USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 47
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
mill which had been erected the previous year by Michael Jeffers, on the river bank opposite East Saginaw. The mill was rebuilt and improved from time to time, making it one of the best equipped on the river ; and in the half century of its successful operation under the same ownership, its production reached a total of nearly half a billion feet of lumber.
It was the policy of Mr. Merrill to admit to an interest with himself in the lumber business, such faithful and competent men as in his judgment would conduct his affairs with discretion. He supplied the capital, while they devoted their time, experience and best energies to the carrying out of his plans and policies. For more than forty years his interests in Saginaw Valley were in charge of the late Joseph A. Whittier, who was recognized as one of the leading lumbermen and an honored citizen of this valley. Mr. Merrill was pre-eminently a man of business, taking little inter- est in politics and politicians, while withal intelligent in his citizenship. He was a staunch Republican, and his influence was always consistent in the advocacy of those principles and measures which commended themselves tu his conscientious judgment.
Mr. Merrill was married in 1836 to Miss Frances Pitts, of Maine, and to them was born one daughter, who in womanhood became the wife of Thomas W. Palmer. The death of Mr. Merrill in 1872, was universally regretted in the removal of a man of integrity and probity of character, enterprising in business, far seeing. and one who in the midst of many activities was not unmindful of the rights and interests of his fellow men, and of the com- munity in which he dwelt.
John S. Estabrook
Few men connected with the early development of the Saginaws, had a more intimate knowledge of the lumber trade than John S. Estabrook, who was born at Alden, Erie County, New York, in 1826. He received a common school education in his native village, supplemented by a winter's course in a select school. In 1844 he was employed in a grocery store at Buffalo, but in June of the following year he took passage on the schooner Cambria, bound for St. Clair, Michigan, then one of the leading lumber ports west of Buffalo. He was here employed as tail sawyer in the mill of Wesley Truesdell, attend- ing school in the Winter. The following Summer he was head sawyer in the same mill and spent the Winter in a logging camp. After other varied experiences he arrived at East Saginaw in 1852, and purchased for his employer. Willard Parker, one million feet of very choice cork pine from the Cass River stock, paying eight dollars for "quarters" and fifteen dollars for "uppers." From John Gallagher he bought an additional two hundred thousand feet of equally choice lumber at the same prices. The deals netted Mr. Parker in the Albany market a net profit of ten thousand dollars, and so pleased was he with this result that he gave outright to Mr. Estabrook the sum of two thousand dollars, and instructed him to return to this valley and search for other bargains on joint account.
So successful was he in the selection of prime stock that he soon began an investment of timber on his own account, and in the Winter of 1853-54 lumbered a tract on the Cass River, bringing down three million feet of logs. The following year be operated on the Shiawassee, but without marked success, and became associated with Samuel W. Yawkey & Com- pany, in the commission and inspection business. In 1862 he became associ- ated with L. P. Mason, of this city, in the inspection and shipping of lumber and allied products, a partnership arrangement which continued for several years. His field of activities was enlarged in 1871 by the purchase, with .1. Gebhart, of the Curtis & King mill at Salina, which they rebuilt and
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THE LUMBER INDUSTRY
commenced the manufacture of lumber on a commercial scale. In 1876 the firm began the shipment of their products by rail. the preparation of the stock requiring the erection and equipment of an extensive planing mill. and for years thereafter they sold direct to retail dealers in all sections of the country.
Mr. Estabrook was married in 1854 to Miss Ellen R. Burt, of Ypsilanti, who died in January, 1863, leaving one child, Winnifred, afterward the wife of W. P. Powell, of this city. In 1865 he was married to Miss Helen C. Norris, who died in 1867 leaving two children, Justus Norris and Mary Elizabeth. On the third of September. 1889. he was married to Miss Harriet Sharp, of Jackson. Mr. Estabrook was prominent in social life, eminent in Masonic circles, and a staunch Republican, having held the office of mayor of Saginaw ( see portrait on page 250) and other municipal positions of trust ; and was twice elected to represent his district in the State Legis- lature. For many years he was an active member of the Board of Trade. and was a recognized authority upon all matters connected with the business interests of Saginaw Valley. In his declining years he still enjoyed the regard and esteem of all classes of the community. which he had done so much to mold, and died in peace on October 4, 1903.
Samuel H. Webster
A well known and highly esteemed lumberman of the old days was Samuel H. Webster, who was connected with its trade when the supply of pine timber was supposed to be inexhaustible, and lived to see the days of its decadence. He was born in New Hampshire, in 1822, and in his early years alternated between work on his father's farm and the district school. After following various occupations, in one of which he was associated with Ammi W. Wright, he turned his face westward, and arrived in Detroit in 1847, taking an interest in a grocery store. In 1855 he came to Saginaw and purchased some pine lands on the Cass River, which he lumbered and found a customer for his logs in McEwen Brothers, of Bay City. There were no boom companies on the rivers, and he found it necessary to supervise the work of running the logs down the river and delivering them to the mill boom.
Mr. Webster continued lumbering on the Cass for several years, and then transferred his operations to the Bad and Pine rivers. In 1860 he became associated with Myron Butman, and the firm built a saw mill and salt works at Zilwaukee. Later he built a mill at Carrollton, having a capacity of seventy thousand feet of lumber a day, which was afterward sold to C. W. Grant & Company. During the sixties and seventies Mr. Webster owned and operated many large tracts of timber lands in Saginaw Valley and elsewhere, and eventually made the handling of pine lands his business. It was said that his knowledge of existing conditions and stumpage values was second to no other man in the State.
In 1849 Mr. Webster was married to Miss Angeline Rice, of Vermont, and to them one son, Benjamin F., was born. Mr. and Mrs. Webster made their home at the Bancroft House for twenty-eight years, in which they were identified with the social activities of the city. In politics Mr Webster was a Republican, but was never an office seeker, preferring to devote all his energies to his business interests. lle was a director of the First National Bank, and was connected with many mercantile institutions of the valley. Few men have exercised a more salutary influence over the business circles with which they have been connected.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
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RECORD LOAD HAULED BY ONE TWO-HORSE TEAM
Benjamin F. Webster
Benjamin F. Webster, only son of Samuel H. Webster. was born Sep- tember 8, 1853, at Detroit, and may be said to have been "brought up" in the woods of the Cass and other logging streams of the Saginaw Valley. Ilis father at the time was superintending his own camps during the winter months, and running the logs down the river in the Summer, and the lad was kept in the camps and on the drives until he was old enough to go to school. He then attended the common schools of Saginaw. When his schooling was completed he began working in his father's mill office, and to so good purpose that in a few years he became manager of the immense lumbering operations.
In later years he became interested in Lake Superior and Georgian Bay timber limits, and also lands in Mississippi. Ile was a director of the First National Bank and of the Saginaw Valley Insurance Company; and com- manded the respect and confidence of the business men of the valley. He was married in 1879 to Miss Leona Livingston, of Saginaw.
Washington S. Green
For more than thirty years W. S. Green was prominently identified with the lumber interests of Saginaw, his residence here dating from 1864. He was born at Leonardsville. New York, in 1814: and upon attaining manhood was engaged in making agricultural tools. Upon coming to Saginaw he. in company with Daniel Hardin, purchased the saw mill of Hale & Stinson. which was operated under the firm name of Green & Hardin, and in later years that of Green, Ring & Company, with an annual production of twenty to twenty-five million feet.
Mr. Green was well versed in wood craft, and until well advanced in years had charge of the outside business of the firm, in the care of the
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THE LUMBER INDUSTRY
camps and the logging operations. He was interested in the Bradley-Ram- say Lumber Company, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and also in a tract esti- mated to be one hundred million feet, in the State of Washington. In other industrial affairs he was prominently identified, generally in association with his son, Charles H., and was interested in the Bank of Saginaw in its early history. In later years he engaged in mining operations in the San Juan district of Colorado, and in the Kootenai district of British Columbia, in which he was very successful.
As an ardent Republican Mr. Green never aspired to the calling of a politician, or to hold political office, but was content to hold a higher place in the esteem of his fellow citizens, having a more honorable record in all that pertains to good and useful citizenship. Mr. Green died November 11, 1897, in his eighty-fourth year.
Isaac Parsons
Another pioneer of the lumber industry in the Saginaws was Isaac Parsons, who came here in the early fifties and engaged in "looking" land for some of the leading lumbermen of the valley. Hle was born at Leyden, Lewis County, New York, November 19, 1829, his father being of English descent, sprung from Sir John Parsons who came to Massachusetts in the carly colonial days, while his mother was Mary Brown Parsons, of Scotch descent.
His boyhood was spent in his native village where he attended the dis- friet school, and upon attaining manhood he came to Saginaw. With his brother, Aaron A. Parsons, he engaged in the real estate business at Saginaw City, and made the first set of abstract books for this county. While thus occupied he gradually acquired extensive holdings of land in and near the city, of which the Parsons Addition and the Gaylord & Parsons Addition represent the large tracts. He also at one time owned the larger portion of the river front of Carrollton: and he and Doctor I. N. Smith owned the farm which later comprised Union Park.
About 1856 Mr. Parsons embarked in the lumber business, associated with William Little. It was a time when the pine forests were yielding fortunes to enterprising men, and soon after he formed a partnership with AAlfred F. R. Braley, and still later with Aaron P. Bliss. The firm of Bliss & Parsons operated extensively in Wisconsin for some years, considerable pro- ft accruing to each member. In later years Mr. Parsons secured mining interests in Montana and in Canada.
On July 10, 1865, Mr, Parsons was united in marriage with Miss llelen Ackley, and to them was born one daughter, llelen A. Parsons. Isaac B. Parsons, a nephew, who resides at Haywood, California, was adopted by them in boyhood, and was as a real son to them. Mr. Parsons was devoted to his home and his business, and never cared for the honors of political office or of public life. He was counted as a Democrat, though for years he belonged to the class of independent voters who acknowledge allegiance to no party. is a husband and father he was sympathetic, kind and generous, and as a neighbor and friend he was true and helpful. As a member of St. John's Episcopal Church he served as vestryman for many years, and was a liberal supporter of the good work of the parish. After an illness of about four years he died on Sunday morning, September 7, 1902, in his seventy-third year.
Ralph A. Loveland
The lumber business in the main has been carried on by men of rare intelligence and good citizenship, and Ralph . Loveland, for many years at the head of the Saginaw Lumber & Salt Company, belonged to this repre-
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
sentative class of lumbermen. He was born at Westport, New York, January 17, 1819, the son of Erastus and Lucy Bradley Loveland. In his youth he devoted his Summers to boating on the Hudson River and Lake Champlain, and his Winters to study at Essex Academy. Later he engaged in shipping on those waters, in which he was successful, but in 1863 he disposed of these interests and removed to Janesville, Wisconsin. There he was occupied in sheep raising and wool growing, a business which he followed for six years.
In 1869, in company with D. L. White, S. W. Barnard, A. S. Page and A. G. P. Dodge of New York, he established a lumber yard at Chicago, with branches on the North Side and on the North Branch. Closing out this business in 1876, Mr. Loveland purchased a small mill with a tract of timber in Montcalm County, Michigan, upon the exhaustion of which he bought lands on the Au Gres River in losco County, estimated to cut one hundred and fifty million feet of sawed timber. The logs were cut and rafted to the mill at Crow Island, four miles below Saginaw. The cutting of this tract continued until 1893, after which the mill was supplied with logs from Georgian Bay, towed across the lake in huge rafts.
The Saginaw Lumber & Salt Company was organized in 1881, with James Maclaren, president, Otis Sheppard, Vice-president, R. H. Roys, secretary and D. L. White, Jr., treasurer. For many years the average cut of the mill at Crow Island was twenty million feet per year, and ten to twenty million feet in addition was cut at other mills on the river, for the company. The salt block connected with the mill had a yearly capacity of fifty thousand barrels, in the manufacture of which the mill refuse, formerly a source of expense in its removal, was made to pay a profit as fuel in salt manufacture. Afterward the mill plant was removed to Sandwich, Canada. opposite Detroit, where it was operated for several years and then again taken down and rebuilt at Georgian Bay, near the timber limits of the company. Associated with Mr. Loveland in these enterprises were his sons, Daniel K. and Ralph, who conducted the business long after his death.
Mr. Loveland was married March 25, 1840, to Miss Harriet M. Kent, daughter of Daniel M. and M. G. Kent, of Benson, Vermont. She died at Saginaw, December 23, 1887. In March, 1894, he married Miss Helen Crittenden, of San Francisco, a lady of refinement and culture. He was interested in all public affairs that concerned the welfare of the city and State, and was a Henry Clay whig and afterward a Republican. In his religious convictions Mr. Loveland was a Baptist, and an influential member of that church. He was an excellent type of the average lumberman of past years, exhibiting enterprise and public spirit, qualities which characterized the lumber fraternity.
William H. Edwards
For many years prior to 1860 William H. Edwards was a prominent figure in the lumber trade of the Saginaw Valley. He was born at Hunting- ton, Connecticut, in 1816, and enjoyed the limited privileges of the schools of the day, combined with employment in a woolen factory. At the age of eighteen he worked in a machine shop, acquiring a general knowledge of machines and tools. In 1848 he engaged in cutting lumber at Lockport, New York, adding a four-foot circular saw in 1852, one of the first in that section, and afterward began the manufacture of cut shingles. Ile gradually extended his lumbering operations, and in 1858 removed to East Saginaw, which offered a more extended field.
From that time Mr. Edwards carried on quite an extensive business in logging from lands located on the Flint River, and on the Tittaba-
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THE LUMBER INDUSTRY
LOADING LOG TIMBER FOR SHIP SPARS
wassee. Abont 1870 he operated a shingle mill opposite East Saginaw, and later erected a circular saw mill in Ogemaw County, which was burned in the forest fires of 1875.
Mr. Edwards was an enthusiastic Democrat, and was so devoted to the principles of the party that in 1870 he established the Saginaw Courier, a daily paper advocating those principles. Through constant advances of money in its support, it fell into his hands and drew heavily upon his fortune.
Jovial in disposition, Mr. Edwards was a most genial man with a heart ever ready to respond to the claims of friends, or relief of the needy, and probably he never had an enemy during his long life, numbering eighty-one years. In 1857 he was married to Miss Harriet Beardsley, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, two sons and one daughter blessing the union. He died Feb- ruary 9, 1897, but the mental image of a good citizen and honored lumberman remain with all who knew him.
Side Lights on Some Pioneer Lumbermen
Among the numerous anecdotes related of our pioneer lumbermen, a few leave vivid impressions of the men connected with them. One in particular, concerning an honored citizen, illustrates the rapidity with which timber lands in those days increased in value, often without the owners being aware of the fact.
Early in the seventies S. Rond Bliss, who built the four-story brick block, now known as the Mason Building, being in need of some ready money, applied to Wellington R. Burt, then one of the big lumbermen on the river, for a loan of four thousand dollars. The security he offered was ample, being a mortgage on the business block he owned, but Mr. Burt, with customary caution, hesitated a moment while debating the matter in his mind.
Mr. Bliss said, "I own a section of timber land at the head waters of the Muskegon, near Houghton Lake, and will throw that in for good measure.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
I have never seen the timber, but I think there must be some value to it." After a few minutes consideration the terms were arranged, the loan made, and the papers delivered.
Nothing more was thought of the matter, much less the timber land, for several years, but when the principal and accrued interest amounted to more than six thousand dollars, Mr. Burt began to doubt the sufficiency of his security. He had never taken the trouble to have the land "looked." to determine the amount of standing timber, as it was far removed from his lumbering operations, and there was no railroad anywhere near it ; and so the matter rested.
One day a stranger entered the office. He was a rough, hardy fellow with all the marks of having come down from the woods, evidently to get a job in town. At the moment of his coming Mr. Burt was very busy at his desk with some important business, and spoke without looking up. The man asked if he was interested in some timber land on the upper Muskegon, giving a description of the land. Mr. Burt replied that he was and that the land was for sale.
"What is your price for it?" asked the stranger.
Still intent upon his work, the thought ran through his mind that the fellow was a "timber wolf" who wanted an option on the land in order to sell it to some other lumberman, so Mr. Burt replied in a loud tone, as if to dismiss the whole matter: "One hundred thousand dollars is my price."
The man waited a moment and then asked, "Is that your best terms?" "Yes, " snapped the busy lumberman, without glancing up, but hoping thus to be well rid of the intruder.
"Well! We will take it." was the calm reply.
The explosion of a bomb could hardly have produced a greater sensation. Awakened to the situation Mr. Burt wheeled in his chair and for the first time faced the woodsman.
"Do you mean that?" he thundered, "Who are you anyway?"
"Yes, I mean it," he replied, and added. "I represent Hackley & Humes of Muskegon. If you will have the deeds drawn at once, and sent to our bank in Muskegon the money will be paid over. The funds are there await- ing you."
SAW MILL AND LUMBER YARD IN THE CAR TRADE
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THE LUMBER INDUSTRY
Never before in his all his varied experience had such a deal as this been put through in such an amazing manner, but it was a bona-fide bargain and was closed according to arrangement. The land which Mr. Burt would have sold for five thousand dollars was worth a hundred thousand to those who could lumber it along with their operations in the neighborhood. A handsome profit accrued to the Saginaw lumberman, and a well-known mer- chant and realty owner was again "put on his feet."
When the country to the north and west of Saginaw was yet in its wild, primitive state, a large reservation was set off in Isabella County as a tribal home for the Chippewa Indians. In this almost unbroken wilderness the savages roamed, and fished and hunted, set up their villages and planted maize, unmolested by white men. But when lumbering operations crept np the tributary streams and approached the boundaries of their retreat, covetous eyes were cast on the pine timber which covered the land. Soon "land lookers" were going among the Indians offering to buy the timber, giving in exchange trinkets dear to the untutored mind, necessities of savage life, and perhaps a little money. Not all were fortunate enough to pick up valuable timber in this way, and some got none at all.
When the cutting of timber on the reservation lands actually began, it was observed that one company, headed by a leading citizen of Saginaw City, had title to the very choicest timber in the reservation, and in such an aggregate amount as to cause much comment and concern by their rivals in the business. Section after section of the best timber had been deeded by the Indians to the head of the company ; and no hint or trace could be found as to when or how the deals with the red-skins had been made. The old lumbermen spent many sleepless nights figuring out how the trick had been turned, and they had been check-mated in the game.
One thing they learned, too, that increased their amazement and chagrin. It was the fact that insignificant consideration had been given for most of the choicest timber. In talking with the former owners of a valuable tract, the land lookers or agents would invariably ask. "What did you get for this fine clump of trees?"
"Huh! Me get pint fire-water, gun, powder, blanket, all good," the Indian grunted.
Another said, "Me get big pipe, much heap smoke, fire-water, red sash." "Us get pale face canoe (batteaux ), hook 'em fish, axe, knife," others said.
It was apparent that little or no coin had been given, and the value of the stuff which attracted the Indians was very small and insufficient. With all their searching and questioning nothing which threw any light on the subject was ever discovered.
Years afterward, when lumbering operations in this section had been brought to a close, the secret was told.
There was an old lawyer and politician, named John Eaton, who lived in the forest settlements, and later settled at Clare. He had somehow "got wind" of the time and place of holding of the council, when the reservation lands were to be given over to the red-skins individually. Here was an opportunity, he believed, for some shrewd lumberman with means to get a decided advantage over his competitors.
So he wrote to Arthur Hill, whom he knew quite well as one of the rising lumbermen of Saginaw Valley, to come up and meet him in the village at the appointed time. Without knowing what had been "cooked up" by the crafty lawyer. Mr. Hill went to the place of meeting in the woods, and put up at the little tavern which was the only lodging place in the wilderness for miles around.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
11
OM PAUSCH. SAGINAW ICH
SCALING AND SORTING LUMBER ON THE DOCK
The following day the Indian Commissioners with their luggage arrived at the tavern, ready for the final council with the Chippewas. One piece of baggage in particular attracted the attention of the lumberman, and the lawyer guessed that it contained the official papers in the big deal. So they kept an eye on this valise and took note where it was stowed away behind the bar, which also served as the office counter of the border tavern.
Late at night, when all was quiet in the place, the schemers lighted a candle, crept out softly in their bare feet, and slipping below lifted the valise from behind the counter and took it to their room. It was the work of only a moment to find the official list of Indian reserves, with the des- cription of the land each was to receive. A longer time, however, was required to make a hurried copy of the list, when the original paper was replaced in the valise and it was put carefully back in its place. So stealthily had this been done that no one dreamed of the trick that had been put over the commissioners.
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