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 49
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"SEC. 3. Said corporation hereby created shall have power to con- struct a single or double Rail Road, commencing at the head of ship navi- gation on the River Raisin; and said corporation are hereby required to make or construct a single or double track in each bank of said river at the starting point, and to unite the same at any point above the limits of the village of Monroe, to the rapids of Grand River, or to such point below on said river as said corporation shall see fit, passing through the villages of Tecumseh, Clinton and Marshall, on or near the route re- cently surveyed from Monroe to Marshall by Lieut. J. M. Berrien, with power to transport, take and carry property or persons upon the same, by the power and force of steam, of animals, or of any mechanical or other power, or of any combination of them."
MANHATTAN AND HAVRE RAILROAD
The proposed Manhattan and Havre railroad does not appear to have materialized into an incorporated company, but a report by R. M. Shoemaker, the engineer, made in 1837 upon the estimated cost of construction, is appended, in part, as a matter of interest to compare with present cost of railroad construction. The route of this line is not clearly defined, but Manhattan was the "city" on Maumee Bay now known as Toledo, and Havre was midway between that point and Mon- roe, a place now but a memory. I have found but one person in Monroe who had occular proof that such a place ever existed, and in this in- stance the impression was made upon the mind of this young lady by the short stop made there by the mail coach on this route from Monroe to Manhattan. Sic transit gloria mundi.
"To the President and Directors of the Manhattan and Havre Rail Roads. (Havre, 1837.)-Gentlemen : In accordance with an invitation received from Jacob A. Barker, Esqr., bearing date of the 20th ulto. I have caused such surveys and examinations to be made as enables me to submit for your consideration an estimate of the probable cost of con- structing a single-track railroad, from the city of Manhattan to the town of Havre, together with a map and profile of the line and plans for superstructure and bridges.
"The line commences at the margin of Maumee river, foot of New
378
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
York avenue, in the city of Manhattan, extending westerly, with said avenue, 54 chains; thence north, 3º 30' east, 150 chains; thence north 13° 20' east, 80 chains to an intersection with the town plat of Havre, where the survey terminates.
LA PLAISANCE BAY HARBOR COMPANY
La Plaisance Bay Harbor Company seems to have been a separate organization from the River Raisin and Lake Erie Railroad Company and the plans of this company appear to have been to construct a rail- road, as shown in the notice which was printed at the time :
"RAIL ROAD TO LAKE ERIE
"Notice is hereby given, that an application will be made to the Legislature of Michigan, at their next session, for the passage of an act granting certain addi- tional privileges to the La Plaisance Bay Harbor Company, and among others to construct a Rail Road from La Plaisance Bay to some point in the village of Monroe. By order of the Pres't & Directors,
"23d January, 1836.
N. HUBBLE, Sec'y pro tem."
The two roads mentioned may have been merged, as no records sur- vive, concerning the building or operating two roads; and inasmuch as the River Raisin Railroad Company were given banking privileges and actually issued their own bills it is probable that the Harbor Company and the railroad company were distinct corporations. "The River Rai- sin Steamboat Company" was a factor in the transportation questions of the day is shown in the following notice of stockholders' meeting :
"A meeting of the stockholders of the River Raisin Steamboat Company will be held at the office of J. G. Thurber on Monday the 25th inst. at 10 o'clock in the morning. It is particularly requested that there may be a full attendance of all the stockholders.
"Jan. 23, 1836.
D. A. NOBLE, See'y p. tem."
Both the gentlemen named were prominent attorneys, the latter after- wards representative in Congress. The northern division of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Railroad from Monroe to Detroit was completed somewhat earlier than the southern or Toledo division, and the gap of twenty-five miles was filled by a stage route-as announced by a local paper: "Our enterprising townsman, S. B. Wakefield, ever awake to the wants of the community, has commenced running a semi-daily line of coaches between this city and Toledo, to accommodate the prospective increase of travel, consequent upon the completion of the northern divis- ion of the D. M. & T. R. R."
After the completion of this division all stage routes became obso- lete, and the drivers of the various coaches' occupation was no more, yet they were not entirely hors de combat, for numerous omnibus lines sprung into existence to convey travelers to railroad stations and boat landings, as witness this announcement in 1855: "D. Ebersol will run an omnibus between Monroe and the lake, in connection with the Detroit boats, for the remainder of the season ; also to the cars .- Passen- gers wishing to go to the lake or cars will leave their names at the Macomb Street House."
LA PLAISANCE BAY
As stated, the "River Raisin and Lake Erie Railroad" was another of the projected transportation schemes of those days of inflation and of pipe dreams, which fell very far short of the realizations of its promot- ers' visions of ultimate greatness, two and one-half miles, however were
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
built and operated. The projected route of this line lay along the high- way from La Plaisance Bay on Lake Erie, to Monroe, and northwestward, thence to Dundee, meandering along to Blissfield, Tecumseh and finally disappearing "up a tree." Interest attaches to this enterprise for Mon- roe, at that time as it was the means of communication between the only port on the west end of Lake Erie, and the city, by which passenger and freight traffic could be carried on, and connection made with the lines of steamboats and sail vessels on the lake, whose eastern terminus was Buffalo.
There was no canal in those days; no harbor, as at the present govern- ment piers ; these were to come later; but La Plaisance Bay was a bus- tling spot. Great warehouses and wharves were built, with anchorage for the little fleets that gave the place a most interesting air of commerce.
Captain Geo. W. Strong built and operated a small steamer called the "Water Witch" from the dock, a mile below the city of the La Plaisance harbor, running through the river channel, that wound in and out through the marsh, and established a not insignificant traffic for some months. The railroad line passed along the east side of Scott street, and reached the business part of Monroe at the corner of First and Scott streets, and had its depot at the present site of Hurd's elevator.
The cars which were drawn over the wooden rails by horses were necessarily small affairs, in appearance something after the ancient style of those seen on our earliest city street car lines, except that the driver was perched upon a seat at the top and front of the car, as in the old- fashioned omnibuses, still seen occasionally in back woods towns to which they have been relegated.
The largest of the La Plaisance warehouses remained there long after its usefulness had ended, a gloomy reminder of the former activities of the place; and it was subsequently purchased by Captain Strong, and removed in the winter on the ice to his property at the city docks, where it was converted into two large warehouses, and became the center of an important cluster of other warehouses devoted to the business of trans- portation on the lakes. The firms engaged in that business were : Carlos Colton & Co., Fifield & Stirling, Cole & Disbrow, Walbridge & Co., Wal- bridge & Darrah, John Sinclair, and others. It was the busiest spot in the state when in its full tide of prosperity; it was not an uncommon thing for seventy-five to one hundred steam boats and sailing vessels to tie up at the docks along the river to be loaded for eastern ports, while a cavalcade of farmers' wagons numbering two to three hundred would stretch along the "river road" nearly to the village, all loaded with grain for shipment. Some of these would come from points as distant as Sturgis and White Pigeon in St. Joseph county.
THE SHIP CANAL
The ship canal, the successful completion of which meant so much to Monroe in the transportation question was in excellent hands, and its financial as well as its physical well being had watchful care, and active efforts is shown by the following clipping from the Monroe Advocate of 1845: "The prospect of an early completion of this important work, has now become very flattering. David A. Noble, Esq. recorder of the city, who was commissioned by the common council to negotiate the loan of $25,000, authorized by a vote of the city, returned from Albany and New York some days since, where he had succeeded in negotiating the whole of the loan upon terms highly advantageous to the city. The
380
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
situation of the stock market was such as to render the negotiation a some- what difficult one, and the zeal and faithfulness with which Mr. Noble fulfilled his responsible and delicate trust, merits the warmest thanks of the friends of this important enterprise.
"The terms of the negotiation were laid before the council, and ap- proved by that body, upon which the commissioners of the canal fund were called together, who organized by choosing Gershom T. Bulkley, president, Moses B. Savage, secretary, John Burch, acting commissioner, and N. R. Haskell, treasurer of the board. Mr. Burch has entered upon his duties, and under his energetic superintendence the work will soon be in rapid progress. The cash can be drawn for as fast as the council
VIEW OF GOVERNMENT CANAL OF TODAY
shall deem necessary, even to the whole amount of the loan. We therefore see nothing now to obstruct the successful prosecution of the enterprise."
THE TRANSPORTATION BUSINESS FOR 1912
Perhaps no other array of figures present a more accurate and con- vincing proof of the commercial progress and industrial growth of a community than those which may be obtained from the records of the railroads, the transportation lines which are the arteries through which flows the life blood of business. No data is more interesting or instruc- tive than those which illustrate the methods which, wisely applied, bring prosperity and wealth to a community.
A comparison of the transporation importance and the transactions today with those of fifty years ago or even twenty-five years ago, presents an amazing contrast. The entire business of the Michigan Southern Railroad in 1856, in tonnage carried was less than ten percent of the
·
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
actual figures of the Monroe station in Monroe, for one month in 1911! This appears to be an astounding statement-yet fully verified. Through the courtesy of the agents of the railroads entering Monroe we have ob- tained tabulated statements of the freight traffic, in this city during the year 1911, which offers in a concise form, information that will surprise a great many readers not previously familiar with the facts. The amount of freight, in pounds, shipped by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad in 1911, from Monroe was 183,040,510; while there was received in the same time, 354,481,047 pounds. Of this incoming freight the largest item was coal, amounting 48,332,700 pounds ; the next was in material used in the large paper mills, amounting 39,332,700 pounds ; this does not include 9,240,425 pounds of pulp received for the same purpose from Canada. An analysis of the shipments by this road alone from Monroe during the period named, shows that the following concerns contributed each their full share: Boehme & Rauch Company, 34,744,751 pounds; Monroe Binder Board Company, 21,768,039 pounds; Amendt Milling Company, 21,024,005 pounds; R. R. Paper Company, 14,922,428 pounds; Monroe Canning Company, 732,500 pounds; Wilder- Strong Implement Company, 1,142,670 pounds; Monroe Furnace Com- pany, 11,360,280 pounds. These are shipments by the Lake Shore & M. S. Railroad only.
The Michigan Central Railroad's statement, by months, follows :
SHIPMENTS
RECEIPTS
Jan.
683,000
Jan.
3,289,000
Feb.
1,275,000
Feb.
2,982,000
Mar.
2,613,000
Mar.
1,840,000
Apr.
10,400,000
Apr.
3,680,000
May
12,325,000
May
2,555,000
June
18,500,000
June
2,342,000
July
17,500,000
July
1,757,000
Aug.
15,625,000
Aug.
3,640,000
Sept.
16,815,000
Sept.
2,360,000
Oct.
19,990,000
Oct.
3,614,000
Nov.
11,890,000
Nov.
3,890,000
Dec.
6,660,000
Dec.
4,280,000
134,276,000 lbs.
36,149,000 1bs.
The Detroit and Toledo, Shore Line, a branch of the Grand Trunk Railway System, have fallen below the other lines somewhat, and furnish us only approximate figures for the business of 1911, as follows: Freight shipments from Monroe, 66,175,000; freight receipts at Monroe, 26,140,000.
The Pere Marquette Railroad's figures are as follows: Shipments 20,275,000 ; receipts, 18,170,000.
There are seventy-eight freight and passenger trains arriving and departing every twenty-four hours on the steam lines from the stations in Monroe, not including extras and "specials."
The Detroit United Railway interurban lines contribute a liberal amount of business to the total of transportation business of Monroe, running fifty cars daily between Monroe and Detroit and Monroe and Toledo, in addition to which are six package, freight and express cars. The latter carried during May, 1912, which is a fair monthly average for the year : Receipts, 571,804 lbs. shipments, 667,956 pounds-making a total for the year approximately 8,013,072 lbs. outgoing freight, and
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
6,861,648 lbs. incoming. This road has been in operation about twelve years, its first experimental run was on Christmas day, 1902, when the then general manager, A. F. Edwards, took a small party of friends northward.
The electric line has cut deeply into the passenger business of the steam roads, although all of them have met the reduced rates in force on the former.
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CHAPTER XXX
INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE
START OF MONROE NURSERIES-FRENCH PEARS AND APPLES-TREES PLANTED SOON AFTER WAR OF 1812-FIRST PERMANENT NURSERY BUSINESS-TIIE MUTUAL AND MICHIGAN NURSERIES-A MONROE WOMAN FOUNDS CANNING INDUSTRY-THE FISHING INDUSTRY-MON- ROE COUNTY FISHERIES-COMMERCIAL FISHING-FISHING NOT ALL PROFIT-WINTER SPORTS ON THE ICE-EXPORTATION OF CATTLE AND HOGS-FLOUR MILLS-THE AMENDT MILLING COMPANY-WATERLOO ROLLER MILLS-BOEHME & RAUCH COMPANY-WEIS MANUFACTURING COMPANY-MONROE BINDER BOARD COMPANY-RIVER RAISIN PAPER COMPANY-ELKHART MANUFACTURING COMPANY-MONROE GLASS COMPANY-MONROE WOOLEN MILL-MONROE FOUNDRY AND FURNACE COMPANY.
Monroe has for half a century been noted for the vast extent, and absolute superiority of its nurseries. Its fame has not only penetrated every portion of our own country, but has spread into Europe, where- ever horticulture at its best possesses interest. The poet sings the praise of him who causes "two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before"-which is well; but how about him who causes a hundred thou- sand trees to spread their grateful shade and contribute their life-giving luscious fruits for the delectation of the human race? This is the func- tion and the beneficence of the wise nursery man.
START OF MONROE NURSERIES
It had like many another great industry, its start in small begin- nings. The thousand acres and more devoted to the propagation of fruit and ornamental trees in Monroe, in this sheltered environment of Lake Erie, and the climate immune to the violent disturbances and changes which is fatal to the perfect development of out-of-doors indus- tries elsewhere, are the evolution of seventy years, intelligent and mas- terful effort to supplement nature's generous opportunities in the valley of the Rivière aux Raisins. This evolution has been magical in its results.
FRENCH PEARS AND APPLES
Are the pear and apple trees propagated from the seedlings brought to Monroe from sunny France by the pioneers, one hundred and twenty- eight years ago, and from the banks of the St. Lawrence still bearing the same pleasant flavored fruit that they did in their youth? A few of the rugged survivors of those early planted orchards are still doing duty on the same premises! With not a human being still living, who saw them and ate of their fruit in their youth they are still alive and bearing. The claim of the actual superiority of that fruit over some of the modern varieties is no doubt largely based on sentiment.
383
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
The old pear trees of Monroe! They have been the theme of the historian, the poet, the romancer; they still, each year, put forth their welcome blossoms, and each succeeding harvest time, the fruits of their old age. From an article written for the Monroe Democrat, based on notes prepared some years ago, for a paper contributed to the Michi- gan Agricultural College material is gathered for some interesting facts in connection with this subject. It covers the period from 1784 to 1840, and from that time to the present.
The Francis Navarre farm, as well as the La Tour, Labadie, Roberts, LaSalle Caldwell, Mommonie and others along the River Raisin, boasted orchards of these fine trees of great size and height, rivalling the very forest giants. A limited number of these are still standing. The writer recently saw a row of some five or six, standing where they were first planted, in the city of Monroe. True, they bore the marks of their one hundred and twenty-five years of battling with storm and tempest, and appeared to have shrunken, like humans, and grown gray and shattered under the hand of time and to have parted with the luxuriant growth of foliage and the vigor of their long past youth, but were laden with the blossoms and the young fruit. One of this little group had lately been cut down to make way for the opening of a new street in the devel- opment of the manufacturing district, yielding to the inexorable de- mands of material progress, when it was found, upon examination that the concentric rings of the trunk numbered one hundred and twenty- eight indicating the years of its life, and that it was among the first that had been planted in this part of the country by the original French settlers on the south bank of the River Raisin. Others, in the premises of the Dr. Sawyer residence, in the grounds of the late Dr. Harry Conant, in the Cole homestead, and others, while old residents pointed out the site of orchards of these highly esteemed, venerable trees.
Among the farms westward along the river they were many, also, pear and apple trees. Within a very few days Mr. George Wakefield has placed in the hands of the author several of small, spicy flavored apples from trees planted by the Indians and early French a century ago and which were upon the farm which he now owns in Raisinville. So far as the memory of any man now living can vouch, there has never been a season when these ancient trees have not borne fruit.
TREES PLANTED SOON AFTER WAR OF 1812
Among the trees planted soon after the war of 1812, upon the return of the refugees from Canada and the states of Ohio and Kentucky were those standing in the yards of T. E. Wing (the old Colonel Ander- son place) ; of Judge Warner Wing; in the old Macomb Street House yard and elsewhere, many of the trunks of which measured eight feet and upwards in circumference, four feet from the ground.
Notable examples of this remarkable family of trees stood upon the farm of Stephen Downing, which were planted by him in 1813 or 1814. A singular circumstance is related in connection with these trees. They were at one time apparently dying from some undiscovered cause. Mr. Downing's people were during the summer in that year, in the habit of making ice cream underneath the shade of these trees and the salt and ice used in the process was thrown upon the ground about the roots of them. This continued for some weeks, with the effect of arrest- ing the cause of the decay and causing the trees to take on a new lease of life, and ultimate complete restoration to health. Such remarkable longevity and such marvelous and continuous yields of fine and delicious fruit seem to afford a warrant for the magnificent nurseries that flourish
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
in Monroe and to confirm the belief that there is something magical in the soil, the atmosphere and the climate which has from the earliest days made the location an ideal one for the nurserymen.
As stated, the Monroe nurseries have, for a long time been widely known to every section of the United States, for their extent, not only, but for every characteristic that enriches the factors in a business the success of which perhaps, more than most others is based upon the confidence reposed in it by the public which it serves.
The virtues of honesty, perseverance, technical knowledge and faith- fulness are paramount and it is these which have contributed to the marvelous growth and the present importance of this business in Mon- roe, and richly rewarded the devotion to these principles.
FIRST PERMANENT NURSERY BUSINESS
Since 1846, in which year Israel E. Ilgenfritz came to Monroe and in a modest way began to raise trees for market, when the first permanent business was set upon its feet, the growth of this industry has grown to its enormous present proportions. A wonderful development-now among the most stable and important industries in the United States and proudly claimed by Monroe as its leading one. Israel E. Ilgenfritz was the actual founder of it, and his first activity was with a small nursery upon what has been known as the Church Farm, on the north side of the River Raisin, extending back from the river, along the road known as Anderson street. An incident connected with this first real movement for a nursery on a large scale, is mentioned by Very Rev. Father F. A. O'Brien, formerly of Monroe, now Dean of Kalamazoo parish, in a paper read before the State Historical Society, in 1904, and connecting it with Rev. Father Edward Joos then priest of St. Mary's church, "A notable benefit arising from his desire to do good and his willingness to aid meritorious effort in the community was the beginning of the great nursery business of the Ilgenfritz Company in Monroe. Mr. Ilgenfritz, having not much else but his energy, his executive ability and established character, with confidence in himself, laid his plans before Father Joos who at once made a lease of a large tract of the Church Farm at a nominal sum and extended a liberal credit until he could pay the rental from the sale of trees, which he then planted." An exercise of judgment and foresight which he never regretted. That there was a tentative effort made before that of Mr. Ilgenfritz is shown in the ancient advertisement below, found in the Monroe Advocate of 1844. This appears to be the first firm to issue a catalogue of their business and this a very modest pamphlet.
"MONROE NURSERY AND GARDEN
"The subscribers have for the last four years been engaged in the Nursery business in this place, and intend to prosecute it as extensively as their means will allow, and the demand justify .- Their nursery now contains more than one hun- dred thousand fruit trees, which have either been engrafted or inoculated. Every exertion in their power has been put in requisition in obtaining the choicest varieties of fruit, and such as they can warrant to be genuine. The following is a list of the number of the different varieties of fruit trees, most of which are ready for market :
Apples
179 varieties
Pears
40
do
Plums
20
do
Cherries
20
do
Peaches
15
do
Apricots
3 do
Quinces
CI
do
Grapes
10 do
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
Gooseberries Raspberries
do
3 do
Currants
do
"For a description of each variety, and prices, see 'Catalogue for 1844,' which will be furnished to order, free, by mail or otherwise.
"Early in the Fall is undoubtedly the best time for transplanting trees, and those who wish trees this fall would do well to order them at an early day and they can be accommodated with trees of the largest size. All orders will be attended to without delay, and if received before the proper time for transplanting, they will be registered in their proper order and filled accordingly. Their prices are such as will make it an object for all to call and examine their stock of trees before purchasing elsewhere.
"Most kinds of farming produce and wood will be received in payment, if delivered at the time of receiving the trees.
"Monroe, August, 1844. HARTWELL & REYNOLDS."
1y36
Much additional information of interest is furnished in the personal sketches of the Ilgenfritz family and C. E. Greening.
THE MUTUAL AND MICHIGAN NURSERIES
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