History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 11

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PLANK-ROADS.

DETROIT AND GRAND RIVER PLANK-ROAD COMPANY.

This company was incorporated by act of Legis- lature (approved March 12, 1844), which provided " That C. P. Bush and Ely Barnard, of Livingston County, and Levi Cook, John Blindbury, and Hosted by David Thompson, of Wayne County, be and they

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

are hereby appointed commissioners, under whom, or a majority of whom, subscriptions may be re- ceived to the stock of the Detroit and Grand River Plank-Road Company, hereby incorporated ; and they shall cause books to be opened at the village of Howell, in the county of Livingston, and at the office of the city clerk in the city of Detroit, county of Wayne, for three successive days, at such time as a majority of them shall direct, for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to the capi- tal stock of said company." The company was incorporated for the period of twenty years from the passage of the act; its capital stock was placed at fifty thousand dollars, in shares of fifty dollars cach ; the object for which it was incorporated was set forth in the act to be " the improvement of the present Grand River turnpike, from the northerly line of the Cass farm, in the city of Detroit, to the point where the base line intersects the said road ;" and for this purpose the company was " authorized to take immediate possession of the Grand River turnpike from the city of Detroit to the base line," and was required to plank the road from Detroit to the base line "with sound plank not less than three inches in thickness, and not less than eighteen feet in length, to be well fastened down at the bed timbers, so as to make the same a good plank-road at all seasons of the year." The com- pany was required, under penalty of forfeiture of charter, to complete eleven miles of the road with- in five years, and the remainder within ten years, from the passage of the act. An amendatory act was passed May 4, 1846, by the provisions of which the company, instead of being compelled to lay a plank-road, were required to " cause to be laid down and constructed a good and substantial plank, macadamized, or charcoal road, from the city of Detroit to the said point where the base line inter- sects said turnpike ; such road to be not less than sixteen feet in width, and of such materials and description as shall make the same a good substan- tial road at all seasons of the year." The intention was to extend this road ultimately to Howell, but the obstacles encountered were too great to be surmounted at that early day, and the company never even organized under their charter.

HOWELL AND BYRON PLANK.ROAD COMPANY.

In 1850 the Howell and Byron Plank-Road Company was incorporated for a period of sixty years and with a capital stock authorized to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, for the receipt of subscriptions to which, George W. Lee, Josiah Turner, B. W. Dennis, F. J. Provost,* and Noah

Ramsdell were appointed commissioners. The object of the incorporation of the company, as set forth in the act (approved March 25th), was "to lay out, establish, and construct a plank-road and all necessary buildings and appurtenances, commencing in the village of Howell, and termi- nating in the village of Byron, in the county of Shiawassee ;" and authority was conferred to unite the road at any point with the road of any other company.

This company organized and elected George W. Lee as President, and Josiah Turner, Secretary and Treasurer, but no part of the road was ever built.

DETROIT AND HOWELL PLANK-ROAD.

This company was incorporated in 1848 (by act approved April 3d), with a capital stock of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, "for the purpose of building and maintaining a plank- road from the city of Detroit, in the county of Wayne, on the most eligible route to the village of Howell, in the county of Livingston ; and also from some point at or near the Sand Hill, so called, on the Grand River road, in the said county of Wayne, to the village of Waterford, in said county ; and also from some eligible point on the main line of the plank-road hereby authorized to the village of Milford, in the county of Oak- land. Said company shall have the right to in- crease their capital stock to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and to extend the road to the town of Michigan, in the county of Ingham." Henry Ledyard and A. S. Bagg, of Detroit, Jabesh M. Mead, of Plymouth, Augustus C. Baldwin, of Milford, and Josiah Turner, of Howell, were em- powered as commissioners to receive subscriptions to the stock. The company was authorized-as soon as organized-" to enter upon and take pos- session of so much of the Detroit and Grand River road, so called, as lies between the city of Detroit and the village of Howell, and to proceed to con- struct and maintain thereon a plank-road."

The company was duly organized with Hon. C. C. Trowbridge as President, and Henry Ledyard, Secretary and Treasurer. Work was commenced a few months after the incorporation, and the road was finished to Howell during the year 1850. It immediately became financially successful, and for many years was an advantage to Howell and to Livingston County, second only in importance to that which has since resulted from the opening of the railroad to Detroit and Lansing.

LANSING AND HOWELL PLANK-ROAD.

The Lansing and Howell Plank-Road Company was incorporated by act approved March 20, 1850, vrch 89, 1850 Hosted by

* By an act passed in March, 1851, Nathaniel Turner and Harvey T. Lee were made commissioners in place of Messrs. Dennis and Provost.

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

with power "to lay out, establish, and construct a plank-road, and all necessary buildings, and ap- purtenances, commencing at Lansing, county of Ingham, and terminating in the village of Howell, county of Livingston, with the privilege of uniting said road at any point with the road of any other company." James Seymour, Hiram H. Smith, Ephraim B. Danforth, George W. Lee, and Fred- erick C. Whipple were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to the capital stock, which was authorized to the amount of sixty thousand dollars. The company was empowered, as soon as organized, "to enter upon and take possession of so much of the Detroit and Grand River road, so called, as lies between the village of Lansing and the village of Howell, and proceed to con- struct and maintain thereon a plank-road." The act of incorporation to remain in force for the term of sixty years.

The work of construction was commenced in the summer or fall of 1850, and the road was com- pleted from Howell to Lansing in about two years. Many of the planks for this as well as for the De- troit and Howell road were furnished from the steam-mill of Chandler & Kneeland in Howell. This road completed the planked way from De- troit to the State capital. The through line be- came prosperous at once, and for some years was one of the principal thoroughfares of the State ; being second to none (railways excepted) of equal length in the amount of business transacted upon it. A continual procession of teams and vehicles passed over it from end to end, and two four-horse stages (with frequent extras) made daily trips each way, each coach carrying from twelve to twenty passengers. The staging business over the Grand River road, before the days of planking, was com- menced between Howell and Detroit, about 1838, by Allen C. Weston, and continued by Benjamin J. Spring and others. The founders of the staging business between Howell and Lansing were Ralph Fowler, O. B. Williams, of Williamston, and some associates, who started the first stage-wagons over that part of the line in or about 1842, as has been mentioned. From these small beginnings grew the heavy stage traffic which afterwards passed over the plank-road. This great and con- tinually-increasing business ceased almost entirely upon the opening of the Detroit and Milwaukee and Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroads, and since that time stage-coaching between Detroit and Lansing is but a memory of past days.

After the diversion of a large part of the travel from the plank-roads, it became the policy of the companies to remove the planking as it decayed, and to fill the gaps thus made with substantial

grading. In this way all the planking has been removed over the entire line, and, although the names of Detroit and Howell Plank-Road and Lansing and Howell Plank-Road are still in use as the legal designations of the two sections of the line, the whole is now a solidly-graded turnpike. It still accommodates a large amount of travel, and is the main thoroughfare of Livingston County. The toll-gates still remain upon the line, and toll is collected as formerly. The continuance of these gates, and of toll-taking by the company, is con- sidered an unjust burden by many of those who travel most on the roads. To such complaints, and to frequent demands which have been made in late years for the discontinuance of toll-taking, the Hon. C. C. Trowbridge has recently (October, 1879) made a reply, which, though evidently ad- dressed particularly to complainants in the imme- diate vicinity of Detroit, is equally applicable along the other portions of the line. As a presentation of the views and arguments of the proprietors in favor of the continuance of the toll-gates, this re- ply is given below, without the expression of any opinion on the merits of the case. Mr. Trowbridge says : "Certain parties who live near the city, but outside of the toll-gates, are desirous to have the gates removed, so that they can travel free. All persons living between gates have hitherto made a law for themselves, and have traveled between gates without paying toll ; but this does not satisfy the malcontents, who have obtained some legislation which they think sufficient to accomplish their purpose, which would be the practical destruction of value to the proprietors of these roads. The plank-road corporations are desirous to have the mooted questions which have arisen in respect to their rights and duties submitted without delay to the competent tribunal, and they will at once obey its behest. Meantime they think it but fair that some facts bearing upon these questions, although not touching the law of the case, should be stated in their behalf.

"It is useless to expect to catch the ear 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 impassa- ble, and that at such periods non-intercourse with the country was the rule. A great outcry was made for relief. Certain of our business men pro- cured 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

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

the revenues soon fell off and the expenses of re- pair increased, so that for the last seventeen years the Saline has paid only an average of one and one- seventeenth per cent. per annum ; the Lansing and Howell, for twenty-five years, one and one-eighth per cent. ; the Detroit and Howell, for sixteen years, six and three-fifths per cent. ; and the Erin less than nine per cent., the whole average being less than five per cent .; while the yearly saving to our citi- zens in the cost of fuel and supplies, and the gen- eral effect upon the markets, has been equal to the total cost of the roads, and the lands along their lines have been quadrupled in value. Please note here that these and the succeeding dividends will be all that the shareholders will receive in return for three hundred thousand dollars which they ex- pended in building these roads. At the expiration of their charters, now only twenty-eight years dis- tant, the roads revert to the vicinage and become town property, subject to taxation for repairs. In respect to one of them that period will probably be 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 equitably entitled to whatever the law allows ; and they ask their fellow-citizens 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 taxation. Up to 1879 the Howell road has expended for that purpose three hundred and three thousand three hundred and sixty-nine dollars and ninety-eight cents, or an average of eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-seven dol- lars and ten cents per annum ; the Erin, two hun- dred and seventy-six thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars and sixteen cents, or an average of ten thousand six hundred and forty-nine dollars and sixty cents; the Lansing, ninety-eight thou- sand eight hundred and fifty-four dollars and seven cents, or an average of three thousand nine hundred and fifty-four dollars and eighteen cents; and the Saline, two hundred and sixty- one thousand six hundred and ten dollars and thirty-one cents, or an average of ten thousand four hundred and sixty-four dollars and forty- one cents,-a total sum of about one million of dollars."

But there is little doubt that the toll-gates will be discontinued between Howell and Lansing, if not between Howell and Detroit, long before the expiration of the charters.

RAILROADS.

THE DETROIT AND SHIAWASSEE RAILROAD PROJECT.

The first company proposing to construct a line of railway through the present territory of Liv- ingston County was incorporated by an act of Legislature, approved March 22, 1837, which pro- vided " that Marshall J. Bacon, Silas Titus, Elijah F. Cook, Thomas Curtis, Alfred A. Dwight, Robert Warden, Jr., and Ely Barnard be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners, under direction of a majority of whom subscriptions may be re- ceived to the capital stock of the Detroit and Shi- awassee Railroad Company hereby incorporated. Said corporation shall have power to construct a railroad with single or double track from Detroit, in the county of Wayne, through Farmington, in the county of Oakland, Kensington, in the town- ship of Lyon, the county-seat in the county of Livingston, Byron, in the county of Shiawassee, to Shiawassee village, in said county of Shiawassee, with power to transport, take, and carry persons and property upon the same by the power and force of steam and animals, or of any mechanical or other power, or combination of them." The cap- ital stock of the company was authorized to the amount of five hundred thousand dollars. The road was to be commenced within one year from the date of incorporation,-twenty five miles of it to be finished in two and a half years, and the whole to be completed in six years, on penalty of forfeiture of charter for such parts as were un- finished at that time. By act of April 6, 1838, the charter was amended by the repeal of so much of the act of incorporation as called for the construc- tion of the road through Byron to Shiawassee vil- lage, and by the granting to the company of the power " to continue the construction of said rail- road from the county-seat of Livingston County to Biddle City, in Ingham County."

Some of the principal promoters of this project were the master-spirits in the old " wild cat" Bank of Kensington, which is still clearly but unfavorably remembered by many people of Livingston County. It may have been the design of these men to hon- estly carry out the objects set forth in the charter which they obtained, but it is hardly likely that such was the case. There is, however, no doubt of the good faith of such men as Ely Barnard and some others of the corporators. The road was never commenced, nor the company organized under the charter.

OTHER PROPOSED RAILROADS.

Several other unsuccessful railroad projects, pro- posing to build roads through the territory of Hosted by Google

HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Livingston County, have been started at different times, among these having been the Michigan Air- Line road, to pass through the southern part of the county, and on which some grading work was done, and the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Railroad line, which proposed to run its route through the centre of Livingston, passing over the farm of Alexander McPherson, within the corpora- tion limits of Howell, and thence northward by way of Oak Grove to Owosso. An organization of this company was effected at Ann Arbor, October 28, 1869, and subscriptions to the capital stock to the amount of some twenty thousand dollars were secured in this county, of which subscriptions about five per cent. has been paid in, but beyond this no progress has been made as regards that part of the line north of Ann Arbor.

A proposed line of road, to pass through Howell village, is mentioned in the newspapers of 1857, as also the fact that at a public meeting held in the spring of that year George W. Lee and L. K. Hewett, of Howell, E. F. Burt, of Marion, Hon. S. M. Holmes, of Detroit, A. S. Lapham, of North- ville, Hon. Whitney Jones and H. H. Smith, of Lansing, James B. Lee, of Brighton, and H. Craw- ford, of Milford, were appointed a "Central Busi- ness Committee," who were authorized to procure pledges to a capital stock, grants of right of way, and pledges for sums to purchase the right of way, as well as the appointment of sub-committeemen, calling of primary meetings, and finally a general meeting for the organization of a company. But although it was announced that the efforts of the committee had met with encouraging success in Livingston County, this railway project faded and went the way that hundreds of similar enterprises have gone before and since that time.

DETROIT, LANSING AND NORTHERN RAILROAD.

That part of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad which traverses the county of Livingston is composed of the roads originally projected and commenced by the Detroit and Howell and the Howell and Lansing Railroad Companies. Of these, the Detroit and Howell was the earliest incorporated ; the articles of association being filed in the office of the Secretary of State, under the general railroad law, on the twenty-first of Septem- ber, 1864. The meeting at which the organization was effected, however, had been held on the seven- teenth of June preceding, at New Hudson. The first officers of the company were :

Directors. Theodatus T. Lyon, President, G. A. Starkweather,

William Taft.

S. Hardenbergh.

O. C. Abell.

J. M. Swift.

John H. Galloway.

E. F. Burt.

E. F. Albright.

Lyman Judson.

R. C. Rumsey. Joseph H. Wilcox. Ely Barnard.

William McPherson, Treasurer.

E. F. Burt, Secretary. Marcus B. Wilcox, Attorney.

The commissioners to procure and receive sub- scriptions to the capital stock (which was placed at four hundred thousand dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each) were :

Hiram Newman. Isaac W. Bush. P. B. Holdridge. Giles Tucker. J. M. Swift.

. The subscription books of the company were opened at Howell in November, 1864, and at sev- eral other points along the line soon after. Stock was taken at first with considerable rapidity, but it was not until September of the year 1865 that the announcement was made that two hundred and fifty thousand dollars had been secured in sub- scriptions and pledges of aid from towns on the route.

In September, 1866, President Lyon reported that "On the portion of our line between Ply- mouth and Howell, the sum of three hundred thousand dollars has now been secured, which sum was designated in our Articles of Association as the amount necessary to warrant the commence- ment of the work of construction."

Preliminary surveys had been made, but beyond this little or nothing had been done, and the work of construction was not earnestly commenced until 1867. In that year and 1868 (but principally in the latter), most of the work ever done on the line by the original company was performed; the total amount expended on the road by that company being about two hundred and forty thousand dol- lars, after which, for lack of further funds, the work languished and was suspended entirely ; the road finally passing into other hands in an uncom- pleted state.

Though the Detroit and Howell Railroad failed of completion by the company which was incor- porated for its construction, yet in the prosecution of the enterprise as far as it was carried by them,

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

in the procuring of individual subscriptions and votes of township aid to so considerable an amount, in the delicate and difficult matter of securing the right of way, and in the vigorous pushing of the work, until the exhaustion of funds rendered suspension unavoidable, a remarkable amount of business ability, as well as of energy and perseverance, was displayed by the officers of the company, several of whom were men of Livingston County. And to none of these in greater degree than to William McPherson was due the credit of the results attained. Mr. Mc- Pherson was perhaps the most active among the principal promoters of the enterprise from its very inception, and was the treasurer of the company from its organization until the time when it ceased to exist by reason of the sale-or rather the gift -of its road to other parties. That transfer and the final completion of the road will be noticed below.

The Howell and Lansing Railroad Company- formed for the purpose of constructing a railway between the places indicated in its title-was in- corporated under the general railroad law, in 1868, the articles of association being filed in the office of the Secretary of State, on the twenty-third of June in that year. The first officers of the company were :

Directors. Theodatus T. Lyon, President. Alvin N. Hart.

James F. Smiley. George N. Walker.

James W. Waldo.

James M. Williams.

Egbert Grattan. Joseph Dennis. James Sullivan. Alexander H. Benedict.

George W. Palmerston.

Joseph H. Wilcox.

Joshua K. Kirkland.

J. B. Waldo, Treasurer.

The company was organized in the interest of the Detroit and Howell Company, with which it was intended to act in concert for the purpose of completing a through line from Detroit to Lansing. In 1870 the two were consolidated as the Detroit, Howell and Lansing Railroad Company ; the arti- cles of consolidation being filed in the office of the Secretary of State, on the eleventh of April, in that year.

Between Howell and Lansing the work of con- struction had not been commenced, and little had been done by that company beyond taking steps to secure votes of aid from townships along the

line. In September, following the consolidation, the franchises were conveyed to James F. Joy and other capitalists, forming the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad Company; to which line the Lansing and Ionia Railroad was soon after -. wards added by consolidation, thus securing a con- tinuous line from Detroit to Ionia. The transfer of the franchises of the Detroit and Howell Com- pany to Mr. Joy and his associates was without consideration, being in fact a gift by that company of the work which they had done (amounting to nearly a quarter of a million of dollars), on condi- tion that the road should be speedily completed and opened for travel and traffic.

The new company commenced work in earnest, at both ends of the line, pushing the construction from Detroit and from Lansing towards Howell ; and it was prosecuted with so much of vigor, that it was finished in less time than could reasonably have been expected. On the eastern end, the road was completed and opened to Plymouth on the six- teenth of May, 1871, and to Brighton, Livingston County, on or about the fourth of July following. From the west the completed track entered Liv- ingston County in the same month, and on the third of August, 1871, there was a great gathering of people at Fowlerville to celebrate the formal opening of the road to that point from Lansing. On that occasion an address was pronounced by Dennis Shields, Esq., of Howell, and the general rejoicing was unbounded.

The tracks from the east and the west were joined, and the road was thus completed, a few days after the celebration at Fowlerville. The line was formally opened August 22, 1871, by an ex- amination-trip from Detroit, over its entire length, to Kaywood station (five miles beyond Greenville), which was then the northern terminus. A repre- sentative of the Detroit Tribune, who accompanied the excursion-party upon this occasion, wrote of its progress through Livingston County as follows : "Small delegations joined the train at Plymouth and Brighton, but these points, having been out of the woods for some time, manifested less interest than other points between Brighton and Lansing. At Howell, the people were especially jubilant, turning out en masse, and some enterprising How- ellian impressed an anvil into the service, and fired a salute. It is certainly a day of jubilee for Howell, to which she has been looking forward with patience for many years. The people of Lan- sing are scarcely less appreciative of the advan- tages of the road, shortening the distance, as it does, over thirty miles between Lansing and De- troit."

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History of Livingston County, Michigan, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 11

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 617

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 617