History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 23

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 23
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 23

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).

This was a heavily-timbered region, and even if their trails had been as numerous here as around Kalamazoo and I'rairie Ronde, the clearing away of the forest and eulti- vating the ground would have obliterated them in a short time.

EARLY ROADS.

The earliest roads used by the first settlers were eut through the country probably without any special regard to township or section lines. They were " bushed" out in the direction leading towards the locality where they pro- posed to settle and make their future homes. The heaviest timber was avoided as much as possible, and the underbrush and smaller growth of forest-trees were cleared away just sufficiently to permit the passage of the team and wagon of the immigrant. Oftentimes for many miles the settler

pieked his way among the giant trunks without being obliged to use his axe, except occasionally to cut away a prostrate tree, blown down by the wind or fallen from decay and old age. In the southern portion of the State there were many openings where the timber, consisting largely of burr oak and other varieties of the Quercus* family, grew so scattering that the land could be cultivated with little labor of clearing; but in the region of Ingham and Eaton Counties the timber was generally heavy and dense.t

STATE ROADS.

Very early in the history of the country the attention of the Legislature (Territorial and State) was directed to the subjeet of roads, and a large number were laid out under its authority. As carly as 1817 the United States govern- ment began the construction of a military road from De- troit through Royal Oak, Pontiac, and Flint, to Saginaw. It was eut through the whole distance 100 feet in width, and more or less improved. It now forms one of the finest turnpikes in the State, and is kept in repair either by a small rate of toll or by a tax levied in the various townships through which it passes.

The Congress of the United States passed an act on the 4th of July, 1832, directing the President to appoint three commissioners to lay out a road " from Detroit, through Sciawassee County, to the mouth of Grand River," for military and other purposes, and this was accordingly done. In 1833-34 the government expended $2500 on the first ten miles from Detroit. In March, 1835, Congress appro- priated $25,000 additional, which was expended upon the road in 1835-36, mostly in clearing away the timber and in constructing bridges over the Rouge, Huron, Shiawassee, and Cedar Rivers. The road was cleared to a width of 100 feet, and probably as far west as the site of North Lansing. This was the extent of the work done by the general gov- ernment, for the Territory became a State in 1837, and thenceforward all the Territorial roads were under State jurisdiction. A grant of land was, however, obtained from the United States, to the amount of 5000 acres, for the Grand River and Saginaw roads.

After the admission of Michigan into the Union, very little was done on these roads for several years. As late as 1840 there had been very little work done west of Brighton, in Livingston County, on the Grand River road. Ao act was passed by the Legislature, and approved on the 2d of April, 1841, appropriating $5000 to be expended on the road, under the direction of the Board of Internal Improve- ment. This sum was taken from the balance remaining of a $60,000 appropriation, formerly made for the benefit of the " Northern Wagon Road," which last-named project had been virtually abandoned. This appropriation was mostly expended under the supervision of John Mullett, of Detroit, a noted surveyor of the early days, between Lan- sing and Fowlerville. It was about the same time that the first line of passenger and mail coaches (which were said to

* Quercus alba (white oak), Quereus rubra (red oak), Quercus macrocarpa (burr oak), etc.

t There were exceptions, as the site of Charlotte, which was a small prairie-like opening.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

have been lumber wagons) was put on the road from De- troit to Grand River. The line between Ilowell and Lan- sing was owned by Ralph Fowler, O. B. Williams, and others.

On the 24th of March, 1845, an act was approved by the Governor authorizing the expenditure of certain non- resident highway taxes on that part of the Grand River road " between the village of Howell and the house of Justus Gilkey, in Ingham County."*

These non-resident taxes embraced all highway taxes levied on the property lying within two miles of the road on either side, in the years from 1845 to 1848, inclusive, and all such taxes unexpended on the first day of May, 1845. Ralph Fowler, of Handy, Livingston Co., and Joseph H. Kilbourne, of Meridian, Ingham Co., were ap- pointed under the act special commissioners " to have super- intendence of said road within their respective counties, and to direct when the labor shall be performed on said road."

Another act was passed in March, 1848, appropriating 10,000 acres of internal improvement lands for the benefit of the Detroit and Grand River road between the villages of Michigan,t in Ingham County, and Howell, in Liv- ingston County. Six thousand acres of this were to be ex- pended in Ingham and 4000 in Livingston County. The work was to be done under the supervision of special com- missioners appointed by the Governor.

The original route was laid out to the northward of the Cedar River, but in 1849 it was changed to a more south- erly and direct one through the villages of Fowlerville, in Livingston County, and Webberville, Williamston, and Oke- mos, to its terminus at North Lansing, in Ingham County. The road was opened and worked by Ralph Fowler and others, and the State grants of lands and money were supplemented with subscriptions sufficient to render it passable.

By reference to the session laws we find the following acts relating to other State roads in Ingham and Eaton Counties :

Feb. 16, 1837. An act authorizing a State road from Dexter, in Washtenaw County, via the county-seat of Ing- bam County, to Lyons, at the mouth of Maple River, in Ionia County. Commissioners were appointed to carry it into effect.

March 17, 1837. A second act relating to the same subject was passed, making Jacksonburgh a point on the road.

March 11, 1837. An act authorizing a State road from Battle Creek, in Calhoun County, to the mouth of Looking- Glass River, in Ionia County. This road passes through the western part of Eaton County. At the same date an act authorizing a road from Marshall, in Calhoun County, to the county-seat of Ionia County, and another from Belle- vue, in Eaton County, to Hastings, in Barry County. An- other of the same date from Marshall to Saginaw City probably passed through both Eaton and Ingham Counties. Also one from Pontiac, in Oakland County, to Lyons, in

Ionia County, which must have passed through Ingham County. Another from Bass Lake, through Lansing to Allegan. Also one from the county-seat of Eaton County to Cashway's Point, on Maple River, in Clinton County. All passed March 11, 1837.

March 9, 1838. A road commencing on the east line of Eaton County, two miles north of the base-line, and run- ning north to the road leading from Lansing to Allegan.

April 18, 1839. An act providing for a State road from a point in the west line of Ingham County, where the Bellevue road terminates, easterly to the mills in the town- ship of Leslie, and thence to Pinckney, in Livingston County.

At the same date, a road from Mason to the Little Rapids, ¿ on Grand River, and terminating on section 20 or 21, town 4 north, range 21 wcst.

Same date. From Marshall, in Calhoun County, to Bellevue, in Eaton County ; and from the south line of Clinton County, where the Grand River crosses it, to the village of Mason. This would make Lansing a point.

March 17, 1848. An act authorizing a State road from Lansing to Allegan, running through on the line between the townships of Oneida, Benton, Chester, and Roxand to the village of Vermontville ; thence to Hastings, in Barry County, and thence to Allegan. The act appropriated 4000 acres of "internal improvement lands" for opening and improving the road. §

March 29, 1848. A State road was authorized and or- dered laid out and established from Vermontville, in Eaton County, east through the Wheaton and Hovey settlements to a point on Battle Creek, in Benton township.

April 1, 1848. A State road authorized from the quarter post on section 16, in Lansing, through Lansing, Delhi, Aurelius, and Onondaga townships to the base-line, and thence to the village of Tompkins, in Jackson County.

By an act of the same date a State road from Lansing to Byron, in Shiawassee County, and one from Marshall, Calhonn Co., to Lansing ; also one from Flint, Gencsce Co., via Corunna, in Shiawassee County, to Lansing.

April 3, 1848. Act authorizing commissioners to lay out and establish a State road from Albion, in Calhoun County, to Eaton Rapids, in Eaton County. The act ap- propriated 2000 acres of "internal improvement lands," the proceeds to be expended between Duck Lake and Eaton Rapids. At the same time an act was approved appropriating 3000 acres of the same lands for the im- provement of the State road between Mason, in Ingham County, and Dexter, in Washtenaw County, the proceeds of two-thirds of the grant to be expended between Mason and Stockbridge, and the remainder east of the last-men- tioned place.

March 13, 1861. An act authorizing a State road from Port Huron, at the foot of Lake IIuron, to Bay City, thence southwesterly to Lansing, to be known as the " Port Huron, Bay City, and Lansing Road."

March 15, 1861. An act passed authorizing a State

# Mr. Gilkey resided on section 5, in the township of Lansing.

t Town of Michigan, now city of Lansing.

# A point now within the city limits of Lansing.

¿ This act seems to cover substantially the same ground as one passed March 11, 1837.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

road from Ionia, in Ionia County, to Vermontville, in Eaton County. Of the same date, an aet establishing a State road from the south part of Delta township, on section 35, thenee south to intercept the State road running from Lansing to Hastings, in Barry County.

March 20, 1865. An aet passed authorizing the Ingham and Clinton State road, and three sections of " internal improvement lands" (1920 acres) were appropriated for its construction.

Most or all of these roads have been worked and im- proved, until at the present time they are equal to the average roads of the West. The roads of Michigan vary materially in different portions of the State. On sandy lands they are always dry, but very heavy for draught pur- poses, and are being rapidly graveled and converted into solid turnpikes, as around Pontiac and Grand Rapids. The soil of Ingham and Eaton Counties is mainly a elayey loam with sandy and gravelly seetions, and oeeasionally gravelly ridges. The roads are fine in the dry season, but become somewhat muddy and heavy in rainy seasons, and while the frost is leaving the ground in the spring. There is, however, a sufficieney of good gravel for road purposes in the two counties, and the wagon roads will in a few years become all that can be desired.

PLANK-ROADS.

In common with many other sections of the Union, Michigan passed through a phase of experience which may he designated as the "plank-road mania." Its extensive forest lands furnished ample material for development in this direction, and the construction of wooden roads was carried on for a number of years with a zeal worthy of Sherman's grand army in its march through the South. Plank-roads almost innumerable were projected in every part of the State where there were permanent inbabitants, and even the wilderness was invaded by this universal remedy for the crying evils of mud and sand. The number of charters granted by the Legislature was something as- tonishing, and the feeling among the people was very simi- lar to that expressed upon the completion of the great Erie Canal through the State of New York.

The enthusiasm for the new style of road was not without some foundation in reason. The country was new, and although there was abundant material for the construction of durable turnpikes, the property of the people was not sufficiently developed to bear the strain of a taxation equal to the needs of the country. Timber was everywhere cheap and in many places really a troublesome nuisance, to be got rid of in a summary manner. The .building of plank-roads would subserve two ends : it would aid in elear- ing valuable land for cultivation and furnish at least a teni- porary relief from the evils of imperfect roads.

Accordingly, charters were obtained, mills put in opera- tion, right of way was obtained, funds were raised, and the work began and was carried on more or less generally throughout the State. For a period of from ten to fifteen years the plauk-roads answered a good purpose ; but when they began to wear out and stand in need of repairs it is astonishing how rapidly they went out of use. Some were superseded or rendered unprofitable by the building of rail-

roads, but the graded beds of many of them have been transferred into graveled turnpikes, which are being rapidly constructed in many parts of the State.

The era of plank-roads has undoubtedly passed, but in their time, when the people were unable to pay for any- thing more substantial and enduring, they undoubtedly served an excellent purpose.

By reference to the session laws of the State we find the following aets by the Legislature incorporating various com- panies for the construction of plank-roads :

April 3, 1848. The Michigan* and Mason Plank-Road Company, incorporated for the purpose of building a road from Michigan to the village of Mason. The incorporators were George B. Cooper, George W. Peck, and Minos Me- Robert. The capital stoek was fixed at $25,000.

Under the same date the " Dexter and Michigan Plank- Road Company" was incorporated for the purpose of con- strueting a road from Dexter, in Washtenaw County, to Michigan, iu Ingham County. The incorporators were Samuel W. Dexter, D. C. Whitwood, and E. B. Danforth, and the capital stoek authorized was $50,000.

At the same time the " Portland and Michigan Plank- Road Company" was incorporated to build a road from Portland, at the mouth of the Looking-Glass River, in Ionia County, to Michigan, in Ingham County. The in- corporators were William F. Jenison, A. Newman, and Hezekiah Smith. Capital, $50,000.

Also on the same date was chartered the " Michigan and De Witt Plank-Road Company," to build a road from Michigan, in Ingham County, to De Witt, in Clinton County, distance about ten miles. Incorporators, James Seymour, Siloam S. Carter, J. W. Turner, George T. Clark, David Ferguson. Capital stoek authorized, $10,000.

Also at the same time the " Ann Arbor and Michigan Plank-Road Company," to construct a road from Ann Arbor, in Washtenaw County, to Michigan, in Ingham County. The incorporators for this road were G. D. Hill, Luther Boyden, Robert S. Wilson, C. N. Ormsby, Volney Chapin, Edward Mundy, Charles P. Bush. Authorized capital stock, $100,000.

At the same date the " Battle Creek and Michigan Plank-Road Company" was chartered to build a road from Battle Creek, in Calhoun County, to Michigan, in Ingham County. Incorporators, William Johnson, Hannibal G. Rice, Sylvanus Huntsecker, William Brooks. Capital, $75,000.

Under the same date was chartered one of the two com- panies which eventually built the only plank-road that ever reached Lansing,-to wit, the " Detroit and IIowell Plank- Road Company." The incorporators named were Henry Ledyard and Ashbel S. Bagg, of Detroit ; Jabesh M. Mead, of Plymouth, Wayne Co .; Augustus C. Baldwin, of Oak- land County ; and Josiah Turner, of Livingston County. This company were authorized by the act to take possession of the Grand River State road between Detroit and How- ell, provided they did not obstruet it for ordinary traffic purposes. The capital stock was fixed at $125,000, and the charter was granted for sixty years.

* Now Lansing.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

Also, at the same time, was chartered the Eaton Rapids Plank-Road Company to construct a road from Eaton Rapids to Jackson. The incorporators were Gardner T. Rand, Horace Hamlin, Benjamin Wright. Capital stock, $75,000; charter to run sixty years.

One of the latest companies chartered was the Lansing and Howell Plank-Road Company, March 20, 1850. The incorporators were James Seymour, Hiram H. Smith, Ephraim B. Danforth, George W. Lee, Frederick C. Whipple. Authorized capital stock, $60,000, in 2400 shares of twenty-five dollars each.

Under the act the Detroit and Howell Company was authorized to subscribe stock in the Lansing and Howell Company in a sum not exceeding $15,000. These two companies built the only road terminating at Lansing, though there were no less than seven companies chartered to build as many different roads diverging in various direc- tions.

The Detroit and Howell Company probably constructed their road between 1848 and 1850. When the Lansing and Howell Company was chartered the Detroit and Howell Company took the amount of stock in the new company authorized by the act of incorporation.

Among the prominent stockholders in the Lansing and Howell Plank-Road Company were Erastus Corning, of Albany, N. Y .; Horatio Seymour, of Utica, N. Y .; L. D. Coman, of New York City ; L. K. Plimpton, of Buffalo, N. Y. ; John Owen, F. Wetmore, C. C. Trowbridge, II. P. Baldwin, Zachariah Chandler, C. H. Buhl, of De- troit ; and A. N. Hart, of Lapeer.

The contractors for the construction of the road were II. H. Smith,* James Turner, and Charles Seymour, the latter a son of James Seymour, under the firm-name of Smith, Turner & Seymour.

Ground was broken on the road about the 1st of July, 1850, and a portion of it, between Lansing and Okemos, opened for business in June, 1851. The entire line be- tween Lansing and Howell was completed and opened prob- ably in December, 1852. James Turner was treasurer and superintendent for the company from 1851 to Oct. 10, 1869, the date of his death. Mr. Turner was also prom- inent in the construction of the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad.

The Lansing and Howell Plank-Road had seven toll- gates, located as follows: No. 1, a mile east of Lansing; No. 2, two miles west of Okemos Village; No. 3, at Red Bridge, ten miles east of Lansing; No. 4, at Leroy Vil- lage ; No. 5, near Fowlerville; No. 6, between Fowlerville and Howell ; and No. 7, at Howell. The road connected at Ionia and Grand Rapids with boats on Grand River, and thence viu Grand Haven with steamers on Lake Mich- igan. It was not only a valuable property to the stockhold- ers, but of vast advantage to the business interests of the whole central and northwestern portions of the State. It was extensively patronized, and a constant stream of travel

and traffic passed over it, until the completion of the De- troit and Milwaukee Railway attracted a large portion of its former business. The completion of that line of rail- way occurred in 1858. The road was still comparatively profitable and was maintained as a plank-road until about 1866, when the company procured an act of the Legisla- ture authorizing them to change the road to a graveled turnpike. The change began about the last-named date by filling the bad places where the plank had decayed with gravel ; and this process gradually went on until about 1870, when the whole line from Lansing to Detroit had become a solid turnpike, and as such is still maintained.

The old plank-road followed substantially the Territorial and State road for the entire distance, passing through Bedford, in Wayne County ; Farmington, Novi, and Lyon, in Oakland ; Brighton, Howell, and Fowlerville, in Livings- ton; and Webberville, Williamston, and Okemos, in Ing- ham County. The total distance between Detroit and Lan- sing is eighty-five miles.

The firm of Hibbard & Burrell (Daniel Hibbard and A. Burrell, of Detroit) was the first to establish a through-line of mail- and passenger-coaches after the plank-road was finished over this route. The coaches were strong and capacious, and carried twenty passengers each, making the entire distance in ten hours, or an average of eight and a half miles per hour,-a feat more marvelous in those days than the performances of the fast mail-trains over eur railways to-day.

The completion of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railway in 1871 again diminished its business quite mate- rially, and it at present has about an average amount of traffic with other prominent lines of highway in the State.

There has been a great amount of complaint in recent years that the companies who constructed the plank and graveled roads should be permitted to continue the toll- gates upon them. The charters will expire as follows : The Detroit and Howell, April 3, 1908, and the Lansing and Howell, March 20, 1910. It seems a long time to the people, no doubt, to look forward to a free road, and it is more than probable that long before the time expires the system of toll will be given up; but there is also another side to the question which it is well enough for those who are clamoring for the abrogation of the charters to examine.

Hon. C. C. Trowbridge, in October, 1879, published a statement of some interesting facts as a reply to those who are calling for the abolition of the toll-road. We make a few extracts from his article :

" It is useless to catch the car of the present busy generation as to what transpired about these roads thirty-odd years ago ; but the fact is undeniable that at certain seasons of the year, and about half of the time, they were almost impassable, and that at such periods non-in- tercourse with the country was the rule. A great outcry was made for relief. Certain of our business men procured the passage of the plank-road act of 1848, and these corporations were organized under its provisions. Failing to persuade the farmers and the city land- holders to take up the capital stock, these same business men took it and built the roads. At first they were profitable to their owners, but the revenues soon fell off and the expenses of repair increased, so that for the last seventeen years the Saline has paid only an average of one and one-seventeenth per ceot. per annum; the Lansing and Howell, for twenty-five years, one and one-eighth per cent. ; the De- troit and Howell, for sixteen years, six and three-fifths per cent. ; and the Eric less than nine per cent. ; the whole average being less than

* Mr. Smith became subsequently a noted railroad contractor, and constructed several important lines in Michigan. Ile is at this time a wealthy and respected citizen of the city of Jackson, well advanced in years.

HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICIIIGAN.

five per cent. ; while the yearly saving to our citizens in the cost of fuel and supplies and the general effect upon the markets has been equal to the total cost of the roads, and the lands along their lines bave quadrupled in value. Please note here that these and the suc- eeeding dividends will be all that the shareholders will receive in re- turn for $300,000 which they expended in building these roads. At the expiration of their charters, now only twenty-eight years distant, the roads revert to the vicinage and become town property, subject to taxation for repairs. In respect to one of them that period will prob- ably he materially shortened, for it is already difficult, by the most economical use of the revenue, to keep it in passable condition.

" Under these circumstances the proprietors feel that they are equit- ably entitled lo whatever the law allows, and they ask their fellow- eilizens to put themselves in their place and not to condemn them as thieves for endeavoring to maintain their rights. It is obvious to all who have served as road-masters that if left to the towns to keep the roads in repair the people would never submit to the necessary taxa- tion. Up to 1879 the Howell road bad expended for that purpose $303,369.98, or an average of $11,667.10 per annum; the Erie, 8276,890.16, or an average of $t0,619.60 ; the Lansing, $98,854.07, or an average of $3954.18; and the Saline, $261,610.31, or an average of $10,464.41; a total, of about $1,000,000.

RAILWAYS.

Upon the admission of Michigan into the Union as a sovereign State in 1837, the State government entered upon a grand system of internal improvements, to include the navigation of rivers, the construction of canals, and the building of three trunk lines of railway across the State,- a southern, a central, and a northern line.t

A State loan of 85,000,000 was provided for, and great expectations were indulged for the future of the young and ambitions State. But the grand scheme, however correct it may have been in principle, was too extensive and costly for the new-fledged commonwealth.

But, undeterred by the magnitude of the work, the State proceeded with the construction of the southern line from Monroe to Hillsdale, a distance of sixty-six miles, complet- ing it to the latter point in 1843. In 1846 the State sold its interest to a company which completed the line to Chicago about 1852.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan, Part 23

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