USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume I > Part 26
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"But about Margaret. Three days and three nights she wandered through the woods, and at last came ont at Portsmouth. She was brought to Saginaw in a canoe, and the cannon was fired (the only one on the river) to let those searching for her know she had been found. But not once had she tasted the wedding cake, which she had
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carried all the way, though she was nearly starved when she came out at Portsmouth. When asked why she had not eaten it, she an- swered: 'Oh, it was my wedding cake, you know.' The wedding was celebrated a few days afterward, and the guests ate for dinner, out of their wooden bowls, soup made of smoked ham and rice boiled together, and the wedding-cake."
THE DOCTOR'S MAN.
The late Dr .-- was one who could seldom resist telling a good story, even when it turned the laugh against himself. On one occasion an Englishman whom he had recently engaged astonished him by appearing to wait at breakfast with a swollen face and a pair of unmistakable black eyes. " Why, John," said he, " you seem to have been fighting?" " Yes, master I have," was the reply. " And who may your opponent have been? " " Why sir, Dr. M.'s man," naming a rival Esculapius. "And what did you fall out about?" " Why, sir, he said as you wasn't fit to clean his master's shoes." "And what did you say?" " Well, sir, I said you was!"
A BEAR STORY.
It is within the recollection of many present citizens of Bay City, and they by no means very ancient in point of years, when bears were roaming the woods within its present limits. An in- veterate joker from the up-river village, on occasion of a visit to his brother at Bay City (" Lower Saginaw, " as it was then) stopped at the hostelry of Judge Campbell, who had recently built the hotel since known as the " Globe," on the corner of what is now Water and Fifth streets, although its original size bore little resemblance to its present proportions. As "joker " sat in an easy chair toasting his shins by the fire, his brother entered in a hurry with a declaration to "joker," "There's a big bear just out in the woods!"
Guns were always in readiness for sport, and it was but a few moments before the joker, led by his brother and one or two other friends, were hurrying through the stumps of the clearing which extended almost to Washington street. Cautiously feeling their way through the woods, they reach a point not far from the present site of the court-house, when joker was shown the bear, which proved to be a very large coal-black hog belonging to the brother, his pilot. After a good laugh the party wended its way back to the house. Joker watched bis chance, by the way, to sep- arate from the rest, and to place in the gun a charge about six inches deep. On reaching the house, the gun was carelessly placed in the corner, and the company about the fire indulged in a series of jokes, and the enjoyment of a good time generally.
Presently joker left the house, and went down to the river bank, about in the rear of the present Jennison block, returning after a
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short time with the carelessly imparted information that there was " a thundering flock of duck just settled on the river. " "We'll have some for upper," exclaimed his brother; and, seizing the gun from the corner, cautiously picked his way to a favorite log on the river bank, behind which he was accustomed to lay in wait for the feathered tribes. Joker and the rest of the company followed be- hind, and watched the sport. With the butt to his shoulder, and the barrel resting on the log, sportsman blazed away at the innocent ducks. It was hard to tell which end of the gun killed most. Sportsman fell back on the ground with his left hand to to his right shoulder, in his agony, asking between the paroxysms of pain, " What in thunder had got into that gun?" Why, you foolish fellow," said joker, " you've been trying to shoot ducks with a bear charge." "All present saw the point of the joke, and it is said joined in attempting to relieve the sufferer, by copious ap- plications of whisky internally and externally.
A STOUT OLD FARMER.
A farmer, not a day's journey from the city, had occasion to ask one of his plowmen to go to plow with a pair of horses which had not been put into harness. The man excused himself. saying, "he wudna buckle wi' them, as they war some fashious an' no to be tiggit wi'." Without further argument the farmer went to the stable, harnessed the horses, took them to the field, put them in the plow, and, although he had passed his 60th year and had not put his hand to a plow for fifteen years, did what the young fellow demurred to do, and finished a day's plowing in capital style.
'SQUIRE CONNING'S MOUTH.
Squa-conning creek empties into the Saginaw river but a short distance above Bay City, and further than to say that at its mouth it is a creek of considerable size, no other description will be needed. Harry C., brother of that old pioneer, our respected fel- low-citizen, Judge C., resided in early days at Saginaw City, and was noted as an inveterate wag and practical joker. Having re- turned from a visit to the Judge at Bay City, Harry met a travel- ing dentist, who, in his peregrinations, had stumbled into the Saginaws, and was operating upon the mouths of the scattered set- tlers. "Doctor, " said Harry, "I've just come up from the mouth of the river, and 'Squire Conning wanted me to send you down to fix up his mouth. It's a thundering big mouthi, and hasn't got a tooth in it." Elated with the prospect of a good job, the dentist jumped into a canoe (the only means of transit between the two places), and paddled to Portsmouth (now 7th ward, Bay City). Reaching there, after eighteen miles of paddling, he made diligent inquiry for " 'Squire Conning, "and his disgust may be better imag- ined than described when he found that he had passed the 'Squire's mouth some miles up the river.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
MAKING A "LEVEL."
Among the first constabulary force of Saginaw was one H., an old covey, who imagined that what he didn't know was hardly worth knowing. Let any one venture to tell him he did not un- derstand his business and see what would happen. He was given to lisping, whether for the beauty of the thing, through misfortune or what not, we are unable to inform the reader; but one thing is certain, he did lisp. Coming one day into the shop of Seth W., shortly after the election, he was accosted by Seth with, "Well, H., how do you get along? Have plenty of business now-a-days?" "Yeth thiree," rejoined H., "lotth of it; made one level to-day, thir." "Ah, what did you levy on to-day?" asked S. "Leveled on a yoke of thteerth." Where were the steers, " asked ;S. " who owned them?" "They belonged to old Brown, up the Tittabawa- . thee-were on his plathe." "You've not been there to-day, have you! I've not missed you out of town," observed S. "That ithent nethethary; don't have to go there to level; can do it just atlı well at home. The cattle are all thafe enough, and I know they are there; aint that enougli! Do you thuppose I don't know what I am about? You don't fool old H. with any of your nonthenth, no thir-ee!"
And the indignant official left the shop, cursing the stupidity of "thome folkth." This is what his friend "Mose" would call mak- ing a "dead level."
A BAD JURY.
It was during a certain term of the Circuit Court, when the Hon. Judge M., of happy memory, was presiding, that an old man was indicted by the grand jury on a charge of grand larceny. After receiving an impartial trial he was finally brought in "guilty " by the petit jury. As the Judge was in some haste to leave .- this case having been the last one on the calendar-he proceeded to pass the sentence of the law upon the prisoner. the jury still re- maining in the " box."
" Mr. B.," commenced the Hon. Judge, "it becomes my most painful duty to pass the sentence of the law upon you-a duty which Î fain would escape performing; yet I often find myself obliged, in the course of my judicial duties, to shut all the avenues of feeling leading to my heart, and forget for awhile that I possess the sensi- bilities of a man. Mr. B., in this case I find my duty doubly pain- ful, for I have known you for many years, and when you occupied a high and honorable position in society, and were respected by your fellows for your uprightness and integrity. But what do I see before me to-day? A man made after the image of his Maker, with his head silvered with age, found guilty of a crime by a jury of 12 of his own countrymen. Have you aught to say, Mr. B., why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced upon you?"
"Judge," blubbered the old culprit. " I know that I am guilty; that I ought to suffer; that I deserve all, and more too, than the
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law can inflict upon me; but Judge, look at that d-d jury. Tc think that such a miserable looking set of desperadoes should find me guilty, is more than I can stand; but go ahead, Judge; don't let me interrupt you." The reader may imagine the explosion that followed this speech, in which the Hon. Judge lost a little of his " specific gravity."
A BIG TOMATO.
A notice in one of the county journals tells of a tomato which was raised in the Valley that year. It shows that duty rose above private interests in that office. Carter should have presented it and thus obviated silent profanity. "A big tomato 21 inches in circumference and 7 inches in diameter, weighing 3} lbs., was brought to our office by George Carter and carried it away again. He was kind enough to show it to the boys; for which he has our thanks."
FROM SAGINAW TO "MASHO'S " HOUSE.
When the early denizens of the Valley started out on a duck hunt, a trip down the river, or into the woods, the powder, ball and shot were not more es-ential elements for success or comfort on the expedition, than was the jug or bottle of whisky. This was of course in the times when everybody drank whisky and no evil was thought, whatever may have resulted from its use. Gard- ner Williams, "Lixa Boga " and Major Moseby (all long since departed this life) jumped into their canoe at Saginaw City one afternoon and paddled down the river to Masho's house, which was situated not far from McGraw's present mill. It was late when they started, and the shades of night came on long before they reached the head of Crow Island. Meantime, sundry lunches had been taken from the jug in the bow of the canoe, and all was merry. At last the voyagers concluded that they must be almost down to Masho's, and began to scan the shore. The rice marshes near Willow Island were taken for those which led to Masho's, and carefully they pulled themselves through the long grass, won- dering what had become of the eagerly sought-for dwelling. All night they worked among the tall grass, until the gray light of the morning disclosed to them the fact that they were seven miles from Masho's, and that their sanguine hopes had been more the wonderful effect of their brown jug in dispelling distances, than a reality. It was breakfast time when the three wearied and dis- pirited men reached their destination, where the justice done to their breakfast was good evidence that they had been disappointed in their supper of the night before.
THE SCHOOL SLEIGH-RIDE.
Harry C. was the most popular school teacher in the Saginaw Valley, and for many years "taught the young idea how to shoot straight," in the humble school-house at Saginaw City. Finding
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his scholars disposed on one occasion to be unruly, he coaxed them to obedience by the promise of a sleigh-ride as soon as snow came. The promise was enough, the unruly youths knew that it would not be forgotten, nor yet neglected; for their teacher always kept his word, whether it was to reward or punish. Good order and dili- gence in study resulted, and all looked forward with impatience to the advent of the winter. At last it came, a good snow-storm made glad the hearts of the youth, and ere many days the announce- mient was made that the sleigh-ride would take place on a certain afternoon. The long looked-for hour came at last, the expectant and hilarious scholars were gathered at the school-house, awaiting the coming of the teacher with the team. At last he came in sight, and such a team, and such a shout as the scholars raised, as Harry drove up to the school-house door, with a diminutive donkey hitched to a pair of bob-sleds! They piled upon the boards, boys and girls together, and they had their ride, and if they did not make Goldsmith Maid's time of 2:16, the survivors of the present day assure the writer that at the rate of two miles in 16 hours, it was the most laughable and enjoyable sleigh-ride of their lives.
THE TRAMP OF 1SS0.
However strange it may appear to the people of the future to learn that amid the industrious people of the present time a pecul- iarly lazy character known as the "tramp" existed, the fact of its existence remains.
Jolın Sharp, a genuine member of the genus "Tramp," was arrested by an officer of the Saginaw police force, and placed in the lock-up. As usual. before entering this palatial abode, his pockets were searched. On his person were found three silver-plated spoons, one marked " Mc. ; " one entirely new improved Phoenix throat anatomizer, manufactured by Widaul, Tatham & Co., of Philadelphia, a pint-and-a-half bottle of horse liniment ; one shirt; a piece of tapestry carpet about a yard long. and nine cents in money ; also a begging letter to the clergy as follows :
REV. SIR .- I am just after coming out of the hospital, where I have been for some time with the ague, and being a perfect stranger, I want to get to Bay City where I can get a boat. I hope you will be so kind as to lend me a trifle to help me; and may God bless you. JACK THOMPSON.
The tramp of 1880 cannot be surpassed. Endowed wih a non- chalance as terrible as his laziness is revolting, he spends his days in a semi-barbarous condition, oblivious alike to the opinions of gods and men.
A TRADER ON THE MEXICAN WAR.
Just below Saginaw City lives an old French settler, a happy type of the genial and happy class, one M-c. not unknown
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to the older residents of Hamtramck and Detroit. He has resided here many years, and gained his living by hunting and farming and acting at times as interpreter. His talk is a perfect case of non sequitur, his delight being at times to get ideas into proximity, having no relation one to the other-producing at times an effect which would defy the gravity of a puritan elder. A few years ago, during the Mexican war, at an independence celebration, M-c, becoming patriotic, volunteered the following as his senti- ment: "De peoples on do Mexico-I hope dey all get licked like do d-o! aint it?"" The applause which followed had no equal in that days rejoicings.
A SLEIGII-RIDE IN 1854.
Visions of 2:40 were before me yesterday, as in company with G. D. W-, N. L-, C. E-, and T. W -. I entered W.'s family sleigh for an ice ride to Zilwaukie, Portsmouth, Lower Saginaw, Bangor, and "as far as the ice would permit." The river was as glare as a French mirror plate, and the sharp-shod ponies shoved along over it with tight reins and loose traces, at a pace that defies pursuit from anything less than a "quarter horse." There are few sensations more invigorating, especially when the enjoyment is not palled by too frequent habit, than an ice ride of twenty miles; under a clear, bright winter's sun, with a bracing air, a spanking team, and a jovial company. All these I had, and I longed for nothing more than to have had along F. W, B-, Barney C-, M-, B-, and a few more of the fast pony and horse men, who go down the River Rouge to trot, and pretend to call that ice to trot a horse on.
THE INDIAN'S WHISKY BOTTLE.
Some of these Saginaw Indians are intense wags in their way. One of them having given a trader some annoyance, was told that in case he was seen again with a bottle, it would be taken from him and thrown in to the fire. A few days after, the Indian appeared with his pint flask in his blanket as usual, but the trader was as good as his word, and demanded the bottle, which the Indian gave up and started for the door. The trader threw the flask into the stove upon which, whang went the stove, and out went the windows, the trader following close behind. The . next time that man burns an Indian's whisky bottle, he will examine it, to see that it is not of "Dupont's" make.
CHAPTER VII.
SCIENTIFIC.
GEOLOGICAL.
The geological formations of the Lower Peninsula vary little from those of New York, Western Canada and Wisconsin. The first, the oldest formation, exists in the Upper Peninsula. Its rocks point ont to the geologist the fact of its antiquity. and enable him to conclude that, if it is not actually the nucleus of this continent. it is at least coeval with the first formations. It has been stated that the land reaching from Trenton Falls to Saratoga was the first that appeared above the sea on the creation. Here are the trilo- bites in great variety, all modeled in black marble, so perfectly preserved in form that the multitudinous lenses of their eyes are as apparent under the microscope as are those of a living fly. Millions of years before man walked the earth these creatures lived their life; the limestone took on their forms; they had become ever- lasting stone millions of years before there was a living man to see them. Of late years, however, the opinions of many men are in favor of locating the first upland north of Lake Huron, extending through Southwestern Canada to New York State. This is known as the Laurentian system. and is characterized by granite, gneiss. and Syenite rocks. It existed long years before the drainage of the great sea, and was old even at the beginning of the Silurian era. Approaching nearer to the Valley of the Saginaw is the Huron system-something bearing the same relation to geology that the "Iron Age" does to history, from the fact that its mean character- istics are iron ores, quartz, chlorites, and all the rocks peculiar to the northern iron mines. Age may not be said to have aided in the formation of these ores; nor is it within the scope of the geo- logical knowledge of the present time to decide definitely as to the period or manner of their formation.
There are numerous systems and groups of rock connected with the Upper Peninsula, and with the northern portion of the Lower, entirely unknown in Central and Southern Michigan. It is stated by Winchell, Rominger, Hall, and some of their review- ers, that the "group of rocks which form the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, being like so many oblong saucers one within the other, depressed in the center of the State and outcropping at the edges, comprise, first, or lowest, the dolomitic limestones which are re- garded as the Helderberg group of New York. These are the oldest strata, whose outcroppings are found in the Lower Peninsula, and the lower portions are regarded as the bottom of some lagoon
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in the old Devonian ocean, which in drying up has deposited its saline properties in the form of rock salt. The next two saucers represent the Hamilton and black shale groups. Above or within there is another group whose only outcroppings are found around Saginaw Bay and on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. This is known as the Waverly group, and is formed of the salt-bearing sand rock, which is the source of the Saginaw brine. It is a sea- shore rock. Prints of sea weeds are found in it, and sharks' teeth, some of enormous size, and also the remains of enormous reed trees, are found, testifying to the proximity of land. Hence we can infer that the waves of that Devonian sea, whose rocky bottom was far below, here dashed against the shore and deposited their briny burden for our use.
" Let us understand that the formation which gives the most valuable salt brines in Saginaw Valley is now named the Waverly group by Dr. Rominger, State Geologist, and consists of a series of sandstones and blue and red shales amounting from 1,000 to 1,- 200 feet in thickness. This formation commences at the bottom of the gypsum formation and extends downward to the black shales as seen at Sulphur Island, Thunder Bay. Indications of solid rock salt have never been found in any of the salt wells of Saginaw Valley; but the outcrop of this Waverly group on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan is composed of sand drift, some 600 feet in thick- ness, which has long ago been deprived of its salt. Recent borings at Manistee, in the northwestern part of the State, passed through the 600 feet of sand, then into the soft shales of the Huron group, then into the limestones of the Hamilton group, and lastly of the Helderberg group, striking, at the distance of 1,950 feet from the surface, the rock salt of the old Devonian ocean, and corresponding in all probability, to the rock salt of Goderich. In making these borings; brines of various strengths were found at different depths, but all below a depth of 1,400 feet. A well has quite recently been projected at Cheboygan. This point being in the Helderberg formation, there are grounds for supposing that borings will de- velop the same results that have been obtained at Goderich, Can- ada, where six strata of rock salt have been found."
The period of the formation of underlying rocks from ocean sediments may be taken, upon which to base a geological inquiry. As has been stated, the Laurentian system formed the only land upon this continent at that time, and all south of what is now known as the line of the Canadian Pacific railroad, north of the Huron and Georgian waters, formed the interminable ocean. This relation of the land to the sea was maintained until the close of the completion of the corniferous group, when the uplifting of the sea- bottom formed a broad belt of land in the southern part of the Peninsula, together with a narrow belt, connecting it with a similar formation in Southern Ohio. At this time all central Michigan was submerged; but as years rolled on, the belt of land widened. and continued to expand, until, at the beginning of the formation of the coal rock, the greater portion of the Lower Peninsula rose
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above the waters and formed the marshes which ultimately re- solved themselves into coal beds, and kindred rocks. By the time the coal formation was established. the Peninsula was all upland. Lakes Michigan, Erie and Huron were not in existence: but, as Prof. Winchell remarks, " A stream flowed along the tracts, which have become the site of these lakes."
A great geological æon passed while such a condition of the sur- face existed. We know that it was a vast succession of ages marked by mild climates, luxuriant vegetation and active animal populations, progressively advancing in the scale of being, This was the mesozoic æon. The Tertiary age came next and was marked by the growth of the mastodon, elephant and hundreds of large animals, as well as by the diminution of the reptile species. The physical characteristics of Saginaw did not vary muchi then from those of its pioneer days. There were forests then as vast as those which covered the bosom of the land in 1819. In the course of time one wide glacier sheet buried the country, and the Green- land of the present time was pictured here. This glacier, esti- mated to be one mile in depth, dissolved before the sun of the geological summer, and left behind its wealth of "boulder drift," " Modified drift," and the thousand vestiges of its existence. Sub- sequently the country was deluged almost throughout its entire area. The barrier at the mouth of the Niagara river had not been then worn down, and the water, set back as one great lake from the bluff's of Lewiston to Detroit and westward still to Chicago. A broad channel continued from the present site of Saginaw Bay up the valley of the Shiawassee into the Grand River valley and westward to Lake Michigan. All the country north of that line was insular, with a channel from 156 to 175 feet in depth, separating it from the main land. Inland from this point, barriers existed which partly dammed, for a time, the waters resulting from the melting of the glacier; the cold water accumulated in large inland lakes over many of the central and southern counties, and were congealed by the severity of the winters to a depth of three or even more feet.
Around the borders of those lakes, and on shoals, the ice became consolidated with the underlying bed materials. Along the south- ern border, the Hamilton corniferous limestones occupying the surface were tlins attached to great ice sheets. The return of spring renewed the dissolution of the glacier, and the water so dis- engaged rushed to the inland lakes. Those swelling in response to new accessions, burst their icy coatings, and the huge tables of stratified limestone, to which the ice-coats were attached, were raised up and floated with great ice-rafts before the southern breeze to the north, where spring-time dissolved their attachments and permitted them to settle. The era of submergement was not of long duration, as the waters, seeking release from their prisons, wore out the stubborn sand and rocks, reduced Niagara itself, and rushing through their conquered gaps, reduced the flood materially and left the present confines of the great lakes to be almost de-
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