USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 76
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In the early fifties and for some years after, Jesse Hoyt had a ship yard on the east bank of the river at a point where the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad afterward crossed the river. At this yard a number of barques, brigs and schooners were built for a fleet formed by Mr. Hoyt, the cost of which aggregated a considerable sum. In 1858 the Hoyt fleet comprised the following vessels :
Barque .Sunshine
516 tons
cost $23,000
Barque Jesse Hoyt
472 tons
cost 21.000
Brig. Starlight.
400 tons
cost 20,000
Schooner Quickstep
300 tons
cost 16,000
Steamer
Magnet
600 H. P. cost 30,000
Steamer Alida .
cost 10,000
Total. .. $120,000
The steamer Maguet was a low pressure tow boat adapted to freight and passenger business, with an engine of six hundred horse power ; and was commanded by Captain Martin Smith. She was built in 1855 after the model of Maine shipbuilders, who favored vessels rather blunt at the stern; and when Captain Marsac, the veteran mariner of Saginaw Bay, first saw her he said: "Be gad! been in this countree good many time, seen great many steamboat, never saw him built straight up and down behind. before." The Alida was a smaller boat of the same class.
Other craft in the lake and river trade were the steamers Traffic and Comet, the propellers Coaster and Odd Fellow, Emerson's steam ferry, one steam dredge and three scows. For many years these vessels plied the lakes in the increasing trade of the Saginaw Valley. Lumber, shingles and lath were the principal products shipped to lower lake ports, and to Chicago and Mil- waukee, and general merchandise and household goods of emigrants consti- tuted the return cargoes, together with as many passengers as could be accommodated.
For several years the schooner Quickstep was commanded by Captain William Blyben, a well-known lake captain and vessel owner, who came here in 1854 and lived at Water and Miller (Carlisle) Streets. It was this
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
vessel that brought in, on August 8, 1859, the furniture, carpets, china and glassware and kitchen equipment for the Bancroft House, which was opened a month later. This merchandise was insured in transit for ten thousand dollars, which sum was about two-thirds of the actual value of the furnishings. Captain Blyben, who had been known to Jesse Hoyt from his youth, looked after the rigging and fitting out of the latter's vessels, and sailed a number of them in the river and lake trade for more than twenty-five years. He owned a part interest in several boats he had sailed, and when the schooner Henry C. Potter was built, having taken particular pride in the way she was rigged and finished, he told Mr. Hoyt he would like an interest in the new boat and offered to give a mortgage on some Saginaw real estate as security. Mr. Hoyt willingly consented to such an arrangement, and Captain Blyben assumed command of the vessel. Another boat of which the Captain was part owner as well as master was the /1. B. Moore, one of the Hoyt Fleet.
Years after, when Captain Blyben was very ill and not expected to live, Mr. Hoyt came to see him and at his bedside said: "I want to give you back your mortgage." And he did. Mr. Hoyt was greatly beloved by the children of the neighborhood. because he was interested in their pleasures and played games with them in the evening : and one of them, Jessie Blyben, was named after him. But he would not wear a collar to go to church, and was chided by the children who told him that "in the city men wear collars in church."
During the early period of shipbuilding on the Saginaw River. Stephen R. Kirby and Captain Martin Smith were employed by Mr. Hoyt in his ship yard. The former designed the vessels and prepared the plans, while the latter superintended the construction of them. Afterward Captain Smith took over the shipyard business, which included the repair of all kinds of boats. In this connection it was stated by Fox. the pioneer historian, that "the amount of business done at the shipyard in this place, which is con- ducted by Captain Martin Smith, will average about fifty thousand dollars yearly. The grand facilities which the surrounding country affords for ship- building, renders this one of the best points in the State for the shipyard." Captain Smith was a prominent figure in marine shipping circles of this section ; and his residence was on Water Street north of Carroll, in the house for many years occupied by Wickes Brothers' office. Later he built a palatial residence in the Grove, the house now occupied by Sanford Keeler. lle removed from the city about 1869.
Late in the eighteen-sixties shipbuilding on this river began to increase, and the two shipyards ( the other being at Emerson's old mill site, and con- ducted by the father of Frank W. Wheeler) were busy places. During 1867 the following vessels were built at the different ship yards :
Tonnage
Bark. . J. C. King
Tonnage 512
Tug. .. . . Anna Moiles 72
Bark. . . . IV. H. Vanderbilt 615
Tug. . . Ballentine 73
Barge. . . Wolverine
141
Steamer. Johnny
52
Barge ... A F. R. Braley
391
Barge ...
Samuel Bolton 330
Barge. . . G. I. Wesley .
244
Barge ... J. L. Ketcham 425
Propeller J. M. K. Hilton. 166
Barge ... Charlie 109
Propeller J. Stewart
51
Barge. Joseph 293
Barge. .. T. P. Sheldon
186
Scow .. . . Pioneer 17
Barge .. . J. A. Holland
157
Scow.
Dolphin 43
Total Tonnage 3,877
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TRANSPORTATION
CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLYBEN
CAPTAIN MARTIN SMITH
The extent of shipbuilding on the river between 1868 and 1873, inclusive, is shown by the following table :
Barks
Barges
Schooners Sloops
Propellers
Tugs
Scows
Total
Tonnage
1868
1 +
2
3
3
13
1,608
1869
5
1
2
1
7
11
1,795
1870
S
3
1
2
4
18
2,171
1871
1
3
2
?
8
1,493
1872
3
6
1
1
11
2,882
1873
3
12
?
1
8,663
Total 1
24
27
3
5
10
13
83
18,612
In 1873 the following vessels were built, chieily to accommodate the extensive lumber and salt trade of the Valley :
Tonnage
Tonnage
Propeller Dovid Ballentine 972
Barge ... I. L. Pock 366
Schooner 21 B. Moore
1,069
Schooner Buckeye State
526
Schooner C. II. Burton
535
Propeller I'. R. Quimby
39
Schooner Journeyman
235
Schooner Queen City
700
Schooner R. T. Lambert
54
Schooner Chester B. Jones
494
Propeller J. C. Liken
79
Schooner W. S. Crosswaite 672
Tug. . . .. Wesley Hawkins
46
Schooner L. C. Butts 504
Propeller .Irenac
63
Schooner Benjamin F. Bruce 720
Scow .. Tosco
231
Schooner Grace A. Channen
257
Barge ... Joseph Sparrow 26-1
Schooner B. B. Buckhout 352
Barge. . . F. A. McDougal
416
Tug. ... . Fannie Tuthill
30
Total Tonnage. 8,663
During the seventies the activity in the Saginaw shipyards continued and with the improvement of the river channels larger vessels were built. The government engineering work on the river in the period from 1870 to 1885 was extensive. The bar at the mouth of the river had been removed in 1867, and the Carrollton bar dredged to an average depth of twelve feet and the channel protected by revetments. But before the decline in lumbering set in, shipbuilding fell off, and the old shipyard on Emerson's bayou was closed and dismantled. In 1889 operations at this place were resumed by
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
the building of a steam barge and one tow barge-the last wooden craft built at this end of the river. The keels were laid on the site of the steam power plant of the Saginaw Power Company, on South Washington Avenue, and, as the vessels neared completion they attracted much attention. The steam barge, of six hundred and eighty-three gross tons, was named the S. S. Wilhelm, and the barge, of eight hundred tons, was named the Twin Sisters. They were of such dimensions that in order to launch them safely into the bayou it was necessary to dredge a channel through the middle ground directly opposite to where they lay. Many of our citizens will recall the scene at their launching.
The Rise and Decline of River Commerce
Before 1855 no record was kept of vessel arrivals at Saginaw, as the number of boats then coming to the river could not have exceeded twenty-five in a year, and did not justify the keeping of a single tug boat. Some idea of the traffic at that period may be formed by a glance at the accompanying table :
Barks
Brigs
Steamboats Total
1855
31
176
Schooners 277
109
593
1856
11
50
375
57
493
1857
2.4
69
340
107
540
66
295
992
273
1,626
In 1867 the whole number of vessels passing the Genesee Avenue Bridge was reported as exceeding a thousand in one month, and this did not include all boats that came to the river, as many stopped at Bay City and other points below. Besides the general shipping there were several regular lines of steamboats to Detroit. Cleveland, Toledo, Goderich and all points on the bay and lake shores, which carried both freight and passengers. The following statement shows the volume of river and lake shipments in 1867 :
Lumber-feet, board
Walnut lumber-feet 12,000
measure 358.001,930
Staves
5,206,472
Lath-pieces
44,175,591
Shooks-bundles
10,468
Shingles
44,350,000
Hoops
1.330,000
Salt-barrels
403,393
Pickets
595,205
Oak Timber-feet
708,720
Pail Bolts-cords
50
Oak Timber-pieces
7,340
With the natural increase in lumber production in the prosperous years of that industry, came a greater demand for vessel tonnage, and before and after the height of the lumber business in Saginaw Valley, the river was literally jammed with shipping. There were long rafts of logs being towed from the upper "sorting gaps" to the mill booms, and many vessels of all classes passing to and from the lumber docks for loads of lumber and other products. In 1882 the steam barge Ontonagon and barges William Lewis and R. J. Carney were the first regular lumber traders to leave the river for Buffalo, while the barge B. B. Buckhout, under tow of the steam barge George L. Cokvell, was the last to leave for that port.
In 1883 the vessels in the river and lake commerce were: the Dove, Dunlap, Metropolis, E. T. Carrington, Luther Westover, Emerald, Sca Gull: the propellers Arundell and C. A. Forbes: the steam barges George King. Baldwin, J. P. Donaldson, D. F. Rose, Nelson Mills, Fred MeBrier, Sanilac and Benton : the barges Brightic, Bascobel, Marine City, Racine, Jupiter. Leader, Vantic, Bals uma. Tailor, Gebhart, Florence M. Dickinson, Lilly May, Colorado, Fannie Neil, Levi Rawson, C. L. Young, Galatea, Ajax, Oconto, E. A. Mayes, Nelson, Favorite, Roscins, Iceman, Grace Whitney, Melbourne. G. I. Bissell, J. S. Austin, Amaranth, William Treat, T. G. Lester, J. L. Ketcham and L. B. Crocker.
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TRANSPORTATION
Among the numerous tug boats on the river were : the Music, Ella Smith. Peter Smith, S. S. Rumage, H. F. Bartlett, William Park, Charles Lec, C. M. Farrar, Marian Teller, E. V'. Mundy, Witch of the West, I. E. Quimby, IT. A. Avery, Anme Moiles, Buffalo, Cora B., E. M. Peck, C. C. McDonald, T. M. Moore, George B. Dickson. E. Haight, Maud S., Harley, Challenge, Laketon, Toledo, Robert Boyd, R. H. Weidemann. There were also the steam yachts Handy Boy, J. Gordon, Camp, C. B. Hall, J. S. Hubbard and Cora K. D.
In 1886, a year which fell below the average of lake traffic, four hun- dred and fourteen steamers and one thousand and eighty-eight other vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of four hundred sixty-three thousand eight hun- dred and ninety-five tons, arrived at the river; and four hundred and twenty-one steamers and thirteen hundred and seventy-one other vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of four hundred ninety-three thousand and ninety- one tons, cleared from the river ports in the same year.
STEAMBARGE "MAINE" AND TOW BARGES
River and Shore Lines
A small vessel, named the Reindeer, came out in 1856 and was employed on the river for some time, and later sent to Detroit. At about this time a small propeller, named the Odd Fellow, appeared in the river and was pur- chased by Michael Jeffers. She was good for about three miles an hour, but was afterward seized for violation of an ordinance in not being provided with a spark catcher, and sold. The Little Nell came in 1857 and soon after her boiler exploded, killing Andy Fraser, her captain, and two or three of her crew.
About 1860 the steamer riel came to the river and was employed in the local trade. Later the Ajar, built by Captain Hubbell and commanded by Captain O. K. Downs, was a familiar vessel to most of our pioneer citizens. The Belle Seymour was another of the early river boats and ran up the Titta- bawassee River. The Little Eastern appeared in 1860 and the following year collided with the For near Saginaw City, and was sunk.
716
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
From an early day of steamboat navigation there was a regular river line of steamers running between East Saginaw and Bay City. In the early sixties the sidewheel steamer L. G. Masou was brought to the river by Captain J. E. English, and placed in command of Captain Meany. Soon after the steamboat Evening Star, Captain T. M. Hubbell, appeared on the same run in opposition, and the competition between them was so keen that steamboat riding on the river was very cheap. For a time the regular fare between the two cities was ten cents, and in frequent races the excitement ran high. As an inducement to ride on the Evening Star the passengers were furnished with a copy of the Daily Enterprise or, if they preferred, a drink of whiskey. The steamers made three round trips each, daily, the Mason landing at the old steamboat dock at the foot of Tuscola Street, while the Star docked just above where the "free bridge" was afterward built. To the Mason Captain English added the Era English and Minnie Sutton, small steam craft, both of which plied upon the river between the two cities.
The steamer Daniel Ball was brought to the river from Muskegon in 1871. and was considered the crack boat on the route between Saginaw and Bay City. She was commanded by Captain Robert Medler. In 1873 this boat was purchased by Root & Midler, of East Saginaw, who also secured control of the L. G. Mason and the Cora Locke. The latter vessel was a sidewheel steamer used as an extra boat on Sundays and holidays, when the river traffic was heavy. This firm then controlled the passenger business by water be- tween the cities, which it succeeded in maintaining for about fifteen years. The steamer Mason was entirely rebuilt in the Winter of 1875-6, and came out in the Spring of the Centennial Year as fresh as a daisy. She measured one hundred and thirty-nine tons, and was one of the favorite river craft for many years, probably making more river trips than any other boat that ever plied in these waters. The steamer was commanded by Captain John Rogers, but in 1881 was succeeded by Captain William Monroe.
In October, 1876, the Daniel Ball took fire while on her way down the river, and just above Stone Island was run ashore. The passengers escaped to the shore, but the staunch old steamer burned to the water's edge and sunk, thus ending the career of a favorite steamboat.
A New Steamer Replaces the "Daniel Ball"
In the Winter of 1876-7 the keel of a new steamer was laid at Gould's shipyard in Carrollton, and in the following Spring the boat was completed and launched into the river. No expense was spared in the construction to make her a safe and serviceable craft, and resulted in the trim and handsome steamboat which was named Wellington R. Burt, in honor of a wealthy lumber- man and prominent citizen of East Saginaw. The Burt was a sidewheel steamer of two hundred and fifty-two tons measurement. modern in build and equipment, was licensed to carry five hundred people, and was commanded by Captain "Bob" Medler, formerly of the Daniel Bull. She was a low- pressure steamer, and was a well patronized and popular boat on the run for almost fifteen years. At that time there was heavy travel on the river, not only by lumber and river men in going to and from the saw mills and salt works scattered along the river, but also by visitors and all classes of people, who were fascinated by the strange scenes of activity and river commerce.
The Saginaw River with its humming industries was one of the wonders of Michigan, and was a resort and show place for all strangers to the city. The round trip fare to Bay City (if one remained on board the boat at that place) was only twenty-five cents; and no more interesting or delightful trip in this section of Michigan coukl be indulged in than by an afternoon trip on the Burt. Excursions were run frequently to Point Lookout, a pop-
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TRANSPORTATION
ular summer resort on the Bay shore, and were enjoyed by a large number of people. Later the screw steamer Lucille replaced the Mason, and ran on the river for several years.
About 1889, several years after the decline in lumber production had set in, these popular steamers were withdrawn, and left the river service to Armstrong's feet of faster boats. These were the converted vacht Handy Boy, which had been built in 1874, the Plow Boy. which came out in 1887, the Post Boy, in 1888, and the News Boy a year after. These boats were equipped with powerful fire pumps and plenty of hose, and in their regular scheduled trips on the river afforded a valuable and efficient fire protection service to the many mill owners, who were only too willing to avail them- selves of it. But these steamers also had their day of usefulness in this service, and in a few years were withdrawn and sold to Lake Michigan vessel men. One or two of the "Boy" boats are still in use in those waters.
ILACTON R. BUIT
1
THE POPULAR STEAMER "WELLINGTON R. BURT" ENROUTE FROM SAGINAW TO BAY CITY ABOUT 1887 Captain "Bol" Medler in Front of Wheel House
The Lake Huron shore line of steamers operated between Saginaw, Bay City and Alpena, stopping at all intermediate points. Before the Detroit and Mackinaw Railroad was built, the shore line formed the only means of rapid communication between those points and the Saginaw Valley, and considerable traffic was accommodated by the side-wheel steamers Dove and Metropolis, and later by the Arundell and other propellers. About 1600 the coast shipments having fallen off, the line was abandoned.
There was also a popular line of steamers running to Cleveland, Detroit and shore points, consisting of the propellers Sanilac and Don M. Dickinson, and later by the steam barge John H. Pauly. Years after, several business men of Saginaw formed a company which purchased and operated the old side-wheel steamer Flora. After two seasons of unprofitable operation be- tween Saginaw, Detroit and Cleveland, this boat was taken off and later resold to Chicago men, who soon after took her there where she burned a few months later. At about the same time the Detroit & Cleveland Navi- gation Company operated their iron steamer State of New York on this
718
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
-
THE "WENONA," WHICH PLIED BETWEEN SAGINAW AND ALPENA
route, but after three years of failure to enlist the consistent support of the valley cities in the lake line, the steamer was placed on its former run between Toledo and Put-in-Bay.
Rapid Decline in River Commerce
Aside from the loss of lumber and salt shipments following the natural exhaustion of the pine timber in Michigan, the decline in river commerce and the ill success of all efforts made in recent years to revive it, are due to economic causes and underlying conditions of water transportation. As lake navigation is now conducted, with a large proportion of the vessel ton- nage comprising huge freighters of eight to fourteen thousand tons, the smaller vessels of the type that could come into the river with full loads. meet a destructive competition. These vessels can only operate on routes, either as line boats or "tramps," that afford them cargoes at both ends or, at least, at ports not distant from the point of discharge of their cargoes. To have cargoes only one way, thus returning in ballast, is utterly de- structive of profits to these small craft.
The chief obstacle to Saginaw river commerce is our inability to sup- ply return cargoes for the steamers which might come to the river with a great tonnage of general merchandise, and iron, coal and stone. The rail- roads serving the Saginaw Valley are naturally opposed to a revival of river and lake commerce, and have placed every obstacle in the path of vessel men. The chief disadvantage water transportation struggles against is the fact that fully ninety per cent of all commodities originate on rail- road tracks, and must be delivered on team or factory sidings. Lake navi- gation for this great bulk of general merchandise is thus only a connecting link, and often the costs of handling and warehouse charges offset the lower rates of water transportation. This does not apply, of course, to iron ore, coal and grain shipments between the head of the lakes and Chicago and Buffalo, but it does apply with deadly effect to Saginaw River commerce. It is extremely doubtful if any considerable commerce on the Saginaw is created until conditions of water navigation change or are overcome.
Early Railroad Projects
Long before Saginaw City was more than a frontier settlement, the pioneers looked forward to the building of a railroad to connect them with the outside world. They seemed to realize that it was the one thing need- ful to develop the material resources of this region, and to bring in emigrants for the consummation of this object. In 1835 a company was organized to
1
1
719
TRANSPORTATION
build a railroad from Saginaw City to Mt. Clemens, by the way of Lapeer, a distance of about ninety miles. All the stock in the company was taken, but the projectors were about twenty years in advance of their time. A period of business depression throughout the country set in soon after their plans were made, immigration fell off at that time, and nothing was done on the actual construction of the road. The Saginaw and Genesee Railroad was incorporated in 1837 "to commence at Saginaw City and intersect with the Northern Railroad at some point in Genesee County, length about forty miles, to be finished in six years from commencement." Like the other rail- road project nothing resulted but visions and plans on paper.
Building the Flint & Pere Marquette
It was not until 1857 that any definite action was taken toward building a railroad from the Saginaw Valley to southern and western points in the State. On January 21 of that year the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad Company was organized, and on February 24 following the company ac- cepted the provisions of the law donating lands to it. Preliminary surveys were made, first from Midland west to the Muskegon River and to Pere Marquette (Ludington), which point was reached on June 20, 1857. This work was put through under the direction of William B. Sears, now dean of Michigan civil engineers. The map of location of the line was filed in the office of the Secretary of State on August 7, and in the General Land Office, Washington, on August 18, 1857.
Meanwhile a line had been surveyed from Flint crossing the plank road six and a half miles from that place, through Birch Run toward Saginaw. But in the Fall of 1857 the original promoters of the road met with financial reverses, due to many bank failures which occurred at that time. The sur- veying party was laid off and, as there was no money to pay the wages
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A COMMON TYPE OF STEAMBARGE, CALLED "RABBITS"
720
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
due. Mr. Sears, who had four hundred dollars in a belt, loaned it to the president of the road to help stem the tide of discontent which threatened to break into a riot. Work was not resumed until the following May, the location line being completed to Saginaw by Mr. Sears in July, 1858.
Mr. Sears remained with the road until 1860, when he went to Missouri. but in the Spring of 1862 he returned to Saginaw and made miscellaneous surveys in the city for Addison P. Brewer and others. In the following winter he was called upon to lay out the line of the railroad between Mt. Morris and Flint, and later that section between Midland and Averill. In 1866 Henry C. Potter, who was then in charge of the operation of the Flint & Pere Marquette, recognizing the good work of Mr. Sears, appointed him chief engineer, a position which he retained until 1900, when he was made consulting engineer of the road. In 1867 he revised the location work as far as Midland, and in 1874 had charge of the track laying between Reed City and Ludington. Later he changed the location line of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe Railroad, which had become a part of the Flint & Pere Marquette.
"Just as the accuracy of the survey of the Mason & Dixon line by George Washington has challenged the attention of engineers of the present day for the decision of the landmarks, so did Mr. Sears' work of location of the Flint & Pere Marquette evoke the admiration of Dean M. E. Cooley, who made the appraisal of the Pere Marquette Railroad. Looking over the location of the line after a space of fifty years he pronounced it faultless, and in recognition of this the University of Michigan conferred the degree of Master of Engineering upon Mr. Sears. He also holds the distinction of having planned the first steel bridge across the Saginaw River.
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