USA > Michigan > Muskegon County > History of Muskegon County, Michigan: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
The fourth mill is that of the Ducey Lumber Company, an in- corporation with P. A. Ducey, President; E. C. Misner, Secretary and Treasurer; Jas. Lynch, Manager, and L. A. Arms, of Chicago, as one of the stockholders. The mill was erected in 1880-81 at a cost of $40,000, has one circular, and gang with lath attachment. The cut was last year 20,000,000 feet.
The fifth is the "big mill" of Torrent & Arms Lumber Company, a two circular and gang mill with lath attachment. Mills were erected here many years ago, but have been three times burned, and the present mill was erected in 1877, and this winter thoroughly re- fitted. Its average cut is claimed to be the heaviest on the lake, and was last season 207,000 feet a day. It is operated by an incorpora- tion with John Torrent, President; P. A. Ducey, Treasurer; and L. A. Arms, Secretary. It has all modern improvements, steam feed,
28
HISTORY OF MUSKEGON COUNTY. .
Torrents's log carrier, patent edger, etc. There is nothing in the way of improvement which escapes the vigilant eye of Mr. Torrent, and which he is not ready to adopt. In Torrent & Arms' mill the officers are: R. O'Harrow, 1st foreman; Wm. Pett, 2nd foreman; Wm. Harper, engineer; S. M. Craft, circular saw filer; E. P. Cran- dall, gang filer; Miles Standish, time keeper and yard man; Albert Waldron, book-keeper; R. J. McDonald, secretary; store managed by Jno. Garvey, Jr. The mill requires about one hundred men to operate it, and on the monthly pay roll are one hundred and fifty names.
Now here is the spot where Mr. Torrent intends to bore for salt in a few weeks, and if there is a man who will fight it out on the line to China all summer, he is the one to undertake the job. Near the mill stand two large engine rooms, one with five boilers in it will be used for testing for salt.
Near the mill are the North Muskegon Iron works, John Tor- rent proprietor, J. A. Poll manager. The shop was built in August, last, and is for mill work and general machinery, and is intended to be a great affair. The orders for work are far ahead of its present capacity, and it will supply a much felt want in this community. The North Muskegon Iron Works are yet in their infancy.
The sixth mill is that of Torrent, Brown & Co., a one circular, "shingle mill, with a daily cutting capacity of 300,000 shingles, cut- ting for shingles in day time, and at night cutting lumber; this year it cut about 12,000,000 feet. It has two double block and one hand machine, one hundred and thirty men on monthly pay roll. It was first operated in the spring of 1880, and is under a corporation con- sisting of W. H. Brown, John Torrent, W. A. Doherty and L. A Arms.
Near the mill are the Peninsula Box Manufacturing Company's works, which are owned by the Messrs. F. S. Farr and S. H. Servoss, the latter being manager.
The seventh mill, that of the Farr Lumber Company, was re- built in 1875, and is a corporate affair with Freeman S. Farr as President, Geo. D. Farr, Secretary, and Mrs. Adeline Eldred as one of the stockholders. The mill is a duplicate of the Ducey Mill, being a one circular, with lath mill, and cut last season, running night and day, 17,000,000 feet. It has the electric light. Near this is a complete machine and repair shop with Joshua Evered as Manager, owned by the Farr Company.
Close by is the eighth mill, of Douglass M. Storrs, lumberman, at North Muskegon, who has been engaged in the lumber business since 1871, In 1872 the firm of Storrs & Farr built a mill on the site where the Storrs' mill now stands; that mill was burned in 1875. The firm of Storrs & Farr was dissolved in 1875, and since that time Mr. Storrs has operated alone. He built his present mill in 1879. Its cut in 1881 was 16,000,000 feet. His business gives employment to about forty-five men.
Not far from this is the "French Mill," a co-partnership affair between Charles Beaudry, L. M. Haines, and J. B. Champagne. It is a one circular and gang mill, the gang being put in last July, and cuts about 100,000 feet a day. It was an old mill but almost re- built last year, and is a valuable mill.
So far we have described nine great mills, and have only passed over three-quarters of a mile of the shore.
Next, after passing over a mile and a quarter, we come to the new mill of the North Muskegon Lumber Company, a corporation with Charles Ruddiman, W. B. Mclaughlin and F. S. Farr, as shareholders. The mill has one circular and gang (which is just being put in), and was operated first in 1881; it is a fine mill, and is intended to cut 100,000 feet a day. There is quite a village grow- ing up here at the foot of Bear Lake.
Another half mile brings us to the old Gale mill, also called
the Odell mill, which was burned and rebuilt last year, having a cut- ting capacity of 60,000 feet. The proprietors are R. J. Millen and David Swarthout. This mill was also operated by Torrent & Ducey about ten years ago.
Still further westward we find a new mill in course of erection by Mr. Samuel W. Odell, a one circular mill, which will add its music to the mighty saw mill chorus this season.
Still further down, and situated on a bayou running out to the northwest corner of the lake is the great "Bay Mill" of Ryerson, Hills & Co., the pioneers of lumber on the Muskegon. Mr. Marshall Lloyd, whose fine residence stands on the top of the sand bluff over- looking the great lake, is manager; and Hugh Cleghorn, formerly of the water works, is engineer. This is a mill admirably managed, and one of the largest calibre.
HISTORY OF LOG BOOMING.
In 1847-8 the river first began to be looked to as the indispen- sable source of logs, although they had been brought down for seven or eight years before. Previous to this the logs had been got within easy hauling distance of the lake. At first there was no general system of driving down the logs, but each owner or mill-man made the best arrangement he could. They gathered up the logs with the aid of skiffs or canoes, to the head of the marsh, and then poled them down through the channels to the lake and then along shore to their respective mills.
As business extended and mills increased in number and capac- ity, a better system was demanded, and it became the custom to de- liver the logs at the Flats, seven to ten miles up the river. The logs then all came from this side of Big Rapids, and the loggers had an understanding that when the time for driving came, each should furnish his fair quota of men to do the work, and it was managed for a time on this communistic principle. This continued until 1852 when a voluntary organization was formed called "The Log and Mill Owners' Association," supported by assessment according to the value of the logs of each. The work was entrusted to a committee of three, the first of whom were Major Chauncey Davis, Robert W. Morris and John Ruddiman, the first being secretary and treasurer. The business was now managed with less expense, the cost being from fifteen to twenty cents per thousand feet. This arrangement continued until 1855, when an act was passed in the Legislature authorizing the incorporation of companies for driving, rafting and booming of logs, and under this law the
LUMBERMEN'S ASSOCIATION
was organized and incorporated, with Alvah Trowbridge as its first president. This existed until 1864, and did valuable assistance in developing the lumber interest, but it did not fully answer the pur- pose required, and was not a financial success.
Until 1860, when Ashley B. Furman and George Arms took the job of rafting and towing the logs to the various mills, each mill owner attended to that branch as well as he could. In 1850 John Ruddiman used a scow with sails; next year George Ruddiman had the scow Rattlesnake fitted with a steam wheel driven by a small engine, which propelled three or four miles an hour with a raft of three or four hundred logs. About 1853 Ryerson & Morris brought the Algoma here. It was 100x16 feet and drew eighteen or twenty inches of water, and finally went into the hands of the Booming Company. The old hull not long ago lay at the mouth of Bear Lake.
In 1859 an act was passed by the Legislature appropriating $50,000 for the improvement of Muskegon River, the improvement chiefly contemplated being the cutting of a channel through the
STAPLES & COVELL'S MILL, WHITEHALL, MICH .
29
HISTORY OF MUSKEGON COUNTY.
Flats. Chauncey Davis, E. W. Merrill and A. B. Watson, of Grand Rapids, were appointed commissioners, and as John A. Brooks was the contractor, the channel is known as Brooks' Improvement. To get money to go on with his contract Brooks assigned it to William Beard, who then sub-let to Brooks and furnished the funds. The "Beard Claim" of $25,000 was for years urged in the Legislature against the State. This work was commenced in 1858 and finished in 1859, and has been of great benefit to the city.
THE MUSKEGON BOOMING COMPANY
was incorporated in 1864, under act of the Legislature, passed that year; capital at first $40,000, since increased to $200,000. The first officers were, for Directors: C. Davis, S. A. Brown, C. D. Nel- son, M. Ryerson, J. H. Hackley, R. P. Easton and Lyman G. Mason, of whom C. Davis was President, C. D. Nelson, Secretary and J. H. Hackley, Treasurer. Since this time the office of rafting, driving and delivering the logs has given satisfaction to all the mill owners, and profit to the Booming Company.
At first the company let out the "Drive" to the lowest bidder, and let it for one year to Odell & Orton, and for the next three years to A. F. & J. H. Orton; L. G. Mason had it for the next three years, after which Mason & Pingree had it for three years more. Since that time the Company has managed the business through its own employes.
The following is a statement of logs delivered at the different mills each year by the company since its organization :
YEAR.
FEET.
YEAR.
FEET.
1864
96,045,814
1873
376,035,037
1865.
.108,505,700
1874
224.571,527
1866
157,468,300
1875 .309,638,418
1867
288,502.200
1876 .290,525,919
1868
.213,692,600
1877 .312,285,951
1869
.267,789,900
1878 .340,990,055
1870
.198,862,600
1879
432,431,679
1871
250,000,000
1880
436,675,446
1872
.315,000,000
1881
.565,846,557
Grand Total 5,184,867,703
The above figures indicate a steady increase of the business for the company, and also the rapid growth of lumbering operations in Western Michigan during the past nine years.
The following is the list of directors and officers for 1882:
Directors-C. H. Hackley, Geo. F. Peaks, N. McGraft, L. G. Mason, J. W. Moon, Wm. McKillip and A. F. Beidler.
The Directors elected the following officers: President, N. McGraft; Secretary, Geo. F. Peaks; Treasurer, C. H. Hackley.
WHITE LAKE SAW MILLS.
The next point of importance in the county, as far as lumber- ing is concerned, is White Lake, a beautiful sheet of pure and limpid water, affording a fine harbor for steamboats, vessels and log , fleets, of which several firms of wealth have taken advantage, and erected a goodly number of fine mills on both shores, making a nucleus around which have been built up two enterprising, pretty villages, called Whitehall on the south, and Montague, on the north side, at the head of the lake, connected by a permanent bridge, having a railroad running through them on its way to Pentwater.
The following sketch, published by Mr. I. M. Weston in 1876, in. The Montague Lumberman, will, doubtless, prove interesting reading :
" The first saw mill venture on the Lake was by Hon. Chas. Mears, now of Chicago, in April, 1837, when he left Paw Paw in a small clinker-built skiff, accompanied by his brother Albert, then a
boy of fifteen, and two other men named Herrick and True, bound for White Lake, of which he had heard when at Muskegon the year before. They went down the river to St. Joseph and fol- lowed the beach to the mouth of White Lake. The trip was a rough one, lasting nearly two weeks, on account of bad weather, during which they repeatedly capsized, and ran short of provisions before reaching Grand River, but in the early part of May made White River in safety. On the north of the old channel they found two men holding a claim for Hiram Pearson, of Chicago. On the flat, near where the Lighthouse now stands, Wabaningo's band of half a dozen Indian families of the Ottawa tribe had cleared a small piece of ground, on which they cultivated corn. They camped the first night at the Mouth, and next day stopped for noon at Burying-Ground Point, just above Whitehall, where they found a band of Indian's eating dinner. The pioneers received a cordial invitation to partake, but as the bill of fare consisted of ducks' eggs, some sound, some questionable, some in the poultry stage of exist- ence, with a large roasted black snake for dessert, the offer was politely declined. That night they made for the mouth of Silver Creek, four miles above Whitehall, where the old Dalton mill now stands. They continued up the river for three days, to the rapids above J. D. Stebbins' farm, when they returned to the mouth of Silver Creek and decided to locate there. On the opposite side of the river, near the old Chas. Johnson place, was a small log cabin, where Frenchmen came once or twice a year to trade with the Indians.
" Albert Mears felled the first tree, and within two weeks a cabin 16x20 feet had been built of split logs, and a small piece of ground cleared, when Charles started on foot to Paw Paw to get castings for the mill. Soon after True proved ' untrue' by skipping out one night after stealing the stock of bread on hand, leaving Albert and Mr. Herrick alone. At the end of two months their pro- visions were exhausted, and, having heard nothing of Charles, they packed up their traps, got in the skiff, and started for Paw Paw. At Grand Haven Albert, thinking he had had enough of hardships, left Herrick and got a schooner for St. Joseph. Chas. Mears and Herrick returned that Fall to White Lake with the necessary cast- ings for a water saw mill, which they decided to build where A. M. Thompson's mill stood, and which is now Wilcox's. Early in 1838 the mill commenced sawing clap-boards, or siding, eight feet long, with a circular saw, and a few years after an upright was put in. Soon after the completion of the mill Mr. Mears built the schooner Ranger, carrying 15,000 feet, and which was the first registered craft to enter the Lake. Albert Mears returned in 1842, but again went away and did not return until 1861, and has remained ever since, residing next to the store which he purchased from his brother.
" In 1846 C. Mears built the Duck Lake water mill, and among the men in his employ previous to 1850 were Zerah Mizner, of Whitehall, and T. J. Stannage, and the Sargents of Montague.
" In 1844 Capt. James Dalton, Jr., came to White Lake on his way to Manistee, and stopped at Mears' mill. One of the men ferried him over the lake to a point near Cook's mill, where he took the trail for Manistee, but had not gone seven miles when he de- cided to go back to where Montague now stands. Some Indians ferried him over and told him of Silver Creek, at which, after look- ing over, he decided to settle.
" In the year following, with his brothers, he put a water mill in operation, which was run by Dalton & Menges until the death of the latter in September, 1881. His enterprise was opposed by C. Mears, who did not think there was pine enough for two mills.
" In 1814 a Mr. Hulbert and his sons came to White River from Grand Rapids, and commenced boring for salt about twelve
ยท
30
HISTORY OF MUSKEGON COUNTY.
miles up the river. Failing in this they built a saw mill seven miles above Montague, which was afterwards known as the I. E. Carleton mill, to whom it was sold, and who operated it until his death, in 1871. The mill is all gone to decay.
" About the same time a small water mill was built on Sand Creek, near Carleton's, and operated until about 1868.
" The first steam saw mill on the Lake was built at the Mouth in 1850 by Rev. Wm. M. Ferry, of Grand Haven. Scott & Steb- bins ran it by the thousand for several years. Afterwards Major Noah H. Ferry operated it until his death, at Gettysburg, in 1863. Geo. E. Dowling, W. H. Woodbury, and others, assisted him in the management, and in 1863 it was sold to Heald, Avery & Co., who afterwards consolidated it with their present mill.
" In the fall of 1855 James Jewell, father-in-law of G. W. Franklin and I. E. Carleton, built the steam saw mill at Maple Grove, and in 1860 it was purchased by Heald, Avery & Co.
" In the spring of 1855 Rodgers & Hill built the Long Point saw mill, and sold it to Luscombe & Pierce in 1859. In 1871 it was purchased by I. M. & B. F. Weston, and afterwards sold to J. W. Norton, Major Green & Weston, now owned by Hafer & Weston.
" G. A. Rogers built the Cone mill in 1857, and it has since been owned by Rathburn & Cone, Cone & O'Brien, H. B. Cone & Sons, Green & Co., Green, Kelsey & Co., and now by Capt. James Dalton.
" The old Staples & Covell mill was erected by Mr. Whittaker and Moses Hall in 1856, sold to Thompson & Covell, then to Wm. Weston, Hinchman & Covell, and then to Staples & Covell, who tore it down in 1875, and erected their new mill not far from the site of the old.
" No additional mills were erected until 1865, when the lum- bering business revived and the following were erected :
" Ferry, Dowling & Co. built their large red saw mill in Mon- tague.
" Lewis & Carless built, in Whitehall, a mill which passed through the hands of Lewis & Hopkins, Franklin & Lewis, Lewis & Covell, until it passed into the hands of its present owners, A. J. & C. E. Covell.
" Parks, Leitch & Co., afterwards W. H. Parks & Son, put up one which was sold to Fischer & Keller. This mill was burned down a second time in 1875, and has not been rebuilt.
"In 1866 the shingle mills of Ferry, Dowling & Co. and D. C. Bowen & Co., and Johnson & Miller, Whitehall, were erected.
" The same year Hedges & Terry built a saw mill in Whitehall, which was afterwards owned by Hedges Bros., Bowen & Burrows, and by A. B. Bowen & Co. It was burned in 1877 and not rebuilt. It stood between Nufer's and Covell's mills.
" In 1867 Dalton Bros. built their steam saw mill in Montague, on the site of the new mill of Smith & Field, erected in 1880.
"The same year Cook & Pettis moved from Hesperia the mill now run by C. H. Cook.
" The Hornellsville Lumber Company also built their New York mill in Whitehall that year, and in 1870 sold to Weston, Smith & Co., who sold it to the present owners, J. Alley & Co.
" In 1868 Geddes & Co. built a saw mill where R W. Norris' mill now stands, but the machinery was taken out a few years later and the site sold to N. V. Booth, who erected there the Norris shingle mill.
" F. H. White & Co., in 1872, erected a saw mill near Ferry & Co.'s, in Montague, and Covell, Nufer & Co., now Covell, Ocobock & Co. erected their shingle mill in 1875.
" This makes a total of eleven saw mills and five shingle mills, capable of cutting 100,000,000 feet of logs in a season."
THE SAWMILLS IN 1882.
The sawmills of White Lake are in 1882, commencing at the head of the lake on the Whitehall side and making a circuit: Sta- ples & Covell, circular gang edger and lath mills, the Whitehall Manufacturing Co., (late Covell, Ocobock & Co's.) shingle and plan- ing, and sash and door mill, R. W. Norris's shingle and planing and sash and door mill, capacity over 50,000 shingles a day; Johnson (Chas.) & Miller's shingle mill, capacity 55,000 a day; Mr. Miller is of Racine, Wis. Linderman's shingle mill and heading and stave mill (late Linderman, Hewes & Ames,) Nufer & Carleton's large shingle mill, capacity 125,000 to 150,000 a day; A. J. & C. E. Covell's one circular and gang edger mill, lath mill attach- ments. This is one of the best managed mills on the lake, cut about 12,000,000 feet. After passing the Eagle tannery, an exten- sive institution, one comes next to what was known as the "New York Mill," now that of Charles Alley & Co., a fine mill with cir- cular and gang edger, cutting about 50,000 a day. Mr. Philip Van Keuren has lately purchased the interest of James Alley, of Hornells- ville, N. Y. The Wilcox Lumber Co., is the next mill and the lat- est on the lake, being near the site of the old watermill. It is an extensive and complete affair. Capt. Dalton's mill on the south- west corner of the lake has lately been moved to the northern pe- ninsula. Coming up on the north side of the lake we find first at Long Point, Weston & Hafer's mill, next the neat little mill of Smith & Field, then C. H. Cooks's circular and gang edger and lath mill; then the largest mill on the lake, that of Heald, Murphy & Crepin, which has a circular, an upright, and a gang of about forty saws, cutting 125,000 feet daily. Next is F. H. White's one circu- lar mill, and lastly the extensive mill of Ferry, Dowling & Co., at the head of the lake on the Montague side.
Staples & Covell's mill was erected in 1874-5, the main build- ing being 30x120, and 2 stories in height, with 12 feet ceiling. It has one circular and top saw, one gang edger, one slab saw and lath mill. The engine room is 30x56, the engine, manufactured by the Montague Iron Works, cost $3,200, has 28-inch stroke, and three 20-inch boilers 20 feet in length. The smokestack is 4 feet in di- ameter and 100 feet high. The mill cost without the site $30,000. This mill is a model of neatness, which is owing to the watchful supervision of the proprietors and their foreman, Mr. Jesse Pullman. A fine birds-eye view of the mill appears in this work.
The old Water mill now removed, was the first monument of civil- ization on White Lake. It was built by C. Mears in 1837, and operated by one Stanton, then by Mr. Brown, and Mr. Mears sold it to A. M. Thompson in 1863. After ten years he sold to Howard, and Farnum Ellwood, of Indiana, took it for his mortgage, sold it to Vary, and he to Wilcox Co., who in 1881 tore away the dam and built the new saw- mill.
The Wilcox Lumbering Co., have built a fine mill and have placed it out on spiles in the lake about 300 feet. It is fitted up with all modern improvements and opened in the spring of 1881, the machinery being shipped from the mill at White Cloud. It is 160x40 feet, has two circulars, two edgers, four trimmers, gang lath mill, and is conspicuous for its smokestack 102 feet high. It takes about one hundred men to operate it, and cuts 100,000 feet in eleven hours. The company is wealthy and had 20,000,000 feet of logs in the river in 1881. The supervisor of the mill is J. M. Popple; the foreman, C. K. Stone.
White's saw mill employs forty men. C. Smith, engineer; John Ohrenberger, filer; J. Hulbert and G. Henderson, head sawyers. It has upright, circular and edgers, with capacity in eleven hours of 70,-
31
HISTORY OF MUSKEGON COUNTY.
000 feet. Mr. White has been on White Lake since 1869, and is a brother-in-law of E. P. Ferry.
Covell & Ocobock's shingle mill, on Thompson St., was estab- lished in 1874 by Covell, Nufer & Co. Mr. Nufer sold out to Staples & Covell, who in turn sold out to M. B. Covell and Joseph Hinchman, and then Mr. Hinchman sold to A. J. & C. E. Covell. Mr. Ocobock has been in the firm from the first. There are three splitting saws and three Perkin's hand machines. Employs forty men, and cuts 150,000 shingles per day. Proprietors-M. B., A. J., & C. E. Covell, and C. A. Ocobock, the latter having half ownership. The owners of the mill have converted it into a stock affair, called the Whitehall Manufacturing Company, and are adding machinery for a sash and door and planing mill.
WHITE RIVER LOG AND BOOMING COMPANY.
Intimately connected with the development of the northern and western portion of the country is the Booming Company, which was incorporated on Sept. 10, 1870, by a few of the leading and most en- terprising citizens, who had long seen the necessity of united effort" on a large scale in order to supply the mills with logs, and to ac- complish in the way of river improvement what would be impossi- ble when acting as individuals. The first shareholders were: Geo. E. Dowling, Joseph Heald, John Welch, Edward P. Ferry, Edwin R. Burrows, Charles A. Floyd, Warren Heald, Frank English, G. F. Goodrich, H. B. Cone & Sons, Jas. Dalton, Jr., & Bro., John C. Lewis, John P. Cook & Son, Staples & Covell, Geo. W. Frank- lin, Geo. M. Smith, D. C. Bowen, I. E. Carleton, Hedges & Green. The amount of capital stock actually paid on at incorporation was only $1,250. The first officers elected were Solomon F. Cone, President; Geo. M. Smith, Secretary; Geo. E. Dowling, Treasurer. The officers for 1881 are: Joseph Heald, President; C. Dowling, Secretarv; Geo. E. Dowling, Treasurer. The shareholders in 1881 were: Geo. E. Dowling, E. P. Ferry, Jas. Dalton & Bro., Staples and Covell, estate of G. M. Smith, C. D. Dowling, J. Alley & Co., Geo. Green, C. H. Cook, Rhoda F. Smith, A. J. & C. E. Covell, David Kelley, Emily S. Dalton, Heald, Murphy & Crepin, Asa P. Kelley. For the first five years of its existence the company brought down an annual average of seventy million feet of logs, for the next five years ninety million feet, and for the season of 1881 it got out about one hundred and forty million feet. In the eleven years of its existence it has brought out nearly one billion feet. The enterprise of the stockholders has been rewarded by a fair return upon their investments. The company gives employment to a force of two hundred river drivers and one hundred men are required to assist, raft and deliver the logs. The office of the Secretary is in the Franklin Block, Montague. The attempt to induce the em- ployes of the Booming Company to unite in the strike of the Mus- kegon men has thus far failed of success.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.