History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II, Part 72

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

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The White Steam Carriage appeared in 1902 and, as it possessed many desirable features in generating steam, attracted several buyers here. Later, when the large touring body, with detachable tonneau, was introduced, three or four were sold to Saginaw pioneer motorists who derived much pleasure in driving them.

The First Popular Gasoline Cars

When the curve-dash Oldsmobile and the two-cylinder Autocar came on the market, the public interest in the horseless carriage was greatly stimu-

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

lated, and it was not long before these more dependable cars became familiar to everybody. The first one-cylinder Cadillac car appeared at about that time and found eager buyers. By 1905 there were at least one hundred automo- biles in Saginaw and, excepting about fifteen steam cars, all were of the gasoline motor type of single and double cylinders. After that the number of motor propelled carriages seen on the streets of Saginaw increased rapidly.

The City Exacts a License

Late in 1904 the common council passed an ordinance defining the rights of automobiles on the streets of the city, regulating the speed at which such carriages should be operated, and fixed a charge of two dollars as a license fee. Some provisions of this ordinance seem ridiculous today, namely, the automobile owner must provide metal numbers six inches in height, accord- ing to his license number, and placed on the rear of the body of his car; and the speed sich vehicles could be operated was limited to five miles an hour in the business section, and eight miles in all other parts of the city. But nearly all owners drove their cars with far more care and caution than is now exercised, and accidents, either to themselves or the public, were few.

Since 1905 the use of motor vehicles in Saginaw County, as elsewhere, has increased at a remarkable rate. To enumerate all features of this de- velopment would be beyond our purpose. It is suffice to state that in 1917 the number of automobiles in the county was more than five thousand, about three thousand of which were owned in the city.

Alfred W. Norris Opens the First Garage

The first public garage for the care and repair of automobiles was started about 1902 by Alfred W. Norris, on South Washington Street. A few months later the Saginaw Automobile Company was organized by the Eddy and Wickes brothers, and the building at the southwest corner of Water and Genesee Streets was remodeled and converted into a large and conveniently arranged garage. The following year Mr. Norris purchased the business out- right, and moved his own into the more commodious quarters. He developed a large patronage at this place, as he had at the time the only adequate facili- ties for recharging the batteries of electric carriages in Saginaw. A number of the best and most popular cars were sold there for several years, but at length this garage took over the exclusive agency for the Ford car. Shortly after Mr. Norris retired from the automobile business.

OFFICE BUILDING AT GENESEE AND JEFFERSON AVENUES

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VARIED COMMERCIAL INTERESTS

INTERIOR OF OFFICE OUTFITTING STORE

The H. B. Arnold Company

Among the successful retail houses of Saginaw is the H. B. Arnold Com- pany, whose attractive store is at 129 North Franklin Street. The company was organized in 1912 by some well known business men, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. The stockholders were: M. P. Gale, Thomas G. Gale, James E. Vincent, A. H. Fish, R. B. Thayer and H. B. Arnold ; and shortly after F. Y. Wynkoop acquired an interest in the company.

The business was started on June 1. 1912. at 213-15 Germania Avenue, which at the time was the only suitable storerooms available. This location was not as accessible to the trade as was deemed necessary to the most successful conduct of the business, and on January 1. 1913, the stock was removed to the present location which affords every facility for handling a large business. Besides the broad, well lighted store there is a conveniently arranged stock room, forty by sixty feet in size, on an upper floor, in which a large reserve stock is carried.

In this convenient location the company dues a satisfactory business as general office outfitters, including office furniture, filing cabinets and safes. All kinds of office stationery, loose leaf devices, printed forms and cards, as well as all supplies for the office are constantly in stock. The company is exclusive agent for Cutler desks, B. L. Marble chairs, Y & E filing devices. and the Herring-Hall-Marvin safes. There is also a department of fine stationery and engraving, which is popular with the social element of the city and vicinity.

At the beginning of the business it was foreseen that a considerable trade in the general line of office outfitting could be developed in the northern and western sections of the State, and in the "Thumb" district to the northeast. Acting on this well founded belief Mr. Arnold sent salesmen through these sections to develop the trade. The results of these efforts were very satis- factory, and today the company enjoys a large business from the cities and towns thus covered, including Owosso and intervening points. Wherever the name of The H. B. Arnold Company has been carried and a foothold secured in the trade, a growing business has resulted, and the outlook for future trade is very bright.

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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY

EMIL SCHWAHN

CHARLES A. KHUEN

CURT SCHWAHN

The Schwahn-Khuen Agency

The three enterprising citizens whose portraits appear above, constitute the Schwahn-Khuen Agency, insurance writers. Born and reared in Saginaw they have spent their entire life here, and aided in the advancement of the material interests of the city. By industry, integrity and perseverance they have built up a large and profitable agency, and number among their many patrons some of the prominent men and large industrial and commercial institutions.

The Sebwahn-Khuen Agency is a combination of the old Khuen Insur- ance Agency and the well known firm of V. E. Schwahn & Brother, insurance writers, which was effected in 1910. The former agency was established in 1852 by the late Richard Khuen, who for many years was an accurate and reliable underwriter, and held the confidence of the insuring public. In the eighteen-eighties such substantial companies as the Hanover, Citizens, Con- tinental and German American, of New York; the Royal, of Liverpool, and other foreign and American companies were represented by him. Upon his death the business was continued by his son, Charles A. Khuen, who was the secretary of the Saginaw County Savings Bank. For many years the office was in the Miller Block, at the corner of Court and Hamilton Streets.

The younger firm of insurance writers was founded in 1900 by V. Emil Schwahn, who by great energy and native ability soon developed a successful agency. He then interested his brother, Curt Schwahn, in the growing agency. By transacting all business on an unquestioned basis they won the confidence of the public, and enjoyed an enviable position among the reliable insurance men of this city.

In 1910, with that spirit of enterprise and progress which had marked their career, the Schwahn Brothers and Charles A. Khuen consolidated their agencies, the union resulting in a business which is one of the largest of its kind in Saginaw. With an office in the Graebner Building, V. E. and Curt Schwahn conduct the affairs of the agency with singular ability and efficiency. "Service" is their watchword and their monitor.

Besides fire insurance they carry on a general insurance business, includ- ing tornado, plate glass, compensation, automobile, liability and indemnity insurance.

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VARIED COMMERCIAL INTERESTS

SAGINAW IS

The greatest Railroad and Shipping Center in Central Michigan ;

The natural Trading Center for Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest Bean Shipping Point in Michigan ;

The Sugar Bowl of Michigan ;

The greatest Machinery Manufacturing City in Northeastern Michigan ; A Deep-Water Port on the Great Lakes;

A most Desirable Place of Residence with Educational and Social Advan- tages of the Ilighest Order.

SAGINAW HAS

The largest and most modernized Hardware Store in Michigan ;

The largest individual Wholesale Grocery House in Michigan ;

The largest Packing and Cold Storage House in Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest Wholesale Shoe and Rubber House in Michigan ;

The largest Wholesale Dry Goods House in Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest State Bank outside of Detroit ;

The only daily Morning Newspaper north of Detroit ;

Seven Large Department Stores ;

The largest Locomotive and Car Repair Shops in Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest Plate Glass Works in Michigan ;

The most modernized Salt Making Plant in Michigan ;

The largest Rule and Tape Factory in the United States;

The largest Graphite Products Plant in the United States :

The largest Phonograph Factory in Michigan :

The largest Art Furniture Factory in Northeastern Michigan ;

Large Piano and Piano Parts Factories ;

The largest Shade Roller Factory in Michigan ;

The largest Match Factory in Michigan :

The second largest Cash Register Factory in the World ;

The largest and best equipped Printing and Engraving Plant in Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest Shipbuilding Yard in Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest Kerosene Tractor Motor Works in Michigan :

The largest Vinegar and Pickle Works in Northeastern Michigan ;

The largest and finest Hotel in Northeastern Michigan ; Three other High Class Hotels ;

A Municipal Theater -The Auditorium - seating Four Thousand ; Three other New and Perfectly Appointed Theaters.

GENESEE AVENUE, EAST FROM WASHINGTON, 1918

CHAPTER XXII DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Pioneer Farming - Preparing the Ground - Primitive Corn Planting - Close Association Among Pioneers - Some Were Migratory - First Wheat Raised - Farm- ing on Green Point - How the Farmers Fared - The "Michigan Appetite"-Value of Bottom Lands - Wild Fruits and Berries - Early Fruit Growing - Grains and Veg- etables - Rapid Increase in Agriculture - Marshes Early Attract Buyers - Winter- ing Stock on Rushes - Reclaiming Marsh Lands - Development of the Prairie Farm - "Mosquito Road" Leads to Farm - A Bit of Holland in Michigan - Raising Blooded Stock - United States Land Office - Saginaw Valley Agricultural Society - Central Agricultural Society - Saginaw County Farmers' Organizations.

P IONEER farming in Saginaw County is now so far away that only a few persons living at an advanced age have a more or less distinct remembrance of the difficulties attending it. The average soil was not of that fertility the pioneers who came from New York or New England were accustomed to, and there were many surprises for those who relied upon the experience which the ruling opinions of their day had prescribed. The egotism of some of these adventurous yoeman led them into many agricultural pitfalls and disappointments. There were instances where two bushels of wheat per acre were sown on raw, sandy soil, with a grim deter- mination to teach the natives a practical lesson in farming. The fuzzy product making futile attempts to form a semblance of a head was a sharp reminder that Nature had some part to perform, and ought to have been consulted. Some settlers insisted upon applying the rule for planting corn, which the jingle,

"One for the blackbird, one for the crow. One for the cutworm, and three to grow."

had impressed upon their minds. But the appetites of blackbirds and crows were insatiable, and the cutworms were still greedy, so that a hill of corn came up a tuft, turned pale as it advanced, and yielded its quota of nubbins and some excellent fodder.

Preparing the Ground

Much labor was expended by our grandfathers before corn growing became possible. After the trees were felled there was cutting of brush, piling and burning logs, and then the breaking, for which all previous work was but preliminary. Holding a breaker drawn by seven yoke of oxen was no sinecure. It needed a quick judgment to decide on which side of a big oak grub the plow should go, to be most effective, and then a strong and supple action to accomplish the purpose. Sometimes the coulter point of the plow would strike the center of a big oak root, split it, and march on; but when the plow beame stuck fast, and the impetus of the moving force was stopped, the difficulties multiplied. Then came a tug at the handles to loosen the wedge-shaped coulter, and all hands and often the leading team were required to free the plow.

This plow was fearfully and wonderfully made. No Curtiss or Dodge fashioned its curves and pitch, and it was not made in great quantities at South Bend. From a thrifty growing white oak tree its beam was hewed

lending the quality of length and strength. Its mould-board was a rough casting, massive, thick and strong. The pitch of the plow was the black- smith's art, and he made both coulter and share of steel. This share would cut through four or five inches of solid oak root, if the proper inclination and purchase were given the plow by the holder. There was a reason then for deep plowing, for the deeper the plow went in the ground the smaller were the roots of the grubs, and the easier they cut.

Harrowing after breaking was no holiday affair. The big harrow with inch square teeth, drawn by two yoke of oxen, pulled out the loose grubs and partially levelled the ground, but there were left roots sticking up which had to be cut to facilitate the cradling of grain. After the best job of break- ing a live grub would be left upon every square rod of ground. Plowing about these fast grubs required some skill and the exercise of much patience to keep the plow from grappling fast. A week's work at grabbing required the expenditure of sufficient strength and energy to perform a whole season's labor with modern appliances and under present conditions of soil. The grub hoe had its brief day af usefulness and was relegated to the oblivion of stone axes and arrowheads.

Primitive Corn Planting

The advent of the marker, Standing on its three long legs, so that stumps were no obstruction to its progress, was a long step toward improve- ment in growing corn. It replaced the primitive method of drawing a chain back and forth, to indicate something near the relative distance apart which tradition had determined the rows should be. Opinions differed widely as to the proper time to plant, and generally conformed to the facility for forwarding the work, or were timed to the tardiness of the individual. The hustler insisted that the fifth of May was the proper time, while others. not so early awakened into activity, asserted that the best field of corn they ever saw was planted in June. Between these extremes ranged the majority of settlers in regular order, so that changing work in planting time could be distributed among them to meet the demands for help when the fields were ready for the seed. The meandering of these men in an oblique rank across the field was quite unique, the springing corn showing where the leader's story approached its climax by the narrowing of the rows, and the closing period by the long ellipses that followed.

The activities of farming were of a different nature in these pi meer day - than farmers are accustomed to in the present. There was a short period between the advent of clover as a common crop of hay, and the moving machine, when the seythe in the hands of youth of immature strength was an instrument of torture, in attempts at keeping stroke with the foremost man.

Close Association Among Pioneers

The inherent desire for association among pioneer farmers was gratified by numerous bees, barn raisings and corn huskings. Here the almanac predictions for the weather, the effect which a short cron in the neighborhood would have upon the general markets, the durability of fence posts set with the top end down, and diverse other questions were discussed, the kernel of which was arrived at from the general average of opinion. The majority of settlers, however, were more interested in how to get the most out of the soil or to increase its field. They did not regard the latter proposition as of importance until the land had begun a slow decadence of fertility, but when this became a tangible truth it sifted out the mere livers from the real farmers. The former class removed nearer the Verge of civilization, and the latter began a serious survey of the situation. Those who remained and

those who came into possession as second proprietors of the farms were the true pioneer farmers. Their efforts were purely experimental. as the experience gained in other States was no sure guide to win success here. From their unsuccessful efforts the farmer of today has learned much to fortify himself against succeeding difficulties, and is reaping success where they harvested tribulation, while those who came after may gather richer harvests from the soil their grandfathers and great-grandfather- opened to the sun.

Some Were Migratory

Nearly a century ago there was a small class of settlers who might be termed hereditary or habitual pioneers. They would penetrate the wilder- ness and select some beautiful location for a temporary home, but would seldom remain long enough to be surrounded with the comforts and con veniences of rural life. A traveller once came to a log house in the wilder-

CORN IS A PROFITABLE CROP

ness, where the country was particularly attractive, and was hospitality entertained for the night. In the morning he noticed that a large clearing had been made, in which corn and potatoes promised a good crop, and congratulated the settler upon the beauty of his surroundings.

"Yes," he said "it's all very pleasant here, but I have got to leave." "Why, what's the matter. In't this a healthy place?"

"Oh! yes, but it is getting too dense around here. There is Jones settled out in the woods only ten miles away, and I hear of another funny coming to settle on the creek only five miles from here. I must move farther on. I will not live where my nearest neighbor can leave home in the morning. come to my house and return home the same night."

In old patriarch of this class was Jcb Olmstead, the father of twenty - two children, all of whom, with sons in-law, daughters-m-law and grand- children, numbering more than fifty persons, started from Northwestern Ohio in 1832 for the Saginaw Valley lle had heard of the abundant supply of fish in these waters, and was in search of a new wilderness in which to make a temporary home. In November, 1831, the trail between Flint and Saginaw had been cleared of logs and the creeks bridged, so that is was possible to travel by teams, but in June of the following year a cyclone passed across the trail just north of Pine Run, levelling the timber of a width

of nearly three quarters of a mile, and completely blocking it. Upon reach - ing this obstruction the Olmsteads, with their teams of oxen, stuck of cows and other animals, were in a serious dilemma, but they determined to push forward, and the people of Flint generously contributed a supply of pro- visions while they cut through the windfall. In about two weeks they arrived on the banks of the Saginaw River, and found it teeming with fish which were easily caught. They found an abandoned clearing and a log house on the Tittabawassee, where they lived for a time, but the family soon became divided and the father went back to Pine Run. In 1835 he and Douglas Thompson built a saw mill on Pine River. It was not long. how- ever, before the migratory habit asserted itself and all the Olmsteads left for Wisconsin, and not one of the numerous family, or any of their descendants, have since resided in Saginaw Valley.

First Wheat Raised

Our Saginaw pioneers, at length becoming tired of corn dodgers. began to raise a little wheat, but in doing this they added to their difficulties. In order to get it ground into four they were obliged to go to Flushing and sometimes to Waterford or Pontiac, in Oakland County, with ox teams, cut- ting their way through the woods for a portion of the distance. Upon one occasion Murdock Fraser (see Chapter VII. page 106) started to mill with thirty bushels of wheat. Arriving at the Thread Mill, one mile south of Flint River, he found the mill out of repair, and went on to Flushing. He was gone from home ten days, and being obliged to meet his expenses out of his wheat, he found upon arriving home that more than half of his grist had been used up.

As to who was the first to raise wheat in this county there may be some question, but upon the authority of Charles W. Grant, a pioneer whose memory was very keen, the honor falls to Charles A. Lull. Mr. Lull was born at Windsor, Vermont, May 17. 1809, and came to Saginaw in 1833, locating on eighty acres of land in section one. Township of Spaulding, and became the first farmer to cultivate the soil on the east side of the river. About twenty years later he located one hundred acres of land in Bridgeport Township, where he lived until his death July 11, 1885. The first wheat raised in this county he took to Waterford to be ground, carrying it on a sleigh drawn by two yoke of oxen. It was said Mrs. Lull made the first cheese and first woolen cloth in this county. Mr. Lull operated a saw mill at Bridgeport for a number of years, and in 1853 sunk a salt well. He built the Center House there, which he kept for a long period, and was known as an honest, upright townsman.

DAIRY FARMING INCREASING IN SAGINAW COUNTY

Farming on Green Point

"On the twenty-seventh of March. 1833." wrote Albert Miller in his Pioneer Sketches ( Michigan Pioneer Collections, Vol. 7, pp. 236-9). "we commenced plowing prairie land on Green Point with three yoke of heavy exen. We had not been long plowing before we were solicited by Messrs. Williams to train a yoke of four-year-old cattle that were so wild that they could never do anything with them. We consented to try, and made pre- parations by making a yard that no domestic animal could escape from. We then planted a post firmly in the center of it, and enticed the oxen into the yard with other cattle. Procuring a strong rope with a noose in the end, we threw it over the head of the off ox, then snubbed him to the post and put a yoke on him. After serving the other ox in the same way, we hitched one strong yoke of oxen ahead of them and another behind them and com- menced plowing. The wild steers, seeing they were conquered, soon gave up and long before the spring plowing was done they led the team, being the handiest yoke of cattle of them all.

"We continued our plowing until the twenty-third of May, when we had thirty acres broken, all of which we planted to corn. We commenced plant- ing on the fifth of May and finished on the twenty-fourth. We kept down the grass and weeds during the season where it was necessary to do so. and a more promising field of corn I never saw. But alas, for the result of our summer's work ! Before the corn was fairly in the milk, clouds of black- birds from the marshes would light upon it, and, in spite of all our efforts to keep them away, they destroyed nearly the whole crop. The red-wings, or rice birds, fed upon it until the rice was ready for them ; and then another variety, called crow blackbirds, preyed upon it until it was taken from the field. From all our thirty acres of corn which, if allowed to ripen, would have yielded fifty or sixty bushels per acre, we saved only sufficient to fatten forty-seven hundred weight of pork. What we saved was from the butts of the ears that the birds could not get at. We fortunately had a good stock of hogs, and the pork we made was in demand, some of it being sold to parties in Grand Blanc and packed on horse to that place.

"That summer my cows were pastured on the opposite bank of the river from where I lived, and mornings when I crossed the river to milk them I would tie a trolling line to my paddle, and I seldom failed of catching fish enough for breakfast. Fresh fish were a great luxury to new-comers to Saginaw, but so plentiful were they that, after a year or two, they made very little account of them for food.

"Rattlesnakes were plentiful in those days. I have heard they would not remain where hogs have a free run, and 1 am inclined to believe it from a circumstance that transpired during that summer. Our hogs ran on the prairie outside the field we had fenced in for cultivation, and inside the field I had some rails piled on the unplowed prairie. About mid-summer I wanted to use them and drove my team alongside to haul them away. The first rail I took up I found I had disturbed a rattlesnake: and before I had handled half a dozen I found there were two or three snakes for every rail. I actually backed out and left the rails for their especial use the balance of the season. The snakes had taken refuge inside the fence to escape from the hogs."

How the Farmers Fared

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History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II, Part 72

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