History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 2

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772

USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 2
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Two remarkable features of this body of water are worthy of notice,-the curious system or " string" of lakelets lying along its eastern margin, generally a few miles inland, and the great sand dunes which line the same coast in a greater or lesser degree from Sleeping Bear Point to its southern extremity. The lakelets, before spoken of, lie mostly or wholly behind these sand hills, and nearly all of them are accessible to vessels of every description from the waters of the main lake.

Lake Huron, which bounds the lower peninsula on its northeastern side for 200 miles, has, including its great bays, Georgian and Saginaw, about the same surface area as Lake Michigan.

Its most remarkable feature is the immense number of its islands, which vary in extent from a few acres to a thousand square miles, the Grand Manitoulin having about the latter amount. On this great island are second- ary lakelets covering areas of more than twenty square miles each. Cockburn, Drummond, and St. Joseph's Islands cover areas varying from 75 to 150 square miles. The islands and islets in the Georgian Bay, or Lake Pene- tanguishine, as it is sometimes called, are almost number- less, many of them being formed of the crystalline rocks of the Laurentian system. The two most prominent bays of this lake are the Georgian,* having an area of more than 5000 square miles, and Saginaw Bay, covering about 1000 square miles. Thunder and St. Martin's Bays are of much smaller magnitude, but important for the safe shelter they afford to shipping. The deepest water in Lake IIuron is found off Saginaw Bay, and here, also, the heaviest seas are encountered in stormy weather.

The width of the lake across, and including Saginaw Bay, is fully 150 miles, not including the Georgian Bay.

The principal streams tributary to this lake on the American side are the Cheboygan, Thunder Bay, Au Sa- ble, and Saginaw Rivers.

* This bay lies wholly in British territory.

Forming the boundary along the southeastern side of the peninsula are the river St. Clair (the outlet of Lake IIu- ron), Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River or Strait, and the western end of Lake Erie, completing the circuit of the water boundary. Into these last-named straits and lakes flow quite a number of rivers and smaller streams, chief among which are Black, Belle, Clinton, Ecorse, Huron, and Raisin Rivers, which drain altogether about one-sev- enth of the lower peninsula, leaving the remaining two-sev- enths as the drainage of Lake Huron. A small area (pos- sibly 400 square miles), in the counties of Hillsdale and Lenawee, is drained into Lake Erie by the Ottawa, Tiffin, and St. Joseph Rivers, the latter two being branches of the Maumee.

The interior of both the upper and lower peninsulas abounds in small lakes. The number in the last-named division has been estimated at 5000. Oakland County alone contains 450 by a careful enumeration. South of Saginaw Bay there are none having an area exceeding 2500 acres.

In the northern portion of the lower peninsula are sev- eral of greater dimensions, the principal of which are Houghton and lliggins Lakes, in Roscommon County ; Torch Lake, in Antrim County ; Pine Lake, in Charlevoix County ; Mullett's, Cheboygan, and Burt's Lakes, in Che- boygan County ; and Crystal Lake, in Benzie County. Of these Houghton and Torch Lakes have about an equal area, covering not far from thirty square miles each ; the others are of somewhat lesser dimensions, having areas varying from fifteen to twenty-five square miles. Ilough- ton Lake is the proper source of the Muskegon River. Otsego Lake, in Otsego County, is said to be the highest body of water in the lower peninsula, being elevated about 1000 feet above Lake Michigan.

INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES.

GEOGRAPHY.

These two important subdivisions of the State are situ- ated in the southern central portion of the lower peninsula, the State capital, Lansing, being about fifty miles south of the geographical centre. They are bounded on the north by the counties of Ionia, Clinton, and Shiawassee; on the south by the counties of Calhoun and Jackson; on the cast by Livingston ; and on the west by Barry County. Their area includes townships I and 2 east, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 west, of the principal meridian, t which biseets Ingham County nearly in the centre, and townships 1, 2, 3, and 4 north of the base-line of the State survey system, which forms their southern boundary. Theoretically, this description covers a region twenty-four miles north and south by forty-eight miles east and west, and includes thirty-two congressional townships, covering 1152 square miles, or 737,280 square acres. Owing, however, to the convergence of the range-lines and imperfect surveying, the real quanti- ties vary considerably from those above given. By reason of this convergence there is nearly a whole tier of sections

t The longitude of the meridian is stated in the State atlas to be 84° 37' west frem Greenwich.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

lacking along the east side of the meridian in the townships of Williamstown, Wheatfield, Ingham, and Bunker Hill, or, to be more accurate, rather more than a mile in width in Williamstown, and rather less in the other three town- ships. The shortage at the southwest corner of Bunker Hill is a little more than a half-mile, and at the northwest corner of Williamstown, ou the county-line, it is about one mile and a quarter according to the latest map of the county (1874).

These counties lie approximately between 42° 24' and 42° 54' north latitude, and between 7° 10' and 8º 5' Jongi- tude west from Washington.

HYDROGRAPHY.

The counties of Ingham and Eaton are mostly drained by Grand River and its branches,-Cedar and Thorn-apple Rivers. Battle Creek, the principal affluent of the Kala- mazoo River, drains the equivalent of about three townships in the south part of Eaton County, and Turtle Creek, a branch of the Huron River, drains about twelve sections in the eastern part of Stockbridge township, in Ingham County. The main Grand River drains the southwestern portion of Ingham County, and the northern and eastern portions of Eaton County ; the Cedar River drains the northeastern parts of Ingham County ; the Thornapple River drains the central and western parts of Eaton County; and the Sycamore Creek, a tributary of the Cedar River, drains the central western portions of Ingham.

A fraction of the southwest part of the township of Stockbridge is drained by a branch of Portage River, which latter unites with Grand River a few miles north of the city of Jackson.

The southeastern part of Ingham County lies on the watershed or dividing ridge between the streams which flow in opposite directions to Lakes Erie and Michigan.

The deepest-worn valley is, of course, that of Grand River ; but the terraces of the Champlain Epoch are not as well defined in either of these counties as in the broader and deeper valleys which lie along the lower course of Grand River and the other principal streams of the State. The width of this stream varies from 100 to 400 fect in its course through the two counties. It is, generally speaking, a comparatively quick-flowing stream, and carries a large volume of water.

The Cedar River is a considerable stream. At its junc- tion with Grand River, in the south part of the city of Lansing, its volume forms about one-third of the total, and its waters have the same peculiar amber color which is characteristic of Grand River and many of the streams of Michigan. This color is produced, most probably, by oxides in the soil of the region through which they flow, and by the vegetable deposits of swamps and marshes.

With the exception of the Saginaw River, Grand River has the largest number of important branches of any stream in the State. Beginning at Lansing, and following it to- wards Lake Michigan, we find the Cedar, Looking-Glass, Maple, Flat, Thornapple, and Rouge Rivers, all important streams, furnishing a large amount of water-power for vari- . ous hydraulic purposes, and each having thriving towns upon its banks.

The lesser lakes, so abundant in many parts of the State, are not numerous in these counties, though there are a suf- ficient number to remind the traveler that he is still in Michigan. The three principal ones are Lowe and Pine Lakes, in Ingham, and a similar one in the southwest part of Walton township, in Eaton County. Pine Lake, the largest of these, covers nearly 400 acres. It discharges by a small creek into the Cedar River a mile below Okemos village.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The surface of the two counties is what may be called, in a general sense, an undulating plain, traversed by the valleys of many streams cut into the surface in proportion to their magnitude. In some sections there are long ridges composed of the sand and coarse gravel of the drift period, rising fifty or sixty fect above the surrounding country. The most prominent of these elevations is the long ridge famil- iarly known as the " Ilog's Back," which lies diagonally, northwest and southeast, across the whole or portions of the townships of Delhi, Alaiedon, Vevay, Leslie, and Bunker Hill, in Ingham County. It is composed for the most part of sand and gravel drift, made up of pebbles and fragments of the northern rocks, among which may be found many specimens of coral and other marine fossils.

In other localities, as near West Windsor, there are iso- lated groups of conical elevations forming low hills, com- posed mostly of sand and gravel, but in some instances of clay and marl.

SOILS.

The soil is for the most part a sandy or clayey loam, varied here and there by oak-opening lands, as in the southern portion of Ingham County, in which also, in the townships of Onondaga and Aurelius, are the well-known " Montgomery Plains." The site of the city of Charlotte, in Eaton County, was originally a small prairie destitute of timber, with a sandy loam soil, highly productive and easily cultivated.

Originally there was quite an extensive area of marshy land in the two counties, which, as the country is cleared of its timber and improved by systematic drainage, will become valuable for purposes of agriculture, the soil being a rich, deep, black, vegetable mould, resting generally upon a compact body of marl.

TIMBER.

The surface, with the exceptions of the marsh- and prairie-lands, was covered when first settled by a heavy growth of the varieties of deciduous forest trees usually found in Central Michigan,-oak of various kinds, elm, maple, ash, beech, linn or basswood, hickory, black-walnut, sycamore, pepperidge or sour gum, white-wood or tulip- tree ; with tamarack or American larch in swampy places, together with a great variety of shrubbery or undergrowth, the latter of which has increased since the fires were shut out. There are still large bodies of timber, but it is being rapidly cut away. There was no pine in this region, with the exception of a small tract on the eastern margin of Pine Lake, in Meridian township. Clay of a superior quality, for the manufacture of brick and drain tile, is

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

abundant, aud there have been attempts to manufacture stone ware and ordinary pottery iu some localities.

MINERAL SPRINGS.

These abound in many localities, and there are artesian borings at Lansing, Grand Ledge, Mason, Leslie, Eaton Rapids, and perhaps other points, which bring to the sur- face an abundant flow of waters impregnated with various chemical substances.

Both hard and soft water springs are found, according as they are affected by limestone and gravel-beds.

GEOLOGICAL DIAGRAM.

The diagram given below, constructed expressly for this work, shows the important formations of the State according to the recent report by Professor C. Rominger, State geolo- gist.

GEOLOGY.#

This interesting subjeet, in order to be well understood, involves the study of the entire State. It cannot be con- fined to the limits of one or two counties, any more than a description of the Mississippi River can be confined to Minnesota or Louisiana.

CENOZOIC

QUATERNARY.

TIME.

Fine Sands aod Clays.

AGE OF MAN.

Coarse Gravel, Conglomerate.

LOWER PENINSULA.

Carboniferous Age.

Carboniferous.

Lower Coal Measures.

Millstone Grit.

Carboniferous Limestone.

Sub-Carboniferous.

Conglomerate.

Waverly.

Thick-bedded Sandstones and Shales.

Age of Fishes.

Devonian Age.

Traverse Bay.

Black Shales.

Petosky Group.

Hamilton Shales.

Mackinac.

Upper Helderberg.t

Mackinac.

Lower Helderberg.t

St. Ignace.

Onondaga Salt Group.

Upper.

North Shore Lake Huron

and Michigan.

Niagara. Clinton. Niagara Grenp. Medina. -

IIndson River Shales.

Age of Invertebrates.

Green Bay.

Trenton Limestone.

Lower.

St. Joseph Is- land.

Calciferons Sand Rock.

South Shore Lake Superior.

Potsdam Sandstone.

Pre-

Silurian.

Ontonagon.

Keweenaw.

Copper-bearing Trap.

Marquelle County.

llaronian, Upper Laurentian.

ARCH.EAN

TIME.

Marquette and Ontonagon Counties.

Laurentian, Old Laurentian.

There is considerable lime in the drift gravel in places, while in others it is entirely free from it. Springs impreg- nated with iron oxides are of frequent occurrence. The medicinal qualities of the artesian wells vary with locality, depth, etc., and several have a widespread reputation .*

* For particulars in these matters see farther en, and, also, history of towaships, cities, and villages.

1 There may be a layer of the Oriskany sandstone intercalated between these formation", as in New York, and both the sandstone

A brief but comprehensive synopsis of its various forma- tions will therefore be given in this connection. It is a subject which is comparatively new to a great majority of

and lower beds of the Helderberg may be wanting. The Triassic, Jurassic, Crotaccous, and Tertiary formations are wanting in Mich- igan.

# Much of the information from which the following paragraphs have been compiled was obtained in the report of Professor Rom- inger upon the State Geological Survey.

PALEOZOIC TIME.

Silurian Age.

St. Joseph Is- land.

UPPER PENINSULA.

Acadian.

Azoic and Eozole.

1 .. ..

Terrace, Champlain, and Glacial Periods.

Age of Coal Plants.

Upper Coal Measures.

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE LOWER PENINSULA MICHIGAN.

MEGULPIN PT

Explanation of Colors

MACKINAW

SUIS BLANC ID.

LI Helderbery Group

Hamilton

Black Shale

WHAMMOND'S BAY

Waverty Group

EM'MET Little Traver

Carboniferous Limestone

Rogers City PRESQUE

PRESQUEISLE

Pałosky

NORTH, MANTION

ISLE

FALSE PRESQUE ISLE

₹

CHARLEVOIX Norwood

MIDDLE IO.

SOUTH MANITOL

BAY

GTHUNDER BAY 10

SLEEPING DEAAP7

ANTRIM

BAY

SOUTH POINT

Kolla skal

Traverse City

CRAWFORD

OSCODA

· ALCONA

· Harrisville

Wexford

sable City

IOSCO

Manistee

WHITESTONE PT

Lake

.Falmouth

PIDE BARQUES

GRAVELLY

MASON

LAKE

OCEOLA

CLARE

GLADWIN

Port Crescent

PTOF BARQUES LIGHT

Chase

Lake

Sand Beach

Reed City

·Parwell

WILD FOWL DAY

Hoch Falls

. Big Rapids

OCEANA

MECOSTA ISABELLA

MIDLAND Sanford

·White Rock

Morgansville

Bay City

NEWAGO

Saginaw

St.Louis

hast Saginaw US COLA

·Whitehall MUSKEGON

MONTCALM

SANILAC

GRATIOF

St Charles

·Muskegon

Stanton Greenville

GENESEE Flint

A PEER

Lake Port

Grand Haven

KJENT

OwOSSO

Grand Rapids

MONIA Ionia.

St.Johns CLINTON

ST. CLAIR

OTTAWA

· Korunna SHIAWASSEE

Port Haron

Fenton

LANSING

Holle

MACOMB

Hastings BARRY

EATON Charlotte

Howell

Pentlak

M. Cemos

Allegan

Eaton Rapids

South Haven

LAKE

- KALAMAZOO

. Battle Creek

DETROIT

VAN BUREN

Marshall

Jackson

KALAMAZOO

JACKSON

Pow Tow

CALHOUN

St. Joseph

· Schopleraft

Union City

0 Tecumseh

MONROE

BER RIEN

JOSEPH

· Jonesville

.Centerville

LENAWEE

Monroe

Wiles

Adrian

LAKE

1 /0

TOLEDO

BAX

WINDSTONEQUARRIES

CHARITY

HAT PC

Port

Ludington

GRIES

·Caseville

Pentwater

Clare

HURON · Sebewaing

-- E

sanilac

SAGINAW

Kissar

Ferry sburg

Rockford

OAKLAND

LIVINGSTON

ALLEGAN

INGHAM Afason

ST. CLAIR

Ypsilanti . WASHTENAW

WAYNE

CASS. Cassopolis

BRANCH Coldwater

HILLSDALE

New Buffalo

ERIE

Frankitt BEN ZIE

KALKASKAL

Crawford

MONTMORENOI

Alpen& ALPENA

OTSEGO

SPLANDUPUIS

LEÉLEN AU

GRAND TRAVERSE Walton*

MANISTEE WEX FORD

MISSAUKEE ROSCOMMON

. Ogemaw O GEM AW

TawasCity

WAUGOSHANCHE VD.

SOUIN CHANNEL Cheboygrzy

CHEBOYGAN

Conl Measures

GRAND TRAVERSE

LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY

Three Sisters

AGINAW

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

the people, but within the last twenty years the various government and State surveys made on the North American continent have awakened a deep interest, and the time is not far distant when a knowledge of the history and struc- ture of the globe, as demonstrated in its rock and surface formations, will be deemed a necessity among all reading people. In no other manner can even an approximate knowledge of its age and of the various forms of life which have inhabited its seas and continents be obtained. A thorough understanding of its teachings will be found val- uable not only to the scientist, engineer, and miner, but to the mechanic, the farmer, the clergyman, the school-teacher, and even the legislator who makes laws for the people and talks wisely and learnedly of the capabilities of the wonder- ful regions inhabited by his constituents.

The State of Michigan offers excellent facilities for the study of this science. Beneath its widely-strewn drift ac- cumulations outcrop a large number of the prominent for- mations, from the Laurentian, or primitive granite, to the Carboniferous. Iu the upper peninsula they lap over, or rather under, each other like the leaves of an open book ; and in the lower they are found dipping in concentric strata towards its geographical centre, forming as it were a nest of dishes diminishing in diameter towards the centre.

The lapse of time since the formation of the earth's crust began to form cannot be very closely estimated ; but for the sake of convenience scientists have divided it into ages, epochs, and periods, which division greatly facilitates the study of the subject. The various subdivisions as classified by Dana are as follows, commencing with the older forma- tions :

I .- ARCHÆAN TIME, including two subdivisions, the dividing-line (not well established) being the dawn of life:

1. Azoic Age (without life).

2. Eozoic Age (earliest life).

II .- PALEOZOIC TIME (old life), divided into three periods :

1. The Age of Invertebrates, or Silurian.

2. The Age of Fishes, or Devonian.

3. The Age of Coal-Plants, or Carboniferous.

III .- MESOZOIC TIME (middle life), including only one period :

1. The Age of Reptiles.

IV .- CENOZOIC TIME (later, or recent, life), divided into two periods :

1. The Tertiary, or Age of Mammals.

2. The Quaternary, or Age of Man.

Mesozoic time (middle life), the Age of Reptiles, and including the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, as they are designated in Europe, is not represented in Michi- gan, and the Tertiary, or Age of Mammals, including the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene formations, is also wanting. The Quaternary, the latest formation of the State, rests directly upon the Carboniferous system. The lower forma- tions are well represented in the two peninsulas,-the De- vonian in the lower, and the Silurian, Pre-Silurian, Eozoic, and Azoic in the upper, peninsula.

There is little doubt that the very earliest forms of life upon the globe existed in the upper peninsula, as their fossil remains are found, though sparingly, in the Huronian

rocks of Canada and Massachusetts, and in similar forma- tions in Bavaria and Norway, in Europe.

Sea-weeds and lichens probably existed in the Laurentian age, and a supposed rhizopod-a kind of coral-producing species inhabiting the ancient seas-has been discovered in Canada. Its technical name in the books is Eozoon Cana- dense, or carliest life of Canada; so named by Professor Dawson and Sir William E. Logan.

The fossil forms of life peculiar to those ages are found in abundance in the Paleozoic and Cenozoic formations, and they also abound in the drift of the lower peninsula. During the Silurian age the lower and a considerable portion of the upper peninsula were covered by a great ocean bay, bounded on the north, east, and west by the Laurentian formations of Canada and Wisconsin, and during the Devonian age it was still an ocean bay bounded on three sides by the Silur- ian of Canada, Wisconsin, and Northern Illinois. The Silurian uplift of Ohio also probably touched its south- eastern border on Lake Erie.

In the Carboniferous age, and possibly down to a later period, it seems to have been a great oscillating basin, cov- ered by an inland salt sea or lake; and during the deposi- tion of its salt measures it may have been connected with the ocean, but so nearly insulated that sea-currents did not seriously disturb it.

According to the latest reports of the State Geological Survey, the sedimentary rocks* underlying Michigan have been very slightly disturbed since their deposition. In the upper peninsula they dip towards Lake Superior at a low angle, and in the lower the dip is centripetal, forming, as it were, a basin whose probable centre is under Gratiot County.

The names of the series in Michigan, proceeding from the lowest upwards, are as follows : Laurentian, Huronian, Acadian, Potsdam sandstone, Calciferous sand-rock, Tren- ton limestone, Hudson River shales, Niagara limestone, Onondaga salt group, Helderberg limestone, Hamilton shales and sandstones, black shales, Waverly group (sand - stone and shales), Carboniferous, divided into upper and lower measures, and above this the Quaternary, made up of bowlders, gravel, sand, clay, etc. This last formation in- cludes the Glacial, Champlain, and Terrace periods.

A brief description of these various formations will be given in the order of their super-position.

The oldest or LAURENTIAN; forms the surface rock in large portions of Baraga, Marquette, and Ontonagon Counties, where it covers an area of about 2000 square miles. Its constituent elements are quartz, mica, feldspar, hornblende, pyroxene, etc. The varieties, according as these ingredients are present and combined, are granite, syenite, gneiss, hypersthene, etc. No minerals other than the ordinary constituents of the earlier crystalline rocks are found in this formation.

* It is contended by some writers that all the present rock forma- tions of the globe were originally sedimentary,-that is, formed nnder water,-and that what are now designated as primary, crystalline, and metamorphic rocks have had their original stratification destroyed or modified by heat.

t Named from its fine development in the region of the St. Law - renee River.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

The HURONIAN or Upper Laurentian belongs to the crystalline formations, though considered of a more recent date than the old Laurentian. It outerops over a large area in the counties of Marquette, Baraga, Houghton, and Me- nominee, equivalent to about 2000 square miles. It is composed of nearly the same ingredients as the lower for- mation, and the two often blend insensibly into each other. It abounds in iron-ore, jasper, chlorite, clay slate, mica and hornblende schists, varieties of limestones, including mar- ble and magnesian limestone, quartzite, conglomerate, ete.

Probably the richest deposits of iron-ore in the world are found in this formation about Marquette and Lake Michigamme. On the Michigamme River, a few miles south of the lake, is a very extensive and rich bed of ore, inelosed in a narrow belt of the Huronian formation, and bounded on both sides by the primitive granite.

Next in order comes what in the Michigan Survey is named the PRE-SILURIAN, though the designation has not been generally accepted. It includes the copper-bearing series, variously known as trap, greenstone, diorite, ete., and what is called the Acadian epoch by Canadian geolo- gists. The trap roek* is of voleanie origin, having been uplifted through the older rocks. Its constituents are similar to those of granite, but generally in much finer crystals and of a very obdurate hardness. It is fine- grained and crypto-crystalline in texture, and sometimes assumes, in cooling, basaltie forms, at other times is arranged in steps, and hence the name " trap," from the Swedish word " trappa," a step. It is also found in the form of porphyry. The famous copper deposits of the Lake Supe- rior region, inelnding those of Keweenaw Point and Isle Royale, are closely affiliated with this formation. It ex- tends from the extremity of Keweenaw Point towards the southwest, into Wisconsin, and is also found on the north- ern coast of the lake and on Michipicoten Island. The area covered by it in Michigan, including Isle Royale, is about 1300 square miles.

The Acadian formation is not well distinguished from the next above it. It is placed by the Survey about Onto- nagon, where it is said to cover a considerable area.

The next in the series is the POTSDAM SANDSTONE, which is divided, in the Survey, into St. Mary's and Pre- Silurian, though heretofore elassed as wholly Silurian. Its designation is derived from the town of Potsdam, St. Law- rence Co., N. Y., where it is finely developed.

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History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 2

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co. Number of Pages: 772

Author: Durant, Samuel W. cn
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : D.W. Ensign & Co.
Number of Pages: 772