USA > Michigan > Mason County > History of Mason County, Michigan > Part 66
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The town is located in the eastern part of the county, bordering on the county line. It embraces thirty-six square miles. The land is generally rolling, heavily timbered and well watered. The soil is heavy clay loam and sand loam, and some of the best farms in the county have been made in this section. The roads are good and the people thrifty, industrious and intelligent.
According to the census of 1874, the population of the town-
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HISTORY OF MANISTEE COUNTY.
ship was 183. There were 16,811.22 acres of taxable land; 456 acres of improved land.
In 1878 there were raised 746 bushels of wheat; 1,635 bushels of corn; 8,327 bushels of other grains; 4,235 bushels of potatoes; 104 tons of hay were cut; 40 pounds of wool sheared; 3,650 pounds of butter, and 2,080 pounds of maple sugar made.
Other statistical facts are given elsewhere.
The present supervisor is Robert Knowles.
MAPLE GROVE TOWNSHIP. :
Maple Grove is bounded on the north by Springdale, east by Marilla, south by Brown, and west by Bear Lake.
It is comparatively a new township, having been organized four years ago.
The town embraces thirty-six square miles, and is heavily tim- bered with hard wood. The soil is clay and black loam. Bear Creek and its tributaries traverse the town, thus giving excellent facilities for putting in logs during the Winter.
The present supervisor is P. H. Gaffney.
ONEKAMA TOWNSHIP.
The township of Onekama was erected in the Fall of 1866, and the first town meeting was held the following April, at Portage. N. P. Pierce, H. Hilliards and J. Hilliard were inspectors of election.
The first township officers elected were as follows: Supervisor, E. P. Bates; clerk, Joel Guernsey; treasurer, N. P. Pierce; commis- sioners, Amos Pierce, S. W. Patch, Josiah Hilliard; school inspec- tors, E. P. Bates, J. J. Mcknight; justices of the peace, S. W. Patch, David Godfrey, Franklin Taylor; constables, Henry Willson, John Wright, Oscar Hull, August Toul.
The township contains about twenty-two square miles, about five miles of which are covered by Portage Lake. It has a frontage of six miles on Lake Michigan, and is bounded as follows: North by Arcadia, east by Bear Lake, south by Manistee, and west by Lake Michigan.
EARLY HISTORY.
The early history of this township was sketched in the columns of the Times and Standard in 1877, from which we quote as follows: " As early as 1856 a few families found their way into the green old woods, and began cutting down the stately maples, wide-spread- ing elms, and their companions the beeches, pines and hemlocks.
" John Wright, Esq., was the first to seek a home near the shores of Portage Lake. He was a fisherman, and he no doubt found the finny tribe abundant enough to suit his most ardent de- sire. Very soon he was followed by Messrs. N. P. Pierce, J. Daily and P. McCabe and their families.
"It was no easy task to clearaway the growth of centuries and make farms of the land that had so long been occupied by the native Indian as a hunting ground, and no doubt those old pioneers often remembered the ancient vow made by the All Father to Adam, when he was turned out of the garden of Eden: - ' By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread.'
" From the early morn till late at night did they toil, that in a few short years they might look upon broad fields of waving grain. Daily and hourly they dreamed dreams, and saw visions of future happiness when they should sit down beneath their own vine and fig tree, and enjoy the fruit of their labors, with their sons and daughters settled about them.
" But it was not until 1864-'65 that this section of the country
began to really put on the appearance of becoming a farming dis- trict. About this time there were several sections of government land taken up, and a goodly number of families emigrated from va- rious states, east and west, to try their fortunes in the wilderness. Brave hearts and strong wiils they brought with them to assist them in their enterprise."
After the organization of the township, there was a steady in- crease in the population. The lake shore gave them valuable facili- ties for making way with the lumber made at the sawmill, and the old forest trees were soon made useful, as well as ornamental. They were converted into commodious and comfortable buildings, and the surplus lumber was exchanged for produce from Milwaukee or Chicago.
There are four school houses in the township, and two post- offices, Pierport and Onekama.
PIERPORT VILLAGE.
is a thriving little village, charmingly situated on the shore of Lake Michigan, some sixteen miles north of Manistee. It is surrounded by an excellent agricultural country. There are already quite a num- ber of large farms in the vicinity, the owners of which are in a sure way of becoming well-to-do, as the soil produces abundantly and an especially good market is offered for all they may choose to sell. The growth of timber is principally beech, maple, oak and ash, is partic- ularly large and thrifty, and is being extensively manufactured at the steam sawmill owned and operated by Charles W. Perry, and the stave mill of Stillman & Calkins. The supply of these woods is practically inexhaustible, and the growth of Pierport, year by year, until it shall become a city of considerable size, is assured.
The place was first called Turnersport, and the name was changed to Pierport in 1871. The pioneer business man of Pier- port is
C. W. PERRY.
He first came here in 1868. The place then was called Turners- port. There was a pier that had been built by the Turnersport Pier Company in 1866, for the purpose of getting out wood, The village consisted of three houses or shanties, one board, one slab, and one log.
Mr. Perry was born in Vermont, and went to Wisconsin when about nine years of age. In 1862 he enhisted in the army, and re- mained in the service until the close of the war.
In 1871 he finally settled in Pierport, and took possession of the property of the Turnersport company. In 1873 he built a store. Before that he had kept a store in a log building at the pier. He went into the general merchandise and shipping business. In 1879 he built his grist mill. The sawmill was built by George Dwyer in 1876, and bought by Mr. Perry in 1877.
He was married in October, 1872, at Waukesha, Wis., to Miss Rilla C. Gough.
During the last year he has completed one of the finest resi- dences in that part of the county. It is located upon an elevation commanding a fine view of the lake, and is in every respect an elegant home. Mr. Perry does a very large and successful business and is one of the enterprising men of the county. He assists all enterprises that will be of advantage to the place, and is well-known as an honorable and energetic business man.
The first postmaster at Pierport was Charles Eckel, and for the past twelve years, C. W. Perry.
The Bear Lake pier was built in 1879, and the school house in 1874.
The first blacksmith shop was built by Charles Conkling and
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HISTORY OF MANISTEE COUNTY.
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is still owned by him. Another blacksmith shop was built in 1879, which was purchased by Mr. C. W. Perry last Spring.
There was a stave factory built in 1877 by Stevens & Mise. It burned a year or two afterwards, and another was built last year by E. R. Stillman. It is now owned by Stillman & Calkins.
The Lake House was built in 1875 by Hiram Pratt, its present proprietor. Another hotel, the Commercial House, owned by C. W. Perry, is kept by Charles Fowler.
There is a Methodist class, organized in 1876, that holds relig- ious service in the school house.
Lake Shore Lodge of Good Templars was organized in Sep. tember, the present year, with fifty-five charter members. J. E. Bodwell is presiding officer.
A young peoples literary society of forty members is well sus- tained, and is one of the institutions of the place.
The citizen's of Pierport are enterprising, and all moral and educational enterprises are liberally supported.
SEYMOUR CALKINS, of the firm of Stillman & Calkins, proprie- tors of the Pierport Stave Factory, is one of the early settlers of the county. He is a native of New York State, and came to Manistee County in 1867. He took up one hundred and sixty acres of land in Arcadia Township, and settled upon it. He came West, from Pennsylvania, and landed at Grand Haven. From there he came on foot, as was the custom of the pioneers. He lived on his farm until last Winter, when he purchased an interest in the stave factory of E. R. Stillman, and removed to Pierport. Mr. Calkins has been a successful farmer and a leading man in the township. He held the office of supervisor for six years, and was chairman of the board in 1881. He has held various other township offices, and has always been active in public affairs. His family consists of a wife and two children.
J. E. BODWELL, merchant at Pierport, is a native of Canada, and went to Bear Lake in 1873, in the mercantile business. In the Fall of 1881 he came to Pierport for the Bear Lake Pier Co., and in January of the present year went into the general merchandise business. He also buys wood, bark, and ties, which he ships to Milwaukee. Mr. Bodwell has a wife and six children. He is a care- ful and upright business man, and a most excellent citizen. He is at the head of the Good Templars' Lodge recently organized.
PORTAGE LAKE
is becoming a prominent feature of Onekama Township. It is sit- uated eight or ten miles north of Manistee, about midway between Point Au Sable and Point Aux Becs Scies, distant from each other about fifty miles.
The shore of Lake Michigan here bows to the eastward, form- ing a sort of shallow bay, and Portage Lake lies at the deepest point of the bow, just inside of the shore of Lake Michigan, from which it is separated by a belt, thirty rods wide, of high, wooded hills. At a depression in this belt, about one mile south of the narrow, crooked and deep gully, which was the original water communica- tion, now closed, between the two lakes, a channel was dug in 1871, and is maintained.
An effort has been made, and is still being made, to secure a harbor of refuge at this point.
ONEKAMA,
situated on Portage Lake, is a platted village, though but little has been done here in the way of building as yet. Large property in- terests are owned here by Hon. A. W. Farr, of this place, and Hon. A. H. Dunlap, of Manistee. A newspaper correspondent of Manis- tee visited Onekama recently, and from him we have the following facts :
" Some two years ago Hon. A. W. Farr, whose extensive grounds at Onekama border on Portage Lake one of the finest sheets of water to be found anywhere in the world -discovered traces of mineral in a spring, near his residence, that bubbled out from the foot of a hill, clear, cold, and sparkling, and sent some of the water to Prof. G. A. Mariner, analytical chemist, at 81 South Clark Street, Chicago. In due time Mr. Farr received from the professor the following analysis (upon the basis of one gallon of the water:
" Bicarbonate of Lime
11.6969 grains
Magnesia
5.4502
" Iron.
1.4373 =
" Soda
.53.0090
Sulphate of Soda
.0351
Silica.
.8878
Chloride of Sodium
a trace
72.5181 grains
" Upon comparing the analysis with those of the most famous springs of the country, and corroborating his own opinion with those who may have been said to be mineral spring experts, Mr. Farr was exceedingly gratified at the showing. But he was aware that a mineral spring without its cures was like a tree without fruits-that something more satisfactory than an analysis would be required by the indiscriminating public before they would come readily to his way of thinking, and take any interest in the matter. That additional testimony Mr. Farr has secured by the complete cure of a young gentleman of a serious kidney and lung trouble by the use of the water alone, and there are numerous others who have used the water during the past two years, since the making of the analysis, with the most beneficial results for, serious affections. It is known that the great virtues claimed for the famous Waukesha Bethesda Water lie in three of its component parts, viz., the chlo- rides of soda, magnesia, and iron, which are found in the Bethesda analysis to be-soda, 1.25 grains; iron, .04 grains, and magnesia, 12.988 grains. Now, if a comparison of these parts in the analysis of the two springs be made, it will readily be seen that Mr. Farr's has the greater number of grains of these medical agents per gallon of water. Again we say, there is every reason to believe that a mineral spring has been developed at Onekama that will prove to be the equal of the most famous spring anywhere. If such should prove to be the case, its location is extremely advantageous for a famous Summer resort and watering place. A government dredge has been set to work deepening the channel, and before very long vessels of the greatest draft, as well as steamers, will pass through into Portage Lake with perfect ease."
It is the present intention of gentlemen interested at Onekama to improve the place the coming year, and erect buildings of some sort not yet determined upon.
In 1878 there were raised in the township 458 bushels of wheat, 675 bushels of corn, 1,242 bushels of potatoes, 61 tons of hay were cut, and 1,950 pounds of butter made.
The population in 1878 was 327. There were 10,270 acres of taxable land, and 488 acres of improved land. During the Spring of that year 400 pounds of maple sugar were made.
BROWN TOWNSHIP.
This was one of the original townships into which the county was divided at the time of its erection in 1855. At that time it embraced nearly or quite three-fourths of the entire county.
At the present time it is next to the largest town in the county, enbracing 108 square miles. Its boundaries are as follows: North
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HISTORY OF MANISTEE COUNTY.
by Bear Lake, Maple Grove and Marilla; east by Wexford County; south by Stronach and west by Manistee.
The township contains a variety of soils, ranging from pure white sand to the heaviest clay. The timber is pine, maple, beech and elm. The land is watered by numerous springs, and the Mani- stee River runs through the whole length of the township.
EARLY HISTORY.
Pioneer life is much the same in all parts of the country where the first work of the new comer is to clear away the forest. The early settlers in the region, afterwards included in the limits of Brown Township, were surrounded by a vast expanse of wilderness and solitude. A large part of the county was forest.
In the years 1853-'54 several families pushed their way into this locality and founded homes. Among those early settlers were Henry L. Brown, Oliver Miller, Charles Danforth, James O'Neal, Stephen Smith and Harvey Cour. They felled trees, built log cabins, battled with discouragements, and performed the labors of seed time and harvest.
The months rolled by and other families came and settled upon sections here and there.
The first town meeting was held in the Spring of 1855, and the following officers elected: Supervisor, Stephen Smith; town clerk, H. L. Brown; treasurer, Oliver Miller; school 'inspectors, Oliver Miller and Harvey Cour; justices of the peace, Stephen Smith, one year; Henry Sargent, two years; Harvey Cour, three years; James Siverly, four years; commissioners of highways, Oliver Miller and James O'Neal; constables, Murdock McNeal, Edwin Secor, John Shores and Richard Flanders. The whole number of votes cast was thirty-three, and most of these were transient votes.
In 1857 Messrs. Potter & Rogers opened a store on a small scale, where the women could supply their meager wardrobes and pantries, and the men could gather for a friendly interchange of "yarns" and jokes.
In 1859 a township library was purchased, which in 1877 was divided into six district libraries.
Most of the men worked out by the day or month, in order to earn money with which to secure the necessaries of life. On this account the work of clearing progressed slowly. The forests along the water courses were made up of grand old pines. After the river was cleared of its debris, these pines were cut down to be manufac- tured into lumber. The business of logging gave employment to the settlers"at good wages, and so long as lumbering continued brisk, but few improvements were made.
In 1878 there were produced 250 bushels of wheat, 1,535 bush- els of corn, 3,742 bushels of all other grains, 5,111 bushels of pota- toes, 691 tons of hay. There were 380 pounds of wool sheared, 6,410 pounds of butter made.
According to the census of 1874, the total population numbered 526. There were 65,488 acres of taxable land, and 1,147 acres of improved land. There were made that year 1,295 pounds of maple sugar.
There was one flouring and sawmill combined, operated by water. Two persons were employed in operating it, and the capital invested $4,000. Two hundred barrels of flour, valued at $2,500, and 200,000 feet of lumber were manufactured.
There are four burial grounds laid out, one of which is fenced and improved.
In the Fall of 1877 a Catholic church was built. The present supervisor is Erastus Potter.
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