History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 41

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882

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nally represented $3,117,200, it cost the pur- chasing company but $665,000 - a little less than $10,000 per mile ; and forever put it out of the power of the company to complete a competing line to Chicago. This purchase, however, was of a similar character to the carlier purchase of the Erie and Kalamazoo by the Michigan Southern when George Bliss con - trolled both. It was buying the rival up and then unloading it upon the successful road. The Vanderbilt interest had controlled the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern since 1873, and had in the meantime acquired con- trol of the Canada Southern enterprise. It also controlled the Michigan Central. The Chicago and Canada Southern lived six years, almost to a day. Opened for traffic November 13, 1873, on November 10, 1879, the Lake Shore assumed control of it. The remaining divisions of the road assumed closer relations with the Michigan Central, and some two or three years later were absorbed by that com- pany, the main line becoming the Canada divi- sion, and the Toledo, Canada Southern and Detroit, the Toledo division of the Michigan Central, January 1, 1883.

With the acquisition of the Vanderbilt party of the control of the Canada Southern, compe- tition virtually ceased, though an occasional desultory war of rates would sometimes break out ; but with the advent of the control of the Michigan Central regime it ceased entirely. Though the two different organizations are still maintained, and the roads are managed by distinct and different heads of departments, and the outward semblance of rivalry is kept up, the interests of both lines are in effect identical, and Monroe is again without compe- tition, and practically under the feet of the object of its ancient feud.

While the Holly, Wayne and Monroe was as yet incomplete, and before the Canada South- ern had assumed form, another railroad project was started. This contemplated a line begin- ning at Toledo and extending in a northwest- erly direction through Monroe county and into Washtenaw, where its southern division was to terminate at the city of Ann Arbor. The design was ultimately to extend it into the pine regions of the State. The original plan contemplated the construction by the Toledo and Northern Railroad Company, of a line from Toledo to some point on the southern

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border of Monroe county ; thence the Michigan end of the company (the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern) was to continue the line throngh the city of Ann Arbor to Owosso, Shiawassee county. The articles of incorporation of the Michigan company bear date October 23, 1869, and were filed in the office of the Secretary of State November 26, 1869.

During 1870 and 1871 preliminary surveys were made and the line determined upon. Then began the solicitation of " aid notes " along the line, for this road was to be built in the man- ner of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe, largely by the contributions of the district through which it was to run. Governor Ashley, of Toledo, was largely interested in the project, and it is only through his almost indomitable perseverance that it has been enabled to be brought to completion, for its history is the tale of almost continual struggle against obstacles well nigh insurmountable. The work had scarcely begun upon the line when the panic wave of 1873 swept over the country. Some grading had been done on portions of the line ; the roadbed was ready for the ties at other places ; some 70,000 ties had been bought, to- gether with several hundred cords of wood. An expenditure of about one-fifth of the capital stock had been made when the road became in- volved in litigation arising from its financial difficulties. The aid notes were not payable till six months after the first train had run over the road, and were consequently not available; subscribers to the capital stock were declining to pay, creditors were pressing, and the road eventually appeared in the United States court as a bankrupt, and Edward D. Kinne, of Ann Arbor, became its assignee. September 28, 1875, under an order of the court, dated August 13, 1875, the road and its franchises was sold by the assignee to Benja- min P. Crane, of Ann Arbor, for $1,100. Governor Ashley at once took steps to reor- ganize the project, and on June 9, 1877, pur- chased the road and its franchises from Mr. Crane for $25,000, and organized the Toledo and Ann Arbor Railroad Company, the articles of incorporation being dated November 23, 1877, and filed in the office of the Secretary of State the same day. Construction was at once proceeded with, and supplies bought, and the road was completed from Toledo to Ann Arbor

May 18, 1878; and regular trains began run- ning July 8, 1878.

But the road was not through with its finan- cial difficulties. The "aid notes " given at various intervals during the preceding seven years, fell due early in 1879, after the road had been six months in operation.

Changes had in the meantime taken place, and some of the notes had become value- less. Many of the others were contested when. payment, was pressed, and the litigation of these claims was still going on as late as 1884.

Shortly after its completion to Ann Arbor a reorganization was had, which, under the name of the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Grand Trunk, gave it running arrangements with the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. Work upon the northern end in the meantime was being pushed forward, and in 1880 it was again re- organized as the Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan, the name it now retains. In 1886 it was opened to Mt. Pleasant, in the edge of the pine belt, 171 miles from Toledo, and has projected two lines westward : one from Mt. Pleasant to Cadillac, which will ultimately be extended to Lake Michigan and become a part of the main line; the other from Ashley west- ward to Muskegon.

After nearly twenty years of continuous struggle against difficulties, the line is at last firmly established and seems sure of a prosper- ous future. Along its route several busy vil- lages have sprung into existence, which, while curtailing the market of the city of Monroe, still furnish an outlet for the produce of the adjacent country, and opportunities for manu- factories and stores.

Passing through the extreme northwestern corner of Milan township, its only station in Monroe county being the village of Milan, is a branch of the Wabash system, the trunk line of which extends from Toledo to St. Louis, Missouri, and the Southwest. The branch in question extends from Detroit southwesterly through Wayne and Washtenaw counties, the northwest corner of Monroe, thence diagonally through Lenawee to the State line, whence it passes to Butler, Indiana, where connection is made with the Eel River line, also under con- trol ofthe Wabash. Over this road it passes to Logansport, Indiana, where connection is made with the main line of the system. The

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Detroit branch was projected and built shortly after the Toledo and Ann Arbor was completed, the first train passing in October, 1881, and an independent train service between Toledo and Detroit, running from Toledo to Milan over the Toledo and Ann Arbor, thence over the Wabash into Detroit, was organized. To the northwestern portion of the county this branch furnishes a direct communication with the city of Detroit, and a direct route to St. Louis and the distributing centers of the West and South- west.

The latest railway enterprise within the borders of the county, while having passed through the vicissitudes incident to new roads in seasons of financial stringency, now bids fair to become an important and valuable line. This road, now known as the Cincinnati, Jack- son and Mackinaw, was originally the outgrowth of plans to build a road connecting Toledo with some port on the eastern shore of Lake Michi- gan, whence a steamboat line could run directly to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Michigan por- tion of it was organized under the name of the Toledo and Milwaukee, and under this appella- tion the right of way was secured, and in 1882 construction was begun. Its route was so laid as to reach many flourishing places in the State, and at the same time go through portions of the rich farming land of the lower penin- sula somewhat remote from the trunk lines. For a portion of its route it rans parallel with the Michigan Central. Construction was be- gun along the central and western portions of the line first and extended eastward. It was well advanced toward Monroe county early in 1883, but at this time began to be financially embarrassed, and finding itself unable to build the last twenty-five miles of its road, it was completed to a junction with the Toledo and Ann Arbor at Dundee, and perfected arrange- ments with that road whereby it acquired the privilege of running its trains between Toledo and Dundee upon the Ann Arbor track. This arrangement was made in the autumn of 1883, and train service immediately instituted. By the terms of its arrangement with the Toledo · and Ann Arbor, however, its benefit to Monroe county was confined simply to furnishing a route from Dundee westward, as it was not allowed to take passengers or freight between Toledo and Dundee, or any of the intermediate points.

When its running arrangements were com- plete, it was reorganized as the Michigan and Ohio. Its road bed and rolling stock were of a high order of construction, and it gave promise of much usefulness, when its creditors began litigation in the United States courts with the inevitable consequence of a receiver- ship. It was operated by J. A. Latcha as re- ceiver till purchased by the Cincinnati, Jack- son and Mackinaw company, who now control it, and have made it a portion of their system. This company was organized in Ohio, with the intent of building a road which should extend from Cincinnati through western Ohio to some point on the southern line of Lenawee or Hills- dale counties, thence northerly to the city of Jackson, and ultimately northward through the pine region to the straits of Mackinac. The purchase of the Michigan and Ohio will some- what modify the route. The road is now rap- idly approaching the State line at a point on the southern border of Lenawee county whence it will extend northward through the villages of Hudson and Rollin to a junction with the Michigan and Ohio line at Addison or Devil's Lake, thence the Cincinnati line will be ex- tended northward to Jackson. Whether the northern division of the line will start from Jackson or from the western terminus of the Michigan and Ohio at Allegan is at present undecided. The officers of the new company are energetic and capable, and the road will rapidly take a front rank under their manage- ment. Some method of reaching Toledo over a track owned by themselves is already in contemplation by the company, and among the plans is one of extending the line from Dundee southeasterly to Toledo. Should this project be finally decided upon, it would add but little to the cost and nothing to the difficulty of the undertaking if the extension were made to touch the western portion of Monroe city. This would give a direct communication be- tween Monroe and Dundee, and also give to both a competing route to Toledo uncontrolled by the trunk lines. Events move rapidly in the railroad world in the present age, and an- other decade may make these concluding lines of this chapter upon the history of railroads in Monroe county, history indeed, in the sense that the events recorded, even those which are now transpiring, or only projected, will have been modified, changed, or entirely passed away.

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Of the various railways, the history of which has been told in the preceding pages, but six have now "a local habitation and a name " within Monroe county. The principal line of the county is the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, which has absorbed those mentioned in this chapter under the names of Erie and Kalamazoo, Michigan Southern, Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana, Detroit, Mon- roe and Toledo, and Chicago and Canada Southern. The Toledo, Canala Southern and Detroit line of the old Canada Southern is merged into the Michigan Central. The Holly, Wayne and Monroe has disappeared in the Flint and Pere Marquette. The other lines, excepting the Wabash, though changed in name and sometimes in ownership, remain practically as projected and built.

As to facilities of communication, few coun- ties are better supplied than Monroe. Two trunk lines furnish easy and frequent access to the neighboring cities of Detroit and Toledo, as well as to the great mercantile centers of the country east and west. Through these, as well as through the Wabash line, the South- west is opened. The oil fields of Pennsylvania and the coal regions of Ohio are put into direct communication with all parts of the county through these lines. The early vegetables and semi-tropical fruits of the South reach on markets nearly as quickly as they are found in Chicago. Three lines connect the county with the great fruit belt of western Michigan; four lines bring to it the pine and salt of the north ; one line already reaches that new and growing empire, the northern peninsula, with its wealth of lumber and minerals, and another is pro- jected. When to these is added the water communication which might be made available, the harbor which has been and might again be made the busiest spot in the county, it indi- cates that the future of Monroe county, with its strong and fertile soil and its varied produc- tions, is not to be an old age of senility and decadence, but a renewed youth of progress and prosperity.

NOTE .- It is to be regretted that there re- mains so meagre a record of the early history of our railroads. The building of a railroad in the olden time had in it an element of romance differing greatly from the prosaic methods of

the present day. Then the new outlet became a vital subject of interest to every inhabitant of the route to be traversed ; its progress was intently watched, its opening hailed with bursts of fervid oratory and flaming tar bar- rels. It meant a new era of progress and devel- opment. Now there is no more enthusiasm than in the purchase of a specified number of barrels of pork or bushels of wheat. The record of our early roads is bnt scant and meagre. Engrossed in watching for results, but slender records of progress were made. The early system of transportation did not tend to completeness of detail; and the writer has been compelled to search through various and widely scattered sources to obtain the facts hereinbefore set out. The writer can scarcely hope that he has escaped error, but he has spared no pains or labor to secure accu- racy; though the search has sometimes been long and difficult. In justice to the accom- plished editor of the work, it should be remem- bered that the writer alone is responsible for whatever may be found in this chapter.

It remains to acknowledge the various sources from which the material for the foregoing chapter has been drawn. The inception of the various roads and the legislation which gave them being have been drawn from old volumes of territorial laws, and the public acts of the earlier years of Michigan's history as a State, which the writer has obtained from the library of Colonel I. R. Grosvenor. From this source have been obtained particulars of the early charters and the " acts " for internal improve- ments. Reports of the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan have also been freely used, together with the records of cases submitted to ascertain dates of opening and construction of the charters of some of the corporations.

Among the published volumes which the writer has consulted at various points of his researches should be mentioned : Cooley's "Michigan," in the series of " American Com- monwealths ; " Landman's "Red Book of Michi- gan ;" the publications of the " Pioneer Society of Michigan ;" various " Legislative Manuals;" " The Annual Reports to the Stockholders " of the various railroads mentioned ; " The Re- port of Michigan's Semi-Centennial of 1887;" " The 1857 Compilation of Laws relating to the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad Company," enriched with the manu-

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script notes of the late Judge Warner Wing, together with a number of pamphlets and a mass of newspaper cuttings.

Access has also been had to the letters and papers of General Levi S. Humphrey for the period during which, as Commissioner of In- ternal Improvements, he constructed the Mich- igan Southern road.

The writer would specially acknowledge his great obligations to the courtesy of C. P. Le- land, the auditor of the Lake Shore and Mich- igan Southern Railway. Mr. Leland was con- nected with the old Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana as its general ticket agent, and after 1869 with the consolidated lines as anditor. From a connection with the line, ex- tending through about a quarter of a century, his own knowledge of the affairs of the Michi- gan Southern is phenomenal and accurate. For ten years he has employed his leisure in col- lecting documents and reports connected with the carly history of the various roads which became merged in the present trunk line. The result has been published in the shape of his- torical addenda, issued in connection with the annual reports of the company. These publications, extending through a series of years, together with a large amount of unpub- lished manuscript, covering in detail the earlier financial transactions of the companies, both under State and corporate management, have been freely placed at the command of the writer ; and a liberal use of this material has been made. As it has been interwoven with the writer's own researches through that por- tion of the history of the Erie and Kalamazoo,

Michigan Southern and Detroit, Monroe and To- ledo, it is impossible to point out the particular portions of the chapter for which the writer is indebted to Mr. Leland ; but it may well be said that had it not been for his researches and courtesy that portion of the history would be fragmentary and imperfect.

Farmer's admirable " History of Detroit and Michigan " has been of great service as a means of verifying dates and particulars. The painstaking accuracy of Mr. Farmer's work is beyond all praise.

In addition to the publications above men- tioned, the writer has availed himself of the memories of such of the actors in the long ago scenes as yet survive. The writer himself was connected with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern in the competitive struggle which followed the opening of the Canada Southern, and for a decade and a half felt the antagonism subsisting between Monroc and the Michigan Southern. From J. M. Sterling, one of the midnight band who rescued the iron from the machinations of Van Fossen, the particulars of that memorable night were obtained.

Joseph H. Cleveland, the first superintendent of the Southern, and who was the only super- intendent it had during the years it was oper- ated by the State, has furnished from the rich storchouse of his memory many of the facts and circumstances connected with the primi- tive railroading of those carly days. It is well to rescue these memories from oblivion, since the actors in the scenes described must very soon pass away.

A. B. BRAGDON.

CHAPTER XX.

THE BAR OF MONROE IN 1837.

HON. WOLCOTT LAWRENCE W TAS born in one of the towns adjoining Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on the first day of November, in the year 1786. He was married to Caroline Stebbins, of Springfield, in the same State, November 26, 1816. In carly life he availed himself of the advantages of education afforded in the rural district where he was born, and, without the advantages of a college education, became eventually, by close application to study, an exceptionally well-in- formed and indeed a well-educated man. H applied himself to the study of the law in the office of one of the most eminent of the profes- sion in Pittsfield, and for a time practiced his profession in that place. In the meantime the new country of the Northwest had begun to attract the attention of the enterprising young men of the New England States, and many were preparing to seek their fortunes in the new land of promise. Mr. Lawrence was one of these ; and in accordance with a previous un- derstanding between himself and his affianced, almost immediately after their marriage they came to Michigan and established their home on the River Raisin at Monroe. Here in De- cember, 1817, their first child, Lucretia Wil- liams, afterwards the wife of Alpheus Felch, was born. The inhabitants on the River Raisin at that time were chiefly French, and the daughter above mentioned was the first child of American parents born among them. The old French settlers were accustomed to tell of the enthusiasm with which the newcomer was re- ceived by them. The warm-hearted French mothers and daughters greeted her with gush- ing tokens of the most ardent love and affection. Tradition tells that they were accustomed to borrow the " Yankee child" from house to house, that they might in turn welcome her with their caresses and love.

Nine children were the issue of this marriage, five of whom are now (1889) living. Mrs.

Lawrence and one of the children died with the cholera at Monroe in August, 1834. In March, 1836, Mr. Lawrence was married to Mrs. Ophelia B. Hopkins. By the second marriage he had two children, both of whom are dead.

Judge Lawrence died at Monroe April 29, 1843.

Although a lawyer by profession, the sparse population and meager business affairs of the settlement on the Raisin afforded him at first little opportunity for professional practice. American settlers, however, rapidly flowed in, and they brought with them the means and the enterprise which soon changed the business character of the place, and filled the region with an active, intelligent and prosperous pop- ulation. Courts were established and clients were not wanting. He continued to practice law for many years, but he gradually with- drew from it, devoting his time and attention to mercantile and lumber business and to the care o his real estate.

His settlement here was in the days of terri- torial government of Michigan, and when by act of Congress the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan was established, whose members were chosen by popular vote, he was elected a member, and he took his seat in that body June 7, 1824; and by the repeated suf- frages of his constituents he continued a mem- ber of the council until 1831. During all this time he was chairman of the judiciary commit- tee, and one of the most active and influential members of that branch of the local govern- ment. In 1836, after the organization of the State government, he was elected one of the associate justices of the circuit court for the county of Monroe, and he continued to occupy that position until 1839, when, by a change in the judiciary system of the State the office was abolished.

Judge Lawrence was an active and energetic business man, and no one was more efficient or

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more successful than he in the work of building up the new settlements on the River Raisin, or in promoting the general interest and pros- perity both of the Territory and State of Mich- igan. He was, moreover, a kind, generous, affectionate and religious man, whose influence, always most salutary, never ceased to surround him with hosts of ardent friends. Was an elder in the First Presbyterian church from its organization until his death.

JAMES Q. ADAMS

Was born at Keene, New Hampshire, February 16, 1798. He graduated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and afterwards studied law with Michael Sterling. In 1835 he emigrated to Monroe, was admitted to prac- tice, and became the law partner of the Hon. Robert McClelland; was elected prosecuting attorney of Monroe county. For years he held the office of postmaster of the city of Monroe. He was president of the corporation that con- structed and equipped the railroad from Mon- roc to LaPlaisance, and was also president of the River Raisin and LaPlaisance Bay Rail- road Bank. He was a shrewd and successful practitioner. He died in New York City, aged sixty-seven.

ROBERT MCCLELLAND

Was born at Green Castle, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1807. He was the son of an emi- nent physician of that place. He graduated at Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) in 1829; was admitted to the bar at Chambers- burg in 1831, and after practicing there a short time went to Pittsburgh and practiced his profession there for about a year, and then re- moved to Monroe, Michigan, in the summer or fall of 1833. He went into partnership for about two years with James Q. Adams, then in 1835 opened an office and practiced alone and with great success.

He was a member of the constitutional con- vention of Michigan in 1835; a member of the State legislature in 1838, 1840 and 1843, and Speaker of the House in the latter year (and the Michigan legislature never had a more accomplished Speaker); a member of Congress for three successive terms (Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Congresses), from 1843 to 1849; member of the constitutional

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History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 41

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York, Munsell & company Number of Pages: 882

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882