USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 30
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 30
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Company C. Capt. Joseph 1. Newman, Owosso ; com. July 31, 1864 ; disch. for disability, Feb. 27, 1865.
Jacob Russell, must. out Dec. 15, 1865.
Company E.
William 11. Palmer, trans, to 1st Cav., Nov. 17, 1865.
Company G.
1st Lieut. Joseph I. Newman, Owosso; com. Oct. 15, 1862; pro. to capt. Co. C. Sergt. John S. Gates, Owosso; must. out Dec. 15, 1865.
Corp. Alanson J. McCann, Perry ; disch. by order, June 2, 1865.
Corp. Irwin Bonnett, Perry ; missing in action, Oct. 19, 1863.
Teamster Norman Van Alstine, Sciota; trans, to Inv. Corps, Jan. 15, 1864. Farrier Wm. Bartholomew, Owosso; must. out at end of service, Dec. 28, 1865. Wagoner Leonard L. Howe, Owosso; minst. ont at end of service, Dec. 28, 1865. Jeremiah Ackley, trans. to Vet. Res. Corps, May 15, 1864.
Amos Finch, must. out Dec. 28, 1865.
William Gillson, must. ont Dec. 28, 1865. Jerman HI. Johnson, diod of disease at Andersonville prison, Ga., Aug. 4, 1864.
I15
OTHER SOLDIERS FROM SHIAWASSEE AND CLINTON.
Howard A. Tibbetts, died of disease at Fairfax, Va., June 25, 1863. Henry Weatherbee, trans. to Vet. Res. Corps.
Company H.
Oliver D. Decker, disch. for disability, Sept. 30, 1863.
SOLDIERS FROM CLINTON COUNTY. Company A.
Charles E. Dusson, must. out Sept. 6, 1865.
Company D.
Sergt. James Anderson, Enreka; disch. Aug. 20, 1863. Company E.
Elisha J. Higbee, died of disease at Winchester, Va., Dec. 10, 1864.
Almou II. Isham, must. out July 17, 1865.
Amos Towman, must. ont Sept. 11, 1865.
Company I.
HIenry Cook, trans. to 1st Mich. Cav., Nov. 17, 1865. Rodney W. Choat, must. ont July 17, 1865.
Calvin E. Green, must, out Dec. 15, 1865.
Chester C. Hildreth, must. ont July 17, 1865.
John Kirkland, trans. to Ist Mich. Cav., Nov. 17, 1865.
James Monroe, trans. to 1st Mich. Cav., Nov. 17, 1865. Sidney Staunton, trans. to Ist Mich. Cav., Nov. 17, 1865. Perry Shepherd, must, out July 17, 1865.
Company M.
Emery Bowen, trans. to 1st Mich. Cav., Nov. 17, 1865. Josiah Cobb, disch. for disability, Oct. 3, 1863.
Benjamin R. Tinkle, must. out Dec. 8, 1865. W. II. Hammond, disch. for disability, Nov. 6, 1863.
John C. Meyer, missing in action at Buckland Mills, Va., Oct. 19, 1863. Joseph R. Stickles, trans. to 1st Mich. Cav., Nuv. 17, 1865.
EIGHTH CAVALRY.
MEN FROM SHIAWASSEE.
Company A.
James 11. Williard, must, out June 13, 1865.
Company F.
Charles L. Young, must. out Sept. 22, 1865. Company L.
Simon Hause, disch. for disability, Sept. 15, 1863. Charles Williams, died of disease on board transport " Baltic," Dec. 30, 1864.
NINTH CAVALRY.
FROM CLINTON COUNTY.
Asst. Snrg. Morgan L. Leach, Duplain ; com. Nov. 3, 1862 ; resigned for disability, July 15, 1864.
ELEVENTH CAVALRY.
FROM SHIAWASSEE. Field and Staff.
Maj. Henry L. Wise, Corunna; com. Aug. 31, 1863; must. out Aug. 10, 1865.
Non-Commissioned Staff. Hosp. Stew. Owen Blanchard, Sciota; trans, to N. C. S., 8th Mich. Cav., July 20, 1865.
Company B.
Capt. Charles Simpson, Owosso; com. Feb. 1, 1804; lst lient. Ang. 1, 1863; must. ont Aug. 10, 1865.
Sergt. Walter C. Dewitt, Middlebury ; trans, to 8th Cav.
Sergt. Earl S. Hall, Owosso; trans. to 8th Cav.
Sergt. Theo. T. Dewitt, Middlebury ; trans. to 8th Cav.
Sergt. Walter Belgan, Sciota; disch. by order, June 12, 1865.
Far. Elisha Reed, Bennington ; must. out July 16, 1865.
Far. Charles D. Stimson, Middlebury; must. out June 12, 1865. Charles II. Culver, must. out Oct. 2, 1865.
Charles D. Hunt, must. out June 30, 1865. George N. Hathaway, died of disease at Lexington, Ky., Jan. 23, 1861. Harvey C. Sumner, must. out Sept. 22, 1865. Oliver Sisco, must. ont Sept. 22, 1865.
Company C.
Edgar Bruno, died of disease at Lexington, Ky., Feb. 7, 1864. M. C. Doty, died of disease at Lexington, Ky., Feb. 7, 1861. Levi B. Smedley, disch, by order, July 13, 1865.
Company D. fleury C. Woodward, died of disease at Lexington, Ky., July, 1864.
Company F.
Sidney S. Morse, died of disease at Lexington, Ky.
Company M.
A. Furgeson, disch. by order, Feb. 2, 1865. Williami Grant, must. ont Sept. 22, 1865.
FROM CLINTON COUNTY.
Company B.
Sergt. Ralph II. Hollister, Victor; trans. to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. out Sept. 22, 1865.
Sergt. Charles Valentine, Victor ; trans. to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. out Sept. 22, 1865.
Mus. John F. Stortz, De Witt; trans, to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. out June 16, 1865.
John C. Aldrich, trans. to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. ont Sept. 22, 1865.
George S. Bartlett, trans, to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. out Sept. 22, 1865.
John T. Craig, trans. to 8th Mich. Cav.
James P. Cross, trans. to 8th Mich. Cav. ; must. out Oct. 7, 1865.
Elijah Carman, trans. to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. ont Sept. 22, 1865.
Charles M. Doty, trans. to Sth Mich. Cav .; must. ont Sept .- 22, 1865. James Price, disch, by order, July 16, 1865.
John Parker, disch. for disability, June 24, 1865.
Edward Strickland, trans. to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. out Sept 22, 1865.
Oliver M. Munzey, trans, to 8th Mich. Cav .; must. out Sspt. 22, 1865.
Company K.
Sergt. Henry P. Clark, De Witt ; trans, to 8th Mich. Cav. ; disch. for promotion. Charles H. Reynolds, died of disease at Lexington, Ky., Sept. 15, 1864.
Company L. Newberry Eddy, died of disease at Lexington, Ky., July 19, 1864. Moses F. Hamlio, disch. for disability, June 5, 1865.
FIRST MICHIGAN SHARPSHOOTERS. MEN FROM CLINTON COUNTY. Company E.
Asher Le Baron, died of disease at Chicago, Il1., Jan. 20, 1863.
Company I. Wm. Dellenbaugh, missing in action near Petersburg, Va , July 30, 1864.
IIenry A. llowe, died of disease at Chicago, Ill., Nov. 24, 1863. Horace Martin, died in action near Petersburg, Va., June 17, 1864. Ira Martin, died of disease at Annapolis, Md., Jan. 13, 1865. Daniel H. Spicer, died of disease at Alexandria, Va., Oct. 4, 1864.
Charles Sutherland, missing in action near Petersburg, June 17, 1864.
FIRST MICHIGAN (ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND UNITED STATES) COLORED INFANTRY.
FROM CLINTON COUNTY. Company C.
1st Lieut. Edward Cahill, St. John's ; com. Jan. 19, 1864 ; pro. capt. Co. D. 2d Lieut. Jacobs P. Sleight, Bath; com. Dec. 23, 1864; mmst. out Sept. 30, 1865. Jasper Moffatt, must. out Sept. 30, 1865.
Company D.
Capt. Edward Cahill, St. J. hu's ; com. Jan. 16, 1865 ; nmust. ont Sept. 30, 1$65. 1st Lient. Wm. E. Sleight, Bath ; com. May 6, 1864; 2d lieut. Jan. 20, 1864; must. out Sept. 30, 1865.
FROM SHIAWASSEE COUNTY. Field and Staff. Lieut .- Cul. Wm. R. Sellon, Owosso; com. Aug. 17, 1863 ; Ist Jieut. 9th Infantry.
Company G. John Thompson, must. out Sept. 30, 1865.
FIRST REGIMENT UNITED STATES SHARP- SHOOTERS.
FROM CLINTON COUNTY. Company C.
David II. Kellogg, died of disease at Washington, April 10, 18G2. llenry E. Spears, died of disease at Yorktown, Va., Oct. 10, 1862.
SECOND REGIMENT UNITED STATES SHARP- SHOOTERS.
FROM CLINTON COUNTY. Company B.
Ellis W. Hagerty, died in action at Wilderness, May 6, 1861. John HI. Thompson, died in action near l'etersburg, Sept. 9, 1861. Richard Wartle, died in action at Spottsylvania, May 11, 1864.
TWENTIETH INDIANA BATTERY.
John Burgoyne, Woodhull, Shinwassee Co .; veteran.
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXI.
LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND MINERAL RE- SOURCES.
Boundaries, Surface, Soil, and Streams-Geological Formation-Re- sults of Explorations for Coal and Salt-The Stato Geologist's Opinion relative to Coal-Mining in Michigan.
SHIAWASSEE, which is one of the counties in the fourth tier,-counting northward from the southern line of the State,-has for its western boundary the principal meridian (which is the division-line between this and Clinton County), and is bounded on the north by Saginaw, east by Genesce, and south by Livingston and Ingham, the last-named three counties having been formed in part from its original terri- tory. It is now one of the smallest counties in the State, for although it contains the same number of townships (sixteen) which are embraced in each one of several other counties, the western range of townships in this has only about two-thirds the usual width ; this being the result of a mistake or miscalculation in the making of the original surveys.
This county is properly regarded as among the best in Michigan in regard to the productive quality of its soil and its adaptation to the purposes of agriculture. The surface, which can nowhere be termed hilly, is generally rolling, though in many parts of the county there are found quite extensive tracts of comparatively level country, which in the original field-notes of the government surveyors are frequently mentioned and described as " prairie-lands."
The principal waters of the county are the Shiawassee, Maple, and Looking-Glass Rivers, and their tributary streams. The Shiawassee is formed of an eastern and a southern branch, which, taking their rise in the lakes of Oakland, Livingston, and Genesce Counties, join their waters in the southeast corner of Shiawassee; from which point the main stream flows in a general northwesterly and northerly course through nearly the entire length of the county, crosses its northern boundary nearly at the cen- tre of it, and thence flows northward through Saginaw County into the Saginaw River. The Shiawassee River, in traversing this county, passes the cities of Owosso and Corunna and the villages of Vernon, Shiawassee, and Byron.
The Maple River, taking its rise in the central and southern parts of the county, flows thence in a northwest- erly direction into Clinton. The sources of the Looking- Glass River are in the northwest part of Livingston County and the extreme southern part of Shiawassee. Its course through this county is first nearly north, and afterwards generally west, to the point where it crosses the west boundary-line into Clinton County. Neither the Looking-
Glass nor the Maple become streams of much size or im- portanee until after they pass out of Shiawassee County.
The northeast part of the county is watered by the head streams of the Mistcauguay River, which flows northward into Saginaw County and enters the Flint River five miles above its mouth.
Of the geology of Shiawassee County there is little to be said, more than to mention the efforts which have beeu made here from time to time for the discovery of coal veins and salt springs, and to notice the results of those explorations.
The second Legislature of Michigan, at its regular ses- sion in 1837, passed an act (approved February 23d in that year) .which provided " that the Governor is hereby au- thorized and directed to nominate, and by and with the ad- vice and consent of the Senate to appoint, a competent person, whose duty it shall be to make an accurate and complete geological survey of this State, which shall be accompanied with proper maps and diagrams, and furnish a full and scientific description of its rocks, soils, and minerals, and of its botanical and geological productions, together with specimens of the same." Under this act the Governor appointed as State geologist, to take charge of the survey, Dr. Douglass Houghton, who in the fall of the same year set out with three assistants and made a cursory explora- tion of Shiawassee County and the contiguous country, the object of the visit being to examine the outcroppings of bituminous coal and the salt springs which were reported to exist in this region. The party left Detroit by wagon conveyance, and proceeded to Byron and thence to Co- runna and other points below on the river. One of the assistants of Dr. Houghton in that expedition was Bela Hubbard, Esq., of Wayne County, who writes in reference to the examination then made in Shiawassee County as fol- lows : " In the early part of the season, during the progress of the geological survey, beds of bituminous coal had been discovered in the bank of Grand River, in Ingham and Eaton Counties ; and the rocks met with through the cen- tral part of Shiawassee (belonging to the coal-measures) gave hope of finding an outerop here. Prospecting was ac- cordingly commenced by us at Corunna, but, with the slender means at command, did not prove successful. Yet sufficient was determined from the character and dip of the rocks and other indications to warraut a recommendation to the settlers to continue the investigation." This recom- mendation of Dr. Houghton caused considerable search and several excavations to be made, resulting, in 1839, in the discovery of a thin vein of coal, from which small amounts continued to be taken annually until the formation, many years later, of a company to work the vein. An account of
116
COURT HOUSE, CORUNNA SHIAWASSEE Co. MICH,
117
LOCATION, TOPOGRAPHY, AND MINERAL RESOURCES.
the working of the mines in the vicinity of Corunna is given in the separate history of the township of Caledonia.
Of the geological formation in the Corunna region Prof. Rominger,* State geologist, says :
" The bottom of the Shiawassee Valley near Corunna is all formed of rock-beds of the coal- measures where the erosions of the drift period have not destroyed them and filled their places with debris. The upper sand-rock of the formation is in many places entirely swept away, and the shale-beds below lie denuded to the surface. The two mines opened at Corunna, a mile or two east of the village [city], have begun their shafts in the shale-beds; one of them, the more northerly situated, was abandoned at the time of ury visit. The other, located within a short, semi- circular bend of the river, was worked. In the oblique drift leading to the bottom of the mine the following section is offered :
Drift 9 fect. 30 4
Shale, dark, partly black Sandstone ..
4
Black, slaty shales, containing lingula and discina, besides compressed lamelli branches 6.4 Cual 1 foot.
Fire-clay.
4 fect. 8
Black, slaty shales, as above
Coal, from 3 to 4
Fire-elay
4
Black shales.
1
Arenaceous shales continue to the bottom, which is eighty feet below the surface. The. fire-clay semums are usually arenaceous, and contain stems of stigmaria. The shale- beds contain centicular concretions of kidney-ore in the non-decomposed condition of gray amorphous carbonate of protoxide of iron ; seams and nodules of iron pyrites are also found dispersed throughout the whole formation. In the coal-seam the pyrites are concentrated into a band of a few inches in thickness. The coal is of bituminous qual- ity, of the same character as the Jackson coal. Not far off, west from the mine, the shale formation is found cov- ered by the upper coarse-grained sand-rock, inclosing stems of calamites. The visible thickness of the rock is about fifteen feet, but it is probably thicker if it could be seen better exposed. Other outerops of the sandstone are to be found in the river-bed four miles above Corunna."
Coal was found outeropping in the bank of the Shia- wassee River at Owosso, and in 1857 or 1858 a shaft was sunk for the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad Company at this place on land of Judge Comstock. Prof. Rominger notices this operation, and mentions the coal formation in that vicinity as follows : "The next disclosures of the coal- measures [he having previously mentioned those of Ingham County] we find on Shiawassee River, near Owosso and Corunna, in both of which places coal-wines are opened. The shaft of the Owosso mine is close to the river, within the village limits. It begins in a blue shale with coaly vegetable remains, under which a coal-bed of fifteen inches is found resting on fire-clay six feet in thickness; then another coal-seam, likewise of fifteen inches, succceds. The bottom part of the shaft, which is forty feet deep, is formed by shales and fire-clay; the fire-clay is partly of a hard, sandy nature, and contains numerous stems and leaves of
stigmaria ficoides. The coal is of a rich bituminous qual- ity and tolerably free from sulphur, but the seams are too thin to be profitably mined. . . . Several companies have tried to work it, but gave it up after a short time as not returning enough to cover the expense." He then gives the record of a boring three hundred and seven feet in depth, put down near the railroad at Owosso, and in which a vein of coal was found at a depth of about one hundred and eighty feet, but this was so thin as to be worthless.
" The coal-measures," says Professor Rominger, " are fre- quently noticed in the bed of the Shiawassee below Owosso, as far down as St. Charles. A locality of particular interest is near the mouth of Six-Mile Creek, six miles north of Owosso. In the bluffs of the Shiawassee River we observe the lower part formed of blue shales, with seams of sand- rock and abundant concretions of kidney ore; the top is drift, with a considerable intermixture of angular débris from the underlying strata. Under the shale, emerging a few feet above the water and partly submerged, are layers of a black, shaly lime-rock, visible in a thickness of four or five feet, containing numerous fossils, partly in calcified partly in pyritous condition. . . . The same limestone is seen a quarter of a mile off in the bed of Six-Mile Creek ; its ledges are there more even,-bedded flagstones,-less shaly thau those seen in the Shiawassee River. Close under the lime-rock is a fifteen-inch bed of coal, quantities of which have been taken from the river-bed when the water is very low. The coal reposes on a soft, plastic clay of greenish- white color, which incloses stems of stigmaria and large, calcareous, nodular masses of cone-in-cone structure. Stems of stigmaria are also found in the upper shales of the bluffs and in the geodes ; when split open, fronds of ferns are some- times found, but their occurrence is rare. A few steps from the mouth of Six- Mile Creek some parties made an experi- mental shaft about thirty feet deep, and from that point drilled to one hundred feet below the surface. From the material thrown out of the shaft, I see that shales of various colors, with seams of sand-roek and conglomerate, besides an abundance of kidney-ore, compose the surface- layers as far as the shaft went. Mr. Ott, the owner of the land, informed me that four beds of coal, amounting in all to eleven feet, were found in the boring. . .. The record in itself is somewhat doubtful, and the hesitation to take it as a true representation of facts is increased by the subse- quent aet of the discoverers of so rich coal deposits (eleven feet within a vertical thickness of twenty feet of strata). Mr. Ott ends his story by saying that the meu, after they had reached the depth of one hundred feet, left the place not to return again."
Borings have been made from time to time in various parts of the county, some having for their object the ob- taining of brine for the manufacture of salt, some for the discovery of coal veins, and some having both these ends in view ; but none of these have, so far as ascertained, re- paid the outlay. One of the most notable of these was a hole sunk to the depth of one thousand and one feet on section 5 of the township of Owosso (several miles north- west of the eity), by Mr. George Collier for the proprietor. The record of this boring gives the following as the strata passed through :
* Geological Survey of the State of Michigan, ISTG.
118
HISTORY OF SIHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Drift 121 feet.
Shale.
20
Cont
54
Shale ....
Hard rock
15
Shale ...
33
Sand-rock
220
Limestone.
3
Soft shale.
20
Sandstone (with brine).
77
Blue and red shates.
434
In 1859 a boring was made by a company of Pennsyl- vania men on section 23 of the township of Caledonia, one and a quarter miles northeast of Corunna. A depth of eight hundred and seventy-four feet was reached, and the following is the record of the strata passed :
Drift.
30 feet.
Shales and slato-rock.
60 4
Coal
1 foot.
Sand-rock and shales ...
285 feet.
Thin alternate strata of rock and iron ore 28 “
Shales and sand-rock ..
330 «
Wenk brine struck at this depth.
Porous sand - rock.
140 4
A great number of other borings in various parts of the county might be mentioned and statements given of the strata through which they passed; but these would be neither valuable nor interesting. They are but records of failure, so far as their disclosure of any valuable mineral deposits is concerned. This is unquestionably true in re- gard to all borings and excavations yet made in Shiawassee County, unless the mining operations at Corunna are to be regarded as an exception, which is, to say the least, ex- tremely doubtful. That a similar opinion is entertained by so eminent a geologist as Professor Rominger, in regard to explorations and experimental excavations, not only in this county, but in the entire lower peninsula, is made clear by his summing up on this subject, as follows :
"The benefit to the commonwealth of a geological in- vestigation consists not only in adding discoveries of new stores of minerals to those already known, but to a much greater extent, I think, in causing to be fairly understood the uselessness of explorations for certain minerals in places where they do not exist. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been spent in this way, which could have been saved to their owners if they had had a clear comprehen- sion of the structure of the carth's crust which they ex- plored, or had asked advice of some oue better informed than themselves. .
" The coal fields of Michigan, supposed to cover a space of eight thousand square miles, are up to the present day of very inferior importance in the economy of the State. Only four mines are in actual operation, and these are worked with but a small force of men. Searching for the causes of this neglect of apparently so great stores of wealth buried beneath our feet, we find one of them in the imperfect exposure of the rock-beds, which, with the ex- ception of those in a few limited districts, are all deeply covered by drift deposits. This would be no serious im- pediment if the coal scams were spread in a continuous sheet over the surface of a certain horizon ; we could then without much risk go down and uncover them; but all coal deposits are confined originally to certain limited basins, and if we consider that the coal series, as the youngest of the stratified rock-beds on the peninsula, has been without
protection, by later deposits exposed to the vicissitudes of untold ages, we must expect to find a large proportion of the deposits destroyed and swept off ; in particular, during the drift epoch the coal formation must have suffered im- mense destruction from the moving glacier masses. The direct proof of this is furnished by the large quantity of débris of the coal-measures mixed with the drift material ; but the drift action has not only destroyed a large propor- tion of the coal formation, but has at the same time filled up the eroded gaps with loose drift material, hiding the ex- tent of destruction from observation, and thus rendering our mining operations always hazardous in a deeply drift- covered region, because we have no means whereby to know how much of the supposed underlying rock-strata has es- caped destruction. . . . This loose, porous mass of débris, in proper comminution to make a soil, and being composed of every variety of mineral substance necessary for the suste- nance of vegetable life, formed the destiny of this strip of land ; it makes it an agricultural country. No great min- eral wealth is hidden here under our feet which we could have reached through the gaps, so it were better they were closed and leveled, to enable us to harvest golden ears of wheat and corn from their surface, than that we should enter shadowy subterranean passages in search of wealth, endangering our lives, and without any certainty of success in the end."
CHAPTER XXII.
CIVIL CHANGES-EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The several Counties which have included the Territory of Shiawassee -Erection of Shiawasseo County-Reduction of its Territory- Settlements in the County from 1831 to 1836.
THE first of the counties of Michigan, as also the first which was laid out to contain any part of the territory afterwards included in Shiawassee, was the county of Wayne. This county was first laid out, or rather pro- claimed, by the executive of the Northwest Territory, Aug. 18, 1796, to embrace all of lower Michigan and por- tions of Indiana and Ohio. But although Wayne, as thus laid out, contained a considerable number of inhabitants and sent its representative to the General Assembly of the Territory at Chillicothe, its white population was nearly all clustered at its connty-seat, Detroit, and along or near the waters of its southeastern border, and its jurisdiction- scarcely extending a half-dozen miles back from the lakes and navigable streams-had no existence in all the vast wilderness of the interior. The county was again " laid out," this time with a greatly reduced area and with more definite limits, by proclamation of Governor Cass, dated Nov. 21, 1815. It was then made to include all " that part of the Territory of Michigan to which the Indian title has been extinguished," thus embracing all of the lower peninsula lying east of the principal meridian as far north as a point due west from the outlet of Lake Iluron, and thence northeasterly in a right line to White Rock, in the present county of Sanilac. Within the boundaries of this great tract was included all the present territory of
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