USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 17
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During the season of 1833, in March and April, the Council passed a large number of acts directing the making of roads. Among those authorized we find the following wholly or part in Cass County :
" A road from Adamsville, on the most direct and eligible route, to the Paw Paw River, at or near the center of Van Buren County." Sterling Adams, Charles Jones and Lyman J. Daniels were appointed Commissioners.
George Meacham, Elijah Lacey and Fowler Preston were appointed Commissioners to lay out a road from Edwardsburg, through the village of Niles, to the mouth of the. St. Joseph River, in Berrien County.
An act passed March 7, 1834, appointed Henry H. Fowler, John Woolman and Hart L. Stewart as Commissioners to lay out a road from Mottville through Cass and Berrien Counties to the mouth of the St. Joseph River.
Authority was given by an act passed January 30, 1835, for the laying out of a road from Jacksonburg through Cassopolis to the mouth of the St. Joseph, James Cowen, Michael Beedle and D. McCauley being appointed Commissioners. The same act ap- pointed James Newton, Henry Jones and Elijah Lacey to lay out a road from Cassopolis to Galien River. The work of improvement (by act), went on under the authority of the State very much as it had under the Territory. The first Legislature author- ized the establishment of a very large number of roads, among which the following were ordered to be laid out, wholly or in part, in Cass County.
"A State road from Edwardsburg, via Cassopolis, Volinia and Paw Paw Mills, to Allegan, in Allegan County," for which David Crane, Jacob Silver and John L. Sherer were appointed Commissioners.
"A road from Schoolcraft, in Kalamazoo County, to the village of St. Joseph, in Berrien County. For this road Alexander Copley, Nathaniel M. Thomas and Albert E. Bull were appointed Commissioners.
The following roads were authorized, by act ap- proved July 26, 1836 :
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
A State road " from French's Tavern, on the Chi- cago road, at the crossing of Prairie River, to Con- stantine, in St. Joseph County ; thence to Cassopolis, crossing the river at Buck's Tavern, and from thence to the mouth of the St. Joseph River." Thomas Langley, George Buck and E. B. Sherman, Com- missioners.
A road "from Constantine, in St. Joseph County, through Berrien to New Buffalo Village." Wessel Whittaker, R. E. Ward and Thomas Charlton, Com- missioners.
A road from Constantine to Niles. William F. House, H. W. Griswold and Robert S. Griffin, Com- missioners.
A road "from Centerville, in St. Joseph County, through Cassopolis and through Berrien, to the entrance of Galien River into Lake Michigan." H. L. Stewart, John Withenmyer and E. P. Sanger, Commissioners.
A road " from Constantine, in St. Joseph County, to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, by the most direct and eligible route." William F. House, James Odell and Moody Emerson, Commissioners.
By act of March 17, 1837, the following, among many other roads, were authorized :
A State road from Whitmanville to the State road, at or near Bainbridge. Charles J. Martin, M. C. Whitman, John P. Davis and Jehiel Enos, Com- missioners.
A State road from Whitmanville to St. Joseph, Eleazer Morton, John Wolver and E. H. Spaulding, Commissioners.
A road from Cassopolis, through Berrien to New Buffalo. Abiel Silver, Isaac Sumner and Pitt Brown, Commissioners.
On the 16th of February, 1838, an act was passed authorizing the laying out of a State road from Niles to Kalamazoo. This road passed through Wayne and Pokagon Townships of Cass County.
April 1, 1840, an act was passed authorizing the establishment of "a road cominencing at some point at or near the north bank of the River St. Joseph, in the vicinity of the village of St. Joseph, thence run- ning in an easterly direction, on the most eligible route, to the village of La Grange, formerly called Whitmanville, in Cass County." L. L. Johnson, Morgan Enos and Jacob Allen were appointed Com- missioners. An act appropriating 3,000 acres of the internal improvement lands of the State for the pur- pose of opening and improving this road was ap" proved by the Legislature March 28, 1848. Seven thousand acres of the internal improvement lands of the State were appropriated by act of April 3, 1848, for opening and improving the State road from Con-
stantine, in St. Joseph County, to Paw Paw, in Van Buren County.
To "lay out and establish " a road, and to open and improve a road were two very different things. A number of those authorized by the Territorial and State Legislature were never made passable for vehicles, and some were never opened at all-other roads which better suited the convenience of the pub- lic being made in their stead.
A mania for plank roads originated about 1848, and a very large number of companies were incor- porated in the State within the next few years. The only one in Cass County of which we have any knowledge was known as the Niles and Mottville Company. It was incorporated March 22, 1849, and empowered to construct a plank road between Niles and Mottville, by way of Edwardsburg, Adamsville or Cassopolis. The persons named to receive sub- scriptions were James L. Glenn, H. P. Mather, J. M. Finley, H. B. Hoffman, Nathaniel Bacon, George Meacham, Ezra Hatch, Moses Joy, IIiram Hollibard, Orrin E. Thompson, H. Follett and Norman Sage. The capital stock authorized was $100,000. The company built only about five miles of road between Niles and Edwardsburg, which was used until nearly worn out.
STAGE ROUTES.
Although the Chicago road did not pass through Niles, a branch was established from Edwardsburg to that place at a very early day, and much of the travel went that way.
The first stage coaches in Cass County passed through in the year 1830 upon the Chicago road and the above mentioned branch. The line was established by Col. Alamanson Huston, and connected Niles with Detroit. Messrs. Jones & Savery, of White Pigeon, continued to operate it until 1832, when travel was suspended on account of the Sauk war. It took about seven days to make the journey from Niles to Detroit. At first, two stages went over the road each week, but trips were made tri-weekly before the cessation of the business in 1832.
In 1833, Benjamin B. Kercheval, DeGarmo Jones and Maj. Robert Forsythe, of Detroit, and Joseph W. Brown, of Tecumseh, established a line of stages between Detroit and Chicago. The route was from Detroit via Ypsilanti. Jonesville, Coldwater River, White Pigeon, Edwardsburg and Niles. Teams were changed about every twelve miles. In 1834, Messrs. Saltmarsh, Overton and Boardman purchased an interest in the line, and the concern was known as "the Western Stage Company." It was soon afterward divided in- to sections, that extending from Jonesville to Chicago being placed under the superintendency of Maj.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
William Graves, who located at Niles in June, 1835.
In the spring of this year, immigration having very largely increased and there being many land speculat- ors travelling through the country, it was found that daily stages were demanded. They were almost inva- riably crowded, and the company was compelled to put on a double line before the season was over. Even then the agents were sometimes obliged to hire extra teams and common wagons in which to convey pas- sengers. The most desirable seats in the stages were frequently sold at a heavy premium by speculators. The stage companies upon this direct through line to Chicago were very liberally patronized and grew rich. They flourished finely until the iron horse and the railroad coach surpassed the "Concord."
In 1836, what was known as "the Territorial road," was surveyed through Van Buren County, a line of stages was put on it by John Allen, and the busi- ness was subsequently carried on by other parties.
When the Michigan Central Railroad was pushed westward across the State, the stage business began to decline, but it was continued as long as there was a gap between the iron rail and Lake Michigan to be filled. When the road was built as far as Marshall, stages were run from there to Kalamazoo and thence to St. Joseph and New Buffalo. The line to the latter place passed through the northwest part of Cass Coun- ty. It was operated by D. Humphrey & Co., and one of the noted drivers was Ransom Dopp, of Wayne Township.
The stage coach in use in Michigan during the pio- neer days and until a generation ago, was the "Con- cord," probably so named from Concord, N. H., where the pattern was originated. They cost from $200 to $300.
A REMINISCENCE OF THE STAGE.
The following reminiscence by an old settler con- veys a good idea of the stage coach and of stage travel in Michigan in the "olden time:"
"The old stage coach was the fastest and best public conveyance by land forty-five years ago. Its route was along the main post roads ; and although a third of a century has elapsed since steam was har- nessed to the flying car, and the whistle of the loco- motive usurped the place of the echoing stage-horn that heralded the coming of 'the four-wheeled wonder,' bearing the mail with the traveling public and their baggage, yet along the byways and more secluded portions of our country, the old stage coach, the venerated relic of our past, is still the speediest mode of travel, and the stage-horn yet gives notice of its approach. Thus in this direction and in many others we carry the past with us.
" As one makes a pilgrimage, in imagination, along the old stage-route, the spirit of the past seems to start into life and clothes every object he meets with an additional charm, bringing back the old associations ' withdrawn afar' and mellowed by the light of other days.
" Reader, you can fancy this ancient vehicle-a black painted and deck-roofed hulk-starting out from Detroit, with its load of passengers, swinging on its thorough-braces, attached to the fore and hind axles, and crowded to its fullest capacity. There was a boot, projecting three or four feet behind, for luggage ; an iron railing ran around the top of the coach where extra baggage or passengers were stowed as occasion required. The driver occupied a high seat in front ; under his feet was a place for his traps and the mail ; on each side of his seat was a lamp firmly fixed, to light his way by night ; inside of the coach were three seats which would accommodate nine passengers. You can imagine the stage-coach thus loaded, starting out at the "get ape" of the driver, as he cracks his whip over the heads of the leaders, when all four horses spring to their work, and away goes the lumbering vehicle, soon lost to sight in -the woods, struggling along the road, lurching from side to side into deep ruts and often into deeper mud holes.
" For bringing people to a common level and mak- ing them acquainted with each other and tolerant of each other's opinions, give me the old stage-coach on the pioneer road. You can ride all day by the side of a man in a railway car and he will not deign to speak to you. But in the old coach, silence found a tongue and unsociability a voice ; common want made them companions and common hardships made them friends.
" Probably this was the only place where the Demo- crat and Old-Line Whig ever were in quiet juxtaposition with that acrid, angular, intensely earnest and cordially hated man called an Abolitionist. Spurned and tabooed as an agitator, fanatic and disturber of the public peace by both the old parties, his presence was as much spurned and despised as were his political prin- ciples. But this man, thus hated, was found ' check by jowl,' with Democrat and Whig in the old stage. Who shall say that these old politicians, sitting face to face with a common enemy, and compelled to listen to ' Abolition doctrines,' were not benefited by it ? Perhaps this was the leaven cast into thie Democracy and Whiggery of the past, that finally leavened the whole lump.
" When the roads were very bad, the 'mud- wagon,' on thorough-braces, drawn by two horses, was substituted for the regular coach. The verb trot was obsolete at such times, but the verb spatter was
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
conjugated in all its moods and tenses. The wagon, the horses, the driver and the passengers could testify to this, for they were often covered with 'free soil.' The driver sitting high up on the front, was monarch of the road. Everything that could must get out of his way. If there was any opposition he had only to slap his hand on the mail bag and say ' Uncle Sam don't want this little satchel detained.' And thus on they go.
" The driver, as he nears a tavern, post office at the roadside, or village, whips out the tin horn from its sheath at his side, and sends forth a succes- sion of pealing notes, that wake the slumbering echoes, which reverberate and die away in the distant arcades of the forest. The tavern or village, catching the first note of the horn, is immediately awake. All are on the qui vive to witness the 'coming in' of the stage with its load of passengers, and to hear the news from the outer world, contained in the old pad-locked leathern mail-bag. The stage-coach of forty-five years ago was an important institution. Its coming was always an interesting event. It had all the enchant- -ments about it that distance lends. The settlement or village hailed its advent as a ship returning from a long cruise bringing relatives, friends and news from a foreign land. It linked the woodland villages with each other, and kept them all in communication with the outside world."
CANAL OR RAILROAD PROJECT.
A meeting was held at Edwardsburg on February 2, 1836, to consider the project of constructing a canal from Constantine to Niles. A majority of those present favored the idea of a railroad rather than a canal, and the result was that the friends of the enterprise secured the passage of an act by the Legislature (March 26, 1836), incorporating the Con- stantine and Niles Canal or Railroad Company with a capital stock fixed at $250,000. The com- pany was empowered to construct either a canal or railroad between the termini mentioned in its name and charter. The first Directors were William Meek, George W. Hoffman, Wells T. House, Watson Sum- ner, John G. Cathcart, Edward N. Bridge, J. C. Lanman, Jacob Beeson and Vincent L. Bradford. It is possible that a survey was made of the proposed line of the canal or railroad, but it is certain that no action was taken beyond that step, and the financial crash of 1837, with its following period of depression, put an end to the project. There were no further attempts to build railroads or to open canals in this part of the State for a number of years, but several other abortive efforts were made simultaneously with that above described.
RAILROADS.
And now the iron trail traverses the country where little more than a half century since there was naught but the Indian path, and where within the memory of men not old, the lumbering stage coach was the most rapid medium of transportation.
A few brief notes upon the history of the three lines of railroad which cross Cass County will not, we think, be without interest in this chapter.
The first railroad in Cass County or Southeastern Michigan was the Michigan Central. As early as 1832, the Territorial Council took steps toward the building of a railroad in Michigan, and upon the 29th of June, passed an act incorporating the Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad Company. The company organ- ized under this the first official movement toward railroad construction was the ancestor of the present corporation, the Michigan Central Railroad Company. The company was authorized to build a single or double railroad from Detroit to St. Joseph by way of the village of Ypsilanti, and the county seats of Wash- tenaw, Jackson, Calhoun and Kalamazoo Counties, and to run cars on the same "by the force of steam, of animals, of any mechanical or other force, or of any combination of these forces ;" was bound to begin work within two years from the passage of the act, to build thirty miles of track within six years, to complete half of the road within fifteen years, and to finish the whole of it within thirty years under penalty of the forfeiture of its franchises.
The route was surveyed by Lieut. Berrien, of the regular army, and some work was done upon it near the eastern terminus to secure the franchise of the company. Before the six years had expired in which it was prescribed that thirty miles of road should be built, new and important official action was taken. Immediately after the admission of Michigan as one of the States of the Union, upon the 20th of March, 1837, an act of the Legislature was approved by the Governor, providing for the construction of three rail- roads by the State government across the whole breadth of its territory, to be called the Northern, Central and Southern Railroads. The Central was to run from Detroit to the mouth of the St. Joseph. The act also provided for the purchase of the rights and property of companies already established, and especially those of the Detroit & St. Joseph Com- pany. The sum of $550,000 was appropriated for the survey and making of the three roads, $400,000 of which was set apart for the Central. By another act passed March 21, 1837, the Legislature authorized
a loan of $5,000,000. With the money obtained from this and other sources, the Commissioners of Internal Improvements proceeded with the construc-
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
tion of the Central and Southern Railroads. Owing to the very slow method of carrying on the work in that pioneer era of railroads, the Central was not built to Kalamazoo until 1846. Upon March 28, 1846, an act was passed by the Legislature which provided for an entire change of system in railroad building. A body corporate by the name of the Michigan Central Railroad Company was established. It was authorized to purchase and the State agreed to sell all of its interest in the Central Railroad for $2,- 000,000. The franchise of the company required it to follow substantially the route originally decided upon, but instead of specifying that the month of the St. Joseph should be the western terminus, allowed the company to build from Kalamazoo " to some point in the State of Michigan on or near Lake Michigan which shall be accessible to steamboats on said lake, and thence to some point on the southern boundary line of Michigan," the men who composed the com- pany insisting on the latter provision in order that they might have a choice of destination. As soon as the company had made its payment and taken posses- sion of the road it determined to take the nearest route by which communication with Chicago could be pro- cured, and began surveying a route to New Buffalo, running through the northwest part of Cass County. This route was adopted, laborers employed and the work pushed forward at a rate of speed which for the time was remarkable. It was finished to Niles Octo- ber 7, 1848, and to New Buffalo in the spring of the following year. In the winter of 1851-52, the road was opened to Michigan City, and in the spring of of 1852 completed to Chicago. Since that time the business of the Michigan Central has steadily increased, and it has long been recognized as one of the princi- pal lines in the West.
The Michigan Southern was originally intended to pass through the southern part of the county, and the same act which provided for the construction of the Central authorized its building, but the route was subsequently so changed as to run through Northern Indiana.
The Air Line Railroad was built to open to traffic a fertile region through the counties of Cass, St. Joseph, Calhoun and Jackson, and to form a more direct line from Jackson to Niles than the Central furnished. It was opened to travel to Homer in the summer of 1870, to Three Rivers in the autumn of the same year, and to Niles in February, 1871. The iron was laid to Cassopolis November 28, 1870. The first regular passenger train commenced running on the road January 16, 1871. The Air Line was built chiefly by parties living along the route. The road is now leased and operated by the Michigan Central.
The Grand Trunk Railroad was constructed through Cass County about the same time as the Air Line. The amount of subscriptions and donations of right of way in the county amounted to about $100,000. To S. T. Read, of Cassopolis, is doubtless due the credit of having brought the line through Cassopolis. He took an active interest in the building of the road, and contributed liberally to the enterprise in money and time. Iron was laid to Cassopolis February 9, 1871, and regular trains East were run for the first time in June of the same year. The road was completed to Valparaiso, Ind., in 1871. The origin of the Grand Trunk dates back to June 30, 1847, when the Port Huron & Lake Michigan Railroad Company was chartered to construct a railroad from Port Huron to some point on Lake Michigan, at or near the mouth of Grand River.
In 1855, the Port Huron & Milwaukee Rail- road Company was chartered, and not long after amalgamated with the first-named organization. The Peninsular Railroad Company was chartered October 3, 1865, for the construction of a railroad between Lansing and Battle Creek, and January 3, 1868, the Peninsular Railroad Extension Company was char- tered for the extension of the line from Battle Creek to the Indiana State line, and the two companies were consolidated into a corporation as the Peninsular Railway Company, February 17, 1868. After numer- ous other consolidations and changes, the present or- ganization was consummated in April, 1880, under the name of the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway Company. The length of the line from Port Huron to Chicago is 330.40 miles.
CHAPTER XIII.
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
Character of Pioncer Preachers-Early Clergymen of Different De- nominations in Cass County-Sketches of Adam Miller, John Byrns, Elder Jacob Price, Justus Gage and Others-Bishop Phi- lander Chase-Collins, " the Boy Preacher "-Educational Interests of the County-School Laws-Incorporation of an Academy-Pres- ent Method of School Supervision-County Superintendents- County School Examiners.
H ROM an interesting and valuable paper on the " Pioneer Clergy,"* by Hon. George B. Tur- ner, we extract the following paragraphs upon the character of those avant-couriers of Christianity, who were known to the early settlers of Southwestern Michigan :
" It is to be regretted that in the history of the early settlement of Southern Michigan so few facts
" The article was published in the Cassopolis National Democrat February 5, 1874. Several selections from it are incorporated in this chapter-in fact, all of the matter which appears in quotation marks, the authorship of which is not otherwise indicated.
REV. JACOB PRICE.
1
REV. ADAM MILLER.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
have been preserved in relation to the efforts of the clergy of that period. As a class, none contributed more toward opening up the far West, as Michigan was called so late as 1837-none did more toward spreading civilization and knowledge-toward sowing the seed of practical religion and nursing the early plants as they sprang up under their ministrations, until churches were organized, Sunday schools started, theological institutions founded, and a better civilization had taken the place of what they found among the hardy backwoodsmen of this new country.
" The pionear clergy, with a self-sacrificing spirit worthy of the earlier days of Christianity, plunged into the wilderness, Bible and hymn-book in hand; sometimes astride a horse with saddle bags containing but a single change of raiment-oftener on foot, with a bundle of clothes thrown over his shoulder on a stick, he made his way from one settlement to another along deer paths or Indian trails, to preach the word of life to the rough frontiersman and their families. Wherever the white man penetrated the wilds of an American forest, not far behind him followed the dar- ing Methodist circuit rider, the pains-taking and in- defatigable Baptist, or the stately and dignified Pres- byterian. If pulpit oratory, in those days, had less of the polish of modern times in it, certainly it had, as a general thing, more of the spirit of the great Master in it. The early preacher may have lacked somewhat of the book learning of the present day, but he more than made up for it by an earnest, per- sistent, undoubting faith in the divine Word, and in his own mission to preach that Word to dying men and women. He seldom failed to impress upon his hearers that hearty, enthusiastic love for the Re- deemer, or that dread of His retributive justice, which he seemed to feel and speak and act in this new and wild theater of action. He may at times have ap- peared severely personal-sometimes intolerant and even coarse in the demonstration of the Word ; but, it must be remembered, he lived and preached at a time and under circumstances when a faithful, fearless denunciation of sin in all its forms was regarded as the highest possible qualification for a minister of the Gospel.
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