USA > Michigan > Mason County > History of Mason County, Michigan > Part 31
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PENTWATER VILLAGE.
The village of Pentwater is pleasantly and picturesquely situated on the north side of Pentwater Lake, at the lower end, where it empties by a channel of about half a mile into Lake Michigan. The village lies on a sandy soil, which is easily drained and wonderfully productive. One good feature of the village is the plentiful supply of luxuriant maple shade trees. The population, which is increas- ing, is now estimated to be about 1,500, and with the progress of manufactures, it will reach 2,000 at no distant date. The ยท buildings are chiefly of wood, which is the natural consequence of the village being founded on the lumber interest, but this Spring F. O. Gardner is developing an inexhaustible bed of clay, of excel- lent quality, on the bank of the lake, and will soon have brick for exportation, besides supplying the local demand. Two new brick blocks are in course of erection on the main street, and from hence- forth brick buildings will be more and more erected. In hotels the village is now fairly served, but as its qualities as a Summer resort become better known, a large tourists' or Summer hotel, with the necessary adjuncts, will become a necessity, and as the present hotels and private houses are already filled with Summer visitors, a hotel of the character we have indicated is being talked of as a joint stock operation. The fishing and bathing are excellent, and the scenery in the vicinity is pleasing and picturesque.
ORGANIZATION.
The village of Pentwater was incorporated March 16, 1867, and the first election was held April 8, following, C. W. Deane, .W. H. Shibley, and J. M. Lacey being the first inspectors of elec- tion, and there being 181 voters present. The first officers were: President, C. W. Deane; recorder, H. Doville; treasurer, J. H. Highland; assessor, O. P. Cook; trustees, D. C. Pelton, I. N. Lewis, W. H. Merritt for two years, and A. Bryant, J. Bean, Jr., and J. J. Kittredge for one year; marshal, W. Webb; attorney, L. D. Grove; street commissioner, E. S. Faxon.
The following is the list of presidents, recorders and treasurers to the present time:
PRESIDENTS: C. W. Deane, 1867; L. D. Grove, 1868-'69; H. C. Flagg, 1870; J. M. Rich, 1871; J. G. Gray, 1872-'76; W. B. O. Sands, 1878; E. D. Richmond, 1874; J. H. Herrington, 1875; W. E. Ambler, 1877-'78; A. J. Underhill, 1878; S. A. Browne, 1879; E. Nickerson, 1880-'81-'82.
RECORDERS: H. Doville, 1867; E. B. Flagg, 1868-'69- 72-3-8;
E. E. Edwards, 1870-'71; L. M. Hartwick, 1874; E. A. Wright, 1875-76-7; S. Graham, part of 1879; H. A. Cross, part of 1879-'80-1-2.
TREASURERS: J. H. Highland, 1867; J. G. Gray, 1868-'69; E. D. Richmond, 1870-71; W. B. O. Sands, 1872; R. M. Falkner, . 1878: M. A. Rice, 1874-'75-'6-'7-'8; H. H. Bunyea. 1879; W. H. Browne, 1880-'81; C. H. Whittington, 1882.
In 1878, in consequence of failure to file certificate of election in time, the village board elected in 1877 had to appoint officers for the ensuing year.
In 1879, there was a strong run made by the Greenbackers, who elected the larger part of their ticket, but the village has, as a rule, been decidedly Republican. The financial condition of the village is excellent, it being free from debt, and at the close of this year it will have a surplus of about $1,200, with which it is intended to make local improvements. In 1880, it paid off $1,000 of debt, in 1881 another $1,000, and this year $500, all on the debt for a steam fire-engine.
HEALTHFULNESS.
Pentwater is a remarkably healthy place, and is becoming yearly more of a resort for invalids and tourists. The present hotels are crowded in the Summers, and private houses are pressed into the service to take Summer boarders. A movement is now on foot to erect a large Summer hotel by a joint stock company. To show the healthfulness of Pentwater, we may mention, that during the year ending April 1, 1882, there were but twenty deaths, of which eleven were of children under two years of age, and of the remainder five were brought here to die, being given up by home physicians, and but two of the remaining deaths could properly be charged to Pentwater. There is no chance for malaria, as all low places drain into the lake.
Pentwater Lake is about one and a half miles long by a half a mile wide, and varies in depth from ten to a hundred feet. It is generally deep all over, and is a beautiful sheet of water. The harbor channel is eleven feet deep.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
was first organized March 1, 1872, by village ordinance, and on the 7th the following were elected first officers: R. L. Hardy, foreman, with W. A. Rounds, and C. Whittington, as assistants; A. Dresser, as secretary, and A. J. Underhill, treasurer. On June 7, 1882, the old organization was disbanded, and a new one formed, with C. R. Whittington, chief engineer; C. W. Cramer, assistant; J. C. Jensen, foreman of fire department, with W. H. Tuller, assistant; F. Maynard, foreman of Hose Company; F. Pierce, assistant; H. A. Cross, secretary, and F. W. Fincher, treasurer; E. G. Falkner and S. W. Bunyea are fire police, and F. Nielsen and E. W. Hodges are fire wardens. The steam fire engine Oceana, manufactured by Clapp & Jones, is an excellent one, and has been in use about eight years. Over 1,000 feet of good hose can be used, if needed, and the company is a very efficient one. They are twenty-two in number, and are paid for time spent in extinguishing fire. No great con- flagrations have swept over the place, and the fire department has a good record for conquering fires.
HARBOR.
The harbor of Pentwater has been made an excellent one, and a navy could ride at anchor within the ample depths of the inner lake. At first the outlet was but a small, shallow stream, over which the first settlers could wade without difficulty, as the water was but a few inches in depth. Indeed, the Indian tradition is that, not long ago, there was no outlet to the lake. The mouth was to the north of the present by a few hundred yards, and the old channel may yet be seen. C. Mears and Rector & Cobb, in 1856, made efforts to clear out a channel, especially the former, who was the
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first to put in little slab piers on the north side, and erected on poles a beacon light. Vessels were loaded and unloaded by lighters, or small scows, and the trouble and expense was great. The United States government has been induced from time to time to make somewhat liberal appropriations for the harbor improvement, in all amounting to about a quarter of a million dollars, and last session of Congress the large sum of $10,000 more was voted, which will be expended in dredging, which is much needed. The harbor has now substantial stone piers on both sides, about three-fourths of a mile long, and the channel is 150 feet wide, and eleven feet deep. A lighthouse was set on the end of the south pier, in 1873, F. Mc- Guire the first keeper, and his wife still holds the place. The light is a steady red light. Money has also been appropriated for a life- saving station. The harbor at inner end is crossed by a ferry, the railway coming in on the peninsula opposite. H. C. Flagg has for years managed the ferry. Off the piers and in the lake near is a good fishing place, white fish and trout, mullet, and sometimes sturgeon and wall-eyed pike being taken. Frank & Tamler were the first to make fishing a regular business. The harbor inspectors have been, first, F. W. Ratzel, 1865-'66; Col. Strohman until 1878, and then D. C. Wickham.
POSTOFFICE.
The postoffice was opened in 1856, with E. R. Cobb as first postmaster; in 1857 H. C. Flagg, as a Democrat, took the office, with E. D. Richmond as deputy, and moved the office over to the Middlesex side. This was in the Spring when Buchanan became president. When Lincoln took office, in 1861, Mr. Richmond was promoted to be postmaster, but when Andy Johnson was "swinging round the circle," Mr. Richmond was rather disgusted, and get- ting at this time a request to contribute $50 as the assessment on his office, he showed the document to some returned soldiers, and they contributed a wad of confederate money, which was duly for- warded to Washington, but so little was this appreciated that he received, by return of mail, a notice that a successor had been appointed. This .was A. J. Underhill, who held until 1867, when Amos Dresser got it. After him came Dr. Dundess, then Richmond again, in 1878; Dresser in 1877, then H. H. Bunyea, and lastly C. F. Lewis, in 1881; and the office is in the former drug store of J. G. Gray.
BUSINESS.
The mercantile business is transacted in three large general stores, three exclusively grocery stores, two furniture stores, two hardware stores, two drug stores, three blacksmith shops, a wagon shop, a broomhandle factory, and a large wholesale furniture factory is being erected. In lumber there are four shinglemills and three sawmills, two of which have shinglemills attached. The annual product with the mills up the river is not far from 20,000,000 feet of lumber, and the same number of shingles. George Vorhees, superintendent of sorting drives, reports in 1881, 45,590 logs, 30,812 posts, 39,698 ties, and 27,446 telegraph poles. The shipment of wood by Sands & Maxwell, which is annually from 1,000 to 2,000 cords, and the bark, also form important items in the trade of Pent- water.
THE PENTWATER LUMBER COMPANY is owned and operated by W. B. Phillips, of Chicago, and Samuel A. Browne, of Pentwater, the company being organized in 1874, the same parties having operated together as partners since 1869. The capital stock is $375,000, and the company engages in the manufacture of lumber, shingles and in general trading, having flouring mills in Pentwater and Brownedale. They recently sold Butters, Peters & Co. 3,800 acres of pine lands for $204,000, and still own about 12,000 acres in Mason and Oceana Counties.
Their saw and shinglemill at Pentwater has a daily cutting capacity of 100,000 feet of lumber, 100,000 shingles, and 25,000 pieces of lath in twenty-four hours. The mill in Brownedale has a capacity of 75,000 feet of lumber, and 60,000 shingles in twenty- four hours.
Their general store on Hancock Street is twenty four by eighty feet, with a grocery store adjoining twenty-four by fifty feet, and does a business of $125,000 annually.
SANDS & MAXWELL's shinglemill is run by a twenty-horse-power engine; was built originally for a stavemill in 1877, and changed to a shinglemill in 1879. It has a capacity of 40,000 shingles from bolts daily. This firm also own two sawmills and shinglemills com- bined, one at Crystal Valley, built 1875, capacity 15,000 feet, R. Hyde, foreman; and the other in Benona, built in 1876, 80,000 feet of logs daily, John Rose, foreman.
SANDS & MAXWELL's general store, located on the corner of Han- cock and Fourth Streets, is twenty-six by ninety feet, carries a gen- eral assortment of goods, and does a business of $100,000 annually. They have also branch stores at Benona and Crystal Valley. A. W. Newark, bookkeeper at Pentwater, assisted by J. W. Loomis. A fine new brick store is being erected next door south of the present store, which will be thrown into connection with the old store, making both together seventy-two by ninety feet.
NICKERSON & COLLISTER's sawmill was commenced by Bailey, Worden & Williams, in 1872; sold to Sands & Gardner, in 1877, and the following year Gardner purchased Sand's interest, and sold the whole to Nickerson & Collister in 1879. The machinery is pro- pelled by a thirty-horse-power engine, and consists of a circular gang edger, with a capacity of 25,000 feet daily, or 3,000,000 feet annually. This firm also own a sawmill and shinglemill combined in "Beanville," Crystal Township, with a daily capacity of 10,000 feet of lumber, and 40,000 shingles. Llewellan Pollard foreman at Pentwater; W. N. Sayles at Beanville.
The gristmill of this firm at Pentwater was established in 1875; has a fifty-horse-power engine, three sets of four feet buhrs, and one small buhr for middlings. The mill does merchant and custom work, with a capacity of 100 barrels daily. Size, fifty-two by sixty- four feet, four stories. Conrad Masters, headmiller; James Steele, engineer.
J. E. WHITE's shingle mill was built in 1865, by Messrs. E. D. Richmond, Woodruff Chapin and A. J. Underhill. In 1870 Sewall Moulton and H. C. Flagg bought the mill, and in 1874 A. J. Under- hill became the owner, selling out to F. O. Gardner, in January, 1878. In 1880 Hon. J. E. White purchased the mill, which he still operates. The mill had originally two machines, with a capacity of 70,000 shingles daily. At present, with one machine, it turns out 40,000 a day.
F. O. GARDNER's saw and shingle mill was established by him- self, in 1881; daily capacity 40,000 shingles, and 15,000 feet of lumber. Engine 32 horse power.
LA BONTA & Co.'s planing mill was built in 1865, by E. Nick- erson, who sold in 1868 to his partners, and they in 1880 to Peter La Bonta, who the same year took in a partner,-T. Mero. The mill makes sash, doors, blinds, mouldings, etc.
BUSH & CHAPMAN's shingle mill was originally built for a foundry and machine shop, by George Goodsell. In 1877 C. H. Chapman purchased it and ran it as a stave mill for a year, then made it a shingle mill for one year, and has operated it since as a saw and shingle mill, taking in as partner John J. Bush, of Lansing. Size of engine, 40 horse power; capacity in eleven hours, 500 ties and 75,000 shingles; doing about $40,000 worth of business annually, employing about thirty-five men.
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HISTORY OF OCEANA COUNTY.
G. W. IMus' book and stationery business, was established in April, 1879, on Hancock Street; the business amounts to $6,000 annually.
E. RICH's general store, Hancock Street, was established in' 1866, and does a good business.
H. H. BUNYEA's grocery, Hancock Street, was established in 1880; business, $5,000 a year.
N. L .- BOUTON's general merchandise and lumber business, estab- lished since 1872, does $20,000 a year business.
BIRD & DAVIS' grocery was commenced in 1870, by J. S. Bird. They do a business of over $25,000 annually.
F. W. FINCHER's drug store was started in 1868, by James G. Gray; sold in 1875 to Page & Jesson, then to Mr. Hastings, and in 1876 Fincher & Newark became proprietors. On September, 1880, Mr. Fincher bought out the interest of his partner, and still conducts the business, doing about $7,000 annually.
E. A. WRIGHT's drug store was started in 1868, by E. N. Dun- dass, who sold it to Dr. D. G. Weare, and he, in 1878, to J. Brown & Co .; they to C. W. Brown & Co. In 1877 E. A. Wright purchased the business; in 1881 he sold it to J. D. Lane, but repurchased it in 1882.
C. R. WHITTINGTON's furniture store was first established in 1871, by Mr. Whittington and E. C. Chambers, but since 1878 Mr. Whittington has been sole owner. The store is on Hancock, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, and is filled with a general assortment of furniture and undertaker's goods.
F. O. GARDNER's hardware business was purchased in 1879, from White & Carr. The business done is large-about $10,000 a year,-and the store a commodious one, 82x38 feet.
A. J. UNDERHILL's grocery store was started in 1863, with Mr. Gray and other partners, but since 1873 Mr. Underhill has had entire control. Formerly, he carried dry goods, also, and did a very large trade; now he is confined to groceries alone, doing about $6,000 worth annually.
M. A. RICE's jewelry store was established in 1865, by J. H. Root, who, in the Spring of 1877, moved his stock to Ludington, and was succeeded by Mr. Rice, who carries on, also, the business of telegraph operator, and since 1878 has attended to the War Depart- ment signal service for the benefit of mariners.
W. A. ROUNDS' express, dray and feed stables were established in 1867. Mr. Rounds keeps five horses on Hancock Street.
JOHN MELVIN's cabinet ware rooms, on Hancock Street, were established in 1881, and contain a general assortment of cabinet furniture; repairing attended to.
A. J. UNDERHILL's meat market was commenced in 1878, in connection with other business.
THE TEMPERANCE BILLIARD HALL was opened in 1879, by Forrest Moody; sold June 1, 1880, to Peter Dreves, who still runs it, keep- ing a full stock of cigars, tobaccos and confectionery; soda fountain on the premises.
M. S. PERKINS' livery, corner Hancock and Fifth Streets, was opened in 1875, and contains, on an average, thirteen horses. Stages to Mears and Ludington, (in Winter) and omnibus to railway sta- tion.
F. O. GARDNER's brick yard was established in 1882, and has all modern improvements. High hopes are entertained of its success.
FAULKNER'S OPERA HALL, on Fourth Street, is 30x100 feet, and has a seating capacity of 400 persons.
PENTWATER TUG LINE was established in 1878, by Fred. Nielsen and Max Fisher, (Fisher & Co.) and consists of two tugs, valued at $10,000 to $12,000.
THE ELLIOTT HOUSE, on Hancock Street, was built in 1863, by James Brooker, who sold it to E. R. Burrington, and he to A. A. Bryant, who, in 1871, sold to E. W. Elliott. The latter raised the building to three stories, and refitted the house, running it until 1873, when he sold to A. Brillhart, who afterward sold to G. W. Imus, who still owns the property. The hotel is now run by E. W. Elliott. Size of house, 50x80, three stories, with fifty rooms and forty-two beds.
THE PACIFIC HOUSE was built in 1868, by William Kuhn, and is 100x22 feet, containing sixteen rooms. It has also an addition for a saloon, 100x20 feet.
OCEANA COUNTY BANK.
This bank was established by Gray Brothers & Co., in 1870, the company consisting of Gray Brothers, and Messrs. Bice and Ambler. In the Spring of 1872, S. A. Browne & Co. were added to the company, J. G. Gray retired, and the institution received the name of Oceana County Bank, which it retained until 1877, when Nielsen & Co. (F. Nielsen and W. E. Ambler) assumed the entire cuntrol, and still operate it. Capital stock, $15,000, and outside capital, $30,000. The bank, in 1878, sustained losses by the Frank- lin Bank, of Chicago, and Henry Clews & Co., New York, which, though crippling, did not cause it to close its doors, and it paid all demands. The present firm have raised the institution from a low ebb to a very enviable state. The building is a very fine one, and elegantly appointed. The foundation of the large vault is of stone, and the walls are of solid brick, sixteen to twenty inches in thickness, while the safe, of Hall make, weighs five tons, and is of extra thick- ness and strength, with a time lock, having three combinations.
FURNITURE FACTORY.
There was organized in June, 1882, a joint stock company, with a capital stock of $50,000, to erect a factory, to carry on the manufacture of furniture. W. B. O. Sands is president, E. Nicker- son vice president, J. Jeffries sec'ry, F. Nielsen treasurer; directors, Sands, Nickerson, Collister, Jeffries, Fisher, Nielsen and Maxwell. C. Mears took $2,000 in stock for the site, which is near the ferry, not far from his old mill. The factory is a substantial wooden structure, four-stories in height, 48x100 feet; engine room of brick, and the engine is to be eighty horse power.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
SAMUEL A. BROWNE, secretary and treasurer of the Pentwater Lumber Company, is a gentleman to whose energy and ability the village of Pentwater, as well as Oceana County is largely indebted for its present prosperity. He came to the county in 1869, from Chicago, having purchased, in connection with W. B. Phillips, of that city, the lumbering interest of Richmond & Bean, and in a short time he gave the business a wonderful impetus, by extending the field of operations from the adjacent plains to the immense pine forests up the north branch of the Pentwater, containing some 200,000,000 feet of the choicest pine. This was done by a system of dams, four in number, rendering the river navigable for logs. This has been of incalculable benefit to the village and to the whole region bordering on the river, as it has made possible the development of that section of the country. To show the value of the country thus opened up, we may mention that at one sale the Pentwater Lumber Company sold $204,000 of pine land, and some quarter sections in Crystal have sold as high as $20,000. Mr. Browne, on his arrival at Pentwater, saw at once the prime necessity of railroad com- munication, and set himself at work with characteristic energy to secure that boon, nothing daunted by the prediction of failure in
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consequence of the failure of former attempts in the same direction. He secured a pledge of $50,000 in stock, and the right of way, and in three months preparations were under way to lay a track from Montague to Pentwater. Seeing that the fruit and stock interests would become, after lumbering was over, the paramount interests of Oceana, Mr. Browne threw his energy into these channels, and demonstrated in a number of cases the value of sandy soil for fruit raising, by taking up locations in Weare, Crystal, etc., that had been run over by the lumbermen and abandoned. This has been of signal service in the development of the county. He has at the present time a farm in Golden with 20,000 fruit trees under success- ful culture. But his chief triumph is in his stock farm of 240 acres, on Section 12 of Golden, purchased in 1878, on which he has fine herds of thorough bred Jerseys, Short horns, and Galloways, the latter being probably the finest collection in the state. In pigs he keeps the choicest Berkshires. But it is in the trotting stock that Mr. Browne has acquired a reputation far beyond the limits of the state, having some fifteen of the choicest brood-mares, (some with a record as low as 2.23,) and keeping a stud of from thirty-five to forty horses.
Mr. Browne, with his Scottish-Irish origin, inherited an intense detestation of slavery, and was during the war a warm friend and supporter of the Union. Being in St. Louis when the war was about to break out, he raised a company of militia, and was with Gen. Lyon at the capture of Camp Jackson, and was offered the colonelcy of Blair's regiment, but was obliged to decline the honor, on account of the severe and extended illness of his wife at that time. During Lincoln's great campaign in 1858, against Douglas for the senator- ship, Mr. Browne drove the former throughout the southern portion of Illinois, and is proud to reckon the martyred president among his friends who have passed to their reward. Mr. Browne was born in Antrim, Ireland, September 18, 1834, settled in Chicago in 1854, came to Pentwater in 1869, and has been president of the village, school moderator, and presidential elector for the Ninth Congres- sional district in 1880. He married in 1856, at Ballymina, Ireland, Miss Jane Hanna, also of Scottish-Irish descent, by whom he has four surviving children, the eldest of whom, William H., is manager of the large saw-mill. The others are Miss Maggie J., Samuel A., and Charles F. We may add that during Mr. Browne's residence in Muskegon, when he was a partner in the extensive lumber business at Pt. Sherman, he took an active part in the development of that section, in connection with the harbor, the Boom Company, and in many other ways. But to enumerate all the public services of the subject of our sketch, would prolong this to undue length, and we content ourselves with giving but one more instance of his public spirit.
When putting through the railway, finding it impossible to procure right of way and depot grounds at a reasonable price from the then owner of the farm on which the village of Shelby is located, Mr. Browne concluded, in company with Mr. Pettinger, of Shelby Township, F. A. Nims, of Muskegon, and J. G. Gray, of Pent- water, to purchase the farm from Mr. Bryant for the sum of $4,000, then deeded to the railroad company, free, the depot grounds and right of way through the land, and at once had the property plat- ted, and in this way originated the present thriving village of Shelby, now the largest in Oceana County.
The late GEORGE W. MAXWELL, who did much to build up Pentwater, was born in Tompkins, N. Y., January 9, 1840, remain- ing on the old homestead until 1860, when he went to Beloit, Wis., to engage in lumbering. In the Fall of 1862, Jacob S. Brillhart sold his lumbering interest in Pentwater to Hart & Maxwell, when George acted as foreman, until he became a partner in 1865. They dissolved in 1866, selling to Richmond & Bean, and George con-
tinued the mercantile business until April, when the firm of Max- well, Sands & Co. was organized for general merchandise and manufacturing. In 1875, Mr. Maxwell's health failed, and he died in Chicago, on January 21, 1876, sincerely mourned by all who knew him.
WM. E. AMBLER was born at Medina, Ohio, December 18, 1845, and resided there till his parents moved to Hillsdale, Mich., in 1859. He entered Hillsdale College, but in 1865 left that institution, going to Albion College, where he graduated in the scientific course. In 1866, he entered the law-school at Albany, graduated, and was admitted to practice. In 1867, he finished the classical course at Adrian College, receiving the degree of B. A. The same Fall established himself as a lawyer, at Minneapolis, Minn., but in 1868 returned to Michigan, and began the practice of law at Pentwater, Oceana County, where he continues to reside. He has been president of the village, and is a member of the firm of Neilsen & Co., bankers. In 1870, Adrian College conferred on him the degree of A. M., and in 1875, Hillsdale College did likewise. Mr. Ambler was chosen a trustee of the latter institution in 1881, and is not only the youngest member of the present board, but the youngest member ever elected. He was a senator in the State Legislature in 1878, and re-elected in 1880; was elected president pro tempore of the Senate, January 14, 1881, and was chairman of committees on appropriations and finance, engrossment and enrollment of bills, and reform-school for girls. He is a man of marked ability, and already is making his mark in the state.
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