History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II, Part 18

Author: Mills, James Cooke
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Saginaw, Mich., Seemann & Peters
Number of Pages: 838

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THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF SAGINAW CITY

The settlers of Saginaw Valley anticipated great results from this im- provement, by its opening up a waterway west into a portion of the interior of the State that was known to contain some of its richest lands for agricul- tural purposes, and would also furnish a shorter route across the peninsula than by the course of the lakes. Early in 1837 surveys of the canal were made and specifications prepared for the first section extending west from the forks of the Bad River. The report of the survey was regarded as exceed- ingly favorable, showing the existence of a remarkable depression extending westward from the waters of the Saginaw to those of the Maple, and that these waters, flowing in opposite directions, were only three miles distant from each other at one point, and that between them the highest elevation necessary to be crossed was only seventy-two feet above Lake Michigan. It was along this valley and across this low summit that the engineers located the route for the canal, with certain slack-water improvements to be made east and west of it.

Contracts for grubbing and clearing of the route were let in 1838, and work was commenced in that year. The contract for excavating the site was let soon after to Norman Little, of Saginaw, and another part of the work was undertaken by Alpheus Williams. Great expense and hardship attended the prosecution of the work, as it was located in a wilderness fifteen miles from any white settlement, thereby adding to the difficulties of transporting materials and supplies. But under the management of the energetic con- tractor. it was continued with vigor, about one hundred frishmen being employed in excavating : and a large quantity of timber was cut and lumber brought in for the construction of coffer-dams. The canal as projected was to be twenty miles long, ninety feet wide, with nine feet depth of water.

The work on the canal continued until July, 1839, when it was suspended and the project abandoned. The immediate cause of the failure was the inability of the State to meet the monthly estimates of the contractor, according to the terms of the contract, for the reason that the Morris Canal and Banking Company, which had taken the $5,000,000 State loan, had failed before the whole amount had been paid over. The timber intended for the construction of the locks and dams remained to rot on the ground, and remnants of some of them were plainly visible within the last twenty-five years in Chapin Township.

When the payment of wages and materials stopped, and the Irishmen were dismissed from the job without their last wages being paid, they came to town and for two or three days paraded the streets threatening all those who had had anything to do with the canal. Timid persons feared mob violence, but when the matter was fully explained so that the laborers under- stood the cause of the non-payment of their wages, they left without doing any damage to anyone.

The sums expended on the canal project, and which were a total loss to the State, were, in 1838, $6,271.12; in 1839, $15,985.69; a total of $22.256.81.

Ten years after the abandonment of the canal project by the State, the legislature of Michigan, by act approved March 30, 1849, incorporated a com- pany composed of Gardner D. Williams, James Fraser. D. J. Johnson, of Saginaw, and other parties in the State, "to enter upon the canal commenced by the State, as their property, at the forks of the Bad River, and upon lands on either side, and through which the said canal may pass, to the bend of the Maple River, a tributary of Grand River, and so far on that river as may be thought proper; to construct a tow path and concentrate the water for canal nse, and to dig, construct or excavate the earth; to erect or set up any dams, locks, waste-weirs, sluices, feeders or any other device whatsoever,

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to render the same navigable with boats, barges or other craft." The com- pany was duly organized under the name of Saginaw and Grand River Canal Company, with a capital of $200,000, and its stock was offered for sale.

The revival of the project reawakened hopes that the Maple River was at last to become part of a navigable waterway between the two great lakes, and the people indulged in the most visionary and impracticable notions in regard to the water courses of the State. Having no railroads or even wagon roads leading to the interior, the Indian trails being the only means of com- munication between the scattered hamlets, it was perhaps natural that they should have held greatly exaggerated ideas of the value of their rivers as highways of commerce. No work on the old canal was ever done by the company organized here, and finally the enterprise was definitely abandoned. never to be again revived. With a better understanding of the economics of transportation, the impractical schemes of visionaries today meet with little encouragement or support, particularly in an age when the facilities for communication to the remotest parts of the State are entirely adequate to the needs of commerce.

The Enterprise of Norman Little

Of all the energetic and progressive men who came to this valley at an early day, Norman Little must be regarded as having been the most enter- prising. Partaking of the public spirit of his father, Doctor Charles Little, he came here with him in 1822-23, but with others of the party returned to New York State after their explorations were completed. In 1836, having enlisted the financial support of Mackie, Oakley and Jennison, of New York City, in a project for the building up of the village of Saginaw, he took up his permanent residence here. He thereupon chartered the steamboat Gover- nor Marcy and, with a party of prominent citizens of Detroit and a number of emigrants, made the first voyage by steam power to the Saginaw, and proudly steamed up the river to this place. Soon after this important event he established a regular steamboat line between Buffalo and Saginaw, and. by extensive advertising in eastern cities, started the tide of emigration to the then remotest point on the western frontier.

His broad scheme of exploitation embraced the erection of a number of costly buildings, and the making of certain public improvements; and the expenditures of Mackie & Company, of which he was a member, in carrying out their designs, amounted to a large sum. They first purchased the military reservation, comprising the old fort and adjacent land, which is now the center of the business section of the West Side, and proceeded to improve it. After the United States troops had been withdrawn from the fort in the fall of 1823, this property was sold to Samuel Dexter, of Wash- tenaw County, the consideration being seven thousand dollars. In 1832 Eleazer Jewett surveyed and platted the land for Mr. Dexter, who then gave the place the name of Saginaw City. That portion south of Cass Street was then owned by Gardner D. Williams and Ephraim S. Williams, and they had it platted at about the same time.

Mr. Dexter designed to exploit the advantages of this village as a busi- ness center of a large territory rich in natural resources, and to build it up for a desirable place of residence. But his efforts in this line were not very successful, and in 1835 he sold his interests here to Doctor Millington, of Ypsilanti, for eleven thousand dollars. The following year, when the more progressive men from the east, with abundant capital at their command, arrived to exploit its wonderful resources, the value of this property had apparently risen over night to an unheard of figure in the history of settle- ment of the wilderness, for they paid fifty-five thousand dollars for it.

NORMAN LITTLE The projector of Saginaw City and founder of East Saginaw.

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

Upon the inauguration of Mr. Little's extensive plan of improvements, and the expenditure of large sums of money, there was a great change in the appearance of Saginaw City. A large influx of population soon commenced, and a speculative mania seized all the ardent, enterprising men (as it did adventurous spirits throughout the United States between 1835 and 1838), and an era of speculation set in which was unequalled in the history of the State. Property here changed hands from day to day at fabulous prices, and the pioneers began to think that the consummation of their hopes of seeing the Saginaw Valley a rich and populous country, was near at hand. Some lots, so the records show, sold as high as two thousand dollars, while an eighty acre plot of ground, within a mile of the river, brought eighty thousand dollars. Nearly the entire section of the county, bordering on the east side of the Saginaw and Shiawassee Rivers to the south side of the Cass River, and extending a mile or more along the north bank of that stream. was platted and offered for sale. Some of these plats covered acre upon acre of land submerged at all seasons of the year, the only occupants being the muskrat, bull frog, and wild fowl.

In 1837 a new plat of Saginaw City was made by Mr. Little, which embraced all the smaller plats previously drawn, including the "Town of Sagina" and the Dexter plat, and spread itself into magnificent distances taking in a great deal of territory. However extravagant such a plat may now seem, the entire land then platted, after a lapse of fifty years, was covered with stately edifices and beautiful homes. Afterward Yates and Woodruff acquired a considerable portion of the platted territory, and, being men of wealth, they commenced improvements which could only have been inaugurated under the influence of a mania of speculation. Attracted by the beauty of the location and of the surrounding country, with its bountiful forests and water communication to the east. these men sought to build up a beautiful city.

The Old Webster House

Among the improvements made by this syndicate was the building of the Webster House, a large hotel located on the northwest corner of Wash- ington and Jefferson Streets, the site of the present residence of Mrs. George Grant, Jr., the streets now being known as Michigan Avenue and Cleveland Street. Like other structures projected by these speculators, this hotel was of spacious proportions, three stories in height, having a Grecian portico, with fluted columns sustaining the entablature, and broad verandas, a fine basement. and was of sufficient size to accommodate the ordinary hotel necessities of a town of ten thousand inhabitants. For a long time it was the most pretentious and best conducted public house of any in Michigan, and, as the center of the social life of the town. it helped to spread its fame in other sections of the State. The projectors also constructed a capacious warehouse, about one hundred feet in length by sixty feet in width, having three floors, on the margin of the river at what is now the foot of Cleveland Street.

Soon after the Webster House was opened to the public, in 1838, E. L. Wentz, who during the previous year had lived at Malden's log tavern. moved over to the new hotel. and at times assisted Mr. Harring, the pro- prietor, in the office. In this capacity he became well acquainted with the people who stayed there; and many years after told an amusing ineident illustrating a peculiar custom of the time.

"I have a vivid recollection," said he, "of a high lark that Henry Pratt and I had at the Webster House a short time after it was opened. There was some doings that brought all the people of the country into town, and

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they all stopped at the Webster Ilouse. The country guests all took off their boots, shoes and stockings in the office and left them there, going up stairs bare-footed to bed. After all were in bed and the house quiet, Pratt and I went to his shop, got some shoe brushes and blacking, returned to the hotel and blacked one of every pair of boots and shoes we could find in the house. We worked at it until daylight, then blacked one of our own in the same way, and went to bed for about an hour. I came into the office early to see the effect of our night's work.

"When the people began to come down the fun commenced. Everyone tried to get a pair of polished boots or shoes, some didn't know their shoes and looked half an hour for them, some accepted the joke and laughed, while others cursed a blue streak, threatening to kill the person who blacked their boots, if they could find out who did it. During the day nearly every man to be met on the streets had on one polished boot or shoe, and that was evidence that he was a guest of the Webster House. Pratt and I kept very still and had our laugh all to ourselves. Saginaw at that time was very dull. and anything that created a little excitement was enjoyable."

The Bubble Bursts

The general inflation of values caused by speculative mania finally pro- duced an abnormal condition of affairs throughout the country. In 1838 the huge bubble of speculation collapsed. But few banks in the United States survived the disaster, and those that did, suspended specie payments. Then followed several years of broad-spread commercial and mercantile de- pression. For a long time the business of the country was paralyzed, finding but little relief until the passage of the bankrupt law by Congress, in 1842.

For several years after the collapse very little progress was made in the valley of the Saginaw. Evidently the projectors of the realty boom, and of the improvements referred to, had anticipated a large influx of population and a corresponding increase in trade, for they were strong in the faith of ultimate success, a quality indispensable to the pioneer, and men of ideas and energy. But with the suspension of the Saginaw City Bank, a "wild- cat" concern organized by Norman Little and others, and of all construction work, many mechanics and laborers were thrown out of employment, and a large number returned to the East. Instead of speculating as to the quickest way of making a fortune, the people had to turn their attention to the best means of obtaining bread. Had it not been for the abundant resources of the country, many who remained might have come to want ; but with plenty of game in the forests and the choicest of fish in the waters, and a productive soil on the alluvial bottom lands, all that stayed here managed to obtain a livelihood. Many who had been in other business resorted to farming, which hastened the clearing of the land, and aided in the development of the country.

Anthony R. Swarthout

Captain A. R. Swarthout, who gained his title in the Pottawatomie and Black Hawk wars, was born in Seneca County. New York, in September. 1796. He was of Dutch descent, some members of the family being noted for longevity, his great grandmother having attained to the remarkable age of one hundred and seventeen years. His boyhood was passed in his native place: and in 1816 he was married to Miss Hannah Rose, and removed to Steuben County, New York. In 1826, having heard much of the opportun- ities of settlement in the territory of Michigan, he made a tedious journey to the then "Far West"; and in the following year moved his family to lands he had located near Ypsilanti.

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

AAfter the Indian wars, in which he was enrolled in a company of rifle- men known as "minute men," were ended, Captain Swarthout ventured the journey through the almost unbroken wilderness to the trading post on the Saginaw, arriving here on September 26, 1835. At the first township meet- ing held in the spring of 1836, there were seventeen votes polled, and he was elected one of the township officers - that of highway commissioner, which he held for sixteen years. In this capacity, with the aid of Abram Butts, another early settler, he laid out and established most of the public highways of this and adjoining counties then embraced within the limits of Saginaw County. He also served a term as supervisor, and was town- ship clerk for fourteen years without intermission.

A man of unquestioned integrity and generous hospitality, Captain Swarthout always commanded the respect of his fellow townsmen. Ile died in 1881 at the age of eighty-five, survived by four sons and three daughters.

Horace S. Beach

One of the oldest and most respected of the pioneers of this county was Horace S. Beach, who was born in New York City, January 16, 1806. Most of his young manhood was passed in his native State, but in 1837 he came to Saginaw. During that and the following year he taught the first school opened in the county, being preceded as master only by Albert Miller. As a surveyor, a profession which he soon after adopted, he made many of the early surveys, and was engaged in this work until 1855. In 1849 he moved to a farm in Tittabawassee Township, on which he lived and died.

His first vote was cast for John Quincy Adams, but in late years he became a firm and consistent advocate of the principles of the Republican party. He served the county in several official positions, in 1842-43-44 as register of deeds. In 1840 he was married to Miss Catherine Malden, sister of Mrs. James Busby, of Saginaw City; and to them four sons were born. Firm in his convictions he had the iron will of a strong man, yet preserved the tender sympathy of a woman. lle died in 1881.

A CAMP IN WINTER

CHAPTER IX FOUNDING OF EAST SAGINAW

Convivial Habits of the Pioneers -"Uncle Jimmy", the Fiddler - Anecdote of Major Mosely - Plague of Blackbirds - Primitive Settlement on the East Side - Original Plat - Curtis Emerson Comes upon the Scene - His Eccentricities - Lays out Village of Buena Vista - Norman Little Founds East Saginaw - Builds Plank Road to Flint - His other Enterprises - William L. P. Little - Charles David Little.

C HRISTMAS among the pioneers of the West, especially those of French extraction, was always observed as a holiday, to be celebrated in a manner congenial to their ideas and tastes. This generally took the form of carousals among the rougher element, and milder champagne parties among the "select", and in our frontier settlement this was no exception. Liquor flowed freely on all occasions of jollity and merry-making, drinking being one of the chief recreations of the male portion of the inhabitants. So abundant was the supply that in unloading a cargo of supplies at the dock, it was observed that there were about four barrels of whiskey to two barrels of flour and one of pork: and some persons used to wonder where so much flour and pork went to. In those early days they were wont to say that strong drink was a necessity to life, and considering the wet and marshy condition of the ground and the malarial tendencies of the climate, they were probably right about it.

In New England, whence a number of our prominent residents hailed, but little attention was paid to the Christmas festival, Thanksgiving day being the great holiday of the year; therefore many who had emigrated from those States kept steadily at their work or business, as on any other day. And they resented any interference in their established custom.

On one Christmas day in the olden time Albert Miller, in company with his brothers-in-law, Eleazer Jewett and Harvey Rumrill, who were natives of Vermont and New Hampshire, after working until near the close of the day, took a large canoe and paddled down the river from their homes at Green Point to the "Fort", where they had business at the trading post of G. D. & E. S. Williams. On entering the store they were confronted with the rough and boisterous element of the little settlement, the door was quickly locked and guarded to prevent their leaving, and they saw that they were in for a hot celebration. Jewett, at once taking in the situation, gave his companions the wink to be ready to escape the moment an opportunity offered. On looking through the crowd they found that nearly all the male population, after carousing all day, had gathered at the store to have a night of it. The New Englanders thereupon entered into their sport with such pretended zeal, that their captors soon relaxed their vigilance over them, when, upon edging toward the door, it was suddenly opened and they darted out and ran for their canoc.

In an instant a dozen or more stalwart men were after them, making in all haste toward the river, and the foremost one was about to grasp the prow of their canoe as they shoved off from shore. Being determined to prevent their escape, he waded into the water until it reached his waist, which at that season of the year was not very enjoyable holiday sport. Fail- ing in their first attempt, they quickly manned a large batteau and started

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

in pursuit, and it was stated that no water-craft ever before passed over the two miles to the Point in a shorter time than those two canoes on that Christmas night. It was an even race all the way; and when they landed. instead of going to their cabins, Miller and his companions ran to the woods where they concealed themselves in the thicket. The racket soon raised by their pursuers around their houses, and a boisterous threat to tear down one of them, frightened their families, so they came out of the woods and faced them. The roisterers then attempted to force them into the canoe to carry them back to finish the night in revelry, but they began a good-natured scuffle with them, which, with their exertions of paddling their canoe, partly sobered them, so that they were soon willing to take to their canoe and return home alone.

Besides these carousals there were more select parties whenever there seemed occasion for them, the arrival of some friend of a resident, or some person contemplating settling here, an advantageous sale of property or any family event, being considered an apportune time for convening a champagne party. These parties were entered into for the desire for social enjoyment. and for keeping up the reputation of the village for hospitality and good cheer, which was proverbial. The flow of champagne soon loosened the tongues for song. anecdote and smart speeches, the conviviality continuing until morning when the company dispersed, some with "sair heads." The last one of these participated in by Albert Miller was in February, 1838. soon after his marriage, and was gotten up for the purpose of "laying him out", as he expresses it. The incident is told in his own words :

"On the morning after a night spent in social enjoyment with a large party at the opening of the Webster House. I was awakened by a number of voices calling to me from outside of my house. Suspecting what was intended. 1 was too well acquainted with the company to think of shirking the ordeal. I quickly rose and met the company of about a dozen men at the door, when they took me into Jewett's Hotel, which was next door, and presented me with a bottle of champagne; not waiting to uncork the bottle 1 broke the neck of it on the stove and put it to my mouth and allowed the contents to run down into my boots. [ told them that if they would allow me to finish dressing i would go with them wherever they desired.

"We started in sleighs and drove to every place in town where liquor could be obtained. I generally took the lead, called for the bottle, and prepared myself with a bumper of cold water to drink with them when they had their glasses filled. I feigned drunkenness, which I could easily do for 1 had plenty of patterns before me, and in the afternoon, when I went with the company to my own house to partake of some choice wines that I had, my wife and mother were greatly shocked at my apparent condition of inebriety, but were not more surprised a short time after when I returned without a show of liquor about me. I had scarcely swallowed a drop of liquor during the day. and was not in the least under its influence, but my companions were all ready to retire from the field before night. I became convinced of the folly of such actions, and as the hard times came on, after the general financial crash of 1838, the people generally, if they had the disposition to do it, had not the money to spend foolishly."

"Uncle Jimmy", the Fiddler

But it must not be supposed that drinking bouts, or Saginaw "trains" as they were usually termed, were the only form of conviviality indulged in by the early settlers. During the long months of winter they often had dances, and when one was all arranged to be held at the house of Mrs. G. D. Williams, Mrs. E. N. Davenport. Mrs. James Fraser, Mrs. Eleazer Jewett.

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or others, a messenger was dispatched through the woods some thirty miles to the cabin of James W. Cronk, to notify him that his services as "fiddler". were required at such a time. There were other persons nearer by who could supply the music for such occasions very acceptably, but the old citizens of Saginaw were too aristocratic to have any one play for them but their old friend and pioneer, "Uncle Jimmy", who always at the appointed time put in an appearance with a fiddle-box under his arm and his rifle over his shoulder. These were the only parties the old fellow would condescend to play for, but he never failed his old friends, and no one contributed so much to the enjoyment of the evening as he.

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History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II, Part 18

Author: Mills, James Cooke Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Saginaw, Mich., Seemann & Peters Number of Pages: 838

Author: Mills, James Cooke
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Saginaw, Mich., Seemann & Peters
Number of Pages: 838