USA > Michigan > Bay County > History of Bay County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 16
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"The season, on the whole, has been a very fair one for lumber carriers. All that were properly managed, made money. The sea- son, as favorable as it was, is a surprise, when the fact that there was nearly 25 per cent increase in tonnage is taken into considera- tion. The past season some of the best and largest crafts have been added to the lumber marine, each carrying from 400,000 to 800,000 feet. The largest shipments of any season in Bay City's history were made the past season."
The boats laid up at Bay City for the Winter of 1883, were as follows:
Steamers-"Dove," "Dunlap," "Metropolis," "E. T. Carring- ton,""Luther Westover," "Emerald," "Sea Gull."-7.
Propellers-"Arundell," "C. A. Forbes."-2.
Steam barges-"Geo. King," "Baldwin," "J. P. Donaldson," "D. F. Rose," "Nelson Mills," "Mayflower," "Fred McBrier,""Sani- lac," "Benton."-9.
Barges-"Brightie," "Boscobel," "Marine City," "Racine," "Ju- piter," "Leader,""Yankee,""Bahama,""Tailor," "Gebhart," "Flor- ence M. Dickinson," "Lilly May," "Emerald," "Colorado," "Fannie Neil," "Levi Rawson," "C. L. Young," "Galatea," "Ajax,""Oneon- ta," "E. A. Mayes," "Nelson," "Favorite," "Roscius," "Icsman," "Grace Whitney," "Melbourne," "G. W. Bissell," "J. S. Austin," "Amaranth," "Wm. Treat," "T. G. Lester," "J. L. Ketchum," "L. B. Crocker."-34.
Tugs-"Music," "Ella Smith," "Peter Smith," "S. S. Rumage," "A. F. Bartlett," "William Park," "Charles Lee," "C. M. Farrar," "Marian Teller," "E. V. Mundy," "Witch of the West," "W. E. Quinby," "W. A. Avery," "Annie Moiles," "Buffalo," "Cora B.," "E. M. Peck," "C. C. McDonald," "T. M. Moore," "Geo. B. Dick- son," "E. Haight," "Maud S.," "Harley," Challenge," "Laketon," "Toledo."-26.
Steam Yachts-"Handy Boy," "Jos. Gordon," "Col. Camp," "C. B. Hull," "J. G. Hubbard," "Cora K. D."-6.
6
C
12
58
HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.
SUMMARY.
Steamers
7
Propellers.
2
Steam-barges
9
Barges
34
Tugs.
26
Steam Yachts
6
Total
84
THE FIRST VESSEL BUILT ON THE SAGINAW RIVER
was built by Nelson Smith in 1846-'47. She was built at Saginaw and named the "Julia Smith," that being the name of the proprie- tor's only daughter. At that time the Carrollton bar was an obstruc - tion to the navigation of the river, and this vessel was modeled to adapt itself to that difficulty. It was of about seventy tons burden and when loaded drew four and a half feet of water. In 1848, when Judge Miller removed his family from Saginaw to Portsmouth, they made the trip on this vessel in about two days. The "Julia Smith" left the Saginaw trade about 1850, and as late as 1871 was sailing on Lake Michigan, and was staunch and sound.
The first vessels of any importance built near the mouth of the river were built by the Braddocks, at Portsmouth, in 1857-'58, and were the "Essex" and "Bay City." The latter is still afloat. The "Java," a small fishing vessel was built at Lower Saginaw, in 1854.
FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE RIVER.
Of the first steamboat on the Saginaw River, Judge Miller writes as follows:
"In July, 1836, the writer of this article, accompanied by Eleazer Jewett, the county surveyor, and one or two other parties who were to assist in making a preliminary survey of the site of Portsmouth, preparatory to making a plat of the village, came from Saginaw in a canoe (accompanied by the late James Fraser, who expected to meet a vessel in the river with some articles on board which he would have need of before the wind would permit the vessel to sail to Saginaw,) to the point where the village of Ports- mouth is now located, and after completing a survey of the out- lines for a village plat, proceeded down the river to the residence of Leon Trombley, Sr., which was then located at a point near the present corner of Fourth and Water Streets. While there partak- ing of some refreshments, Louis Trombley (who was then a lad ten or twelve years old,) came into the house crying, 'A steamboat! a steamboat!' We all rushed out of the house to see what had deceived the boy into the idea of a steamboat, when, to our great delight, we saw a steamboat proudly making headway against a south wind and the current of the Saginaw River; these obstacles had been a great detriment to the navigation of the river by sailing vessels, and seriously retarded the arrival of supplies for the citi- zens of Saginaw. We hailed the boat, which proved to be the 'Governor Marcy,' commanded by Capt. Gorham, piloted by Capt. Rhodes, and chartered by the late Norman Little, who was acting in behalf of himself, and Mackie, Oakley and Jennison, who then owned Saginaw City, and had just commenced active operations in building up the town. Mr. Jennison, who was interested in . the charter of the first steamboat that entered the Saginaw River, was the father of our respected fellow-citizen, Charles E. Jennison. With much ado, after losing some of our things in endeavoring to transfer them from the canoe to the boat, we all got on board, and had the satisfaction of riding on the first steamboat that ever floated on the waters of the Saginaw. The 'Governor Marcy' made regular trips to Saginaw once in two weeks during the balance of that season. Some of the early settlers may remember Capt. Gorham who commanded her. He was a complete dandy; I have known him to change his dress three or four times after entering
the river before landing at Saginaw. He would sometimes appear on the pilot house of the boat dressed entirely in white, with a broad brimmed Leghorn hat on, motioning as if piloting the boat, when the wheelsman, Capt. Rhodes, who knew every foot of the ground, paid no attention to him. He was superseded in the com- mand before the season was out.
"FIRST STEAMBOAT BUILT ON THE RIVER.
"In 1847 the business of the Saginaw Valley had begun to re- vive somewhat; the lumber business was carried on in a small way, and at that time a great want was felt for a better means of com- munication between different points on the Saginaw River, and for some mode of navigating the streams that form the said river. It must be remembered that at the time above mentioned every man had to paddle his own canoe; there was no road between the upper and lower towns on the river that any one but the late James Fraser dared to ride over. At this time Capt. Addison Mowry, a native of Pittsburgh, who was well acquainted with the navigation of the shoal waters of the upper portion of the Ohio River, con- ceived the idea that a steamboat modeled after those running on the Ohio, would not only serve for the wants of the Saginaw River, but could be made useful in navigating the streams above. At the suggestion of Capt. Mowry, the late James Fraser, Dr. Daniel H. Fitz- hugh, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Jr., Emerson and Eldridge, and some
SAGINAW, BAY CITY AND ALPENA STEAMERS.
other parties entered into the project of building such a boat as has been mentioned; and in the Summer of 1847, Mr. Fraser and Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Jr., went to Pittsburgh and contracted for the engines for a boat, procured a model from which to build one, and commenced in earnest the great undertaking that it then was to build a steamboat on the Saginaw River. The work of construc- tion was carried on near Emerson's mill, at Saginaw, on the east side of the river, for the convenience of getting sawed lumber at the mill. The work on the hull had progressed considerably dur- ing the season of 1847, but the boat was not launched till 1848, when she was consigned to the element for which she was intended, and named the 'Buena Vista,' upon which occasion there were great festivities at the 'Hall of Montezuma.' I think the responsi- bility of providing the materials and superintending the building of the boat was assigned to Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Jr., and notwith- standing the many difficulties attending that duty, they were all overcome, and in due time the 'Buena Vista' was constantly em- ployed in carrying passengers and towing vessels on the Saginaw River. Addison Mowry was her first captain, and Orrin Kinney, now of Portsmouth, was engineer. The 'Buena Vista,' notwith- standing her awkward appearance, with her stern wheel, answered the purpose for which she was constructed, with the exception of making money for her owners, and the successful navigation of the upper streams. As an illustration of her failure in the last named point, I will give a little sketch of her first trip to the forks of Bad River. This was before the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad was built, and the people of Shiawassee County were looking for a means of conveying their surplus produce to market, by constructing a plank road to the forks of Bad River, and from that point the pro-
your typey James Birney
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6
HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.
duce was to be carried by the 'Buena Vista,' or some other light draught boat, to a shipping point on the Saginaw River. To further the project above referred to, a delegation from that county, consisting of Gov. Parsons, of Corunna, and Mr. Gould, of Owosso, came to Saginaw in the Summer of 1849, and when they got ready to return home, it was determined, in order to show the feasibility of the project, to take the delegation on their way, as far as the forks, on board the 'Buena Vista,' and at the same time give an excursion to the citizens of Saginaw. The writer was notified of the intended excursion and was on hand to start with the boat, upon which had congregated for the excursion, a large por- tion of the male population of Saginaw City, (East Saginaw then was not.) The boat started out in the morning under favorable auspices, expecting to be back at Saginaw by a little past noon, so no provisions for the comfort of the inner man were made except by those who took their rations of fire-water. The boat proceeded on her trip without encountering any difficulties, till we left the Shiawassee and entered the Bad River. That river was so narrow and crooked in places that it was with difficulty that we made any progress; in a short turn in the river the length of the boat was so great that it would rub both banks at the same time, and she had to exercise all the power of her engines to squeeze through. It was near night when we reached a point in the river where the navigation was attended with less difficulty, when a strange whistling sound proceeded from the en- gines, and the engineer was walking in the water by the side of the boat endeavoring to accomplish something by punching at its side. It was soon ascertained that the pipe which supplied the boilers with water had been filled with mud in dragging over the shoals, and that the boat was being propelled by heated gas. Had the engineer suc- ceeded in letting water into the boilers when thus heated, there would inevitably have been an explosion which would have caused great loss of life. Before reaching our destination all the metal joints in the steam pipes were melted, and so far as the propelling capacity was concerned, the boat was a complete wreck. It was then near night, and we had all fasted since morning, and the prospect for the night was not very pleasant; when Daniel L. C. Eaton and E. F. Bird volunteered to take a canoe and paddle to Saginaw, sixteen miles, and return with provisions for the famishing crowd. They performed their duty faithfully, for which service they will always be held in grateful remembrance by all who partook of the bounti- ful supply of provisions, which they brought to the crowd about one o'clock in the morning, and which the good ladies of Saginaw City had supplied them with, by emptying their larders of cooked pro- visions. The next day the excursionists exercised their muscles in performing a pedestrian tour through the wilderness, by way of Swan Creek and the Tittabawassee to Saginaw. The 'Buena Vista' remained at the forks a few days till her steam pipes and boilers were repaired, when she returned to her duties on the Saginaw, which she performed till other boats came to take her place.
"The 'Buena Vista' is described as having been a 'homely' affair, being all hold and no cabin, and supplied with rows of benches for seats.
"The machinery of the 'Buena Vista' was afterwards transferred to the 'Whitney,' which was the first steamboat built at the lower end of the river. She was built at Bangor by Thomas Whitney & Co., and was commanded by Daniel Burns, of local notoriety.
"The next steamboat after the 'Buena Vista,' to ply these waters, was the 'Gen. Wolcott,' brought here in 1850 by Capt. Darius Cole, to run between Lower Saginaw and Saginaw, thus forming the first river line ever operated here.
"One of the incidents of the early days was a race between the 'Buena Vista' and the 'Wolcott.' Daniel Burns commanded the first named boat, and getting in too great a hurry at the outset,
started all the joints in his racer before he was five miles out, thus losing the $100 stakes."
"CAPT. DARIUS COLE is one of the pioneer vessel men of Michigan, and particularly of the Saginaw Valley. He was born in Wales, Erie Co., N. Y., October 11, 1818. As early as 1835, before Michigan became a state, he came West to Detroit, and af- terwards helped to survey the territory of Iowa. Most of his life has been spent in the management of boating interests, and at an early day he sailed on the lakes. As early as 1848 he came to Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, with a vessel, bringing supplies and taking back a load of furs. In 1850 he came here with the steamer "Gen. Wolcott" and ran it between this point and Saginaw, thus forming the first river line ever operated here. Before that the business had been done with canoes and skiffs. In 1854 he bought the steamer "Columbia" and run her between this point and Detroit. He operated the river line until a few years ago, when he sold out. In company with Capt. Holt he now has three boats and operates a line between Bay City and Alpena. Captain Cole is a genial gen- tleman and is a well stocked encyclopædia of early reminiscence and events. He has had a successful business career and amassed a handsome property. He owns considerable real estate in Bay City, but his family residence has always been in Detroit. His business office is in Bay City, and most of his time is spent here, especially during the season of navigation.
BRIDGES.
Previous to 1865 the only means of transit across the Saginaw River was by row-boats or ferry. In 1863 a steam flat-boat super- seded the rope ferry. In 1864 a stock company was formed and a wooden bridge built between the foot of Third Street, Bay City, and Midland Street, Wenona. This bridge was 1,900 feet in length and cost $35,000. It was opened for travel in 1865. In 1876 the wooden structure was replaced by the present magnificent iron bridge. The bridge company continued to the Winter of 1883, and up to that time it was a toll bridge. At that time Bay County pur- chased the bridge and the toll system was abolished. In 1876 another bridge was constructed from the foot of Twenty-Third Street to Salzburgh. The bridge of the Detroit and Bay City Railroad was built in 1873.
THE COURTS AND BAR.
One of the first institutions established in a community of pioneers has invariably been some sort of a court of justice, where law could be expounded, justice administered, and other kinds of business, too numerous to mention, transacted. The justice of the peace who presided over the principal court of the early days, was necessarily a being of varied attainments, at least in theory if not in fact. It was his business to unite in holy bonds of matri- mony such as desired to be pronounced, and to separate by solemn decree of divorce such as could show just and sufficient cause. He must also apply the principles of law and justice to the whole range of offenses, from murder to neighborhood quarrels.
PRESENT SYSTEM OF JUDICIARY.
The present system of judiciary of Michigan is most excel- lent, but it has been developed through a tortuous way. From the date of the settlement of Detroit by the French in 1701, the people of the region now included in the state of Michigan have lived to the present time under various forms of governments-edicts of kings, orders of military commanders, decrees of imperial parlia- ments and provincial governors, ordinances of national congresses,
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HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.
enactments of territorial governors and councils, provisions of state constitutions, and the laws of the state Legislature. From the coutume de Paris to the last state constitution and enactments of the last state Legislature, the changes of 182 years have left their impress along the devious ways.
THE COURTS.
The Circuit Court of Saginaw County was established under an act of the Territorial Legislature Assembly, approved February 12, 1835, which provided that a term of court should be held for the county of Saginaw on Tuesday next after the fourth Monday in June, and on the second Tuesday next after the fourth Monday in January in each year.
Among the first acts of the State Legislature was one dealing with the Circuit Court. It decreed that "the Fourth Circuit shall be composed of the counties of Oakland, Lapeer, Shiawassee, Genesee, Saginaw, Ionia and Kent, and the counties attached there- to, for judicial purposes." The sessions of the Fourth Circuit were ordered to be held at Saginaw on the third Tuesdays of February and July in each year. Subsequently the term was changed to May. In after years, a desire to have the Spring term of the court held in April was expressed.
Among the bills passed by the Legislature during the Winter session of 1858-'59 was one changing the terms of the Supreme Court and reorganizing circuit districts. The Spring term of the Supreme Court was authorized to be held on the first Monday of April in- stead of May. Saginaw County was detached from the Seventh Circuit and added to the Tenth, which henceforth comprised Sag- inaw, Gratiot, Isabella, Midland, Iosco, Bay and Alpena.
June 25, 1857, John Robertson vs. Harvey Williams was the first suit in the Bay County Circuit Court, W. L. Sherman, at- torney for plaintiff; May 31, 1858, George Lord vs. Joseph P. Whittemore, W. L. Sherman attorney for plaintiff; June 2, 1858, Andrew C. Maxwell vs. James J. McCormick, Maxwell & Wisner for plaintiff, and James Birney for defendant. No court, however, was held in which to try cases until April, 1859, when Judge Wilber F. Woodworth presided. The Grand Jury empaneled for this session consisted of J. S. Barclay, Henry M. Bradley, John Burdon, Daniel Burns, Jonathan Burtch, Calvin C. C. Chilson, W. L. Fay, Lyman Garrison, B. B. Hart, Christian Heinzmann, Fred Keisler, Nathan Knight, Alexander McKay, Gunder Miller, John W. Putnam, Henry Raymond, Harvey Stewart, Edward Vosburg, Albert Wedthoff and Michael Winterhalter. Henry Raymond was chosen foreman.
The building used for a court house stood where the south end of the new Denison Block now stands on Water Street.
The first man convicted of murder in the county was Peter Van Gestle, for the murder of Peter Van Wert. The murder was committed in Bay County, January 31, 1859. The following April Van Gestle was tried, convicted and sentenced to solitary confine- ment for life.
In 1861, Judge Woodworth resigned, and Hon. James Birney was appointed by the Governor to fill the unexpired term. He was succeeded by J. G. Sutherland, who resigned in 1870 upon his election to Congress. Then came John Moore and T. C. Grier. The latter died in 1872, and was succeeded by Hon. Sanford M. Green, who is still upon the bench.
Bay County is now a part of the eighteenth judicial district. The terms of court are the first Tuesday of March, September and December, and the third Tuesday in June.
SANFORD M. GREEN, circuit judge Bay City, was born May 30, 1807, at Grafton, Rensselaer Co., N. Y. He is a descendant of the Greens of Rhode Island. His father was a farmer of lim- ited estate and uneducated. He permitted his son to purchase his
time at the age of sixteen years, and at that early age he left the parental roof. During the next three years he labored on a farm for wages, and applied himself to study, in the intervals of labor, under a private instructor. Up to this time he had never had any instructor in, or given any attention to, geography or English gram- mar. At the age of nineteen he had qualified himself to teach, though he had only attended school, and that a common school, for three months. For two years he taught school in Winter, and continued to labor on a farm through the remainder of the year. In 1828 he commenced the study of law, and in the same year, cast his first vote for President Jackson. He read law for a time with George C. Sherman, and afterwards with Judge Ford, eminent lawyer of New York; still later he pursued his reading in the office of Stir- ling & Bronson, of Watertown. Having pursued his studies for five years, he was admitted to the bar as an attorney at law and solicitor in chancery. He went into practice at Brownville, N. Y., and pursued it there until 1835, when he removed to the city of Rochester, where he became partner of the late Hon. H. L. Stevens On Mr. Stevens removing to Michigan a year afterwards, he formed a partnership with I. A. Eastman, Esq., with whom he continued until 1837. In the Spring of that year he became interested in the land on which the city of Owosso, Mich., has since been built, and went there to reside. He assisted in laying the foundation of the thriving town and continued to live there for six years. During this period he held the offices of justice of the peace, supervisor, assessor of a school district and prosecuting attorney of Shiawassee County. At the election of 1842 he was elected state senator, and served for two years. At the close of his term as senator, in 1844 he was appointed by the chancellor and judges of the Supreme Court to revise the statutes of the state, and was required to report his revision at the commencement of the legislative session of 1846. He served during this term in the Senate as chairman of the judiciary committee. As such he reported the bill providing for that revision, and for the appointment, by the governor, of the com- missioner to prepare it. The bill was passed by the Senate in this form. After it went to the House the question was started who should be appointed commissioner. Senator Green was the gen- eral choice, but under the bill which he reported, and as it passed the Senate, he was ineligible, as the then constitution prohibited the appointment by the governor of any person to an office, cre- ated by the Legislature of which he was a member. To obviate this objection, the House amended the bill so as to transfer the appointing power to the judiciary, and the amendment was con- curred in by the Senate. His appointment was recommended by the entire Senate, with one or two exceptions, and by all the profes- sional men in the House. In 1843 he removed to Pontiac, and there he prepared his revision. It was reported at the time pre- scribed, was adopted by the Legislature, with some amendments, and went into effect March 1, 1847. He was re-elected to the Senate immediately before making his report. On the resignation of Judge Ransom, in 1848, after his election as governor and the transfer of Judge Whipple to the third circuit to fill the vacancy, Judge Green was appointed to fill the vacancy in the fourth circuit as Judge Whipple's successor.
In this position of circuit judge, and ex-officio judge of the Su- preme Court, of which he was presiding judge for two years, he served until the re-organization of the latter court in 1858. After this change in the judiciary, he continued to hold the office of cir- cuit judge of the Sixth Circuit until 1867, when he resigned. He immediately removed to Bay City, and thenceforth devoted himself to the practice of law until he was appointed, in June, 1872, circuit judge of the Eighteenth Circuit, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge Grier. In this position he is still acting. In 1860
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HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.
he prepared and published a work on the practice of circuit courts. An edition of 1,200 copies was issued, and so eagerly was it sought for by the profession that nearly every copy has been sold. The important and conspicuous part performed by Judge Green, officially and otherwise, in giving judicious form and system to the statutes and the practice of the courts of this state, and in improving its gen- eral jurisprudence is worthy of a more extended notice than is ad- missible in this brief memoir. The revised statutes of 1846 have remained now for a quarter of a century, and no effort has been made to supersede it by another. Two compilations have been made to bring together, in convenient form, the numerous changes made necessary by national events by the expanding enterprise of the time and the rapid development of our local resources, but the general features of that revision remain. His judicial record for over twenty years as a nisi prius judge, and for ten years in the Court of Last Re- sort is creditable alike to the state and to him. The opinions of the court prepared and read by him, published in the first four volumes of the Michigan Reports, are clear and forcible in style; they show a thorough acquaintance with the subjects involved, a modest deference to the current of decision by other courts, a clear percep- tion of the ethical philosophy of the law, a constant appreciation of its great purpose and a bold adherence to recognized principles. These contain the results of his mature judgment after deliberate consideration. But he has exhibited in his long service at the cir- cuit a wider range of judicial qualities than can be called into exer- cise in a purely Appellate Court. He possesses rare qualifications for the nisi prius bench, for trial of questions of fact. His analyti- cal mind enables him at once to put aside what is foreign to the subject of inquiry, and to so classify the material evidentiary facts, as to disentangle the most intricate case, and bring order out of ap- parent chaos. His knowledge of the law is profound; he has mas- tered and digested it as a great moral science. In the administra- tion of it, he is ready without being precipitate, dignified without austerity, patient and attentive to arguments, and independent and uniformly impartial in his decision. He is ever serene and self- possessed, however the bustle and excitement of important trials may affect parties, council or public. He is popular with the pro- fession and enjoys the fullest confidence of the public. On his re- tirement from the bench in 1867 he was tendered a public dinner at Pontiac, and the festive occasion was emphasized by the presenta- tion of a beautiful silver service, with toasts and speeches abounding in compliments well merited, and which had the ring of "well done, good and faithful servant." Nor is Judge Green a mere judge or justice; his reading has been extensive. He is, in short, a man of refinement and general culture, with broad and liberal views.
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