about three hundred pounds. The other stone was about four feet long, and in shape like the trunk of a man's body, minus head, legs and arms. It had very much the appearance of be- ing moulded from lake sand, and concreted with some substance having the appearance of bark. It was hard on the outside, but soft and easily crumbled where excluded from the atmosphere. At this time, near and around the stones, were large quantities of pipes, tobacco, beads, ear jewels, silver broaches, bell-but- tons and other kinds of trinkets. When the township was or- ganized, the writer named it "Waw-sin-eke," but, like many other Indian names, it was misspelled Os-sin-eke, the whole Indian name of the place being too long to retain. A fisher- man came to Devil river while the writer was absent, and, want- ing some anchor stones for his nets, seized the Shin-gaw-ba stones and carried them to the bay, thus depriving the place of valuable relics and Shin-gaw-ba of his presents. These stones are found through all the country of the Chippewas. The In- dians say, that a long time ago, some Iroquois captured two Chippewas, near Devil river, and put them and their image stones in a canoe, and started across the bay. When they reached near the middle of the bay, they threw the stones into the water, when, suddenly the water boiled and spouted up, and capsized the canoe and drowned the Iroquois, while the Chip- pewa prisoners succeeded in saving their lives, retaining the canoe and reaching the place from whence they started. When they went upon the land, they found, to their surprise, the
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stones had preceded them, and were standing in their places, as they did before they were moved. Whether their story is true or false, the stones failed to capsize the fisherman when he threw them into the bay, or came out of the water since. The river was called "Reviere Au Diable," by the early mail car- riers, who spoke the French language, and who sometimes in the fall and spring found much difficulty in traveling the large marsh between the river and the south point of Thunder Bay. So the river was named after his Satanic Majesty, not because it was a bad river, but because it kept bad company.
LOCATION OF LANDS.
In 1849 and 1850, Robert Dunlap and E. Baily, of Chicago, Illinois, purchased of the United States, the lands round the mouth of Thunder Bay river. In 1855, they sold these lands to John Oldfield, James K. Lockwood, John S. Minor and George N. Fletcher, for thirty dollars per acre; Oldfield own- ing a quarter interest, Lockwood and Minor a quarter interest, and Fletcher owning a half interest.
The following letter, handed the writer by G. N. Fletcher, Esq., indicates the first visit of the proprietors to Alpena, prior to making the "Baily purchase":
Port Huron, Aug. 4th, 1855.
G. N. FLETCHER, EsQ.,
St. Clair.
DEAR SIR:
I propose to take my vessel, the John Minor, and in com- pany with my partner and other parties interested at Thunder Bay river, to make an exploring expedition to that place. Am- ple time will be given to make all necessary observations at that place, at as moderate expense and with as much comfort as circumstances will permit. Your company, together with
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any persons you would like to take with you, will be acceptable. Please to advise me, by note, if you will or will not go, so that I may give you notice of our sailing, which we propose to make about the 1st Sept.
Very truly yours, (Signed, )
J. K. LOCKWOOD.
David D. Oliver purchased some lands at Devil river, in 1851, and in August of the same year, W. L. P. Little, of East Saginaw, purchased a fraction or two, on the bay shore, which would be in the northeast fractional quarter of section 27, in town 31 north, of range 8 east, in his own name, as security for the purchase money ; but the purchase was made for Walter Scott, for a fishery. Scott moved his family to Thunder Bay river in the fall of the same year and tried the fishing, and found it a failure, on these lands. Scott then, considering the lands of no value, failed to pay for them, and Little, as he thought, was left with a piece of poor property on his hands. Scott traded with the Indians and looked up pine lands for Lewis & Graves, John Trowbridge & Bros., and some others, until September, 1856, when Messrs. Lockwood & Fletcher & Co., desirous of getting him away with his whiskey, before their men should come up to work, bought all his buildings, and some other things, for the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars. Scott left Alpena in the spring of 1857.
Early in 1857, Mr. Little offered his property at Thunder Bay river, to the writer, for five hundred dollars, half down, and the balance in a year. Although the writer was consider- ed by some of his contemporaries as extravagant and "luna" in regard to the value of property in Alpena county, and its future growth, yet he was not controlled by the moon, or any other influences, enough to accept this Little property, which now comprises a large portion of the best residences in the city.
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