USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume I > Part 43
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FARMER'S FENCES .
"Abraham Lincoln as the champion rail-splitter would have little opportunity for the exercise of his prowess today," said the twentieth century farmer of Monroe county, "for the reason that the rail-splitting days are over." The old stake-and-rider fence which played a con- spicuous part in the development of this country in the way of hard work and backaches is now a thing of the past.
Time was when rail-splitting was a profession with the husky farmers' sons. The scarcity of timber, and the waste of land by the old "worm" fence have changed this. Then came the wire fence, with occasional wooden posts, and digging post holes became a real art. Now, in this "concrete" age wooden posts are disappearing because of the expense and the progressive farmers are using wire fences with concrete posts, and the pouring of cement is one of the fine arts.
GENERAL STATISTICS
Area in acres Supervisors'
Acres in farms
Average size of Number farms in
Township
assessment. Improvement Unimproved farms
acres
Ash .
22,485.99
13,818
3,877
251
70
Bedford
25,100.35
15,455
4,153
291
67
Berlin
22,334.17
7,326
2,387
58
167
Dundee
29,828.48
20,000
9,000
665
44
Erie
18,356.15
11,960
505
153
81
Exeter
22,811.79
14,975
4,166
266
72
Frenchtown
29,425.23
18,629
3,115
261
83
Ida
23,409.75
14,768
4,122
261
72
La Salle
16,109.55
12,638
2,307
183
82
London
22,596.91
10,777
4,480
201
76
Milan
22,506.63
12,239
1,510
161
85
Monroe
13,271.07
7,328
1,980
116
80
Raisinville
29,757.34
19,908
3,587
245
96
Summerfield
26,193.68
13,669
5,367
223
85
Whiteford
25,984.80
16,455
4,503
291
72
Totals
350,171.89
209,945
55,059
3,626
73
Total valuation of farms, (supervisors estimate) city and
county
$17,906,640
Population of county, as per last census
32,917
CHAPTER XXV OLD ROADS AND TRAILS
THE OLD-TIME CONCORD COACH-MONROE COACHES AND ROUTES-THE "TAVERNS"-MAIN TRAVELED ROADS-FAMOUS STAGE DRIVERS- PIONEER ROADSIDE TAVERN-TROUBLOUS DAYS OF TRAVEL-"UNITED STATES HOTEL"-"MURPHY HOUSE"-MACOMB STREET HOUSE- MAILS AND MAIL CARRIERS.
The era of stage coach traveling and its incidents has been invested with so great a fascination and the lapse of time has robbed it of so little of the half romantic and wholly interesting tales of the old regime, the "good old times," when our forebears fondly believed that all the comforts and most of the luxuries of the civilized world were theirs, that the charm still clings to the memories of them, as the vine to the tree, as a fond recollection.
THE OLD-TIME CONCORD COACH
The old Concord coach will remain like the Plymouth rock an estab- lished and unremovable institution in American history, with all its accompanying glories of dashing teams of four and six well-bred horses, their showy caparisoning and rattling chains-driven with marvellous skill by the knights of the ancient and honorable guild of self-respecting drivers, is equally firmly fixed in the mind-not forgetting the polished metal horn or key bugle, long and sonorously blown to signal the progress of the pageant through village and hamlet and its sensa- tional arrival at the doors of wayside inns and taverns-these remain a glorified spectacle of the past, as we lift the curtains of two centuries to view the panorama in which our ancestors moved; always are we affectionately leaning towards the old roads and trails.
MONROE COACHES AND ROUTES
It is not so far a cry either, from the old stage coach days of New England to those experiences along the same lines in the west, at the opening of the last century. Monroe, the first stopping point in the undeveloped west, had her coaches and coach routes, and her old taverns that cared for the wants and comforts of the traveling public and the settlers moving nearer to the sunset land, who must certainly have needed all the comforts that could be afforded in their tedious and sometimes dangerous journeyings to and fro through the miry roads and over the perilous bridges and swollen streams in those wilderness days. As early as 1836 a daily line of stages was established between Monroe and Ann Arbor, and duly announced in the Monroe Sentinel of that year :
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
"DAILY LINE
"The subscribers, proprietors, will commence on the 1st of June, next, a daily line of stages to run direct from Monroe to Ann Arbor.
"ORANGE RISDEN,
"THOS. FARRINGTON.
"Monroe, Feb. 6th, 1836."'
(Both names almost forgotten now).
THE "TAVERNS"
This route lay through a most pleasant region amid the noble hard- wood forests and the oak-openings-over the Lodi plains, and along the winding streams-the wooded banks of the River Raisin. The taverns were not numerous nor spacious, but sufficient in both respects, to afford "refreshment for man and beast" as their sign boards proclaimed good home cooking and fairly comfortable lodging, all at modest prices. One of the first on the route westward was that popular inn kept by John
AN OLD-TIME MAIL COACH
Plues, a few miles west of Monroe, which was not only liberally patron- ized by the stage passengers, but was the objective point of frequent parties from the city, especially during the winter when the sleighing was good, when many a jolly oyster supper and dance was enjoyed to the limit, and the music of Geniac's fiddle lent inspiration to the scene. There was another at Milan and still others; most of these primitive taverns rejoiced in the huge fire-places at one end of the big "public room," where blazed the immense maple and hickory logs that sent their cheerful light and summer warmth throughout the apartment, not to mention the smoke that adverse drafts brought down the big chimney, and floated through the room.
MAIN TRAVELED ROADS
On the highway between the principal north and south termini, Mon- roe and Detroit, the road was generally pretty well thronged in good weather with all sorts of conveyances from the huge, swaying Concord coach with its four or six horse teams, driven by the mighty Jehus who were looked up to by the small boy with an admiration and reverence that was beautiful to behold ; to the one horse or ox cart. The roads were
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
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good and fairly smooth during the summer and autumn months and the dread at encountering the discomforts, even then not always absent, was turned to keen enjoyment; but woe to the traveller who was obliged to throw himself into the "imminent and ready breach" during the spring months at the "breaking up of winter." The old plank road was by no means the guarantee of safety-much less comfort-when its planks floated free from the stringers and the bridges were meditating a depart- ure from their supports-then the life of the tourist was a misery, if nothing worse.
The old Toledo and Detroit turnpike was the great thoroughfare between these principal termini up to the date of the building of the railroad in 1852. The plank road was in use as far south from Monroe as Vienna and was generally in good condition, but occasionally, from neglect or from floods it became a "condition, not a theory" such as to bring forth language that would not be quotable in polite literature.
The big lumbering Concord coaches would be filled with passengers and the capacious "boot" in the rear crammed with baggage and well covered with mud, while the forward "boot" extending under the driver's seat, would be heavily loaded with mail bags and the smaller baggage of passengers. These coaches in busy times ran in bunches of two or three or even more and reached a speed of six to eight miles or more an hour. (when the equipment was adequate and the roads in favorable condition.)
FAMOUS STAGE DRIVERS
The drivers were generally a class of hardy, bluff, good natured and adventurous men, who gloried in their occupation and justly prided them- selves upon their skill in handling their spirited four-in-hands and successful avoidance of perilous risks in "fancy driving" and showy evolutions when entering a town. There is well remembered, a driver of more than local renown who drove a coach on the Toledo-Monroe route, a sight of whose dash into town with the sharp turning of corners, as he wheeled his load of admiring passengers (not altogether free, however, from more or less nervous thrills) today, would certainly be a drawing feature as he pulled up at the door of the old "Mansion House," or the "Exchange" and "well worth the price" as an exhi- bition of daring coachmanship. This man was Robert Hendershot and when his bugle was blown as the grand entre into town, was made, every- body knew that a "show was on" that could not be missed, and the windows of all of the houses along the road had their interested spec- tators, while troops of small boy worshippers and full grown admirers welcomed "Bob" with shouts and cheers. Bob generally drove a cross-matched four, two dapple greys and two blood bays, which were his favorites; when this was the case, the occasion reached its climax of excitement and joy.
Alex. Peabody, another of the old time drivers brought to the west certain of the colonial coaching days' customs. He was a typical coachee, versed in all the ways of the public road and inns, perfectly reliable, with all his sensational performances, with his irreproachable four-in-hand, groomed to the last minute before being put into harness and driven with a skill and spirit that was a delight to the spectator, and infinite relish to the passengers. No king or prince was prouder of his domain. He drove one of the huge coaches that formed a part of the line owned and operated by Neil, Moore & Co .- between Columbus, Ohio and Detroit- a long route, with a relay every ten miles ; his horses always seemed fresh, and came out of the stable full of life and energy. Peabody took in-
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
finite pride in his horses, and required the best of care of them, when in stable, which they received from him when on the road.
There was another of the old time coach drivers, Godfrey Loranger, by name, who drove "Extras" who was perhaps less dramatic in his style, and who was never known to take any risks, and for that reason the more conservative and timid rather preferred his methods. He sel- dom had an accident of any kind, his horses were well fed and well cared for, and appeared to share their driver's motto of "safety first, speed second." He was a relative of Jacques Godfrey one of the first of the old merchants and fur traders of Monroe. The road from Monroe to Detroit was, in the spring something to terrify a timid traveller, to say, nothing of the chance of "working their way" by prying the coach out of the mud holes in the road-not unseldom requiring the carrying a rail on the shoulder nearly all the way, to be ready for "emergencies." One old traveller trudging along with his rail on his shoulder remarked, "I don't mind the mud, nor the delays, nor the busted bridges, so much, but I do hate, like thunder, to lug this infernal rail along all day."- (with no rebate in charge for transportation at that !)
Erastus Hubble, another of the veteran drivers is still living in Monroe, who, at the age of 82 can still repeat some of the dramatic episodes of stage days. He is, notwithstanding his ripe age, vigorous and active-with a clear, undimmed eye, hearing but little im- paired, memory faultless, he will entertain you for a pleasurable hour with a narrative of events, which in their reality seem as if he were speaking of yesterday or last week. Mr. Hubble, is the son of Nathan Hubble one of the early surveyors and sheriffs of Monroe county, and was landlord of the old "American House" one of the historic wayside Inns of Monroe that stood at the corner of Front and Monroe streets. A huge, rambling two-storied frame building with a "porch" that ex- tended along the whole of the Monroe street front, where no stage or traveller failed to stop. Many a legend and exciting "tale of the road" has its setting in the old American House. Here the Michigan troops starting for the Mexican war, paused in their march to the fron- tier. From this point also started a large party overland to California. other names among former Jehus are remembered by Mr. Hubble, such as Alonzo Hecock, George Duddleson, Andrew Simpkins, Geo. Knapp and his brother Martin.
The dress of these old time drivers were not quite so picturesque as those worn in the days of coaching in old England, when the many caped coat and the flashy waistcoat with its big buttons, their innumer- able shawls and wraps about the neck and the low, bell-crowned hat of jolly old Tony Weller's costume were the distinctive marks of the coachee. In New England it was still different. An old inhabitant of Pownall, Vermont, thus describes the usual dress of a stage driver in the colonial periods. "The winter dress of these old drivers was nearly all alike. Their clothing was of heavy homespun, high legged calf skin boots, thick woolen trousers tucked inside the boot legs, fur lined overshoes pulled over the boots. Over all these were worn Canada hand knit stockings, very heavy and thick, colored bright red, which came nearly up to the thighs, and still over them another rather low cut shoe. The overcoats were gen- erally buffalo skin, with fur outside, and fur caps with ear protectors, and either fur or wool tippets, also a red wool or silk sash that went around the body and tied on the left side with a double bow and tassels after the fashion of the coureur de bois." But this costume was for cold, bleak New England winter, when the roughest weather might become still rougher, without notice. The milder climate in the region about the lakes, allowed of less cumbersome clothing and greater freedom of the
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
body in handling the teams and preparing for an "overturn," which was. liable to occur at any time. The best drivers were generally a sober, but jolly and interesting class of men, who delighted in clean coaches, fine horses well harnessed, with plenty of large ivory rings scattered over the animals, such as are now seen on the harnesses of the city truck horses and brewery teams. They affected characteristic modes of speaking, and invented some ingenious, odd expressions, which the boys watched for and adopted without delay.
They had prudence, and sturdy intelligence-"horse sense" in fact, which carried them through many an embarassing experience. The colonial driver was in the habit of carrying letters and other papers in the crown of his big hat, for convenience, and this became so general that one of the most important stage companies ordered that "no driver shall carry anything except in his pocket." The disadvantage of this former- custom, in case of a sudden gust of wind removing the hat from the head
THE ONCE FAMOUS "SMITH'S TAVERN" OF OLD STAGE COACH AND TAVERN DAYS
Occupied as a tavern previous to 1840 by Ira Smith at Vienna. Photograph by G. F. Beck, Monroe, Pres. of Ohio and Michigan Photographers' Association.
of the driver and unceremoniously scattering its contents over the surrounding country, is obvious. Many of the stage drivers in the western routes were very convivial chaps, and did not require persistent urging to join a hospitably disposed passenger, or a genial landlord at a road-house, in a "jorum" or two, "to keep out the cold" in winter, or to "prevent sunstroke," in summer; occasionally one, indeed, who did not feel compelled to offer any excuses like these for his indulgence, at any time.
PIONEER ROADSIDE TAVERN
The old roadside tavern shown by the illustration in its present decrepitude, was quite a noted inn, during the coach and tavern days, a prosperous halfway house at Vienna still to be seen on the road between Monroe and Toledo; sometimes passengers were detained here for hours, or over night, by reason of sick or disabled horses, or acci- dent to the coach, or some other cause. Then the passengers found here good meals, good toddy, and good fellowship. So much so, indeed, that the driver would experience some difficulty in rounding up his
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
passengers when he was ready to resume the journey. A famous tavern in Monroe in the stage coach days was the "Exchange," which was burned in 1852. This house was built by a capitalist from the eastern states, named Olcott Chapman, in the "thirties" and was named the "Chapman House" which afterwards was changed to Mansion House, and finally to "The Exchange." It was a large, four story brick structure, with a cupola, and at that time the largest and best hotel west of Buffalo, enjoying a wide reputation for its comfort, and the superior qualifications of its landlords, among whom were Levi and Eli C. Kellogg, brothers; General Levi S. Humphrey, and a later boniface, Daniel Dunning, who is still remembered by our older citizens as the ideal landlord. This was the "relay house" between Toledo and Detroit, and it is fair to presume was a most cheerful and welcome stopping place, after the tedium of a day in the crowded coach when the traveller was quite fully prepared to echo the words of Chaucer :
"As wearied pilgrim once posses't Of longed-for lodging, go to rest, So I, now having rid my way, Fix here my buttoned staff, and stay."
TROUBLOUS DAYS OF TRAVEL
It is related that on a certain day in the spring of 1844, one of these four-horse Concord coaches left the "Exchange," for Detroit at 7:30 A. M., with a complement of passengers (which meant eight "insides," and a few on top,) and reached its destination, a distance of thirty-five miles, at 8 o'clock in the evening. There was no accident-it was simply a case of mud.
One of the passengers was Robert McClelland, then a practicing law- yer of Monroe afterwards Governor, who was given the opportunity of doing considerable lifting, to extricate the stage from frequent plunges into the mire.
The following is related of another instance of the troublous days of primitive transportation by an old resident: On one occasion, three boxes of specie were sent. from Detroit for the Bank of Monroe, and deposited in the boot of the stage. For the benefit of the innocent young people of this generation, I will mention that the boot of a coach is a place for depositing the baggage in the rear. So, it is easy to perceive, that the performances of professional burglars and thieves were not anticipated in those days. On this occasion, however, advantage was taken of the situation. When the stage arrived in Monroe, it was dis- covered that the boxes were missing. The services of General Humphrey, who was then sheriff, were called into requisition. On an ivestigation, and from what he learned of the driver, he became satisfied that they were stolen by a notorious man by the name of Bass, who kept a tavern at Monguagon Creek, now, Ecorse, where the stage horses were changed, and where the passengers dined. General Humphrey and Leander Sackett constituted themselves a committee with unlimited powers, and journeyed as soon as possible to the residence of Mr. Bass. On their ar- rival, they interrogated Mr. Bass; but, as may well be supposed, he denied all knowledge of the boxes, but as they were confident he was the man, they "went for him" with a vengeance. With the assistance of one or two other men who were ready for any enterprise, they waited upon Mr. Bass to a piece of woods opposite the house, tied him to a tree and whipped him until he owned the "soft impeachment." He stood a strong flagellation, however, before he succumbed. They returned with the three boxes in good order; this was directly on the historic ground of
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
the battle of Monguagon. Whether this was a consolatory feature of the case to Mr. Bass, is not apparent; probably not. He did not remain very long after this escapade.
"UNITED STATES HOTEL"
Another historic Inn of Monroe, was the old "United States Hotel." Around this old relic of the faded past there clung until its last days stories dramatic, romantic-of elopements, of hasty weddings-of the exploits of "road agents," of the meetings of sympathisers with the Patriot war, their mysterious conferences, and the assemblages of men of the "Hunter's Lodges"-where men lost their good name, and others lost their savings, where afterward the old house under more respectable management and the efforts of a later landlord, in the fifties, Orry Adams, succeeded in restoring the once respectable character. It was a great three story frame building-painted red at one time, but generally not painted at all. Entrance was gained by ascending a flight of wooden steps to the first floor, some five feet from the ground. At one time an effort was made to run a hotel there without the support of a bar, it was then named the "Monroe Coffee House." This did not survive for long the trials and tribulations incident to the endeavor to stem the tide of a "wet" public, and its promoters soon passed into the long list of dis- couraged and ruined hotel keepers.
MURPHY HOUSE
There was still another tavern in those early days and strange to state it still exists and apparently as sturdy and sound in its white paint, as in the days of its youth. This was the "Murphy House," still recognizable on West Front street. The only excuse for its presence in that location is the fact that when the Southern Railroad was first built, its passenger depot stood upon the present site of Hurd's elevator, perhaps thirty or forty rods from the hotel. It has not changed much during its seventy years of existence. Its builder and first landlord was James Murphy-an early pioneer of Monroe. It is not remem- bered whether this was a dry or wet hostelry, but at present is said to be extremely "drouthy."
"MACOMB STREET HOUSE
"THE UNDERSIGNED has taken this House for a term of years. It has under- gone thorough repairs and renovation, and he is now prepared to accommodate the public and to make comfortable all those who may favor him with a call. He is determined to spare no pains to make the Macomb Street House a good hotel, and he hopes to merit and receive a share of public patronage.
"He has several double rooms to let, with or without furniture, and can accom- modate a few boarders by the week on reasonable terms. Good stabling and a yard to this house are prepared to accommodate farmers. "Monroe, Nov. 1855. DAVID EBERSOL.""
The Macomb Street House, once a noted hostelry in the palmy days of good inns and genial landlords, an inn whose guests were so hospitably welcomed and so generously entertained that when they left its many attractions they did so with profound regret, and welcomed any excuse for repeating their visit. The old hotel had a most remarkable and in- teresting history. It was built in the early thirties by a wealthy capital-
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
ist from the New England states, who became so enamored of Monroe and so deeply impressed with the inevitable future greatness of the place which was surrounded with so many natural and acquired advan- tages that he sometimes allowed his enthusiasm to prejudice his business judgment and his investments were not always in line with sober after- thought. He fancied that there would never be too much room for the numbers of good people who were to come and make their home on the banks of the historic River Raisin in a community of refinement and culture and where "every prospect pleases." His delight was in erect- ing a New England "Wayside Inn" and the Macomb Street House was to embody that ideal of colonial architecture, upon one of the pleasant- est streets in the town, shaded by beautiful elms and maples, its environ- ments were most agreeable; fearing that after all, it would be far too small for the expected things, he built a terrace of dwellings-(he was seventy-five years in advance of the present popular craze for "commun- ity blocks" and apartment houses which accommodate today from ten to forty families, in our large cities). This adjoined or was connected by a covered way with the large frame hotel; it was built of brick, and still stands occupied, a monument to the stability of old time methods of construction, and to the over-confidence of its builder. The old Macomb Street House flourished in its original glory, through many mutations of fortune-and in the fond memory of scores of tired travel- ers who there found a comfortable temporary abiding place. Its common- place affairs, its romances, its tragedies, its miseries, its joys, its excite- ments all now faded into "a dimly remembered past." Its hotel days were in the time when the Concord coaches were the royal vehicles of pub- lic travel, or when the rich and more exclusive travelled in their own chaises, or when the rich and more exclusive travelled in their own sumptuous "barouches," attended by retinues of servants, and created the impression among those of simpler tastes and ambitions, that they were indeed "of royal blood." But the old "Macomb Street House," was witness to many scenes of such strongly contrasting characteristics as to stamp it with more of kaleidescopic human interest than usually at- taches to the quiet old inns of its day. Monroe has long been a "Gretna Green" for impatient lovers, who came scurrying over the Ohio state line to evade the embarassing laws touching licenses, or to elude the pursuit of disobliging and unsympathetic parents,-to find more con- genial, and complaisant fellow beings in the "City of Flowers." This name alone, possibly had much to do in directing the steps of the love- lorn swains-and the suave justices of the peace invariably "made things pleasant" and reaped the reward of the "truly good"-as they do to this day, except that now the electric cars are the factors in the question of urgency, and as a matter of fact, stop at the very doors of hymen's temple, and the smiling judge uses the most captivating forms of short ceremonies.
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