USA > Michigan > Eaton County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 4
USA > Michigan > Ingham County > History of Ingham and Eaton counties, Michigan > Part 4
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146
Feet.
Drift up to the plateau of the hillsides.
30
Blue, soft shales with kidney ore.
15
Sand-rock with stigmaria.
Thin, laminated sand-rock. 4
Black, carbonaceous shale, or coal.
Sand-rock with stigmaria. 1-2
7
Sand-rock with stigmaria ....
2
White, ripple-marked sand-rock
1
Nodular sand-rock
20
Fire-elay
5
White sand-rock
40
Conl
Carbonaceous shale
3-4
Light-colored shale 12
" At eighty feet below the surface a conglomerate sand-rock is struck from which a copious streamu of water rises to the surface. The sand-rock continues to the depth of 105 feet, where another water stream is struck. This water has an agreeable mineral taste.
"A good section through this formation can be observed in the ravines of a creek entering Grand River from the south a short dis- tance west of the village (Grand Ledge), and another in the cliffs just below it. Ilighest in the Intter, under a few feet of drift, are fifteen feet of arenaccous shales with nodular seams of sand-rock and kidney ore conerctions, and n band of carbonaceous shale with seams of coal. Beneath follow eight feet of fine-grained, greenish-white sandstone in thick, even beds, identical with the sand-rock found in the first section intermediate between the two coal seams.
"This rock is quarried and worked into ent stone and window- and door-sills. It is of fine quality,-better than any of the coal measure rocks I had seen before. The heds at one end of the quarry are moch thicker than at the other, and seem to wedge out. Under the quarry stone a foot or two of arenaceous shales, laminated by black, coaly seama, follows, and then a coal bed fifteen inches thick. The eval is of very good quality, even for blacksmiths' use, and is occasionally obtained by working the quarry for the sand. rock.
"The coal seam rests on bluish, arenaceous shales, and, lower, beds of sand-rock form the base of the bluff and the bed of the river.
" In Ingham County, shale beds, inelosing a eval seam, come to the surface on Cedar River, near Williamston. Not far from this exposure a shaft has been sunk, and for several years past a wine has been in operation which produces a good quality of bituminous coal.# The shaft commences in n drift mass fifteen feet thick ; right under the drift a coal seam of twenty inches is found, and, following, comes fire clay, with seams of
Feet.
Sand rock
12
Black shale ... .:: 3
White, soft, fire-clay. 3
Kidney ore ....
01
Black, slate-liko shales, with fossils
2
Coal from. 3-31
Fire clay ..
1
Gray shales
12
" A seam of pyrites is generally connected with the coal, but can be easily separated. Fussils are common in tho pyritous seam. Be- sides the vertical shaft n sloping gallery is driven to the bottom of the mine, in which the sequence of the rock strata can be studied most commodiously."+
At a boring four miles west of Williamston, near Cedar River, the following analysis was taken :
Feet.
Drift. 18
Black slate
1
Coal
24
Fire-clay.
6
Black shale. 12
Shaly sandstone. 10
Half a mile south of this locality borings of sixty feet did not penetrate through the drift.
Borings at and near Williamston :
AT THE DEPOT.
Feet.
Drift 16
Soft, white sandstone ....
12
Coal.
Light shale ..
6
Dark shale
S
Coal ..
3
Fire-clay
3
Black shale
9
Fire-clay ....
4
Black shale
4
Fire-clay
4
Black shale.
13
Light shale.
7
Black shale
5
Fire-clay.
3
Shale ..
104
Half a mile southwest of depot :
Feet.
Drift ....... ... .....
28
Sandstone ..
6
Light, gray shale
10
Dark shale ....
6
Black shale
Con]
I
Fire-clay ....
1
Shale .
3
White sand-rock
20
(To bottom of boring.)
Another boring, 200 yards north of coal shaft, gave:
Feet.
Drift
1
Sandstone ...
13
Dark-gray shale
I
Coal ..
with fire clay and shales below.
North of this last :
Feet.
Drift
18
Coal ..
7 (?)
Fire-clay. 6
succeeded by light and black shales to a depth of sixty feet.
Not now in operation.
+ Geological survey.
241 1
Blue, arenaceous shales containing kidney ore .... Black shale, or coal, several inches.
Blue shale ..
2
14
19
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The borings show a tolerably uniform distribution of about three feet of coal over the Williamston district.
THE LANSING WELL.
The famous Lansing Mineral Well, located at the con- fluence of the Grand and Cedar Rivers, in the city of Lansing, which penetrates the earth to the depth of over 1400 feet, ending in the Waverly group of sandstones con- taining the salt brines of Michigan, pours forth a copious stream of mineral water equal to a flow of one barrel per minute.
This well was bored by a stock company in 1863 for the purpose of obtaining salt water, and was partially successful, but the stronger brines of the Saginaw region soon distanced all competition. The Lansing well was finally utilized for medicinal purposes. In 1873, Messrs. Woodhouse & Butler erected a large hotel known as the " Mineral Well House," and an extensive bath-house, at an expense of more than $12,000. Mr. C. W. Butler sold out his interest, and the company sold in 1873 to Messrs. C. Y. & D. Edwards. In 1874 they made extensive additions at an expense of about $4000. The hotel was destroyed by fire Feb. 5, 1876, and has not been rebuilt. The property is now owned by Isaac Owen, who has recently been to large ex- pense in clearing and putting in new tubing, and the flow of water is now equal to the amount at any time since the well was sunk. It has an extensive reputation as one of the most noted flowing wells in the world, and the cures wrought by the use of the water are something re- markable; among them well-established cases of Bright's dis- ease of the kidneys. The water is pronounced by experts to be superior to the most famous waters of the German spas.
The following analysis of this water, together with that of the celebrated Congress Spring water of Saratoga, giv- ing the solid contents in grains of chemical ingredients held in solution in an imperial gallon, will be of interest :
Lansing Well. Grains.
Congress Spring. Grains.
Chloride of sodium ......
320.224
385.000
Bicarbonate of lime ..
107.590
98.098
Bicarbonate of soda ...
112.081
8.982
Bicarbonate of magnesia
23.027
95,788
Bicarbonato of iron
1,882
5.075
Sulphate of potassa.
14.940
none.
Phosphate of soda
30.065
none.
Sulphate of lime.
none.
none.
Silica.
3.996
1.500
Silicate of lime ..
none.
none.
Phosphate of lime
a trace.
none.
Iodide of sodium ..
a trace.
3.500
Lithia.
a trace.
none.
Sulphuretted hydrogen .
a trace.
none.
Solid contents of imperial
gallon ..
615.430
586.000
Total carhonic acid
235.550
311.000
By AUGUSTUS F. JENNINGS, M.D.,
Analytical Chemist, Detroit.
The well at the Lansing House is 740 feet in depth, but brings up none of the valuable mineral waters which are characteristic of the other; neither did the borings pene- trate any valuable seams of coal.
The well bored at the State Reform School for Boys, in the eastern part of the city, gives the following analysis, which was carefully kept at the time of boring :
Drift-clay, sand, gravel, and bowlders
Feet. 101
Soft sand-rock
3
Hard fire-clay ..
1
Soft, white sand-rock. 13
Soft, sandy fire-clay
15
Hard sand-rock
119
Hard fire-clay, alternating with beds of whitish and bluish sand-rock
46
Cherty lime ..
I
Gray lime.
4
Sandy fire-clay and seams of hard rock.
5 J
Soft sand-rock. 37
2
Soft white sand-rock
15
Blue limestone.
1
White fire-clay
1
Sand-rock.
Fire-clay with iron pyrites.
50
Soft sand-rock.
5
Blue limestone
161
Total 5064
THE QUATERNARY AGE.
Between the Carboniferous and the Quaternary ages the formations, as before remarked, are all wanting in Michigan. These include the reptilian age of Mesozoic time, and the tertiary period of Cenozoic time. The glacial, Champlain, and terrace periods are subdivisions of the Quaternary age.
It is generally supposed that man appeared upon the earth in some one of these periods, though there is some evidence that his advent dates still farther back to the terli- ary age. But admitting that he existed at that early period would not make him an inhabitant of Michigan, for lack of something to stand upon would make it impossible. The lower peninsula was then, probably, under water.
The drift deposits of the glacial and post-glacial days cover the peninsula to depths varying from a few inches to many hundred feet. In a few localities fixed rock appears upon the surface, but nearly the whole region is buried under the accumulated bowlders, sands, and clays of the ice period.
The materials of these accumulations have been produced by erosions of the early rocks, and the masses heaped and strewn over the lower peninsula of Michigan have been deposited by some irresistible force moving in a direction nearly south. Were this drift removed, the entire rock surface, except where modified from recent causes, would probably exhibit astonishing effects produced by this enor- mous force. It would appear as if planed down by some gigantic instrument, and in places would be deeply grooved and scored as if by an immense plow or gouge.
In New England and New York these scorings and groovings are plainly to be seen even on some of the higher mountains, as Mansfield, Kearsage, and the hard granite of Ascutney ; and the massive and obdurate trap of the Con- necticut Valley bears evidence of some enormous force passing over it during a long period of time.
There may have been similar or many glacial periods since the earth's erust became solid; but, at any rate, there can be but little doubt that there has been one compara- tively recent geological period, when a large share of the North American continent lying north of the fortieth parallel and east of the one hundredth meridian was plowed and ground over by a vast accumulation of semi-solid iec, which tore the rocks of the north from their ancient beds, and carried them far to the southward, grinding them into
Hard gray limestone.
20
HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.
bowlders, gravel, and sand by the way, and leaving the wreck, when the glacier melted, strewn as we now behold, except that it has been greatly modified by the tremendous rush of waters succeeding the iee period, and considerably changed by the action of rains and snows and the streams of later days.
The causes of this glaciated condition of the earth's sur- face we shall not diseuss in this connection. They have been ably handled by various writers, and Dana gives an elaborate paper in his " Manual of Geology," which seems to be exhaustive of the subjeet.
To this enormous power, continued, it may be, for a hundred thousand years or more, is attributed by some the formation of several of the great American lakes, notably Michigan and Iluron, with their peculiar bays. Lake Superior, lying in an immense syuelinal among the earlier formations, is considered to be of voleanie origin. The level of Lakes Michigan and Huron has varied materially in the lapse of ages. At one time both these bodies of water and also Lake Erie drained southward into the Ohio and Mississippi, via the Wabash and Illinois Rivers.
The Champlain period,* which succeeded the glacial, was the grand distributing era of the Quaternary age. The melting of the continental glacier left great deposits of bowlders, gravel, sand, and clay, unevenly distributed in vast heaps and moraines over the surface of the peninsula.
The powerful streams, set free by this melting process, swept with irresistible foree in all directions from the eentre towards the basins of the lakes, in their courses greatly modifying these deposits and distributing them more evenly over the surface. During this period the channels of the principal streams were probably marked out, and their steadily diminishing waters have been cutting them deeper and deeper to the present time.
The Champlain period may be properly divided into two subdivisions,-the Diluvial and the Alluvial,-or one of depositions from the melting glacier, and the other of de- posits by swollen streams upon overflowed lands, as we wit- ness in these days along the valleys of the Mississippi and other rivers. These late deposits are more or less plainly stratified.
The terrace period ineludes the time during which the clearly defined terraces of the larger streams have been forming. The principal streams of Michigan exhibit the terraec formations to a considerable degree, though not to the extent observable in the valleys of rivers running through older and more hilly regions. They are quite noticeable along the Grand, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and other large watercourses. The terraces mark the different levels at which the waters have stood, for longer or shorter periods, since they began cutting through the drift toward the underlying rock, which has been reached in compara- tively few places in the lower peninsula.
All the streams, great and small, show a wonderful dimi- nution from their volume in the post-glacial days. The Mississippi, which we are wout to consider of vast propor-
tions, once had an average width of nearly a hundred miles below the mouth of the Ohio; and while the rivers of Michigan may not have changed in an equal ratio, they are no doubt vastly inferior to their former magnitude.
The appearance of forest trees upon the surface of Michigan is of comparatively recent date. In all proba- bility many ages elapsed after the disappearance of the glacier before the heaped up sands and elays were fully covered with vegetation, and the region must have been a vast desert interspersed everywhere with lakes and marshes, and totally unfit for the habitation of man. In this respect it has been improving for an unknown period, and will con- tinue to do so for long years to come. The day will prob- ably at length arrive when most of the inferior lakes and marshes will be drained, and their beds become dry and cultivatable land.
GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY.
The lower peninsula of Michigan may be described as a comparatively level plateau, embossed with low hills and ridges, and everywhere eroded and seamed by a vast num- ber of watercourses, which flow from the highlands in di- rections east, west, north, and southeast toward the basins of the great lakes.
The principal height of lands, which separates the water- sheds drained respectively by Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, ean be traced from the Indiana line in Branch County through the counties of Hillsdale, Jackson, Washtenaw, Livingston, Shiawassee, Gratiot, Montcalm, Mecosta, Isa- bella, Clare, Roscommon, Crawford, Otsego, and Charlevoix.
A secondary but quite lofty "divide" separates the waters which flow into Lakes Erie and St. Clair, and the Straits of St. Clair and Detroit from those which flow into Saginaw Bay. This ridge passes through the northeastern part of Livingston County, the northwestern part of Oak- land, the southeastern part of Lapeer, and the central por- tions of Sanilac. Subordinate elevations separate the water- sheds of the various streams. The peninsula is nowhere mountainous, and only moderately hilly. The higher eleva- tions, taken mostly from railway surveys, and measured from the mean level of Lake Michigan at Chicago, which is stated at 580 feet 6 inches above the sea level, are as fol- lows, according to Prof. Winchell :
Above Lake Michigan.
Above
Feet.
Sea. Feet.
TIeight of lands in Otsego County.
1200
17804
Summit in Roscommon County.
820
1400
Clare County
750
1330
Ilillsdalo County
613
1193
Oakland County
529
1109
" Jackson County.
411 991
=
Washtenaw County
394
074
66
southeastorn part of Ingham County ....
391
971
4€ north part of Eaton County ..
250
830
=
This last location in Eaton County is designated as " Grand Lodge Summit."
Iloughton Lake, at the head of the Muskegon River, is elevated 589 feet above Lake Michigan, and 1169 feet above the sea. Between the valleys of the Saginaw and Grand Rivers there is a natural depression which in the lowest place is only clevated seventy-two feet above the lakes.
" So named from the occurrence of finely developod beds of the period in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain. It was the period of formation of immense fresh-water basins and of great rivers.
21
PREHISTORIC.
CLIMATOLOGY.
The State of Michigan lies between the parallels of 41° 30' and 48° 20' north latitude. Its longest axis, measur- ing from the southwest corner of Hillsdale County to the Straits of Mackinaw, and thence northwest to the Minne- sota and Canadian boundary between Isle Royale and the mainland, is not far from 550 miles. Its greatest breadth, including its water area across the lower peninsula at the south line of Saginaw Bay, is about 265 miles.
Over such an extensive region there is necessarily great diversity of climate. Isle Royale and the northern por- tions of the upper peninsula have an almost Arctic winter scason, while the southern portions of the lower peninsula experience the climate of New York and Philadelphia. The great bodies of water almost surrounding the lower peninsula produce a most remarkable effect upon its climate both in summer and winter. The summers are neither so hot nor the winters so cold as in the same latitude east of Lakes Huron and west of Lake Michigan.
The influence of these lakes is greatest in their immedi- ate neighborhood, though the central parts of the peninsula feel it more or less. But within twenty miles of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan the effect is most marked, and from this cause it is one of the finest regions for the growth of the fruits and berries of the temperate latitudes to be found in the world. It is well known that peaches are almost a certain erop (except the trees are diseased) from St. Joseph to Grand Traverse Bay. The deflection of the isothermal lines, in summer to the south and in winter to the north, caused by the even temperature of Lake Michi- gan is something remarkable, and in this respect perhaps no country on the globe is so peculiarly situated. The ex- tremest cold of winter at Traverse City, in latitude forty- five north, does not exceed that of St. Louis, Mo., which is situated six degrees farther to the south, equivalent to 400 miles, and instances are known where the peach has been destroyed by the cold at the latter place, while a fair crop has been secured at the former.
The extreme heats of summer are much modified by the same cause, and the western lake ports may be sweltering with heat, while those on the eastern shore are enjoying almost a perpetual spring. It may be asked why both shores of the lake are not affected equally. The answer is that a large proportion of the winds of this region blow from a direction west of a north and south line, thus carry- ing the moisture and temperature of the lake over the Michigan peninsula. The mean summer and mean winter temperature of the lake vary only about eight degrees, so that its waters are uniform in their temperature to a re- markable degree. In the central portions of the State this influence is considerably less, and the temperature in sum- mer is considerably higher and in winter correspondingly lower than in the nearer vicinity of the lake ; still it affects the entire peninsula to a greater or less extent.
In the matter of precipitation it is also probable that the proximity of these great bodies of water has more or less effect upon the amount year after year, equalizing the rain- fall, and rendering excessive droughts less liable to occur. The atmosphere is consequently somewhat more humid than in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.
The average amount of precipitation, rain and snow, annually for the lower peninsula is thirty-two inches. At Lansing, which is in latitude 42° 43' 53", and at an eleva- tion of 270 feet above Lake Michigan, or 850 above sea level, the average annual precipitation, as determined by observations continued through seven years, is 30.31 inches. The prevailing winds at this point, which is near the centre of the peninsula, east and west, for the same period were southwest, west, and northeast, much the greater part of the time southwest.
The climate and soil of Michigan seem peculiarly adapted to the maximum production of wheat, vegetables, and fruit. The yield per acre of winter wheat sometimes exceeds fifty bushels, and its superior quality is well known. Its fruits are distinguished for their size, flavor, remarkable sound- ness, and freedom from injury by insects. Apples, pears, cherries, grapes, and berries flourish in all parts of the lower peninsula, while the peculiar home of the peach is within a belt of several miles in width bordering Lake Michigan.
CHAPTER II.
PREHISTORIC.
Evidences of a Semi-Civilized Occupation-The Mound-Builders- Traditions of the Indians-Indian Nations.
IN compiling a history of the counties of Ingham and Eaton, it has seemed to the writer necessary and proper to give a brief outline of the early history of the two penin- sulas now comprising the State of Michigan. Though sit- uated 1500 miles from the mouth of the river St. Law- rence, which drains every square mile of the State,* almost surrounded by vast inland scas, covered with dense forests, and inhabited by savage nations, its territory was among the earliest to be explored, and settlements were founded and missions and trading-stations established within its borders before the English and Dutch colonies had pene- trated 100 miles from the Atlantic coast.
Could a full and accurate history of its first European discoverers, and of its early explorers, voyageurs, coureurs de bois, fur traders, and missionaries be given, the " plain, unvarnished tale" would exceed the wildest imaginings of romance. Along its stormy seas, amid its thousand inland lakes, and through its tangled forests and gloomy mo- rasses, the daring and greedy trader ventured for worldly gain ; while the black-robed missionary, bearing the em- blems of his holy calling, risked, and often lost, his life in the thankless and almost vain attempt to change its barba- rian hordes into civilized and Christian people.
There is no portion of the American continent around which cluster more of the elements of daring adventure, of unselfish religious zeal, and of wild romance than the great lake region of the Northwest. The writings of
# With the possible exception of a few square miles at the heads of the Wisconsin and Chippewa Rivers. Lake Vieux Desert is repre- sented as lying across the line between Wisconsin and Michigan, and as draining into the Wisconsin River. A few small lakes may also drain into the Chippewa River.
22
HISTORY OF INGHAM AND EATON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.
Charlevoix, La IIontan, Schoolcraft, Parkman, De Smet, and many more, constitute an inexhaustible fund of most interesting information from which future writers may draw without stint when treating of this wonderful region. The published histories of Michigan, while of great value and creditable to their compilers, are mostly fragmentary, and come far short of a comprehensive treatment of the subject. The grand history of the State is yet to be writ- ten, and there is certainly no more inviting field for the com- petent historian than this. Materials are abundant, but they are to be made available only by a thorough research among the colonial records of France and England, the writ- ings of the Jesuits, the archives of the American govern- ment, and, we may properly add, the records of the great fur companies. Whoever shall undertake the task, with all these appliances at command, and bring to the work an en- thusiastie love of the subject, coupled with ability and in- dustry, will furnish a rare and enchanting work ; one that will live like the writings of Herodotus.
ANCIENT OCCUPATION.
The evidences of a long-continued and semi-civilized oe- cupation of the great valleys of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence Rivers in the far off and shadowy past are abundant on every hand. The vast mounds and compli- cated system of fortification found throughout the valley of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and other important streams, the wonderful and gigantie mining operations in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and on Isle Royale,* in Lake Supe- rior, and the curious, extensive, and inexplicable " garden- beds" of Michigan and Wisconsin, are proof positive that ages ago throughout all the vast region there dwelt a ho- mogencous and powerful race, which some catastrophe swept from the face of the country, leaving nothing save gigantie and silent ruins to testify of its existence.
Speculation as to the origin and movements of this an- cient people has been abundant, and the subject has been voluminously treated from every possible stand-point. Prom- inent writers have contended that the home-the original habitat of the human race-was in that mythical region known to the earliest writers as "The Lost Atlantis," which is said to have occupied the region now covered by the rolling billows of the Central Atlantic Ocean. The words Atlas and Atlantic are undoubtedly of ancient American origin, for we find no root in any of the lan- guages of the Eastern continent akin to them. All was a common prefix to many words in the language spoken by the Aztecs, and other inhabitants of Central America and Mexico, and to this source we must trace its origin.
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.