USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee county, Michigan. With illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 10
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whose proposed route lay across any part of the territory of Genesee County, was organized. This was the " Pontiac and Coruuna Plank-Road Company," incorporated by act approved March 17, 1847, with power to build a plank- road from Pontiac to Corunna, passing through the village of Byron, in Shiawassee County, and crossing the south- western corner of Genesee. The charter commissioners were Horace C. Thurber, J. W. Crandall, Jairah Hilhnan, George C. IIoliues, J. B. Bloss, Seth Beach, and William Axford. The authorized capital was two hundred thousand dollars. There is but little to be said of this project, beyond the fact of the incorporation.
The " Genesee County Plank-Road Company" was in- corporated by act approved April 3, 1848, with power " to lay out, establish, and construet a plank-road and all neces- sary buildings from the village of Flint to the south line of the township of Grand Blane, on the Saginaw road, in the county of Genesee, with the privilege of uniting at any point with the road of any other company." The capital stock was placed at twenty-five thousand dollars, and the powers of the company to continue for the term of sixty year's from the passage of the act. Jonathan Dayton, Charles D. W. Gibson, Charles C. Hlascall, George 11. Ilazelton, and Heury M. Henderson were appointed commis- sioners to receive subscriptions to the stock. This projected road was never put in operation under this name, though a line was afterwards built through Grand Blauc, connecting Flint with the railroad line at Holly, Oakland Co.
The " Flint and Fentonville Plank-Road Company" was also incorporated ou the 3d of April, 1848. The commis- sioners were Charles C. Hascall, Benjamin Pearson, George II. IIazelton, Robert Le Roy, and John Ilamilton, who were empowered to receive subscriptions to the capital stock, which was authorized to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars. Power was conferred on the company "to lay ont, establish, and construet a plank-road and all necessary buildings from the village of Flint to the village of Fentonville, on the line of the State road between the said villages ;" the act of incorporation to remain in force for the termu of sixty years from the date of its passage. There was a considerable delay in the organization of the company-the subscriptions to the stock not being com- pleted until the year 1851 -- and a still further delay in the construction of the road ; but it was finally completed, and proved a great benefit to the public. Its charter was re- pealed by act of Legislature in 1871, and the taking of toll was discontinued over its entire length in 1872. Since the decay and removal of the planking the road has been graveled over a good portion of its extent.
The "Saginaw and Genesee Plank-Road Company" was incorporated by act approved March 8, 1850, granting to that company " the power to lay out, establish, and con- struct a plank-road, with all necessary buildings, from any point in the village of Flint, Genesee Co., on the most eligible route to the Saginaw River, with a branch to each ferry in Saginaw City, in Saginaw County, with the privi- lege of a branch to C'ass River, in Tuscola County," the charter to continue and be in foree for sixty years from the passage of the act, but under the usual conditions. James Frazier and Norman Little, of Saginaw, and Edward Il. G
Thomson, of Flint, were appointed commissioners to re- ceive subscriptions to the capital stock, which was author- ized to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. Work was commenced on both ends of the route in No- vember, 1850, and the road was completed in 1852. It proved to be of immense advantage to the public, and a good investment for the stockholders, during the ten years which elapsed before it was superseded by the opening of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad, between Flint and East Saginaw.
The " Oakland and Genesee Plank-Road Company" be- came incorporated (under the general plank-road law of IS51) in January, 1852. Its corporators and first board of directors were Nelson W. Clark, Enos Goodrich, Amos Orton, Elbridge G. Gale, William L. Norrin, D. C. Davi- son, and William H. Putnam. Its object was to connect the village of Flint with Pontiac, by a plank-road to pass through the townships of Grand Blanc and Atlas. A meeting to promote the objects of the company was held at Goodrichville, Jan. 31, 1852, and it was reported that at this meeting the whole amount of stock was subscribed. This was at the time when the plank-road fever was at its height throughout the State, as is shown by the following extract from the Genesee Whig of February 28th, in that year : " We cannot take up a Michigan paper these days in which the plauk-roads do not form the subject of the lead- ing articles. While all are thus alive to the momentous interests involved in these projects, we must help to keep the ball moving, or else fall behind the times." But not- withstanding the general enthusiasm on the subject, and the prompt action of the people of the two southeastern towns, they never realized the accomplishment of their object.
The connection of Flint with the railway-station at Holly, by plank-road, was accomplished by a company organized, under the general law, Feb. 11, 1854, " for the purpose of building a plank-road from Grand Blanc to Algerville [now Ilolly], to connect with the Oakland and Ottawa Railroad at that place." The road was built, and resulted in great advantage to the county of Genesee,- though not to the stockholders. The stage-coaches to aud from Flint, connecting with the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, passed over this line, and as early as 1858 trans- ported more than fifteen thousand passengers in the year, which was afterwards increased to five times that number in a single year. The usefulness of this line may be said to have ended with the opening of the Flint and Holly Railroad, in 1864.
PROJECTS FOR THE NAVIGATION OF FLINT RIVER.
The question of the practicability of rendering the Flint River navigable for boats of light draft of water began to be discussed at an early day,-before any railroad company had been chartered in Michigan, and before the construc- tion of plank-roads had been commeneed or thought of. At just how early a date this navigation project was first conecived does not appear, but that it had assumed definite form as early as the year 1839 is shown by the fact that on the 20th of April, in that year, the Governor of Michi- gan approved " an act to incorporate the Genesee and Sagi-
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HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
naw Navigation Company," with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and with power and authority " to enter upon the river Flint, and upon the lands upon either side, . . . and to form and make, erect and set up, any dams, locks, or any other device whatsoever, which they may think most fit and convenient to make a complete slack- water navigation between the points herein mentioned, to wit : from the village of Flint, situate on the river Flint, in Genesee County, down said river to some point on sec- tion No. 35 or 36, in township No. 11, north of range No. 4 east .* And also to survey, establish, and construet a eanal from said last-mentioned point on the river Flint, on the most direct and eligible route to the river Cass, with all the loeks, aqueduets, eulverts, bridges, and embankments which they may deem necessary or convenient. The locks shall be of sufficient width and length to admit a safe and easy passage for steamboats, barges, and other craft up, as well as down, said river and canal." The water-power cre- ated by the construction of the dams and eanal was to be the property of the company, but the right was reserved to the State to purchase at any time the eanal between the Flint and Cass Rivers, at a price not exceeding its cost, with an addition of ten per cent. The work was required to be commenced within two years, and to be finished within five years of the passage of the act, under penalty of for- feiture by the company of the powers and privileges eon- ferred by the act of incorporation. The charter commis- sioners named in the act were Gardner D. Williams, Ephraim S. Williams, Perry G. Gardner, James Frazier, Norman Little, W. L P. Little, Thomas J. Drake, Benja- min Pearson, Robert F. Stage, Wait Beach, Charles C. Ilaseall, and Thomas L. L. Brent. Subscription books to be opened at Flint and Saginaw City for the space of three days, after thirty days' notice.
This work of improvement not having been completed, or even commenced as required by the law, an act was passed by the Legislature (approved March 6, 1844) appropriating five thousand acres of the internal improvement lands of the State " for the purpose of clearing the flood-wood from, and otherwise improving the navigation of the Flint River from the village of Flint to the Saginaw River," and authorizing a canal to be ent around the drift-wood in case the commis- sioner, upon examination, should consider such a plan to be most expedient.
What amount of work-if any-was done under this ap- propriation does not appear, but it is evident that the river was not made navigable, for, in 1846, an act was passed (approved May 15) incorporating "The Flint and Sagi- naw Navigation Company," with an authorized capital of fifty thousand dollars, and with powers nearly identical with those conferred on the old Genesee and Saginaw Navigation Company of 1839. The purposes for which this company was incorporated were, however, somewhat different, being -as set forth in the act-" to make a complete slack-water navigation from the village of Fiint, in the county of Gen- esee, to and down said river, to a point where the Flint River intersects the Shiawassee River," with loeks of suffi- cient size to afford "easy passage for steamboats, barges,
and other craft up, as well as down, said river." The old project of the eanal to conneet the Flint with the Cass River was not included in the plan of the new company. One-third part of the work was required to be completed within three years, and the whole in ten years from the date of incorporation. The commissioners to have charge of sub- scriptions and organize the company were Channcey S. S. Payne, George M. Dewey, Engene Vandeventer, James Fraser, Henry M. Henderson, Porter Hazelton, Ezekiel R. Ewings, James B. Walker, Joseph K. Rugg, Elijah N. Da- venport, Nelson Smith, and William McDonald. In 1848 the charter of the company was amended, to authorize the cutting of a canal across from the Flint to the Cass River, and also extending the time for the completion of the work to the year 1859.
The drift of public opinion about that time as to the feasibility of navigating the Flint River, by steam and otherwise, is shown by the following extract from the Flint Republican newspaper of May 29, 1847 :
" THE RIVER .- There seems to be a full determination on the part of our citizens to improve the navigation of the Flint River, so as to make it safe and easy for the passage of boats of a moderate class. Negotiations are pending likely to result in the construction of a steamboat of light draught to ply between this place and Saginaw. All classes of our population, and partienlarly the lumbermen and farmers, are greatly interested in the success of this project, and the local price of all marketable articles will be thereby greatly enhanced."
In 1850 an act was passed by the Legislature (approved April 2) providing "That the rates of tolls the Flint and Saginaw Navigation Company are by law entitled to receive shall be as follows : On flour, salted beef and pork, butter and checse, whisky, beer, and eider per one thousand pounds per mile, eight mills ; on salt per one thousand pounds per mile, five mills ; on pot and pearl ashes per one thousand pounds per mile, ten mills ; timber, squared and round, if carried in boats, per one hundred enbic feet, two mills per mile ; timber, squared, if earried in rafts, per one hundred cubic feet, three mills per mile ; timber, round, if carried in rafts, per one thousand cubic feet per mile, five mills," etc. ; enumerating also the prices to be charged by the company on sawed lumber, in boats or rafts, staves and heading, shingles, and other articles, and " on boats used chiefly for the transportation of persons, per mile, suven cents ; and on boats used ehicfly for the transportation of property, per mile, three eents."
In a file of the Genesee Whig is found the announce- ment of the departure of the " First Scow on Flint River," from Flint for Finshing, March 26, 1850; and the Whig thereupon indulges in a propheey as to the favorable influ- ence this opening of navigation is to exert on the future of Flint River and Flint village. And in its issue of March 27, 1852, the Whig, under the head of " Port of Flint- Arrivals and Departures," notices the elearance of the " Scow Kate Hayes, Capt. Charles Mather." The destina- tion of the " Kate IIayes" is not mentioned, and as her log-book has not been found, no account of her voyage down the river ean be given. These were the latest, or among the latest, attempts to navigate the Flint River, and
# This is the present township of Spaulding, in Saginaw County.
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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
the company which had been incorporated for that purpose never accomplished any of the objeets for which it had been vested with powers by the several legislative acts above mentioned. Probably the completion of the plank-road be- tween Flint and East Saginaw about that time taught the people that, after all, a smooth and solid road offered ad- vantages for the transportation, either of passengers or heavy merchandise, far preferable to boating through drift- wood along the tortuous course of the Flint during a part of the year, and subject to dangers from floods, as well as interruption and protracted delay in the season of low water. But whatever may have been the cause, it is cer- tain thiat the navigation project was abandoned definitely and forever.
NORTHERN RAILROAD AND OTHER PROJECTS-NORTH- ERN WAGON-ROAD.
Immediately after the organization of the State govern- ment of Michigan, and before her admission into the Fed- cral Union, measures were originated looking to the adop- tion, by the State, of a comprehensive system of internal improvements ; and, in pursuance of this plan, the Legis- lature, at the session of 1837, passed an act (approved March 20th in that year) " to provide for the construction of certain works of internal improvement, and for other purposes," by which the board of commissioners of internal improvements in the State were authorized and directed, " as soon as may be, to cause surveys to be made for three several railroad routes across the peninsula of Michigan ; the first of said routes to commence at Detroit, in the county of Wayne, and to terminate at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, in the county of Berrien, to be denomi- nated the Central Railroad. The second of said routes to commence at the navigable waters of the river Raisin, pass- ing through the village of Monroe, in the county of Mon- roe, to terminate at New Buffalo, in Berrien County, and to be denominated the Southern Railroad. The third of said routes to commence at Palmer, or at or near the mouth of Black River, in the county of St. Clair, and to terminate at the navigable waters of the Grand River, in the county of Kent, or on Lake Michigan, in the county of Ottawa, to be denominated the Northern Railroad; which roads shall be located on the most eligible and direct routes between the termini above mentioned."
The fourth section of the act provided " That the sum of five hundred and fifty thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to be taken from any moneys which shall hereafter come into the treasury of this State to the credit of the fund for internal improvement, for the survey and making of the three railroads mentioned in the first section of this act, as follows : for the Southern Railroad, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars; for the Central Railroad, the sum of four hundred thousand dollars; and for the Northern Railroad, the sum of fifty thousand dollars."
Under the authority conferred by this act the commis- sioners caused the surveys to be made without unnecessary delay. The routes thus surveyed for the " Central Rail- road" and the "Southern Railroad" were (excepting the western portions) substantially the same as those of the
Michigan Central and Michigan Southern roads of the present. The " Northern Railroad" route was surveyed and located to run from the St. Clair River, through the centre of Genesee County ; thence to Lyons, in Ionia County, and from there westward to Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Grand River, a distance of two hundred and one miles. This was the first survey made for railroad purposes in the county of Genesee ; though a preliminary survey was made very soon after for " The Saginaw and Genesce Railroad Company," which was incorporated by act ap- proved March 22, 1837, with authority " to construct a rail- road with a single or double track from the Saginaw River at Saginaw City, to intersect the Northern Railroad (from the St. Clair River to Grand River) at such point as they may deem practicable in the county of Genesee, with power to transport, take and carry persons and property upon the same by the power and force of steam or animals, or of any mechanical or other power or combination of them." For the prosecution of this last-named enterprise, Gardner D. Williams, Norman Little, Robert F. Stage, Perry G. Gard- ner, and Elijah N. Davenport were appointed by the act commissioners to receive subscriptions to the capital stock of the corporation, which was to be four hundred thousand dollars. The road was, by the terms of the act, required to be commenced within one year, a section of twenty-five miles to be completed in two and a half years, and the whole line to be finished within six years from the passage of the act, under penalty of forfeiture of the privileges and franchises granted by the charter. By an act amenda- tory to the above, the time was extended to five years for the completion of the twenty-five miles, and to eight years for the completion of the whole road ; both these periods to date from the passage of the amendatory act, which was approved April 20, 1839. But notwithstanding this and other extensions of the powers and privileges originally granted to the Saginaw and Genesee Railroad Company, they never completed their road, or carried the work beyond the preliminary surveys.
To return to the State project of the " Northern Rail- road," the prosecution of the work was placed by the board in the hands of commissioner James B. Ilunt, who caused the survey to be made as we have seen, and under whom estimates and specifications were made and other preliu- inary steps were taken, and contracts were let at several points between the eastern terminus and Lyons, Ionia Co .; among these being a contract to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, made with Gen. Charles C. HIas- call, of Flint River, for the construction of the road in Genesee County, including the bridging of the Thread River, near its junction with the Flint, and for some heavy embankment work near the same point; which work, or a great part of it, was performed by the contractor, and paid for from the appropriation. This was done in 1838 and 1839.
After the first appropriation, others were made by the State in aid of the Northern Railroad, amounting in all to about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars; the last of these being to the amount of forty thousand dollars, made by act of Legislature approved April 20, 1839. Soon after this the financial embarrassments of the State caused a
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HISTORY OF GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
feeling to spring up among the people and their representa- tives that the adoption of so extensive a plan of internal improvements had been premature, to say the least, and the result of this growing sentiment was the restriction of ap- propriations to such works as did, or could easily be made to, return the interest on their cost. Accordingly, further aid was withheld, except to the central and southern lines (then in partial operation), and finally, in 1841, all idea of the construction of the " Northern Railroad" as a State work was abandoned, and the Legislature passed "an act relative to the appropriation upon the Northern Railroad" (approved April 2, 1841), which recited in its preamble that "it is thought impolitie under the present embarrass- ments of the State to make, at present, further expenditures on said road for the purpose of a railroad ;" that " a large amount has been expended in chopping, grubbing, and clearing said road, which, if left in its present condition, ean be of no interest to the people of the north ;" and that " it is the united wish and request of the people in the vicinity of said road that the same should, for the present, be converted into a turnpike- or wagon-road, and thus open an important thoroughfare through the centre of the tier of counties through which the said road passes, and thereby render the money heretofore expended on said road availa- ble to the best interests (under existing circumstances ) to the people in the northern section of the State." It was therefore enacted that the commissioners of internal im- provement be directed to expend thirty thousand dollars of the unexpended balance of the moneys which had been appropriated for the Northern Railroad " for bridging, clear- ing, and grading said road, or so much of it as the said commissioners shall judge will be most beneficial to the inhabitants and publie in the section of country through which the same passes, so as to make a good passable wagon-road."
In 1843 the railroad project was formally " razeed" by an act of Legislature (approved March 9th in that year) " to authorize the construction of a Wagon-Road on the line of the Northern Railroad," and ordering the application and appropriation, for that purpose, of all the non-resident. highway taxes for a distance of three miles on either side of the line, to be expended under the superintendence of a special commissioner to be appointed for each of the counties of St. Clair, Lapeer, Genesee, Shiawassee, Clinton, and Fonia. The commissioner appointed to carry into effect the provi- sions of this act upon that part of the line lying withiu Genesee County was Gen. Charles C. Hascall. The act was repealed in 1846, but in the following year another act was passed (approved April 3, 1848) " to provide for the construction and improvement of the Northern Wagon- Road from Port Huron, in the county of St. Clair, through the counties of Lapeer and Genesee to Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee," and appropriating " twenty thousand aeres of internal improvement lands" for the purpose. To carry its provisions into effeet the Governor of the State was authorized to appoint a special commissioner, and he did so appoint to that position the Ilon. Alvin N. Hart, of Lapeer, for that part of the work lying east of Shiawassee County. Still another aet was passed in 1849 providing for a re-location of the road.
The result of all the laws passed and appropriations made for the construction of the Northern Railroad and Northern Wagon-Road was (as concerning the county of Genesee) the cutting out and grubbing of the greater part of the line between Flint River village and Lapeer County, and the building of an indifferent road over about one-third part of this distance, a result which never proved to be of much practical advantage to the county.
But in the mean time a company (the " Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railroad Company," which will be men- tioned more at length in its appropriate place in this his- tory) had been formed and incorporated, having for its object the construction and completion of a railroad across the peninsula from the St. Clair River to Lake Michigan, as originally contemplated and attempted by the State; an object which was only partially accomplished by the com- pany after nearly a quarter of a century of disheartening vicissitude and discouragement.
DETROIT AND MILWAUKEE RAILROAD.
The first railway line which was built and completed to any point within the boundaries of the county of Genesee was the Detroit and Milwaukee,-now the Detroit, Grand Ilaven and Milwaukee Railroad ; and it was also over the eastern link of this line, which then terminated in Oak- land, that the people of this county enjoyed their earliest railway facilities, by means of the stage-lines running from Flint, and connecting with it at its several termini,-first at Royal Oak, and then successively at Birmingham and Pon- tiac. For this reason it seems proper that the building and opening of that part of the line should be briefly mentioned here, though it was an Oakland and not a Genesee County enterprise.
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