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 44
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The old "Macomb Street House" in the days of the Patriot war was one of the "Hunter's Lodges" wherein were hatched many deep laid seditious schemes for aiding their Canadian neighbors to capture the western part of the royal empire, and set up a new government. No man living can now tell of the dark and mysterious conclaves held there-of the midnight oil that was consumed during the hours when plots were hatched and lurid oratory was to be heard in tightly closed rooms. The moving pictures, also disclose the more peaceful occupations of the devotees of Terpsichore, which at times lured the maiden to for- sake the weekly prayer meeting to follow in the train of the muse of
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dancing, and then possibly meet her fate. This was abetted and encouraged by such annoucements as this :
FASHIONABLE DANCING SCHOOL
"INCLUDING polite deportment with the new and beautiful Sceptre exercises for correcting any deformities of the chest or spine, will be opened for the first of a series of Twelve Lessons, at the
"MACOMB STREET HOUSE, "On Thursday, December 17th, at 11/2 o'clock,
"Superior Music guarantied. Terms: $5.00 for the full course, payable one half in advance. Room and lights extra. Full attendance desired.
" MONROE, DECEMBER 14TH, 1857."
"J. K. GOODALE, of Detroit."
It must not be supposed, however, that these lessons were to be given "at 11/2 o'clock" in the morning! No. The unromantic hour of "early in the afternoon" was the severely proper time for these hilarious ses- sions of the "Sceptre exercises." It would probably be discovered also upon investigation among the archives of the old house that adjourned meetings were held along towards eight o'clock in the evening when Père Goodale's fiddle and his wife's harp sent the heels and toes flying giddily in the big old dining room. Was that a logical selection for a young men's academy ? It is the unexpected that often happens, and it did in this case. This was the tumultuous scene of the "academy." What environments for the pursuit of knowledge (under difficulties) !
This school was established by good and solid business men of Mon- roe, its rooms were filled with students from home and abroad, who under the influence of that inspiring past, grew into ministers, lawyers, soldiers, historians, heroes and-Chiffaurs. Professor Stebbins was an eminent educator and his wife's sister was the most attractive woman on horseback that ever made jealous girls anywhere! The best of things have their ending, some in a blaze of glory, some in a minimized "peter- ing out" disappearance. It is a melancholy record that the old Macomb Street House was not in the former class.
MAILS AND MAIL CARRIERS
From the days when James Knaggs, living on the north bank of the River Raisin near Frenchtown, was deputized as an American scout and to carry the mails to Fort Meigs and Sandusky by the officers of General Harrison's army, to even a quite late date in the northwest territory, the task was a most arduous and adventurous one, from which many a brave man shrunk in horror and a service in which more than one in- trepid Frenchman had lost his scalp. Knaggs was a brave man, thor- oughly versed in wood craft, and familiar with the ways of the red men, which enabled him to avoid many of the perils which attended the mail-carrier. He came upon scenes well calculated to paralyze the most hardy, witnessing evidences of barbarities committed by the savages upon defenseless settlers that aroused the most intense feelings of re- venge, where whole families would be found around their rude cabins, foully murdered, tomahawked and inhumanly mutilated, the scalps torn from their victim's head, young children cut to pieces and prob- ably devoured by the wretches in cold blood. It was a trying ordeal through which he passed, and he was powerless to redress the atrocities.
Even when these blood-curdling incidents were absent the journey of the mail carrier over these primitive "rural free delivery routes"
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was by no means a sinecure-plunging through trackless forests, over fallen tree trunks and fording streams of ice cold water; winding through swamps of unknown extent and thronged with dangers at every step-the occupation certainly was not an alluring one.
Nevertheless these hardy, faithful coureur de bois hesitated at none of the hardships nor shrunk from the duty that someone must perform. The severity of these experiences gradually lessened as the blessings of peace appeared following the slow moving "improvements" made possi- ble by clearing the country and developing blazed trails into passable roads; so that imperceptibly better means of communication were adopted and the post rider became an important and welcome factor in the life of the pioneer families, as a means of learning something of the world beyond their reach and of tidings from loved ones far beyond the mysterious barrier that shut them from view and intercourse. "After the period of walking and canoe riding had had its day," says a very interesting writer of those dawning days of civilization, "nearly all land travel for half a century was on horseback, or when the roads permitted it, by two-wheeled carts of exceedingly primitive construc- tion, drawn by oxen, a device of torture, and anguish to the passenger, its only excuse being that produce and the mail could be carried along with passengers and horses left on the farm to do the necessary work without interruption."
One method of progress which would offer variety and help a party of four persons on a journey was what was called the "ride-and-tie" sys- tem. Two of the party of four persons would start on the road on foot; two others would mount the saddle, ride about a mile, dismount, tie the horse and walk on. When the two who started on foot reached the waiting horses they in turn mounted, rode on past the other couple for a mile or so, dismounted, tied the horse and walked on-thus keeping up the "exchange of courtesies" until the destination was reached. These traveling parties often had as welcome escort the postman or mail car- rier, who always rode horseback. One of the duties of this official, strictly enjoined, was to be kind, courteous and helpful to all persons who cared to journey in his company. He usually carried two leather pouches, crammed with letters and parcels. When he delivered his mail at an inn, which might have been the post office also, it was laid on the table in the public room or bar and anyone who wished looked over all the letters and then selected such as were addressed to him or her, paid the postage in coin. (There were no stamps for prepayment of postage.) There was no charge less than twenty-five cents for a single letter, to be paid either by the sender or recipient at option. In some sections of the country the postman was allowed a perquisite of all postage col- lected on all "way letters" or packages in lieu of other compensation. It sometimes happened (a rare streak of luck) that the bags and bun- dles between post stations would require a pack horse, led by the post- man, to carry the extra large mail, and then the revenue was worth while.
The mail carriers were certainly very important personages in the olden time. Their routes extended northward into the Saginaw coun- try and even to the Sault de Ste. Marie; they were Indian, half breeds and the Canadian French, mostly. One of this class of coureur de bois was old John Bouche,* with whom the author has had very inter- esting interviews at his home on Lake Superior. Some years ago he carried the mails for a long period from the "Soo" through to Saginaw, then simply a trading post, and often farther, through that wild coun- try the entire distance to Detroit. On snow shoes, or sledges drawn by dogs in the winter when the ground was deeply covered with snow,
* See portrait of Bouché on page 50. Vol. 1-22
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Bouché's adventures were of the highest type of the backwoods' experi- ence of rover and trapper and hunter. Encounters with wolves and other ravenous beasts, with hostile Indians and renegades, were suffi- ciently in evidence to prevent his faculties from rusting in disuse.
CHAPTER XXVI BANKS AND BANKING
EARLY IRRESPONSIBLE BANKS-A DETROIT BANK OF DISCOUNT-BANK OF DETROIT CREATED-"SOMETHING IRREGULAR" IN DETROIT-PENAL- TIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED BANKING-BANK OF MICHIGAN INCORPORATED -BANK OF MONROE-THE MAUMEE BANK OF MANHATTAN-WILDCAT BANKING AND BANKS-BAD LAND REPORTS-EFFECT OF ERIE CANAL OPENING-CRAZE FOR INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-BANK OF BREST- RAPID CIRCULATION OF SPECIE-MUSTER ROLL OF "WILDCATS" __ WORK OF BANK EXAMINERS-FOR CIRCULATION IN THE CONFEDERACY -AMUSING AND SURPRISING-FEDERAL BANKRUPT LAW-STATE CURBS ON SPECULATION-TO RESTRAIN WILD BANKING-WOOL AND WHEAT MARKETS-BANK OF RIVER RAISIN CONTINUED-THE ACT OF 1857-FIRST TELEGRAPH WELL USED-FIRST NATIONAL BANK-MON- ROE STATE SAVINGS BANK.
It is a far cry from the so-called banking enterprises of the early days in the Michigan territory with their inflated bubbles of "high finance," to the well established and solid institutions both state and national of today. The high standard of financial strength and the able and conservative management of the banks and banking houses in our state has given to this department of our business affairs a stability and firmness that commands the highest respect and confidence, but during the territorial period and early days of statehood some of these institu- tions were incorporated and managed with an utter ignorance or indif- ference to the principles of sound financeering.
EARLY IRRESPONSIBLE BANKS
The first bank in the territory was established without authority of Congress, or of any other constituted authority, and its career was one of the worst that can be imagined. Some of those working under special charters, incorporated by the Territorial Council, were scarcely any better. There was no guaranty of the safety of deposits, or much if any safeguards to their customers in any of their transactions. Most of them were banks of issue, and the magnitude of their circulation was apparently limited only by their ability to pay for the engraving of their notes. These were fine specimens of the engraver's art, and were circulated everywhere, without much anxiety about the "day of re- demption."
Under the Constitution of 1835 a very fair banking law was enacted by the territorial legislature, but it was inefficiently administered and recklessly disregarded. During the early part of the period when the territory was under the anomalous rule of the governor and judges, who combined legislative, executive and judicial functions in one body, vis- ionary ideas of the rapid growth of territory and town seemed to have
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generally prevailed. It was under the influence of these that Judge Woodward's elaborate "spider web" plan for the city of Detroit was conceived. It was under like influence that the first great bank scheme was projected. It was certainly a magnificent and royal affair-on paper.
A DETROIT BANK OF DISCOUNT
From Silas Farmer's History of Detroit we quote an extract, show- ing the force with which it impressed a plain and practical citizen of Detroit : "In 1805, a few days after Governor Hull and Judge Wood- ward arrived, I accidentally stepped into the legislative board while the honorable members were deliberating upon the situation and cir- cumstances of the territory and the measures necessary for its future elevation. Judge Woodward said: 'For my part I have always con- sidered these territorial establishments, at best, a most wretched system of government, and the measures hitherto pursued by former territorial authorities have all proved exceedingly defective. We will therefore adopt a system for the government of this new territory that shall be entirely novel.' Judge Bates and Governor Hull gave assent to this sentiment by a slight nod of the head, and the audience of citizens stood amazed at the profound wisdom of their words and the majesty of their demeanor. Governor Hull then observed : 'Before I left Boston I had but a very imperfect idea of this country ; but since I arrived I am per- fectly delighted with it. Gentlemen, this is the finest, richest country in the world; but from its remoteness it is subject to many inconven- iences which it behooves us to remove as speedily as possible. And the first object which merits the special attention of this honorable board is the establishment of a bank. Yes, gentlemen, a bank of discount and deposit, will be a fine thing for this new territory. Before I left Boston I spoke to several of my friends on this subject and they even made me promise to be connected with it.'
"'A bank!' said the visitor to himself, 'a bank of discount and de- posit in Detroit! To discount what ? Cabbages and turnips, pumpkins and potatoes? These folks must either be very wise men, very great fools or very great rogues!' A bank in Detroit where the trade is all traffic and barter, and the bills are payable in produce of one kind or another."
A bank in the edge of a wilderness appeared certainly to be a be- ginning of Judge Woodward's plan of novelty. But the idea that the small town needed a big bank was not original with either the governor or judge.
BANK OF DETROIT CREATED
Before they left Boston, Russel Sturges and five other promoters had laid plans for a great banking scheme in the west, and had carefully instilled into the minds of Governor Hull and Judge Woodward the feasibility of carrying it out. One of the first steps taken by the gov- ernor and judges in furtherance of their plan to rebuild the town which had recently been destroyed by fire was to inaugurate a series of four lotteries, the profits to be derived to go towards "the encouragement of literature and the development of Detroit." The next was to pass a bill for the incorporation of a bank, with capital stock not to exceed one mil- lion dollars, and with a charter to run one hundred and one years. The story of this bank shows that the chances were not as good for those who took stock in the bank and kept it as for those who bought tickets in the lottery.
The governor was authorized to subscribe for stock in the bank in
1
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behalf of the territory without limit as to the amount, but he conserva- tively and wisely invested in but ten shares, and the Boston men sub- scribed for ninety-five per cent. of the balance. A lot was purchased for $475, upon which was erected a building costing with furniture and fix- tures $8,000, the most costly building in the town at that time. These preliminaries arranged, the governor and Judge Woodward proceeded to Washington and returned by way of Boston, bringing with them $19,000 in guineas to pay the first instalment of two per cent. on the Boston subscription to the stock. They also brought as additional appur- tenances to the bank the vault doors, iron bars for the windows, a cashier, two financiers and a large amount of unsigned bills. Judge Woodward was elected president and W. Flannigan cashier, and they opened busi- ness by signing $165,000 worth of currency with which the Boston finan- ciers speedily started eastward. The form of liability expressed in the bills was as follows: "The Bank of Detroit and its shareholders jointly guarantee the payment at their office in Detroit, $- -. " The Boston financiers sold their bank notes in the northern and eastern states at from 10 to 25 per cent. discount and soon afterwards sold their stock.
"SOMETHING IRREGULAR" IN DETROIT
Redemption of the first five dollar note which was presented at the bank was at first refused and five hundred dollars presented at a later date met the same fate. After a few days, however, the cashier con- cluded to pay them. There is nothing whatever to show that any notes of the bank other than these were ever redeemed, nor that any deposits were made, nor any notes discounted, nor any return made for the bills issued. After the first Boston stockholders sold out their holdings their successor, one Dexter of the same city, arrived in Detroit, elected a new president and started east with another lot of bank currency. In all more than $1,500,000 in bills were issued, of which $12,000 were circu- lated in Michigan and the rest taken east. Meantime most of the money paid on the two per cent. instalment of stock had disappeared, and no second instalment was ever paid in.
In December, 1807, the authorities in Washington learned that some- thing irregular was going on in Detroit and instructed Judge Witherell to investigate and report upon the condition of affairs. Upon the return of Judge Witherell's report Congress refused to sanction the banking scheme which was equivalent to a notice to the public that the charter was of no value or force. The bank was kept open, however, for its original and only function of issuing notes till September, 1808, when the absence of Judge Woodward from the territory broke the tie which often prevented the transaction of business in the governing council of the territory.
PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED BANKING
Governor Hull and Judge Witherell, being a majority of the quorum of three, passed an act providing severe penalties for unauthorized bank- ing. The officers of the Detroit Bank petitioned for exemption from these penalties, but were refused, whereupon the bank closed its doors. The passage of this penal act was very obnoxious to Judge Woodward and made him very angry, and caused an estrangement between him and the governor which lasted throughout their joint official careers. Thus ended ignominiously the career of the first bank that did business as such in Michigan. It is but just to state, however, that the charge relating to fabulous amounts of money sent east and sold without any returns being made to the bank would seem to be no more dependable than other
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fiction of various strange and lawless proceedings in the early days of the west.
BANK OF MICHIGAN INCORPORATED
Nothing further was done in the way of establishing a bank in Michi- gan until December, 1817, when the legislative council passed an act for incorporating the Bank of Michigan, naming the following of the in- corporators as first directors : Solomon Sibley, Stephen Mack, Henry L. Hunt, Abraham Edwards, John R. Williams, Phillip Lecuyer and Wil- liam Brown. The capital was $100,000, of which ten per cent. was re- quired to be paid in in specie at the time the subscriptions were made.
The bank was quite a different affair from its predecessor and had some of the most respectable and substantial citizens of the territory back of it. It enjoyed a long and honorable existence, and during the period of reckless (or worse) banking in the territory that followed its name! The "Old Bank of Michigan" was synonymous with all that was stable, honest and sound. It was organized in June, 1818, with nine directors, who chose General John R. Williams president and James Mc- Closkey as cashier. It met with a loss the same year in the defalcation of McCloskey in the amount of $15,000. Nevertheless, it continued as a prosperous favorite institution of Detroit, where in 1831 its charter was extended for twenty-five years, and a banking building erected, which was the first stone building in the city. This historic structure, situated at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Griswold street, still stands practi- cally unchanged in its exterior appearance, now occupied by the Michi- gan Mutual Life Insurance Company.
BANK OF MONROE
The first bank incorporated in the interior of the state was the Bank of Monroe, Michigan, organized under an act approved March 29, 1827, which was also the beginning of banking in this city. The act appointed John Anderson, Josiah Wendell, Robert Clarke, Oliver Johnson, Charles J. Lanman, Dan B. Miller and Harry Conant as the first directors, fixed the stock at $100,000 with the privilege of increasing to $500,000, pro- viding that twelve and one-half per cent. should be paid in at the time of subscribing and the remainder in instalments at the call of the direc- tors. This bank was prosperous for ten years. It issued currency to the amount of $50,000 and it's bills were current in all parts of the coun- try.
THE MAUMEE BANK OF MANHATTAN
This financial institution, thought to be necessary to the business and personal interests of Monroe when Michigan was a territory and the town looming up in prominence as the principle end of everything in sight or to become visible. Today few of the inhabitants of Monroe remember anything about the Bank of Manhattan, or whether, if chartered, really transacted any business; if so, where and when. The city of Manhattan itself was a "pipe dream," unremembered, save when the name is dis- covered in the files of old newspapers of 1835, like the following, from the Monroe Sentinel, giving legal notice of intention of locating a bank in Manhattan, Monroe county : "Notice is hereby given that application will be made to the Legislature of the State of Michigan at its next ses- sion for the passage of an act incorporating a Bank, to be located at the village of Manhattan, in the county of Monroe, by the name of 'The Maumee Bank of Manhattan,' with a capital of $100,000-with the privi- lege to increase the same to $500,000.
"Manhattan, Dec. 1, 1835."
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Subsequent local items indicate that the bank was organized, enjoyed a brief but brilliant career, and finally "vanished into thin air" (hot, probably).
WILDCAT BANKING AND BANKS
The admission of Michigan territory into the Union in 1837, though a great and important event in her history, was partially overshadowed by, if not the cause of, an era of speculation and commercial disturb- ances which pervaded the western country and attracted to the new state hundreds of adventurers and irresponsible characters, many of whom were a detriment instead of a benefit to the community. Chimerical schemes and projects were floated weekly and a general feverishness in business prevailed which was generally conceived to be the natural condi- tion of prosperity and the spirit of progressiveness and enterprise. The wildcat banking craze of this period, which seized Michigan with great violence was not a sudden outbreak of financial heresay, dishonesty and extravagance, but was merely one symptom of a disease which for some months had been running its course, the result of different but con- curring causes.
BAD LAND REPORTS
From this unfortunate condition of things thus early in her history Michigan also suffered severely at an early date from an altogether dif- ferent cause, but equally damaging as a handicap to her development. With a view of locating bounty lands for the soldiers, the general gov- ernment caused a survey to be made from the southern boundary of Michigan northward for a distance of fifty miles. The first report from this survey described the country as an unbroken series of Tamarack swamps, bogs and sand barrens, with not more than one acre in a hundred, probably not more than one in a thousand suitable for cultivation. Not a very inviting picture to induce immigration from the fine farming sec- tions of the eastern states. At a later date, November 30, 1815, Surveyor General Tiffin wrote from the land office at Chillicothe, Ohio: "The sur- veyors who went to survey the military lands in Michigan territory have been compelled to suspend operations until the country shall become sufficiently frozen to bear up man and beast." A fortnight later he wrote: "I am very anxious to hear from you since my representative went forward. Subsequent reports from surveyors confirm the previous statements and show the country worse, if possible, than I had represented it to be." It turned out afterwards that some of the old French settlers and others interested in preventing immigration at that time for reasons of their own, were responsible for these reports which the surveyors be- lieved rather than their own observations. The trappers and hunters lived upon the fur trade and were not anxious to have the fur-bearing animals driven off by the cutting down of forests, settling of farms and building up of villages. The fewer neighbors, the better it suited them. Accordingly when the surveyors came into the territory the set- tlers along the border at Detroit and the River Raisin volunteered to serve as guides and entertained them hospitably, and then took them into almost impassable marshes, swamps and over sand hills, probably going out of their way to exhibit the more unattractive and discouraging spots in order to find material for the most damaging reports by the surveyors upon the capabilities of Michigan as a desirable place for set- tlement. As a natural resort of these misrepresentations the soldiers' bounty lands were located in Illinois and Missouri, and the tide of popu- lation swept around the peninsula to settle in the territories to the west;
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