USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume I > Part 29
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"It has also been rumored that the Saginaw Valley was not fit- ted for agricultural purposes. Saginaw had obtained its reputation for pine lumber, and as people generally had found regions covered with pine to be comparatively worthless for agricultural purposes, it was assumed that the whole of Saginaw was filled with pine, and therefore the soil was unfitted for the farmer's use. The experi- ence of the last 25 years has also exploded this erroneous notion. I doubt if there can be found in the State of Michigan six thousand square miles of territory in one body with a greater agricultural capacity than the six thousand miles drained by the Saginaw and its tributaries. More than one-half of this territory for agricultural purposes is the very cream of the State of Michigan, and there is but little comparatively but what will make good farming land. Look at the reports of the cereal products of Michigan, and you will find that the average production per acre of this valley is fully equal to the average in any portion of the State. Wheat, corn, barley and rye are grown here in perfection.
Arnold Miller
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
"For fruits, the elimate is well adapted to apples, pears, plums and small fruits, while for vegetables, the sueeess of the Saginaw exhibitors at the State fair for a series of years has demonstrated that no other portion of the State ean compete with it. Our mar- ket facilities are unrivaled. The Saginaw river and Bay give us water communication with all portions of the world for the largest vessels. The Valley is erossed by railroads, so that there is no considerable portion of it but has a market near by. Agriculture, manufactures aud commerec are said to constitute the true wealth of a people. We have them all here combined in immediate proxim- ity to each other. Our manufacturing facilities are unequaled. It has heretofore been a drawbaek that agriculture being negleeted, the cost of living was greater than in older portions of the country, and consequently manufacturers did not find it to their interest to locate here, exeept where this drawbaek was overcome by the cheapness of raw material. But our development has now beeome such that the cost of living is not greater than in other portions of the State; and our superior facilities for transportation and other advantages must, with the earliest return of business prosperity to the country, give a new impetus to manufacturing establishments in this loeality.
"It is but a short period sinee salt was first discovered in Michi- gan. The first barrel of salt ever made in the Valley was manu- faetured in 1860. Sinee that time over 11,500,000 barrels have been made. And here let me say that the State of Michigan, I apprehend, hardly appreciates the obligations it owes to the Sagi- naw Valley for cheapening salt for the use of the people through- out the State. It is well known that the Onondaga Salt Company controlled the entire market prior to this discovery, and when the manufacture of salt was commeneed at Saginaw the Onondaga company, in its efforts to break down the manufacture here in its infaney, put so low a priee upon their own salt as to make the Sagi- naw manufacture comparatively without profit. The Onondaga company did this without reference to the cost of the produet to them. They would sell salt at a dollar a barrel within the terri- tory reached by the Saginaw salt, while they were asking at the same time $2.25 a barrel at Syracuse, their place of manufacture. They made a profit in the territory which they controlled which en- abled them to sell at a loss here with a view to crushing out this dangerous competition. The result has been that the people of Michigan have had eheap salt, and saved probably over $10,000,- 000 in that one artiele in the last 17 years.
"If this were a proper oeeasion I would be glad to allude to the action of the State in withdrawing the bounty which it offered for the discovery of salt without providing for the remuneration to those who risked their money in its discovery, and who at great expense and heavy loss to themselves made the experiments as to the best mode of manufacturing. It would seem as though it would have been just had the State made provision to save those parties from loss. But I pass that. The salt produet is continually in-
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
creasing, and has already reached over a million and a half of barrels per year, and Onondaga no longer attempts to crush out this manufacture.
"Lumber has been the chief manufacture heretofore, and will be for many years to come. In 1854, at the request of a gentleman in Chicago, I made an enumeration of the mills then in operation upon the Saginaw river and its tributarics, including Kawkawlin, and of their product, showing that there were then 61 mills in operation, a large number of them being water-mills, and only 23 on the Saginaw river, having a total cut for the 61 mills, of 108,- 000,000 feet per year. From that time until 1863 no authentic figures were kept. Since that date accurate reports have been made yearly. From these data at hand, estimating for the years for which we have no accurate figures, the lumber manufacture of the Saginaw Valley from 1850 to the close of 1877 aggregates about 8,500,000,000 feet.
"It would be for the interest of our Valley, as well as for the in- terest of our lumbermen, if they would subject the lumber to finer manipulations before shipment, so that it may be ready for the consumer's use. Until recently but little attention has been paid to this, but the practice is now growing in favor; and as the timber becomes more valuable and more difficult to obtain, the manufact- urers will endeavor, by handling a smaller quantity, so to handle it as to make the same profit on the less as they have heretofore on the greater quantity. This gives employment to a greater num- ber of men and of course tends to the general profit of the Val- ley. How long lumber will remain as the leading product of the valley it is impossible to say. It will probably continue at least during the present generation. I remember over 20 years ago that people would then assume to demonstrate that in 10, 15 or 20 years the pine would be entirely gone at the then rate of consumption. Its annual production has increased more then five-fold, and yet it is nearly as difficult now to say when the end will come as it was then. When Lewis and Headley published their annual statement of the salt and lumber statistics of the Val- ley in the year 1868, they assumed to give a careful estimate of the timber then standing within and tributary to the district em- braced in the statement, and they gave for 'Saginaw and "the shore" to and including Sable river and tributaries, 5,241,600,000 feet,' and estimated that the timber would be entirely exhausted in less than 17 years, manufacturing at the rate of 500,000,- 000 feet annually. As a matter of fact, as their subsequent esti- mates show, there has been actually manufactured at the Saginaw river mills alone, from 1869 to 1877 inclusive, 5,211,987,099 feet of lumber. If their estimate then had been correct, we should have been out of pinc timber before this time, yet last fall our lum- bermen were making arrangements to stock their mills heavier than ever, and the cut for the Saginaw river and Kawkawlin in 1877 was over 640,000,000 feet. I will not assume to state how long this manufacture will continue, nor assume to estimate the
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
quantity of pine yet standing within the Valley. But it is safe to venture this prediction, -that the manufacture of lumber will be a leading industry in the Saginaw Valley during the lives of the pres- ent generation.
"The agricultural development of the Valley has been very rapid the last few years. When salt was discovered at first, those who had timber lands near the salt-producing districts assumed that their timber would be of great value for wood to be used in the manufacture of salt, and consequently neglected to cut it, holding for higher prices. It has been found, however, that the waste from the lumber mills produces sufficient fuel for this purpose, and those who made their calculations for profit from their fuel proved mistaken.
" When the fires of 1871 swept over this part of the State, thousands of acres of timber were destroyed. People up to that time had been giving their attention to manufacturing. The farmer could work in the woods winters with his teams, and thus secure for himself and family what it was necessary to purchase, devoting himself to farming only for the purpose, apparently, of furnishing his own family and his own teams with their supplies. After the panic of 1873, by whichi manufacturing industries were so seriously checked, more attention was given to farming, and these lands where the timber had been burned were cleared to such an extent that the agricultural development of the last five years in the central and northern parts of the Valley is more than equal to all that preceded that period. The farmers of Michigan have a great advantage over those of the States west of the Mis- sissippi in the better price they obtain for their products. The report of the department of agriculture for 1876 shows that the cash value of the product of one acre devoted to agricultural pur- poses in Michigan, was $14.46 as against an average of $9.61 in 22 other States west and south, including among thiem Ohio, Indi- ana, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc.
"I have said that the latitude of this Valley was about the same as that of the Mohawk valley. I may add that it possesses supe- rior advantages over the Mohawk valley for dairy purposes We have less waste land; we can raise as good hay and have as good pasture. Our transportation facilities are such that the difference in the price that can be obtained for the products of the dairy here and those they obtain would be hardly noticed. Cheese is an article of large export. At a recent meeting of the American Dairymen's Association at Cleveland, it was stated that the exports of cheese to Great Britian alone during the past year had been about 110,000,000 Ibs., valued at over $13,000,000; and the export of butter for the same period had been over 14,000, 000 Ibs. There is no danger of overstocking the market with these products so long as this export demand continues, and it is constantly grow- ing. The lands of the Saginaw Valley are natural grass lands. A piece of land cleared will seed itself, at least it will be found cov- ered with a turf of good pasturage grasses, and you cannot tell
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
how the seed comes there. We need plenty of good cheese fac- tories. Our farmers may with profit to themseles give more atten- tion to dairying in the future than in the past. There is profit in it as well as in the raising of grain, and in our climate a mixed husbandry is better for the land, and by this combination of industries farms originally rich may be mnade richer, while should the farmer devote himself exclusively to grain he would soon im- poverish his soil, no matter how fertile in its original condition. The farmer located in the Saginaw Valley has no reason to bemoan his location. Although the surface of the country appears level, yet there is sufficient fall for good drainage. Hard- ly a farin can be found but what will permit the water to flow off if water-ways are opened. In time under-draining will become the rule on our clay subsoils, but at present most of our farmers must content themselves with surface draining.
"The streams which flow into the Saginaw in their united length will exceed 1,500 miles, of size sufficient to give a valuable navi- gation for logs and timber, and in addition are thousands of miles of smaller streams and rivulets, through which the drainage of the surface is accomplished. The basin of the Valley of the Sagi- naw is about 450 feet lower than its southern border just south of Holly, and from 500 to 600 feet lower than its northern and north- western border found on the dividing line between the Muskegon and Saginaw rivers, while on its southwestern side between the waters of Bad and Maple rivers it is some 72 feet, that being the lowest point in the whole boundary of the Valley, except the outlet by the Bay. With proper attention to drainage, with proper care to preserve the fertility of the soil, and with proper industry and attention to business, it will be but few years before the farmers of the Saginaw Valley, with their fertile and well stocked farms, will rank in the extent of their productions, as they do now in quality, with the best on the continent."
It is said with truth that as late as 1860 the general impression in regard to the Saginaw Valley shared in by many prominent residents as well as by a large majority of those outsiders who hap- pened to know from observation or experience any thing concern- ing this new region of country, was that while its timber was unquestionably valuable-at that date this resource was not esti- mated at one tenth of its actual value, by reason of its intermin- able swamps and marshes, the sterility that ordinarily attaches to land in pine districts, known at that time to the casual observer as "pine barrens"-the liability to frosts, the lack of drainage and the unusual obstacles to be met with in clearing the forests and making the soil available for cultivation, it could by no possibility ever become even a moderately productive farming district. There were grave doubts at that time in the minds of many fair-minded, excellent citizens, gentlemen thoroughly identified with the inter- ests of the Valley, whether the county, many portions of which are to-day as rich and productive as the best agricultural districts in the West, was not too frosty and unreliable as to climate to war-
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
rant the broad extent of farming improvements that had already been vigorously inaugurated. This doubt, and the persistent mis- representation in regard to Saginaw Valley as a land of swamps, frosts and sterility, made previous to 1860, has seemed to keep the farming interest, never too prone to prosper in a lumber country, far behind what it should be at this time, and the loss in accumu- lations by reason of this delay may be counted by millions of dol- lars; but with all this slow progress these facts have been fairly and firmly fixed.
In 1860 the number of acres of improved land in the county was estimated at 18,048 acres, 10 years later at 33,383 acres, and in the fiftli decade after settlement at double the area reported as improved in 1870.
As lands are cleared and opened to the light and heat of the sun, they improve every year, and in the broader clearings untimely frosts are so marked an exception to the general rule that there is no further fear of that dread "bug-bear." The soil throughout all that range of counties drained by Saginaw river and its tributaries is as a rule excellent for farming purposes, and among some of the pine tracts, as is the case on the Cass, the Flint, the Tittabawassee, Chippewa and other streams, are found some of the most productive lands in the district.
The timber will not last for ever. Within a half century the owners of these fertile lands will wish for a pine grove and find none; in their rush after gain the forest will be leveled, and then, in possession of rich and productive farms, the husbandman will look back to the time when each quarter section held a mine of fuel, and curse the want of foresight which led to its destruction.
CHAPTER VIII.
ORGANIC.
The third decade of the 19th century will ever be remembered as the beginning of a movement of the people toward Western homes. During those years the Eastern people rose to a full con- ception of the worth of the land and the liberties which the toilers of the Revolution won for them, and resolved to direct their steps thither. Michigan was not forgotten. The country from the St. Joseph to the Grand river, and still northward to the villages of the Chippewas, was explored, and in some cases settled. For some years succeeding this decade the forests of Saginaw boasted of all their primitive grandeur. In 1835 the scene was changed. At intervals the American pioneer built his log house, made a small clearing, and transformed portions of the mighty forests into spots of pastoral beanty. Many acres were already fenced, and the stacked harvest of the preceding year was seen near at hand. The country was then replete with beauty; the singularly attractive monotony of the wildwoods was varied by tracts of cultivated lands; and the aborigines lived in proximity to civilized man.
Solidarity of interests joined the pioneers in a bond of fraternity, the strength of which tended to render their loves and friendships lasting.
On the completion of their spring farm labors those settlers of the land-those true foresters-did not seek a rest, but turning their attention away from manual, embraced mental labors, to the end that their political condition might advance hand in hand with the social status already attained, or at least within their grasp. Before the springtime of 1836 had called them to their fields they established for themselves a county and a county government.
In reviewing the history of those days, it is proper that the do- ings of the local government should find a place among the rem- iniscences of the times. That the first statesmen of the country labored faithfully in the interest of their neighbors, will appear from this record; and as their labors are briefly described in the following pages, it is hoped that this section of the history may re- ceive from the reader such attention as the labors of older legislators deserve.
SAGINAW COUNTY BOUNDARIES IN 1822.
The following description of the boundaries of Saginaw county was contained in a proclamation of the Governor, issued in 1822. Nine years later this portion of the proclamation was abrogated,
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
and the boundaries revised. As laid off in 1822, the county com- prised all the country included within the following boundaries: "Beginning on the principal meridian, where the line between the 14th and 15tli townships north of the base line intersects the same, and running thence south, to the line between the eighth and ninth townships north of the base line; thence east to the line between the sixth and seventhi ranges east of the principal meridian; thence north to the continuation of the line between the 14th and 15th townships north of the base line; thence west to the place of beginning,-shall form a county to be called the county of Saginaw." This proclamation of Gov. Cass, defining the boun- daries of the county of Saginaw was issued Sept. 10, 1822. While laying off this division of the State, it defined the boundaries of Lapeer, Sanilac, Shiawassee, Washtenaw and Lenawee, providing that their organization should take place whenever competent authority for the time being should deem such a course advisable.
Of the six counties, the boundaries of which were defined in this proclamation, Saginaw, Lapeer, Sanilac and Shiawassee were at- tached to Oakland county, until the period of their organization; Washtenaw was attached to Wayne county under the same con- dition, and Lenawee to Monroe county.
Wayne county was laid off Nov. 1, 1815, Monroe July 14, 1817, and Oakland Jan. 12, 1819. To the latter county, Saginaw, and all the country not included within the boundaries of the counties described in the proclamation (to which the Indian title was ex- tinguished by the Saginaw treaty, signed and sealed Sept. 24, 1819) were attached; while all the country to which the Indians relin- quished their claims by the treaty of Chicago, was attached to Monroe.
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT.
In the earlier years it was the custom of the Territorial officers to foresee, if possible, the action of the people, and concede that which appeared would prove beneficial prior to the offer of a petition. This was the case with Saginaw. Even before its organization as a township, the Legislative Council directed the establish- ment of its judicial center, and the proclamation of Gov. Lewis Cass, under date Jan. 11, 1831, resulted. This document states: " Whereas, Solomon Frost, Origen D. Richardson, and Thomas J. Drake were appointed commissioners to locate the seat of justice in the county of Saginaw, and have proceeded to execute the said duty, and have by a report signed by a majority of them located the seat of justice of the said county of Saginaw upon the north- east fractional quarter of section 26, in township 12 north, and range 4 east, and designated upon the plat of the 'City of Sag- inaw,' so called, as the two squares marked on said plat 'Public Buildings,' which plat is recorded in the register's office of Oakland county; now, therefore, by virtue of authority, given in the act of July, 1830, the seat of justice of Saginaw county is established
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
on the said two squares of land deseribed, and lying in the said city of Saginaw."
SAGINAW TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED.
For a period extending over four years between 1831 and 1835, the district known as the county of Saginaw formed a township attached to Oakland for judicial purposes.
The Legislative Council of the Territory ordained that "all that part of the country lying within the limits of the county of Sagana heretofore set off and established as the county of Sagana, be and the same is liereby set off into a separate township, and the name thereof shall be Sagana. That the first township meeting to be held in such township shall be held at the fort of Sagana, on the first Monday in April, which will be in the year 1831. That noth- ing in this act shall in any manner affect the assessment and eol- lection of taxes made or to be made within the said distriet of country, as a part of the township of Pontiae, for the year 1830."
This aet was approved July 12, 1530, and came into force 1831, when Gardner D. Williams was elected supervisor, David Stanard overseer of No. 1 district, or Saginaw; Eleazer Jewett, overseer of No. 2 district, or Greenpoint; Charles MeLean overseer of the 3d dis- trict, or Tittabawassee. This first meeting was held April 4, 1831, at the Saginaw fort. After the election the board organized, and proceeding at onee to business appropriated $25 for the poor fund, and $50 for building roads and bridges.
CIIANGE OF BOUNDARIES.
The aet of the Legislative Council approved March 2, 1831, ab- rogated that portion of Gen. Cass' proclamation dealing with the eounty, and ordained tliat its boundaries shall begin at a point where the line between ranges 6 and 7 east intersects the line between townships 8 and 9 north; thenee west to the meridian, thence north on the meridian line to the line between townships 12 and 13; thenee east to the line between ranges 2 and 3 east; thenee north to the line between townships 14 and 15; thence east to the line between ranges 6 and 7 east; thence south to the place of beginning, containing 32 townships. Within this distriet Eleazer Jewett surveyed the first eounty roads in 1832, as elsewhere noticed. Gardner D. Williams served as supervisor from April, 1831, to April, 1834, when William F. Mosley was elected to serve until the election of 1835.
ORGANIZATION OF TIIE COUNTY.
During 1834, tlie question of eonferring on the township of Sagi- naw the status of a county was diseussed, and a resolution of the Couneil passed to the effeet :- "That the county of Saginaw shall be organized when this act takes effeet, and the inhabitants entitled to all the rights and privileges to which, by law, the inhabitants of
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.
the other counties of this Territory are entitled; that all suits, prose- cutions and other matters now pending before the courts of record of Oakland county, or before any justice of the peace of said county, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution; and all taxes, heretofore levied and now due shall be collected in the same man- ner as though the said county of Saginaw had not been organized; that the circuit court for the county of Saginaw shall be holden on such days as the law will provide, and that it shall be the duty of the sheriff to provide a suitable place near the county site, for the holding of court, until public buildings are erected in said county ; that the township board for the township of Saginaw shall, until there be three townships organized in the county, sit as a county board for said county, and are authorized to transact all business now incumbent on the board of supervisors in the respective counties of the territory."
This act of organization was approved Jan. 28, 1835, and put in force the second Monday of February, 1835.
EARLY RECORD OF SUPERVISORS' COURT.
The first record in possession of the county clerk of Saginaw is dated the second Tuesday in October, 1835. It recounts the formal meeting of the county board, which adjourned to Friday, Oct. 23, to meet at the house of E. N. Davenport, in the village of Saginaw. There were present at this adjourned meeting, G. D. Williams, Supervisor; Wm. F. Mosley, J. P .; Albert Miller, J. P., and E. S. Williams, Township Clerk. Albert Miller was chosen president of the township board, and E. S. Williams, clerk. At this meeting a number of accounts, aggregating $98.63, were ordered to be paid. Among such accounts was an item of $5, allowed Albert Miller for copying assessment roll and proportioning tax for the collector. A sum of $15 was voted Wm. F. Mosley in payment for his services as district attorney during the year 1835. To E. S. Williams a sum of $2 was voted for services rendered as clerk of the board.
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