USA > Michigan > Montcalm County > History of Montcalm County, Michigan its people, industries and institutions...with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families Volume I > Part 25
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LOCATING SOME OF THE EARLY ROADS.
The Montcalm and Gratiot road from Hubbardston, north on the line of Montcalm and Gratiot counties to the north line of said counties, was established by an act approved March 18, 1865. The Eaton, Ionia and Clinton road, from a line between Roxana and Oneida to the township of Portland, was established by an act of March 18. 1865, and S. W. Moyer, David Taylor and Benjamin Seldon were named as commissioners. By the
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same act a road was established whose route extended from the geographi- cal center of Montcalm county ( Stanton). to the southwest corner of town- ship IT north, range 10 west ( Pierson ). and Hiram Rossman was appointed commissioner.
In 1867 a large extent of state swamp lands was granted to aid in the construction of roads already mentioned. The last state road established during that period in Montcalm county is the one known as the Greenville and Bloomer road. the provisions for its construction having been approved on May 23. 1879.
The minutes of the board of supervisors of Montcalm county show that the first money voted by the supervisors for building a bridge in the county was appropriated on October 14, 1851. At that time one hundred dollars was appropriated to build a bridge over Flat river on the section line between sections 10 and 15. in Eureka township. On April 11. 1853. the county board of supervisors voted to raise one hundred dollars for a bridge over Fish creek, on or near section 26. in Bushnell township, and also appropriated twenty-five dollars to build a bridge over Flat river near 11. Rutan's saw-mill in the town of Eureka.
On April 10. 1855. the supervisors voted to raise fifty dollars to defray the expenses of the surveyor and the survey of the state road which was to be built by authority of the state from Greenville to the falls of the Muskegon river.
The first road, or rather the first opening in the forest, of Bushnell township, led from Palo northward to the saw-mill in Evergreen township. It was completed gradually. It led past the farm of Joseph Stevens and that of James Bacon, and was constructed the greater part of the distance through the township during the year 1840. Soon afterward the road was underbrushed in the east part of the township, and part of the way on the line between Bushnell and Bloomer townships.
AROUSING INTEREST IN GOOD ROADS.
From July 29 10 31. 1902. a "good roads exposition," under the aus- pices of the American Commission. the Montcalm County Road Makers and the United States office of public roads, was held at Greenville. At this exposition there was exhibited the most modern good-roads machinery for building and repairing roads. At this meeting addresses were delivered by Hon. Martin Dodge, director of public roads; Frank P. Rogers, con- sulting engineer of the Michigan highway commission: W. L. Dickinson,
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president of the Connecticut Valley Highways Association; Senator H. S. Farle and others. Governor Bliss was also one of the speakers.
During the meeting of the Greenville Good Roads Association, a strip of road one-half mile in length was built north of Greenville. One-half of the road was on a gravel surface but the other half was on sand. Both por- tions stood well the test of the weather. The strip built of crushed stone became as hard as cement and was free from water. It cost at the rate of four hundred dollars a mile. Writing in the Stanton Weekly Clipper. December 6, 1902. Dr. A. W. Nichols, pointed out some pertinent facts with regard to road building in Montcalm county.
"One outfit, at the rate they built the road north of Greenville," said Doctor Nichols, "could build sixteen miles each year, or fifty miles with three outfits, or two hundred miles in four years. Four running north and south and four running east and west would cover the principal roads of the county. This could be done in four years, so in ten years at this rate there ought not to be a foot of unimproved road in the county."
Unfortunately, the progress toward building improved roads was not as rapid as Doctor Nichols hoped. but the agitation of 1902 was really a lanchinark in the history of road building in Montcalm county. The agita- tion has never died out and the sentiment for better roads in the county is more active today than ever. The advent of the automobile, or rather the popularization of this mode of travel, especially among the farmers of the county, has had much to do with this growing sentiment. Montcalm county has many splendid roads today. The main-traveled thoroughfares, espe- cially those used by motorists, are as follows: From Tonia northwest to Belding, through Greenville and north to Lakeview: from a point just south of Correction, west to Pierson and south to Cedar Springs in Kent county : from Greenville southwest to Grand Rapids in Kent county; from Tonia. in Tonia county. north through Sheridan and Stanton to the Midland and Lakeview road at the boundaries of Mecosta and Isabella counties and from Stanton due east to the Gratiot county line and thence northeast to Alma.
STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION.
An act of the Michigan state Legislature, creating the office of state higliway commissioner. was an important event in the good-roads move- ment of this state. In 1909 the road laws were consolidated in a preten- tious act of twenty-four chapters, creating a state highway department charged "with the giving of instruction in the art of building, improving
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and repairing public wagon roads and bridges, collecting reports from town- ship and county highway commissioners, overseers of highways and super- intendents and commissioners of streets in villages and cities, and with the distribution of any state reward for improving the public wagon roads. that this Legislature or any future session may provide for, or any funds that may be given to the state for such purposes by the United States gov- ernment."
An important feature of this act is the section which provides that the state highway commissioner may "refuse to grant any further road reward to any township or county that has been rewarded by the state for improv- ing roads. that does not keep these state-rewarded roads in proper repair."
This same act also provides that a county may elect whether it will operate under the "township" or the "county" road system, and separate machinery is provided for the administration of each system. Although there was some sentiment favoring the "county" system in Montcalm county. the proposition has never been submitted to the people for direct vote, as required by the consolidated act. and the county has continued to operate under the "township" system.
On June 15. 1911. the Greenville Good Roads Association was organ- ized for the purpose of aiding in the construction of good roads leading into the city of Greenville. The directors for the first year, named in the articles of incorporation, were C. C. Larke. P. D. Edsall, H. H. Decker. J. C. New- brough. F. A. Johnson. C. W. Riley. H. S. Jaconson. C. IT. Gibson and Ray S. Cowin.
INTERNAL. IMPROVEMENT, SCHEME.
Very soon after Michigan emerged from a condition of a territory to assume that of a sovereign state, and even before its admission as a mem- ber of the Union, measures were originated having for their object the adoption by the state of a comprehensive system of public improvements ; and in pursuance of this plan the Legislature, at the session of 1837. passed an act (approved March 20). "to provide for the construction of certain works of internal improvement, and for other purposes," by which the board of commissioners of internal improvements in the state was authorized and directed. "as soon as may be to cause surveys to be made for three several railroad routes across the peninsula of Michigan, the first of said routes to commence at Detroit. in the county of Wayne, and to terminate at the mouth of St. Joseph river, in the county of Berrien, to be denominated the Central railroad; the second of said routes to commence at the navigable
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waters of the river Raisin, passing through the village of Berrien county, and to be denominated the Southern railroad; the third of said routes to commence at Palmer, or at or near the mouth of Black river, in the county of St. Clair, and to terminate at the navigable waters of Grand river, in the county of Kent or on Lake Michigan, in the county of Ottawa, to be denominated the Northern railroad; which roads shall be located on the most eligible and direct routes between the termini above mentioned." It was provided by the same act. "that the sum of five hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated, to be taken from any moneys which shall hereafter come into the treasury of this state to the credit of the fund for internal improvements, for the survey and making of the three railroads mentioned in the first section of this act, as follow : For the Southern railroad, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars; for the Central railroad. the sum of four hundred thousand dollars, and for the Northern railroad, the sum of fifty thousand dollars."
The state board of internal improvement, acting under the provisions of this act. caused the surveys to be made without unnecessary delay. The routes thus surveyed for the Central railroad and the Southern railroad were, excepting the western portion, substantially the same as those of the Michigan Central and Michigan Southern railroad of the present. The Northern railroad route was surveyed and located to run from the St. Clair river by way of Lapeer and Flint River village, now Flint city, nearly due west to the Big Rapids of the Shiawassee. now the city of Owosso; thence through Owosso and Middlebury townships in Shiawassee county, and west- wardly in the same tier of townships through Clinton county (passing through the southern part of the present corporation limits of St. John's) to Lyons, in Tonia county, and from there westward to Lake Michigan at the mouth of Grand river. a distance of two hundred and one miles. This was the first survey made for railroad purposes near Montcalm county. The work was done by Tracy McCracken, chief engineer of the road, and his assistants under supervision of Commissioner James B. Hunt, who had been placed in charge of the survey by the board of internal improvement.
WORK STARTED ON THE FIRST RAILROAD.
In 1838 contracts were let for clearing and grubbing that portion of the line between its eastern terminus and Lyons, Ionia county, a distance of about one hundred and thirty miles. The contract for the section extend- ing from Lyons to the line between ranges 2 and 3 east, near the center of Shiawassee county, was awarded to A. L. and B. O. Williams, of Owosso.
(18)
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The section joining this and extending eastward across the remainder of Shiawassee county, was taken by A. H. Veach & Company, of Flint. The next section eastward was awarded to Gen. Charles C. Hascall, of Flint. Twenty miles of the section east of Lyons was sublet by the Williams Brothers to Messrs. Moore & Kipp at about two hundred and fifty dollars per mile. The specifications required the grubbing of a central strip twenty feet wide, and the clearing of a breadth of twenty feet on either side of this strip. Outside these clearings, on both sides, "slashings" were to be made, each twenty feet in width, making a total breadth of one hundred feet. The work of clearing the route was commenced in the fall of 1838. and by the Ist of September. following. it was completed in all the sections between Lyons and Port Huron, except about three miles in Shiawassee county, east of Owosso, and seventeen miles east of Lapeer.
Contracts for grading some parts of the line were made in the fall of 1838, among these being that of a ten-mile section eastward from Lyons. to B. O. Williams and Daniel Ball, of Owosso. The work of grading was commenced on the contracted sections in January. 1893. and was prosecuted till the following July. "The contractors then stated." said the chief engi- neer, in his report dated December 7. 1839. "that unless they were paid punctually they could not proceed with their work. I then informed then. in accordance with my instructions, that if they continued to work their estimates would, as usual, be made monthly, but that it was probable that they would only be paid in treasury orders, which would be payable out of any moneys received into the treasury to the credit of the internal improve- ment fund. The contracts for grading were then abandoned immediately. but those for clearing and grubbing, which were not then finished, have since been completed." In regard to these contracts for grubbing and clear- ing, the chief engineer said . "It may not be improper for me to state that it is probable that many of the contracts upon this road were let to those who considered that they were to be benefited by its speedy completion, and. in consequence bid so low that they have lost money in the prosecution of the works assigned them." This remark of the engineer was probably as applicable to the grading contracts as to those made for clearing the line. It is certain, at all events. that those who took the latter class of contracts found them to be decidedly unprofitable.
The last of the appropriations by the Legislature for the construction of the Northern railroad was one of forty thousand dollars made by act approved on April 20, 1839. making the total amount appropriated for the
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enterprise one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Of this there was expended upon the line in surveys, clearing and construction, the following amounts, namely : 1837, $8.226.25; 1838, $12,772.44; 1839, $39.122.09; total, $60,120.78.
FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.
These figures show that at the close of operations in 1839 there remained of the amount of appropriations made for this northern line of railroads, an unexpended balance of $89,879.22. In view of this fact, it might be regarded as strange that with this large balance remaining, the work should have so suddenly been brought to a close; but it must be remembered that the figures indicating the unexpended balance did not rep- resent a corresponding amount of ready cash on hand and immediately available. The extracts already given from the chief engineer's report fully explain the reason why the contractors abandoned their jobs in the summer of 1839, and it only remains to say that the construction of the Northern railroad, being suspended at that time, was never resumed. Today, how- ever, the proposed route of the Northern railway is generally covered by the lines of the Grand Trunk system.
Soon after this, the financial embarrassments of the state caused a feel- ing to spread among the people and their representatives that the adoption of so extensive a plan of internal improvements had been premature, to say the least; and the result of this growing sentiment was the restriction of appropriations to such works as returned, or could easily be made to return. the interest on their cost. Accordingly, further aid was withheld, except to the Central and Southern lines, then in partial operation, and finally, in 1841, all idea of the construction of the Northern railroad as a state work was abandoned, and the Legislature passed "an act relative to the appro- priation upon the Northern railroad." which recited in its preamble that "it is thought impolitic under the present embarrassments of the state, to make at present further expenditures on said road for the purpose of a railroad;" that "a large amount has been expended in chopping, grubbing and clearing said road, which. if left in its present condition can be of no interest to the people of the north:" and that "it is the united wish and request of the people in the vicinity of said road that the same should for the present be converted into a turnpike or wagon road, and thus open an important thoroughfare through the center of the tier of counties through which the said road passes, and thereby render the money heretofore expended on
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said road available to the best interest of the people in the northern section of the state."
It was therefore enacted that the commissioners of internal improve- ment be directed to expend thirty thousand dollars of the unexpended bal- ance of the moneys which had been appropriated for the Northern railroad "for bridges, clearing and grading said road, or so much of it as the said commissioners shall judge will be most beneficial to the inhabitants and public in the section of the country through which the same passes, so as to make a good passable wagon road."
RIGHT-OF-WAY CHANGED TO A WAGON ROAD.
On March 9, 1843, an act was approved "to authorize the construction of a wagon road on the line of the Northern railroad," and ordering the application and appropriation for that purpose of all the non-resident high- way taxes for a distance of three miles on either side of the line, to be expended under the superintendence of a special commissioner to be appointed for each of the counties of St. Clair, Lapeer, Genesee, Shiawas- see, Clinton and Ionia. The act was repealed in 1846, but in the following year another act was passed "to provide for the construction and improve- ment of the Northern wagon road from Port Huron, in the county of St. Clair, through the counties of Lapeer and Genesee, to Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee," and appropriating "twenty thousand acres of inter- nal improvement lands" for the purpose.
To carry its provisions into effect the governor of the state was author- ized to appoint a special commissioner, and he did so appoint to that com- mission the Hon. Alvin M. Hart, of Lapeer. Still another act was passed, in 1849, appointing Lewis S. Tyler. Albert Miller and Henry Hunt as com- missioners, "with power to re-locate, upon the most eligible ground, the Northern wagon road from the village of Flint, in the county of Genesee, to the village of Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee."
The result of all the laws passed and appropriations made for the con- struction of the Northern railroad and Northern wagon road was the clear- ing of the route of the former, as before mentioned, and the grading or partial grading, of parts of the route into an indifferent wagon road, which never proved to be of much practical advantage to the country west of the western borders of Shiawassee county. This history is given more or less in detail because it deals with a period of development in which Montcalm
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county was directly interested, even though it never derived much profit from the proposals.
PRESENT RAILROAD SYSTEMS.
At the present time three main railroad systems cross Montcalm county, namely, the Grand Trunk, the Grand Rapids & Indiana and the Pere Mar- quette.
The Grand Trunk lines in Montcalm county include that portion of the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Railway Company crossing the county and passing through Greenville, Sheridan and Carson City. Altogether, there are about twenty-five miles of main trackage. The Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon Railway Company, which was chartered January 25, 1886, under the laws of the state of Michigan, is controlled by the Grand Trunk through the ownership of its entire capital stock by the shareholders of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada. The total length of the Toledo, Saginaw & Muskegon, from AAshley to Muskegon, is 95.91 miles, but it also has trackage rights over the Ann Arbor railroad, from Ashley to Owosso Junction, a distance of 20.5 miles. The company owns one passenger car, two baggage cars, ten box and fourteen flat cars and five service cars. The capital stock of the road amounts to $1,600,000 and the funded debt to $1,662,000. In 1913 the road had an operating deficit of $57,739.
In Montcalm county the Grand Trunk has a junction with the Howard City-Tonia branch of the Pere Marquette and also the Stanton-Greenville branch of the Pere Marquette at Greenville. At Sheridan it has a junction with the Stanton-Tonia branch of the Pere Marquette. Stations on the Grand Trunk in Montcalm county, beginning at the west line of the county and in order, are Greenville. Millers, Sheridan, Bushnell. Vickeryville, But- ternut and Carson City.
GRAND RAPIDS & INDIANA RAILROAD. 1
The Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, which extends from Richmond, Indiana, through Ft. Wayne, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids to Traverse City and beyond to Petoskey and Mackinaw City, passes through the extreme western part of Montcalm county with the stations of Pierson, Hiram, Maple Hill. Howard City and Reynolds, in Montcalm county. How- ard City is the most important point on this railroad in Montcalm county.
The Grand Rapids & Indiana railway was opened from Ft. Wayne to Sturgis, Michigan, June 22, 1870: to Kalamazoo, September, 1870; to
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Grand Rapids, October, 1870; from Grand Rapids to Cedar Springs, Decem- ber 23, 1867; to Morley, June 21, 1869; to Paris, August 12, 1870; to Clam lake ( Cadillac ), December, 1871 ; to Fife Lake, September, 1872; to Petos- key, May, 1874.
The Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway Company is controlled by the Pennsylvania Railway Company, but is operated by its own organization. On December 31. 1912, the total mileage operated amounted to 577.73, including 421.75 miles owned. 148.48 miles operated and trackage rights of 7.5 miles. The mileage of the company in Montcalm county is 12.5. The present company was chartered in July, 1896, under the laws of Michigan and Indiana to take over the property of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Rail- road Company, which was sold under foreclosure of the second mortgage on June 10, 1896. The property was transferred to the new company on August 1. 1896. The present company owns practically the entire capital stock and all the income bonds of the Traverse City Railroad Company. and also owns a one-third interest in the Mackinaw Transportation Company. Furthermore, the company owns seventy-five thousand dollars of the bonds and twenty-five per cent. of the capital stock of the Traverse City, Leelanau & Manistique Railroad Company. For many years the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway Company was a one-sixth owner of the capital stock of the Mackinaw Island Hotel Company. but in 1909 this interest was sold for twenty-three acres of valuable land adjoining the hotel.
The capital stock of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railway Company is $5.791.700, of which the Pennsylvania Railway Company owns $2.965.900. The funded debts amounts to $10. 125.000, but this does not include the capital and funded debt of underlying companies.
PERE MARQUETTE RAILROAD.
The Pere Marquette Railroad Company, which operates a greater mileage in Montcalm county than any other system, operates a line from Ionia to Howard City, where it connects with the Grand Rapids & Indiana, through Greenville, North Greenville. Gowen, Trufant and Coral, in Mont- calm county : a line from Howard City to Saginaw, passing through Amble, Lakeview, Six Lakes. Edmore and Vestaburg; a line from Greenville, through Moeller and Sidney to Stanton, and the line from Haynor, just north of Tonia. through Fenwick, Sheridan. Colby, Stanton, McBride, Edmore and Wyman, in Montcalm county, to Big Rapids, in Mecosta county.
The Detroit & Howell Railroad Company and the Howell & Lansing
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Railroad Company were first consolidated, forming the Detroit, Howell & Lansing Railroad Company. These companies were organized by local interests on the line between Detroit and Lansing, to construct a road con- necting the above points. Local aid was secured and a large part of the road between Plymouth and Howell was graded, but no track laid. Entrance to the city of Detroit, with right of way down Fourth street and property on the corner of Fourth street and Grand River avenue for location of ter- minals was secured. Afterward the stock of the Detroit, Howell & Lans- ing road was purchased by the Hon. James F. Joy, then president of the Michigan Central railroad and his associates, and the main line was deflected to connect with that road at West Detroit; the right of way down Fourth street was abandoned and the property near the corner of Fourth and Grand River was sold.
OTHER RAILROAD COMPANIES.
The lonia & Lansing Railroad Company was organized by Lansing, lonia, Portland and other local districts along the line, and the road was constructed from Lansing to Ionia; opened in December, 1869, and extended to Greenville in September, 1870. The road was sold to James F. Joy and his associates in 1870, and consolidated with the Detroit, Howell & Lansing railroad in that year, forming the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan Rail- road Company. That part of the road from Detroit to Howard City, of the Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan railroad, except the part between Lans- ing and Greenville, was constructed in 1871, and opened for business in the month of August. that year.
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