USA > Michigan > Bay County > History of Bay County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 61
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In 1860, upon ascertaining that the salt rock underlaid the whole of the Saginaw Valley, Mr. Daglish and I anticipated an extensive business in the manufacture of salt. The only methods then known for reducing the brine was solar evaporation and the old kettle blocks. Believing that the prairies would be extensively used for evaporating works, and the navigable waters for transpor- tation, we purchased a sufficient quantity of swamp land to secure two miles of the navigable portion of the Cheboyganing Creek, with a view of its future use for purposes above referred to; but time developed a cheaper process for making salt than even by solar evaporation, so the idea of using the land for that purpose was abandoned. We never doubted the practicability of improving the land by dyking and pumping, but the only data within our knowl- edge upon which to base an estimate of the expense of dyking, was the contract of the Bay City and East Saginaw Railroad Company with Capt. Smith for grading their track across the low prairie. Capt Smith was to receive $100 per day for furnishing and running his dredge, and in prosecuting the work he averaged 100 lineal feet per day. At that rate the expense would preclude the possibility of a profit on the cost of the improvement, so the matter rested until 1877, when, upon consulting with dredge owners, we ascertained that the work could be done at a price that would give a reasonable prospect for a benefit on the outlay in im- proving the land. After determining to prosecute the work, we secure i the services of Mr. Joseph I. Forcier, through whose practical knowledge of the work of dredging and untiring industry in prosecuting it, our operations have been greatly facilitated. By Mr. Forcier's advice we hired the dredge from the corporation of East Saginaw at the rate of $10 for each working day it should be in our possession. After fitting the dredge for work, Mr. Forcier hired his assistants and commenced work on the 11th day of May, 1878, and during the next ninety-six working days excavated a ditch thirty feet wide, averaging nearly six feet deep, three and a quarter miles long, throwing the earth outside, making an embank- ment of thirty feet wide at the base and five feet high, which has proved effectual in keeping out the water. The depth of water on the land for about two-thirds the length of the line of ditch was from one to one and a half feet, under which, for the first foot and a half, was a layer of decayed vegetable matter of the color of black snuff; under that was one foot thick of a substance, largely inter- mixed with decaying shells, which partakes of the properties of the layers directly above and below it. The layer below, I suppose, was a fine quality of clay for brick-making, till I learned from Prof. R. C. Kedzie, after he had analyzed a sample of it, that it was marl, containing thirty-six parts of carbonate of lime and sixty-four parts of clay, or a matter that was insoluble in acid, and that it was valuable as a fertilizer of land; and also that upon a test by burning like other lime, grinding and mixing with sand, it might prove valuable as a water lime. No actual test has yet been made of it for any purpose. The ditch and embankment of the south line of our improvement is over one mile in length, running from the creek directly east to the timbered land. In running our ditch back from the creek we found so great a rise in the land we were unable to float our dredge, so we made a dam across the ditch and improvised a pump, by making of plank a box sixteen feet long and ten feet wide, leaving one end open and having a valve in
the bottom of the other end. This we balanced across our dam with a hoisting apparatus affixed to the valve end, by which with horse power, after filling the valve end of the box, we raised it, causing the water to flow out of the other end above the dam, which enabled us to keep the dredge afloat, and supply water as fast as the dredge dis- placed the earth. It was there that we had the first practical dem- onstration of the sufficiency of our bank to hold water.
We were obliged to throw the earth on each side of our ditch, and after filling it fifteen inches higher than the water in the ditch below, or on the surrounding land, the water settled only one inch during the night, while operations were suspended. The earth at that point was as porous as at any other part of our embankment, so we were satisfied that the weight of the bank pressed so hard on the surface of the ground that there was no chance for the water to penetrate it. The land gradually rises from the creek to the tim- bered land from two to two and a half feet above the lower portion of the land, and except where the water was so deep as to prevent the growth of vegetation, is covered with a heavy growth of rushes, reeds and flags, and as the land rises the character of the vegetation changes, first to sour grass, then to blue joint, and on portions near the timber there is a growth of buffalo grass and rosin weed. As you pass back from the creek the soil gradually becomes firmer, and the higher portions have the appearance on the surface of being hard clay; but dredging through it has demon- strated the fact that there are two feet of black clayey soil before coming to the harder substance. There is no part of the tract with a sandy soil, except a portion of the grove of timber, contain- ing fifteen or twenty acres, referred to as formerly having been known as "Pine Island." Our ditch and embankment surrounds on three sides 760 acres of land, about 600 acres of which is prai- rie and fit for the plow. On the southeast it connects with our partially cleared timbered farm of 160 acres. In constructing our embankment along the margin of the creek we passed a small bayou in which the water was about three feet deep, and the sub- stance below the water was so soft that it was difficult to make a sufficient bank of it; after making an excavation eighteen feet deep and only raising the bank three feet high, we left it to be finished by piling and cribbing for a distance of about seventy-five feet.
The substance taken from the bayou is similar to the middle strata of soil heretofore described, and I think will prove valuable as a fertilizer. After completing our embankment we procured a twelve-horse power steam engine, and two of Rumsey's rotary sec- tion pumps, one with a discharge pipe of six inches and the other four inches, the two calculated to discharge 4,000 gallons per min - ute. We commenced pumping about the 15th of September, and run our pumps night and day for six weeks in clearing the water from the surface of our land, and settling it in the ditch, six feet below the surface of the river. That tested the sufficiency of our bank to hold back the water; we found no leakage through any part of it. After pumping out the water, as above stated, we com- menced a series of ditches through our land, all running to the main
ditch. From the northwest to the southeast corner we made a ditch four feet wide at the surface, two feet deep and one and a half feet wide at the bottom. This ditch runs nearly parallel with our north- east line, into which all the water coming from the east will flow. From the main, or dredge ditch on the west, to the one above men- tioned, at an interval of each forty rods, is a ditch of three feet wide at the surface and one and one-half feet deep, and one and one- half foot wide at the bottom, making of small ditches six miles. Upon ditching on the lower portion of our land we found it porous and like a sponge filled with water, but after a few days of drainage through the small ditches, it settled and became so firm that a horse
2
HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.
215
could be driven over it without difficulty, and with a small additonal outlay for small ditches, we think our drainage sufficient for all practical purposes. No doubt but under-drainage would be bene- ficial, and may be adopted hereafter, but there is less necessity for it here than there is for it on much of the uplands. It will be readily seen that the ditch and embankment made an effectual fence for all purposes, as far as they go. In addition to the above it will require three miles of fence on the east and northeast to en- close our 760 acre tract. We have one comfortable farm house on the land, which is the only building yet erected, except an engine house. And as I have been requested to give a detailed account of the character and cost of our improvements, I suppose for the rea- son that others who are inclined to undertake a like enterprise may profit by our experience, I will state that all our expenditure, in- cluding the cost of dredging and ditching, the cost of the engine and pump, and the pumping that has been done, also of the house and the estimated cost of a gate and sluice between the ditch and creek, and for completing our embankment, and enclosing the whole with a fence, amounts to a trifle over $7 per acre for the 760 acres enclosed and drained.
In setting our pumps we were obliged to raise the discharge pipes so highi, in order to keep the belts out of water, that we used about double the power in emptying our ditch that was absolutely necessary. We expect to improve our pumping apparatus so as to clear our ditch the second time in half the time and at half the ex- pense before required. We first intended to have made a ditch and embankment on the east line of our tract, to prevent the water from flowing on from the timbered land, but on examining our sur- roundings we find a heavy ditch passing on our north line, which prevents any flow of water from that direction, and in less than a mile on the east there is another heavy ditch being constructed, which will carry all the water that would flow from that direction south of our embankment, so by pumping the water that falls on a little larger surface we save the expense of the ditch and bank, above referred to. In ordinary seasons, after the Spring rains are taken care of, there will be no pumping to do.
Now for our plans and expectations for the future. We think our plans carried out will provide effectually for a thorough drain- age, and we have no misgivings as to the quality and productiveness of the soil. After completing our small ditches, we discontinued our pumping, allowing our large ditch again to fill with water. As soon as warm weather commences we intend to start our pumps, and empty the ditches before the snow melts. The water flows freely through our small ditches, so we expect to keep it down and have our lands fit for cultivation as soon as the uplands are. With the drainage we have through the small ditches much of our higher land is fit for cultivation without any pumping. In the Spring we intend to commence plowing on that, and continue our oper- ations as the land becomes dry enough, and put in such crops as shall indicate the greatest profit by production, or in subduing the turf for future cultivation. We do not expect large crops for the first or second year.
Our intentions are to stock down a large portion of it as soon as the soil is in fit condition, to such grasses as will be profitable for stock feeding. On some of the lowest part of our land, which is covered with a heavy growth of reeds and rushes, we shall try the experiment of burning, and harrowing in grass seed without plow- ing.
From what I have written of the past and present condition of the Saginaw marshes, it will be seen that they are of very little practical value without further improvement. All the profit that has ever been derived from them is the cutting of a small amount of wild grass for hay, and that practice has been nearly discontin-
ued as the uplands become cleared. I believe that every acre of ground between Bay City and Saginaw is capable of producing the largest crops that can be grown in this latitude. It is now half a century since the Saginaw country first became known to the whites, but the marshes between Bay City and Saginaw present a more pleasing view to the beholder than they did when the eye of the white man first glanced over the broad expanse. But I believe that whoever passes over our thoroughfares between the towns above mentioned, fifty years hence, will be presented with far differ- ent views. Instead of the unsightly appearance of reeds, rushes, wild grass, and pools of water, the traveler will behold large fields of waving grain and extensive meadows covered with nutritious grasses for stock feeding and herds of cattle resting in the shade of groves which dot the landscape, with occasionally a farm house to relieve the eye from the monotony of so much natural beauty."
Only a few years ago the department of agriculture in Bay County was practically unknown, and the value of Bay County lands for agricultural purposes was hardly recognized; but only a few experiments were needed to satisfy the most incredulous that the soil was of the most productive character, and all that was needed to give the county rank as an agricultural district, was de- velopment. These facts were appreciated and taken advantage of, and to-day Bay County possesses some of the finest and most pro- ductive farms in the state. Hundreds of men, who only five or ten years ago entered the wilderness which then surrounded us, with literally nothing but their hands and strong, firm wills, as capital, are to-day classed as independent farmers, having accomplished in a few years what has taken a life time in other sections to accom- plish.
Statistics for 1878 show that the average yield of wheat in Bay County was twenty-four bushels per acre. But one wheat growing county in the state held a larger average and that but a fraction. Excellent crops of rye, barley, oats and corn are grown annually. One hundred bushels of corn to the acre is quite com- mon. The low level lands cannot be excelled in the state for grasses. Indeed the entire Saginaw Valley is destined to be the grain, vegetable and dairy country of the state.
The season of 1879 was one of unusual drouth so that the growth of fruit and vegetables suffered materially. We copy from the official report of the Bay County Agricultural Society, for 1879, showing the quality of the grain grown during that year, and also from the vegetable department for 1879:
WHEAT.
No.
Weight
Legal weight.
Entry.
Kind.
per bus.
1
White Mountain
. 644
60
4
Treadwell .
63
60
8
Treadwell
.643
60
25
Treadwell
.631
60
31
Treadwell
.641 60
5
Clawson
60
60
7
Clawson
62
60
11
Clawson
61
60
24
Clawson
61
60
32
Clawson
603
60
33
Clawson
. 613
60
39
Clawson
62
60
6
White Russian Spring.
.593
60
34
White Russian Spring.
.593
60
47
Dhiel
61
60
SPRING WHEAT.
35
Minnesota Club
601
60
48
Not given
. 621
60
4
52
Not given
.631
60
16
C
216
HISTORY OF BAY COUNTY.
BUCKWHEAT.
70
Not given.
.52
48
84
Solon Hull
56
48
BARLEY.
3
Not given
51
48
26 Not given .
52
48
36
Winter Barley
.48
48
OATS.
No
Weight
Legal
Entry.
Kind.
per bus.
weight.
9
Not given.
.. 343
32
27
Not given .
.35
32
61
White
.. 37
32
VEGETABLES.
No
Weight
Entry.
Name
lbs. oz.
649
6 Early Rose Potatoes.
7
649
1 carrot.
4
6
649 1 citron.
20
4
498 1 bushel Early Rose.
60
436 12 Early Peach Blow
11
10
661 12 Early Peach Blow
10
708 12 Early Peach Blow
17
10
348
1 pumpkin
61
104 1 pumpkin.
41
453
1 pumpkin
42
461
1 Golden pumpkin .
94
294
1 cabbage.
29
397
6 cabbages.
126
831
1 Early Quinteel cabbage. 24
659 1 Mammoth squash
119
465 1 Mangel Wurtzel beet. 23
527 12 Hubbard squash
192
12
737
1 dozen White onions.
10
12
889
1 dozen Red onions
10
14
739 1 dozen Red onions
9
7
102 1 dozen Late Rose potatoes.
11
24 1 dozen Victor Rose potatoes.
7
4
At the present time the agricultural resources of Bay County are being rapidly developed. The new lands are being taken up by actual settlers, and the county is pursuing a liberal policy in the matter of public improvements, calculated to aid in the work of general development. The following very succinct statement has been prepared by a reliable authority :
"Bay County, as an agricultural county, stands preeminent. The land is level and was covered with a heavy growth of excellent forest timber, much of which still remains. Oak, elm, basswood, black and white ash, beech, maple and hickory constitute the prin- cipal timber trees. The soil is a deep, rich loam, with a clay sub- soil, containing such quantities of limestone that it is difficult to obtain material suitable for brick. This naturally would be con- sidered good wheat lands, and the wheat crop of our county during a series of years, fully demonstrates the superiority of our soil for such purposes. The average yield per acre over the entire county is excelled by only one or two counties in the state. Sixty bushels of wheat per acre has been grown, and with our best and most intelligent farmers, thirty to forty bushels per acre are obtained, and the quality is so fine that Bay County wheat carried off the first special premium offered by the Detroit Board of Trade at the state fair in 1879. The Spring it may be said is not quite so early as in the interior of the state, caused by the cool winds from the lakes. This, however, has its compensations, as fruit buds are retarded, and escape late frosts, while the lake winds in the Fall are warm and keep off early frosts, thus giving our corn and other crops ample time to mature. When the hot sun of Summer comes our corn crop makes a rapid and vigorous growth, and large crops are obtained. Roots and vegetables of all kinds on our rich, deep soils
are unexcelled in size and quality. It can also with entire truthful- ness be said that this is a natural dairy soil; strip the timber off and then springs up, the first year thereafter, natural grasses, prin- cipally June grass or Blue grass, which for pasture is unexcelled, and when Timothy is sown, two tons per acre of hay is considered the average crop.
"Apples are grown in abundance, and of the finest and choicest varieties. Pears, plums and peaches are also grown to a limited ' extent, but,of a very fine quality. Grapes of the hardier varieties do well, and small fruits, the raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, etc., are indigenous to the soil, springing up, wherever a fire, or clearing in the forest or by the roadside affords them an oppor- tunity."
DRAINAGE.
As already described, a large amount of land in Bay County has been in former years entirely covered by water during a portion of the year. It has been known for years that if these various tracts of prairie and swamp land could be relieved of their surplus water, they would become valuable for agricultural purposes, the .soil being naturally rich and strong. Individual efforts at drainage have been made, hut since the new law relative to drain construc- tion went into effect, the business has been carried on in this county on a large scale, and with the most satisfactory results. The drain law placed the matter of drain improvement in such a shape that it could be handled systematically and successfully. The petition asking for a drain is prepared and handed to the drain commis- sioner, who has a survey made, estimates the cost of construction and supervision, and then makes an equalized assessment on the property benefitted. The people of the districts requiring drainage took hold of the enterprise with avidity, and thousands of acres have been transformed from soaking swamps into as rich and pro. ductive fields as were ever furrowed by the plow. The work in progress or recently completed in the county is as follows:
The Drouillard ditch in Kawkawlin, two and one-half miles long, and costing $1,200, has been completed, as has the Chip road ditch, two miles long, in the same township. The latter cost $700. The George Young ditch, in Hampton, is a very important water course and makes a vast improvement to the large section that it drains. It is seven miles long, eighteen feet wide at its mouth and ten at its head. It will cost $7,000, and already land lying adja- cent to it has advanced $5 and $10 per acre. This ditch is worth a mine of money to Bay County, placing in tillable condition a ter- ritory hitherto worthless for farming purposes.
The German road ditch in Portsmouth and Merritt townships is a drain of no little importance. It is well under way, the first mile of which is twenty-five feet wide, having been completed some time ago. The rest of the ditch is fourteen feet wide, and its total length four miles. It will cost $5,000. The Russell ditch in the same township is now being dug. It will be fourteen feet wide, five miles long, and will cost $4,000.
The Merrill ditch has been finished up to Center Street, and is now complete. It cost $5,500. The Vanderbilt ditch in Ports- mouth will cost $700. Its length will be one mile. The contract for digging the T. C. Phillips ditch in Monitor township, has been let. Its length is two and one-half miles, and its cost is placed at $1,700.
The following is a summary of the drains completed and now under way, their length and cost:
DITCH.
LENGTH.
COST.
Drouillard .
23 miles
$1,200
Chip road.
2
700
George Young.
7
7,000
German road
4
5,000
0
...
as
RES. OF E. O' CONNOR, CENTER AVE, BAY-CITY.
RES. OF C. A. EDDY _ BAY CITY.
RES. OF JUDGE S. M. GREEN, BAY CITY.
COUNTY-JAIL - BAY-CITY.
217
Russell .
5
4,000
Merrill estimated
4
64
5,500
Vanderbilt
1
700
Phillips
24
1,700
Totals.
28 miles
$25,800
The Quanicassee and Cheboyganing dredge cut extending from Cheboyganing Creek, in Saginaw County, to the Quanicassee Creek, in Bay County, is one of the most extensive improvements of the kind in the state. The cut is about twenty-eight feet wide by five and one-half feet deep, and seven miles long. It cost about $15,000.
This work of drainage is being vigorously prosecuted, and at the present time there are petitions for at least fifty miles of ditches in addition to those already mentioned.
TRAVEL AND TRANSPORTATION.
Proper facilities for travel and transportation are essential to the development of any region. The early settlers of Bay County were subjected to many hardships on account of a lack of those facilities. For many years the river and lake were the only great thoroughfares leading out of this region. There were blazed paths through woods and corduroy roads across malarious swamps. The latter was made by throwing a sufficient number of logs across a track to render travel dangerous and destructive where before it was tedious and unprogressive. The legislator took his pack of essentials upon his back or saddle and proceeded upon foot or horseback to the capitol of the state to assist in the enactment of just and wholesome laws for the common wealth. And it is not discoverable that local statesmen were fewer in number or less will- ing to sacrifice themselves upon the alleged altar because of the hardships to be endured in transit.
WAGON ROADS.
After the organization of the county in 1857, it became evi- dent to the leading men in Bay City that a public thoroughfare over which travel to and from the city could be effected was necessary to the prosperity of the place.
The first road of any kind over which a team could travel to and from the city, was the Tuscola plank road, which was begun in 1859 and partially finished in 1860. B. F. Partridge was em- ployed to survey the route and engineer the building of the road. He made the survey in 1859, and was assisted by William McEwan, James Fraser, Alexander McEwan and Christian Heinsman. The latter was axman, and Mr. McEwan took down the notes of sur- vey. The cost of the road was about $40,000. It opened up a rich section of country and has been of great advantage to both city and county. A company was formed to build it and the money advanced by James Fraser and Dr. D. H. Fitzhugh, individuals who subscribed furnishing those gentlemen security for the amounts of their subscription.
Among the other road improvements of the past, are the Bay City and Midland plank road, extending east through Monitor and Williams, the State road running north from West Bay City, the Bay City and Cass River state road, and Bay City and Junction road. By reference to the county map it will be seen that the townships are displaying commendable enterprise in improving their roads as fast as they are warranted in doing. The state road extending north was opened from Saginaw to Au Sable, and superseded the old county road from Salzburgh to Kawkawlin.
Realizing the importance of better roads in the county, the Board of Supervisors at a meeting held April 25, 1882, provided for
expending $100,000 in road improvements. With that in view the following resolutions were introduced by Mr. A. C. Maxwell, and made the special order of business for the next day. The reso- lutions were as follows:
Resolved, That the sum of $100,000 be borrowed on the faith and credit of Bay County for a period of fifteen years at a rate of interest not exceeding five per cent per annum, payable semi-annu- ally, and that the bonds of the county be issued therefor in sums of $500 each; the moneys so to be raised to be applied in improv- ing and macadamizing the state roads in said county as follows:
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