USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 11
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" Within the pipe-shafts, accessible at all times, will be the pipes for distributing hot and cold water, and the waste- and soil-pipes leading from the bath-rooms, lavatories, and water-closets to the sewers.
" The sweepings on the various wards will be passed through an opening in the base-board into a dust-shaft, and will fall directly to the basement. Soiled clothes will be similarly dropped to the basement through shafts provided for the purpose, whence they will be taken to the laundry. There are also drying-shafts for drying dish-cloths and towels, and for thoroughly ventilating the sinks connected with each dining-room. Other shafts are divided at each story by means of a lattice or open floor. Inside of some are placed boots and shoes, or brooms; in others pails, mops, etc. A current of air driven up through these shafts removes at once all obnoxious scents from the building.
" A car-track, for the distribution of food, leads from the general kitchen both north and south through the basement. Connecting with each dining-room on each floor is a dumb-waiter, which raises the food from the car in the basement to the dining-room where needed. Thus one kitchen will supply sixteen dining- rooms within the wards, besides preparing the food for the domestics and shop help.
" A four-inch brick arch forms the ceiling of each inmate's room, and of the corridors. This arched ceiling receives the plastering, and serves both as a deaf- ening and as a protection in case of fire. The floor-joists are above the arches, but not in contact. In rooms too large to be arched, and in the centre building, the same end is attained by laying two sets of joist, but disconnected, the upper set carrying the floor, the lower set the ceiling and the mortar-deafening.
" Iron sash will be used throughout the wards, but they are made the same
in form as wood sash, and are painted white to make the resemblance more perfect.
" Exterior walls rest on concrete two feet deep, and from three feet two inches to four feet six inches wide; the interior walls rest on one foot two inches of con- crete. With few exceptions all walls are carried up to the roof, which they sup- port. The frame-work for the roof can therefore be made comparatively light. The roof-covering is slate, except the tin deck-roof of the centre building.
" In stone ornamentation the main building is rich, and the great variety in the forms of the stone-work is a noticeable feature. Cornices of wood ; ventilators of galvanized iron. A central tower, a tower at each end, peaks ascending from bay projections in front, and from ventilators on the roof, break the monotonous lines necessary in so extensive a building, and give a pleasing effect.
" The capacity of the asylum as now designed, is as follows :
Divisions.
1st Floor.
2d Floor. 3d Floor. Totals.
No. 1. First longitudinal division
38
38
38
114
No. 2. First transverse division.
16
16
24
56
No. 3. Second longitudinal division.
32
32
...
64
No. 4. Second transverse division.
12
12
26
50
No. 5. Second transverse division
11
11
...
22
No. 6. Rear cross division.
12
12
...
24
Totals.
121
12]
88
330
" If the day-rooms are used as associated dormitories, allowing fifty superficial feet for each occupant, the total capacity will be four hundred.
" It will be seen that, with an appropriation designed to provide for three hun- dred insane, an asylum is being constructed which will accommodate normally three hundred and thirty, easily three hundred and fifty, and without crowding, four hundred.
" Outside of the contract of Messrs. Coots & Topping, the sewers, drains, gas, water, and steam-heating works had to be supplied.
" A contract was made September 5, 1876, with Messrs. Shanahan & McLogan, they being the lowest bidders, for the construction of six cisterns of a capacity of five hundred and eighty-seven barrels each, also for laying the pipes to connect them with the downfall conductors from the roof, and for all sewer- and drain- pipe about the buildings, the State providing the pipe; in all eleven thousand two hundred and ninety-six feet of different size pipes, making a most thorough and complete system of drainage.
" This contract was completed November 24, 1876, at the contract price of three thousand eight hundred and seventy-three dollars and thirty-two cents, without an extra.
" A large blower is placed in the fan-room, and forces air through the un- derground air-duct in the basement corridors, where hot-air flues are open, having radiators in front of the opening. The air, being forced through the hot radiators to reach the flues, becomes warmed, and ascends the flues to the dif- erent floors, where the flues open into the corridors. The warm air in the corri- dors passes in at the open doors or transoms of the inmates' rooms, and, becoming vitiated, passes out at the ventilating flues, and being collected into foul-air ducts, is conducted to the roof, and escapes at the little pagoda-like structures seen on the perspective, called ventilators.
" Proposals were opened February 28, 1877, for gas-piping and gas-works, and a contract was at that time awarded for all the gas-mains and gas-pipes within the buildings to the lowest bidders, James McEwen & Co., of Detroit, for two thou- sand one hundred and fifty-six dollars. There are within the buildings nine hundred and seventy-one burners, and twenty gas-stoves for warming eatables, flat- irons, etc.
" Eight propositions for gas-works were received, varying from three thousand seven hundred dollars to ten thousand three hundred dollars, for various kinds of gas. These bids were fully considered, and an award was made to Mrs. Lucetta R. Medbury for supplying the gas from the works owned by her in the city of Pontiac, for five years, at the rate of two dollars and fifty cents per one thousand cubic feet.
" The work of plumbing the asylum was awarded, May 29, 1877, to Samuel I. Pope & Co., of Chicago, for the sum of eight thousand five hundred and forty- two dollars and six cents. This work includes twenty-two bath-tubs, forty-eight hand-basins, marble top, six steel tanks for cold water, holding about sixty barrels each, twenty-seven water-closets, twenty-four sinks, all hot-water pipes, cold-water pipes, both soft and hard, waste-pipe, ventilating-pipe, etc.
"The contract for heating the building was awarded, May 12, 1877, to The Walworth Manufacturing Co., of Boston, for the sum of thirty-seven thousand three hundred and thirty-two dollars and seven cents.
" The system of heating is low-pressure steam and indirect radiation, but this is supplemented largely with high-pressure and direct radiation. Steam for low- pressure will be generated within two large fire-box, drop, return-flue boilers, each eight feet diameter and twenty-six feet long, built throughout from steel plate,-
.
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
33
the first boilers of this class built of steel in this country. Steam is conducted from these boilers in a pipe twelve inches diameter, which, branching and re- ducing, reaches all portions of the basement.
"To heat the building requires eighteen thousand one hundred and eighty super- ficial feet of indirect radiating surface, and three thousand one hundred super- ficial feet of direct radiating surface. The direct surface is supplied with steam from a single, tubular, steel boiler. This boiler also supplies the steam for power to run the machinery throughout, and the steam for heating all water used hot.
" The steam condensed in the heating-apparatus is carried back to the boilers direct through a six-inch pipe, without the intervention of pumps or traps, thus forming a continuous circulation.
" The heating contract provides for six large hot-water boilers for heating water, for two large pumps for boiler, tank, and fire purposes, and for all auxiliaries to make the heating complete in all its parts.
" At the present time (July 9, 1877) all brick- and stone-work is done, the roofs completed, glazing nearly done, air- and pipe-ducts in, plastering one-half done, and floors and interior wood-work commenced. The gas-piping is done, the plumbing is well under way, and the heating just begun. Sewers, drains, and cisterns about the building finished, and a portion of the grading done. 4
"To complete the asylum ready for occupancy will require, in addition to the completion of the contracts now in progress, expenditures, mostly by contract, for the following classes of work and materials: Locks and hinges, cooking-appa- ratus and utensils, laundry, drying and ironing apparatus, hoisting apparatus for dumb-waiters and elevators, baking apparatus, fans for forced ventilation, engine, shafting, and machinery for wood and iron working, and for furnishing the build- ings throughout.
" In addition, the farm must be stocked and provided with implements, utensils, and vehicles, and barns, sheds, ice-house, granaries, and coal-house built.
" The selection of a site for the asylum was intrusted to a board consisting of E. H. Van Deusen, of Kalamazoo, Geo. Hannahs, of South Haven, and Amos Rath- bone, of Grand Rapids. It must not be overlooked that the citizens of Pontiac, by their liberality, aided largely in inducing the board to select the present site. This liberality consisted in donating to the State two hundred acres of land within the city limits, at a cost of twenty thousand dollars, and in making certain offers in relation to supplying water and removing the sewage from the asylum, the ex- ecution of which offers will cost several thousand dollars. At the present time, in the discharge of these obligations, the citizens are digging a mammoth well for the use of the asylum. This well will have an internal capacity of twelve feet at the bottom, will go at least ten feet into the water, and in all probability will not be less than seventy feet deep. In the negotiations with the board, pending the location of the asylum at Pontiac, Hon. H. W. Lord and Hon. C. H. Palmer were notably foremost.
"Since the selection of the site the asylum has been in charge of the following board of commissioners: W. M. McConnell and M. E. Crofoot, Pontiac; George Hannahs, South Haven ; S. G. Ives, Chelsea ; W. G. Vinton, Detroit.
" C. M. Wells, the superintendent of construction, and secretary, has had the immediate charge of the work, and has designed all work not included in the contract of Messrs. Coots & Topping.
" Hon. Mark S. Brewer is treasurer.
" The legislature, at its session of 1876-77, appropriated sixty-seven thousand dollars for completing and furnishing the asylum,-fifteen thousand dollars less than was asked for,-making a total of four hundred and sixty-seven thousand dol- lars appropriated in all. The work has now progressed so far that it is entirely safe to say that the total cost of the asylum, complete in every particular, will not ex- ceed five hundred thousand dollars. Counting the capacity of the asylum at four hundred insane (and many asylums no larger are crowded to six hundred), this gives one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars as the complete cost for each insane person. The asylum should be ready for occupancy early in the spring of 1878."
CANALS AND RAILWAYS.
Canals .- The people of Oakland County, in common with those of other por- tions of the Peninsular State, were early alive to the importance of establishing improved lines of communication, and very naturally the subject of constructing canals claimed their attention.
The roads leading towards Pontiac from Detroit were in the early days almost impassable at certain seasons, and the cost of conveying the products of the country to market nearly equaled their total value. The valley of the Clinton river was thought to present a feasible water-route to Lake St. Clair, and the mat- ter of improving the navigation of the river was pushed so persistently that the legislative council of the Territory passed an act (approved by the governor April 12, 1827) incorporating the " Clinton River Navigation Company" "for the pur- pose of removing obstructions from the Clinton river, and making such river
navigable for boats from the village of Mount Clemens to Mack's lower mills (so called), in the county of Oakland."
The length of this proposed improvement was about thirty miles, and it was cal- culated that it would afford invaluable shipping facilities to a large extent of rich agricultural country. It was the first incorporated company for similar purpose, in the Territory, and but for the advent of railways would no doubt have been a success. The incorporators of this company were Nathaniel Millard, Jonathan Kearsley, Levi Cook, Charles Larned, Ellis Doty, John R. Sheldon, Christian Clemens, Alfred Ashley, Jacob Tucker, Ignace Morass, and Joseph Hayes. The company were required, under the act of incorporation, to clear out the river to the east line of Oakland County, commencing on or before the first day of July, 1827, and when they had made it navigable for flat-bottomed boats or bateaux to the line of the county, they were to be entitled to collect toll, not exceeding fifty cents per ton for the whole distance, and proportionally for less distances.
When the river was made navigable as far as Mack's mill, and a good tow-path constructed on one bank, the company were entitled to demand toll not exceeding seventy-five cents per ton for the whole distance, and in proportion for a less distance.
Parties owning water-power on the river below the east line of Oakland County were required to construct locks at every dam sufficient for the passage of the company's boats. The river above the said line was declared by the act of incor- poration a public highway, but persons owning land extending across the river had the right to construct dams for water-power purposes by putting in the necessary locks, or the company could construct them at the expense of the parties owning the lands.
The improvements were finally completed as far as Rochester, a portion of the State loan of five millions being appropriated to the work.
Business was carried on to a small extent for a number of years, but the enter- prise was never a prosperous one.
About 1844, Amos Brown, of Rochester, constructed and launched a log flat- boat, and, collecting a party of his friends, they proceeded to celebrate the occa- sion by a grand ride on the canal; but when they came to the first lock they found their craft too wide to admit of a passage. The locks were constructed of logs, and the pressure of the superincumbent earth against their sides had sprung them in, narrowing the space considerably. A fellow who had served a term in the State prison made quite a speculation by burning some of the locks and selling the old iron.
Brown afterwards built, at Rochester, a peculiar craft, in the form of two cigars laid side by side, upon which was a deck, raised some four feet above them. He put in an engine, and calculated the nondescript would make the voyage from De- troit in twelve hours. It was not a success, and was afterwards reduced to the menial occupation of bringing wood to the city of Detroit. Brown was at one time quite wealthy, but his speculations nearly ruined him. He afterwards pub- lished a work in defense of infidelity. He is at present residing in Detroit.
Railways .- The subject of railways began to be discussed at a very early day in Michigan. The project of constructing a railway from Detroit to Pontiac was agitated in Oakland County as early as the spring of 1830, and an act incorpo- rating the " Pontiac and Detroit Railway Company"* was passed by the legislative council of the Territory, and approved by Governor Cass July 31, 1830.
The original incorporators were John P. Helfenstein, Gideon O. Whittemore, Wm. F. Moseley, William Thompson, and Hervey Parke, "and such other per- sons as shall associate for the purpose of making a good and sufficient railway from Pontiac to the city of Detroit."
The stock of the company was to consist of one thousand shares of one hundred dollars each, and the incorporators were authorized to open subscription books and receive subscriptions as they deemed most advantageous. It would appear that there were insurmountable difficulties in the way of the construction of a rail- way at that time, as no road was constructed, and the charter became null and void in consequence of the failure of the company to comply with its provisions. .
A second company was formed and a new charter obtained, which was approved by the governor March 7, 1834. Under this act Wm. Draper, Daniel Le Roy, David Stanard, Johnson Niles, Seneca Newberry, Elisha Beach, Benjamin Phelps, Joseph Niles, Jr., and Augustus C. Stephens were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to the stock of " The Detroit and Pontiac Railroad Com- pany," the amount of which was fixed at one thousand shares of fifty dollars each (fifty thousand dollars). The company was vested with the power to construct a single or double track, but the work was to be commenced within two years from the passage of the act and completed within six years, or otherwise the rights, privileges, and powers of the corporation were to become null and void.
" Probably the history of no railroad ever built is replete with more amusing and
# This was the first railway company chartered in the State.
5
34
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
grotesque incidents, or marked by more financial perturbations, than that of the old Detroit and Pontiac road. At an early period in the history of Detroit it be- came a desideratum to establish railroad connections with the rich agricultural region of Oakland County, whose milling facilities were already in a fair stage of development."
As has been stated, a charter was obtained in March, 1834, with the capital stock fixed at fifty thousand dollars.
The principal stockholders and managers were Alfred Williams and Sherman Stevens, of Pontiac, their control continuing until 1840, during which period their financial operations, if they could be presented in full, would make a most racy chapter. The building of the road, in the mean time, made slow progress, banking enterprises engaging the principal attention of its managers. It was finally completed to Birmingham in 1839, and in September of that year the late (Henry J. Buckley, agent and conductor, put forth his advertisement in the papers for two trips a day to Birmingham, the cars running in connection with "post coaches" to Pontiac and Flint, together with a semi-weekly line to Grand River.
The introduction of steam was regarded as a notable event, the cars, during the period for which Royal Oak had been the terminus, having been run by horse- power .* In 1840, parties in Syracuse, New York, having claims upon the road, procured its sale under an execution. It was bid in by Gurdon Williams, of De- troit (Salina, New York?), and Giles Williams and Dean Richmond, of Buffalo, but was soon afterwards transferred to other parties in Syracuse. It was finally com- pleted to Pontiac in 1843. The road was subsequently leased by the Syracuse owners for ten years to Gurdon Williams, who was to pay a graduated amount of rental, averaging about ten thousand dollars a year. In 1848, before the expira- tion of the lease, steps were taken to rescue the road from the slough of despond into which it had been sunk by a heavy load of indebtedness, which finally resulted in its coming into the possession of a company headed by H. N. Walker, Esq., and that eminent, but ultimately unfortunate financier, N. P. Stewart.
Mr. Walker, who was elected president, negotiated bonds of the company for a sufficient amount to re-lay the track. The accession of this company was the turning-point in the fortunes of the road. The laughable anecdotes of its early days, in which " snake-heads" and hair-breadth escapes are the leading staples, would fill a respectable-sized volume.
On the 3d of April, 1848, a charter was obtained by the " Oakland and Ottawa Railroad Company." It was financially weak, and its bonds were negotiated with difficulty, and it was only through the most strenuous exertions that any progress was made. In 1852 work was commenced, and in 1853 Mr. Walker went to Europe in the interest of the road, where he purchased twenty-six hundred tons of rail, being sufficient to lay the track to Fentonville.
The " Detroit and Pontiac" and " Oakland and Ottawa" railroads were consoli- dated on the 13th of February, 1855, under the name of the Detroit and Milwaukee railway. In July of that year Mr. Walker made a second trip to Europe, where he negotiated the company's bonds to the amount of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Subsequently, Mr. Walker visited Europe for the third time, during which visit an arrangement with the Great Western railway com- pany was effected which was calculated to put an end to financial embarrassment. The mortgage was closed in 1860, and the name permanently changed to Detroit and Milwaukee railway.
It may be added, as a curious fact, that while those who were early engaged in pushing forward this enterprise made much greater sacrifices to promote the land- grant policy than were made by any other interest in the country, the road was ultimately deprived of all aid in the way of a grant. The road was completed only by the most herculean efforts, but all these great sacrifices have been requited by the immense influence it has exerted in aiding the development of the country. The Detroit and Milwaukee railway passed diagonally through the county from the southeast to the northwest, traversing the townships of Royal Oak (touch- ing Troy), Bloomfield, Pontiac, Waterford (touching Independence), Springfield, Rose, and Holly.
.
The stations on this line within the county are Royal Oak, Birmingham, Pon- tiac, Drayton Plains, Waterford, Davisburgh, and Holly. Number of miles of track in the county, about thirty-six.
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The Flint and Pere Marquette railway was completed from Holly to Flint in 1862. The Holly, Wayne and Monroe railway in 1870. The two were after- wards consolidated under the present name, Flint and Pere Marquette railway. It traverses the townships of Novi (touching Commerce), Milford, Highland, Rose, and Holly; and the stations, commencing at the south, are Novi, Wixom, Milford, Highland, Clyde, and Holly, and the number of miles of track in the county is about thirty-three.
The Detroit and Bay City road was completed through Oakland County in
1872. It runs through the townships of Avon, Oakland, Orion, and Oxford, in the northeastern part of the county, and has about twenty miles of track within its limits.
The Detroit, Lansing and Northern passes through the extreme southwestern part, with a length of about four miles within Oakland County.
The total number of miles of track in the county, not counting sidings, is about ninety-three.
A line known as the " Michigan Air-Line" has been surveyed through the county, traversing the townships of Milford, Commerce, West Bloomfield, Pontiac, and Avon, and passing through the villages of Milford, Commerce, city of Pontiac, Auburn, and Rochester. The only portion of this line at present in operation is from Port Huron to Romeo, in Macomb county, a distance of some thirty-five miles. The roads in operation in Oakland County are all doing a good share of business.
For additional statistics see history of the various townships and villages and the city of Pontiac.
GROWTH AND PROSPERITY.
The growth of the county in population and business was comparatively slow until the era of railways. The population in 1820 was three hundred and thirty, and it had increased in 1830 to about five thousand, which, though a very large percentage, was small in the aggregate; but from 1830 to 1840 the increase was something extraordinary, being about five hundred per cent., or from four thou- sand nine hundred and ten to twenty-three thousand six hundred and forty-six.
Turnpike- and plank-roads began to be constructed, and the first railway-track made its appearance at Birmingham in 1839. In this decade the various towns and villages of the county made rapid progress, and every industry was flourish- ing. It is probable that even the famous " wild-cat" money was, on the whole, the means of a considerable increase in the business of the time, and, though it eventually brought disaster more or less extensive upon many of the enterprises of the day, yet it was not an unmitigated evil. In " flush times," when credit is unlimited, and the circulating medium abundant, whether it may have a stable foundation or otherwise, until the final crash comes, improvements progress with wonderful vigor ; and in spite of many drawbacks, Michigan, on the whole, increased rapidly, and the actual wealth of the country, no doubt, increased in proportion to that of the population.
From 1840 to 1850 the growth of the county was quite rapid, the percentage of increase being over twenty-five, or from twenty-three thousand six hundred and forty-six to thirty-one thousand two hundred and seventy. From 1850 to 1860 it was somewhat less, the population at the latter date being thirty-eight thousand two hundred and sixty-one, or at the rate of about twenty per cent.
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