History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 12

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761

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The lands were first offered at public sale, and when competition seemed to be exhausted, applications and bids were opened and examined, and pending action thereupon, the office was closed, which proceeding caused much delay and expense to bona fide settlers. It was also charged that speculators, or "land-sharks," as they were appropriately named, took advantage of the arrangement to reap a rich harvest from those who came to purchase homesteads. T

For some years after the lands were open to entry the price per acre was fixed at two dollars, one-fourth of which was required to be paid down, and the remainder in three annual installments. The land was subject to forfeiture if the payments proved delinquent. A discount of eight per cent. was allowed if the whole payment was made in advance. About 1832 a change was made, fixing the price per acre at one dollar and a quarter, and requiring the whole amount to be paid in advance. Under this arrange- ment everything worked satisfactorily.

In 1831 a land-office was established at White Pigeon, in St. Joseph County, for the sale of lands lying west of the meridian. In 1834 this office was removed to Kala- mazoo, and in 1838 an office was opened in Ionia.

LAND-SALES.

The following table shows the amount of lands disposed of in the Kalamazoo land district from 1831 to Jan. 1, 1838, inclusive, and including sales at White Pigeon and Kalamazoo :

Years.

Acres.

Amount Received.

1831.

93,179.36

$117,128.26

1832.

74,696.17

98,060.23

1833.

95,980.25

123,465.25

1834.

128,244.47

160,321.85

1835.

745,661.34

932,076.64

1836.

1,634,511.82

2,043,866.87

1837

313,855.15

394,316.77

Totals.

3,086,128.56

$3,869,235.87

It will be seen that by far the greater transactions were at the Kalamazoo office, in the years 1835 and 1836. The office at Kalamazoo was continued until about 1858, when its affairs were closed, the lands in the district having been disposed of. The sales for the last fifteen or twenty years were comparatively small. (See history of Kalamazoo village.)

|| The Detroit land district, according to A. D. P. Van Buren, was established in 1804.

" The first legal conveyance of land within the limits of the lower peninsula of Michigan was made in 1707, by Antoine de la Motte Cadillac to "François Fafard Delorme."

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

SOLDIERS' BOUNTY-LANDS.

Congress, on the 6th of May, 1812, passed an act re- quiring that two million acres of government lands should be surveyed in the then Territory of Louisiana,* a like quantity in the Territory of Illinois north and west of the Illinois River, and the same amount in the Territory of Michigan,-in all, six million acres,-to be set apart for the soldiers of the war with Great Britain.

The lands were surveyed and set apart, under the act, in Louisiana and Illinois, but the early surveyors reported that there were no lands in Michigan fit for cultivation.t The following are extracts from the surveyor-general's report :

" The country on the Indiana boundary line, from the mouth of the Great Auglaize River, and running thence north for about fifty miles, is (with some few exceptions) low, wet land, with a very thick growth of underbrush, intermixed with very bad marshes, but generally very heavily timbered with beech, cottonwood, oak, etc. ; thence continu- ing north, and extending from the Indian boundary eastward, the number and extent of the swamps increases, with the addition of numbers of lakes, from twenty chains to two and three miles across.

"Many of the lakes have extensive margins, sometimes thickly covered with a species of pine called ' tamarack,' and in other places covered with a coarse, high grass, and uniformly covered from six inches to three feet (and more at times) with water. The margins of these lakes are not the only places where swamps are found, for they are interspersed throughout the whole country, and filled with water, as above stated, and varying in extent.

"The intermediate space between these swamps and lakes-which is probably near one-half of the country-is, with very few exceptions, a poor, barren, sandy land, on which scarcely any vegetation grows, except very small, scrubby oaks.

" In many places that part which may be called dry land is com- posed of little, short sand-hills, forming a kind of deep basins, the bottoms of many of which are composed of marsh similar to the above described. The streams are generally narrow, and very deep com- pared with their width, the shores and bottoms of which are (with very few exceptions) swampy beyond description; and it is with the utmost difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be conveyed in safety.

" A circumstance peculiar to that country is exhibited in many of the marshes, by their being thinly covered with a sward of grass, by walking on which evinces the existence of water, or a very thin mud, immediately under their covering, which sinks from six to eighteen inches under the pressure of the foot at every step, and at the same time rises before and behind the person passing over it. The margins of many of the lakes and streams are in a similar condition, and in many places are literally afloat. On approaching the eastern part of the military lands, towards the private claims on the straits and lake, the country does not contain so many swamps and lakes, but the ex- treme sterility and barrenness of the soil continue the same.

"Taking the country altogether, so far as has been explored, and to all appearances, together with information received concerning the balance, it is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation."}

This report, as can be seen, applied to the eastern part of the State, but at the same time the character of the country appeared to grow worse towards the interior, and Congress, taking the report to be substantially correct, on the 29th of April, 1816, passed an act repealing so much of the law of 1812 as related to Michigan, and providing for locating an additional one million five hundred thousand acres in Illi- nois, and five hundred thousand in the Territory of Missouri, in place of the two million acres located in Michigan.

The report operated both in an injurious and a beneficial way, strange as the statement may seem. At first it de- terred many from seeking homes in the State, who, under a more favorable report, would have filled up the country rapidly, but as an offset to this it might be said to operate beneficially in keeping out the horde of speculators who would be sure to monopolize many of the soldiers' warrants, and thus throw the country, at least for a time, into non- resident hands.

But notwithstanding this unfavorable report, a few ad- venturers, who desired to see for themselves what the face of the country might be, penetrated the borders of Oakland County in 1818, and the discoveries which they made soon brought immigration to the eastern portion of the State, though it was not until several years subsequently that a true knowledge of the country began to people the interior with busy pioneers. A Territorial road was surveyed from Detroit to Chicago about 1823. At Ypsilanti it divided, one line being run southwestward, through Lenawee, Hills- dale, Branch, and other counties, the other nearly west through Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo. The opening of these roads, giving increased facilities, soon brought plenty of settlers, and from this time forward the population increased rapidly.

INDIAN TREATIES.

Among the Western Indians who joined the English in the war of 1812-15 were the three powerful nations, Ot- tawas, Ojibwas, and Pottawattomies, and these, by all ordi- nary rules of warfare, were entitled to very little lenity when the struggle closed. But the American government generously buried the past and entered into amicable rela- tions with them.

Before the close of the war, in July, 1814, a treaty was entered into at Greenville, Ohio, between Gen. Harrison and Governor Cass, on the part of the government, and those bands of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese, and Senecas who had remained faithful to the Americans, by which peace was also made with the Miamis, Weas, and Eel River Indians, and the terms were extended to portions of the Pottawattomies, Ottawas, and Kickapoos.

About the middle of July, 1815, after the war had closed, a treaty was made with various tribes at Portage des Sioux, on the Mississippi River, a few miles above the mouth of the Missouri. The first mentioned are the Pottawattomies. All injuries or acts of hostility on the part of either party were to be forgiven, all prisoners given up, and all former treaties and contracts recognized and confirmed. Similar treaties were made with all the Indians west of the lakes, excepting Black Hawk's band of the Sac nation, who pro- claimed themselves British subjects, and went to Canada to receive presents.

In September, 1815, Gen. William Henry Harrison, Gen. Duncan McArthur, and John Graham, Esq., on be- half of the United States, held a council at Spring Wells, near Detroit, with the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and Chip- pewas (or Ojibwas), and on the 8th of the month a treaty was concluded by which peace was granted to them, and the government agreed to restore to them all the possessions, rights, and privileges which were theirs previous to the year

* Purchased of the first Napoleon in 1803, by Mr. Jefferson. t Tuttle's History of Michigan. į Ibid.

TERRITORIAL.

1812. The former treaties at Greenville and other places were also confirmed.

In October, 1818, Gen. Cass held a council with the Pottawattomies, at which they ceded lands on the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers, lying mostly within the bounds of the present State of Indiana.

TREATY OF SAGINAW, 1819.

Soon after the close of the war of 1812 it became ap- parent that the region of the lower peninsula of Michigan was destined to fill up speedily with settlers, provided the Indian titles could be extinguished, and the far-seeing mind of Governor Cass was quick to comprehend the necessary legislation. He at once set himself to the work of securing an additional cession from the Indians, as he foresaw that the tract of country ceded in 1807 would soon be too cir- cumscribed for the immigration which was sure to follow.

Being ex-oficio Indian Commissioner for the Territory of Michigan, he laid the matter before the President, and received authority and instructions under which he could proceed to the extinguishment of Indian titles to the de- sired tract of country.

A grand council with the Chippewa and Ottawa nations was called to be held at Saginaw, where they assembled in September, 1819; and where, on the 24th of the same month, a treaty was signed by which one hundred and fourteen chiefs and principal sachems (mostly Chippewas) ceded to the United States a tract of country estimated to include about six million acres, and bounded as follows, in the words of the treaty :

"Beginning at a point in the present Indian boundary line (iden- tical with the principal meridian of Michigan), which runs due north from the mouth of the Great Auglaize River, six miles south of the place where the base line, so called, intersects the same; thence west sixty miles ;* thence in a direct line to the head of Thunder Bay River; thence down the same, following the courses thereof, to the mouth ; thence northeast to the boundary line between the United States and the British province of Upper Canada; thence with the same to the line established by the treaty of Detroit, in the year 1807; and thence with the said line to the place of beginning."

This boundary, as will be seen, included two towns of Kalamazoo County within the cession, Ross and Richland. Whether the Chippewas and Ottawas had any just claim upon the territory lying south of Grand River is problemat- ical ; at all events, the Pottawattomies did not recognize it in the treaty of Chicago, in 1821.

TREATY OF CHICAGO, 1821.

This treaty was concluded by Governor Cass, of Mich- igan, and Hon. Solomon Sibley, associated with him as United States Indian Commissioner, at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), on the 29th of August, 1821, with the Chippe- was, Ottawas, and Pottawattomies. The latter were the principal nation interested, the others signing as auxiliaries and friends. The three nations were represented by their chiefs and principal men as follows: Pottawattomies, by fifty-five ; Ottawas, by eight ; and Chippewas, by two. The boundaries of the tract ceded at this treaty, which in- cluded between seven and eight thousand square miles in the southwestern portion of Michigan, were described as follows :

" Beginning on the south bank of the St. Joseph River of Michi- gan, near ' Parc aux Vaches ;'t thence south to a line running due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan ; thence along that line to the tract ceded by the treaty of Fort Meigs, in 1817, or, if that tract should be found to lie entirely south of the line, then to the tract ceded by the treaty of Detroit, in 1807 ;} thence northward along that tract to a point due east of the source of Grand River; thence west to the source of that river; thence down the river on the north bank to its junction with Lake Michigan ; thence southward along the east bank of the lake to the mouth of the St. Joseph River; and thence up that river to the place of beginning."?

This large tract included the counties of Cass, St. Jo- seph, Branch, Hillsdale, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Allegan, Barry, Eaton, most of Ottawa and Berrien, and parts of Kent, Ionia, Ingham, and Jackson, and comprised nearly eight thousand square miles, or five million one hun- dred and twenty thousand acres. Its geographical centre was not very far from the site of Kalamazoo village. From these lands five tracts were reserved, among which was the one known as the Match-e-be-nash-e-wish || reservation, which included nine square miles, or five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres, where Kalamazoo village now stands.

It was described as the village of " Matchebenashewish, at the head of the Kekelamazoo River," meaning at the head of navigation.

DELEGATE IN CONGRESS.

In 1819, Michigan was granted a delegate in Congress. In the previous year steam navigation had been introduced upon Lake Erie. The first steamer was named " Walk-in- the-Water," but whether as a compliment to the Wyandot (or Huron) chief of that name, or as indicative of her own powers, is not quite clear. With the bringing of lands into market, and the opening of steam navigation, came a rapid influx of immigration to the new lands of the West.

EXPLORING EXPEDITION.

In the spring of 1820 an expedition was fitted out for the exploration of the northern and western portions of the Territory, which were then comparatively little known. It was under the control of Governor Cass, and accompanying it were Alexander Woolcott, physician ; Capt. D. B. Doug- las, engineer; Lieut. A. Mackay, commander of escort ; James Duane Doty, secretary ; Maj. Robert A. Forsyth, Governor's secretary ; and Henry R. Schoolcraft, geologist and topographer. A detachment of thirty regular soldiers formed the escort, and the entire party numbered sixty-six persons. Under instructions from the War Department at Washington, the commanders of military posts were re- quired to extend every facility to the expedition.

The expedition left Detroit on the 24th of May, 1820, in bark canoes manned by voyageurs and Indians. They kept along the western shore of Lake Huron, visiting the prominent points, and halting for a considerable time at Mackinac. At the Sault St. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior, Governor Cass held a council with the Indians. This point was chosen for the location of a military post. The Indians objected to its establishment, and were insolent

* This point is the northeast corner of Kalamazoo township.

The cow pasture.

# The principal meridian.

¿ This boundary includes nearly two thousand square miles ceded at the treaty of Saginaw, in 1819. 1

|| Judge Wells states that the common name of this reservation in the early days was "Mick-a-sau-ba," or "Mich-a-saw-bah."

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

and hostile; but the bold course pursued by the Governor overawed them, and a treaty was signed by which they ceded a tract of country four miles square around the Sault. The expedition visited the shores of Lake Superior, the upper Mississippi River, and Lake Michigan, making valuable discoveries and taking notes of the country and its wonder- fully varied resources. Mr. Schoolcraft subsequently pub- lished an account of the voyage .*

BANKS.

The first bank in the Territory was chartered in 1817, as the Bank of Michigan. The second was the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Michigan, chartered in 1828, with a branch at St. Joseph.

In 1823 a Legislative Council for the Territory was au- thorized, to consist of nine members, to be appointed by the President of the United States. In. 1825 the number of the Council was increased to thirteen, and made elective by the people. In the same year, also, all county officers, excepting those belonging to the judiciary, were made elect- ive by the people, and the appointments remaining in the hands of the Executive were made subject to the approval of the council. The Governor and Council were also au- thorized to divide the Territory into townships and incor- porate them, and provide for the election of officers. The right of appeal was also granted in the same year from the Territorial to the United States Supreme Court.

In 1825 the great Erie Canal between the Hudson River and Lake Erie was opened, giving continuous water navi- gation from the Atlantic seaboard to the Western lakes. This gave a fresh impetus to immigration.

In 1827 the electors of the Territory were authorized to choose a number of persons corresponding with the council, and these, together with the original council, constituted a Territorial Legislature, which was empowered to enact any necessary laws, provided they did not conflict with the ordi- nance of 1787. They were to be subject to revision by Congress, and to the absolute veto of the Territorial Gov- ernor. A judiciary system was also established, and the militia were organized.

Gen. George B. Porter, of Pennsylvania, succeeded Gov- ernor Cass in July, 1831, and entered upon the duties of his office in September following.

It was during the administration of Governor Porter that the Black Hawk war occurred. It was confined wholly to the region west of Lake Michigan, and only in- directly disturbed the people of Michigan. Some account of the part taken by local companies will be found in an- other chapter. Governor Porter died of cholera on the 5th of July, 1834, and the Secretary of the Territory, Stevens T. Mason, by the provisions of the organic act, became Governor in his stead. Mr. Mason was succeeded, in 1835, by John S. Horner, who was the last Territorial Governor.

CHAPTER X.

STATE ORGANIZATION.

Constitutional Conventions-The "Toledo War"-Mexican War- War of the Rebellion-Population-Governors under Three Na- tionalities-Other State Officers.

THE ordinance of 1787 provided that the Northwest Territory might be divided into not less than three nor more than five States. Down to 1818 three States had already been formed, viz., Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. By that ordinance, and subsequent acts of Congress conferring upon the Territory the benefits of its provisions, Michigan was entitled to apply for admission into the Union whenever .her free white population should number sixty thousand (60,000).

In 1834, Michigan took the preliminary steps to secure for herself the rights to which she claimed to be entitled. On the 6th of September, in that year, the Legislative Council passed an act directing a census to be taken.} The returns showed a free white population of eighty-seven thousand two hundred and seventy-three inhabitants. At the session of the Council in January, 1835, an act was passed authorizing a convention to be held at Detroit on the second Monday of May following, for the purpose of framing a State constitution. This convention was com- posed of eighty-nine delegates, who met upon the day spec- ified, and continued in session until the 24th day of June.

A constitution was formed and submitted to the people in October following, and adopted. At the same election State officers and a Legislature were also elected to act under the new constitution. This Legislature met in November following, and the State government went into operation.

Hon. Stevens T. Mason, former secretary of the Territo- rial government and acting Governor, was elected Governor of the new State.§

The constitution adopted in 1835 remained the funda- mental law of the State until the adoption of the revised constitution, in 1850.

THE TOLEDO WAR.

The following synopsis of the history of the famous " Toledo War" is condensed from a pamphlet history of the same by Hon. W. V. Way, of Perrysburg, Ohio. We find it in the columns of the Detroit Advertiser :

"The famous ordinance of 1787 authorized the formation by Con- gress of one or more States out of that portion of the Northwestern

# On the 29th of June, 1832, a statute was passed to call an election on the first Tuesday of October, to determine " whether it be expedient for the people of this Territory to form a State government." The re- sult was in the affirmative by a large majority. [Campbell.] There seems to have been no further action taken at this time.

¿ The area of the State, in square miles and acres, as given in 1838, is as follows :

* In 1826, Governor Cass made a voyage to the head of Lake Supe- rior, in canoes, to make treaties with the northern Indians.

A branch of this bank was established at Bronson by act of the Legislative Council, passed in March, 1834.

Sq. Miles.

Sq. Acres.

Lower Peninsula.

39,856

25,507,840

Upper Peninsula.

20,664

13,224,960

Totals

60,520

38,732,800

Water surface-Lake Michigan ..

11,592

Lake Superior.

15,660

Huron, St. Clair, and Erie. 9,072

Aggregate 96,844

STATE ORGANIZATION.

Territory lying north of a line drawn east and west through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan.# When, in 1802, Ohio applied for admission to the Union, the convention which formed her constitution, not knowing but that this line would come so far south as to cut them off from Lake Erie, placed in the instrument the pro- viso that, Congress consenting, if the line through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan should be found not to strike Lake Erie, or to strike it east of the mouth of the Maumee River, that then the northern boundary line of the proposed State should be altered so as to inter- sect the most northerly cape of Maumee Bay. Congress admitted Ohio Feb. 19, 1803, without any allusion to the boundary. On Jan. 11, 1805, the bill was passed organizing the Territory of Michigan, and establishing as the southern boundary the old line running east and west through the head of Lake Michigan. The Territorial gov- ernment at once exercised jurisdiction as far south as this line. Ohio appealed to Congress, and in 1812 a resolution was passed ordering a survey of the line indicated in the Ohio constitution. The war of 1812 breaking out at this juncture, the line was not surveyed, and it was not until 1817 that the requirements of the resolution were finally complied with. On Jan. 29, 1818, the Ohio Legislature adopted the line so run as the northern boundary of their State, but Congress took no action in the matter until after the conflict of 1835. The disputed territory extended the whole length of the north line of Ohio, and was about five miles wide at its west end, and eight at its east. It was chiefly valuable as embracing the harbor at the mouth of the Maumee River, and the site of the present city of Toledo. At first the residents of this tract preferred the dominion of Michigan to that of Ohio, but with the prospect of Toledo being made the terminus of the canal connecting the Maumee with the Ohio, they suddenly changed their views and petitioned Governor Lucas to extend the laws of Ohio over them. This was in 1835. Governor Lucas pre- sented the matter to the Legislature, and on February 23d a law was again passed declaring the disputed strip to belong to Ohio. For thirty years Michigan had held possession, and attempts to collect taxes under Ohio laws had been successfully opposed. The Ohio act of 1835 provided for the re-survey and re-marking of the line claimed by that State, and also for the subdivision of the disputed territory into townships and their immediate organization. Meanwhile the Legis- lative Council of Michigan, upon learning what the Ohio Legislature was intending, anticipated their action by a law passed February 12th, prohibiting any one from exercising any official functions within the Territory of Michigan by virtue of any commission or authority not derived from the Territorial Government or from the United States, under penalty of fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both, at the discretion of the court. The people of the disputed tract were now divided between the two allegiances, some taking sides with Michigan, others with

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 12

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott Number of Pages: 761

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761