History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 6

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 6
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 6

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The "Saginaw trail" passed from the great Indian camp- ground at Saginaw, up the Saginaw and Shiawassee Rivers to the " great crossing" of the latter stream, where it joined the Grand River trail. The Saginaw and Grand River trail, passing up the valley of the Bad River in Saginaw 4

County, crossed to the great bend of the Maple River in Gratiot County, and thence passed down the latter stream through Clinton County to Genereau's trading-post on Grand River. Another trail left the one last mentioned at the great bend of the Maple and passed southeastwardly up that river, through Clinton and Shiawassee Counties, to join the Grand River trail at the crossing of the Shiawas- see. Almost directly through the centre of Clinton County a trail led southeastwardly from Maple Rapids to Scott's (De Witt village), where it crossed the Grand River trail and the Looking-Glass River, and thenee passed to the Grand River in Ingham County. Besides the trails al- ready mentioned, there were a number of others of less importance which traversed the territory of Clinton and Shiawassee Counties, and some of these were selected as the routes of early roads to the pioneer settlements.

When Richard Godfroy came to establish his trad- ing-post at the great crossing of the Shiawassee in 1828, he brought his goods from Oakland County by way of the Indian village of Kopenicorning and across the sonth part of Genesee County to his destination. The wagon in which these goods were transported was without doubt the first vehicle, as the route over which it came was the first road (if the rude wagon-track through the woods could be consid- ered as such) which entered or existed within any part of the territory of these two counties. In the year 1833 a road was cut through the woods over very nearly the same route from Kopenicorning (in the extreme northwest corner of Oakland County) to the Williams trading-post of the Shiawassee, this being done mainly by the proprietors of that post, A. L. and B. O. Williams, assisted by the few pioneer settlers who had then located themselves on or in the neighborhood of its line.

The principal one of all the early roads in these counties was that known as the " Pontiac and Grand River road," which ran from Pontiac to Ionia, and, of course, traversed the entire breadth of both Shiawassee and Clinton Counties. It ran from Pontiac westward through Oakland, and passed " Hlillian's Tavern" in the township of Tyrone, Livingston Co, whence. its ronte was by way of Byron, Burns, Fre- mont, Hartwellville, and Laingsburg, in Shiawassee Co., and De Witt and Wacousta, in Clinton, to Portland and Lyons, in Ionia. The pioneer travelers over this road (or at least the Shiawassee and Clinton part of it) were members of a party of colonists who were brought from the State of New York by Judge Samuel W. Dexter, to settle on lands which had been purchased by him in Ionia County. This party of immigrants, numbering sixty-three persons, came from the east, through Oakland County, and arrived at the Shiawassee River in the early part of May, 1833. There were six or seven families of them, besides several single persons, all traveling with wagons, containing their movable property, and having with them oxen, cows, and swine. Ar- riving at the Grand Saline, where Antoine Beaubien had a trading-post, their leader (Judge Dexter) asked that trader to pilot and assist them to their destination on the Grand River, but as he refused to undertake it, the judge then applied to B. O. Williams, of the trading firm located be- low on the river. He was then engaged in his spring farm-

HISTORY OF SIHIAWASSEE AND CLINTON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

ing, and was unwilling to leave it, but finally acceded to Judge Dexter's proposal and started out to gnide the party on their way through the wilderness from the Shiawassee to the Grand River. The account which he gives of that pioneering journey is this: " Ilaving in vain tried to get Beaubien to pilot them, Messrs. Dexter, Yeomans,* and Winsor came to us for help. I left our planting, taking my blankets and small tent, and in six days landed them at lonia, looking out the route, and directing where the road was to be. This was the first real colonizing party we had ever seen,-myself having never been farther than De Witt (the Indian village). I then induced Macketapenace (Blackbird), a son of Kishkawko, the usurping chief of all the Saginaws, to pilot us past Muskrat Creek, and from there proceeded with the party. At that point, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Dexter, a child of about two years old, died of scarlet fever. We buried the child by torch- and eandle- light, in a box improvised by the party. . . . The road we opened was next year followed by others, and was substan- tially the present Grand River road through Shiawassee and Clinton Counties, and was traveled for many years after." Mr. Williams is correct in saying that the route traveled by him with the party of Ionia colonists was nearly the same as that of the Pontiac and Grand River road, east of De Witt, but west of that place it was entirely different, as it ran thence northwestwardly through the present townships of Riley, Bengal. and Dallas, and down the south side of Stony Creek to Ionia County. It was on section 31 of Bengal- on the farm of Judge Cortland Hill-that the child of Judge Dexter was buried, as narrated by Mr. Williams. The route opened by this party between De Witt and Lyons became known as the " Dexter trail," and was eut out and traveled for a number of years, but a large part of it was afterwards closed and taken into the farms through which it passed.

On the 9th of March, 184-1, the Governor approved " an act to establish and improve the Pontiac and Grand River road," over the route which has already been described. In 1845 an amendatory aet was passed (approved March 12th), which provided " that Philip S. Frisbee, Elkanah Parker, and Daniel Donelson be, and they are hereby, ap- pointed commissioners to examine any part of the Pontiac and Grand River road, and to make alterations of route according to their judgment ;" and by the same act, Robert Toan, of the county of Ionia; Loyal Palmer, of Clinton ; Jonathan M. Hartwell, of Shiawassee ; Samnel N. Warren, of Genesee ; and Archibald Phillips, of Oakland County, were " appointed special commissioners, each for the county in which he resides, whose duty it shall be to direct and superintend the performance of all labor which by the pro- visions of this act, or the act to which this is amendatory, are to be performed on said road, and to expend all monies which may accrue to said road by the provisions of said aets." Under the provisions of these, and acts passed in subsequent years appropriating non-resident taxes, and by labor applied by the highway officers of the several town- ships traversed by it, the road was gradually worked and made passable in its eutire length, though it was not until

July, 1854, that it was declared opened through Clinton County. It has been an important thoroughfare to these two counties (though much less so now than formerly ), and it is still known and mentioned by its ancient name,-the Pontiae and Grand River road.

The Detroit and Grand River road-more generally known in the counties through which it passes as the " Grand River Turnpike"-was established by act of Con- gress, passed on the 4th of July, 1832 (Michigan being then a 'Territory), directing the President to appoint three commissioners " to lay out a road from Detroit, through Sciawassce County, f to the mouth of the Grand River," for military and other purposes. The road was accordingly " laid out," and the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars was expended by the government in the years 1833 and 1834 in working the eastern part of the road ten miles out from - Detroit. A further appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars was made by Congress, March 3, 1835, and this amount was expended in 1835-36 in clearing the road one hundred feet wide through the timbered land, and in con- structing bridges on its line across the Rush, Iluron, Shia- wassee (south branch), and Cedar Rivers. This was the last work done on the Grand River road by the general government, as Michigan had ceased to be a Territory and became a sovereign State. A grant of five thousand acres of land was, however, obtained from the United States for the benefit of the Grand River and Saginaw roads, of which grant this road received its proportion.

After the United States ceased making appropriations for the Grand River road very little was done on it for a time. The State, however, took up the work soon after, and the construction of the road was continued by State ap- propriations from time to time, one of these being made by an act approved April 2, 1841, which provided that five thousand dollars be expended on the construction of this road, under the direction of the Board of Internal Im- provement ; this sum being taken from the sixty thousand dollars which remained unexpended of the appropriations previously granted for the Northern Wagon-Road,# which project had at that time been virtually abandoned. By these appropriations, and by the expenditure of local high- way taxes upon it, the Grand River Turnpike was finally made an excellent road, which for many years accommodated a vast amount of travel. So great was the traffic upon it at one period prior to the opening of the railroads through the section tributary to it that the vehicles passing over it -heavy wagons, light carriages, and stage-coaches-formed an almost continuous procession. With the opening of the Detroit and Milwaukee, and Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroads this great travel suddenly eeased, and the former glory of the Grand River Turnpike departed. The route of the turnpike, being entirely south of the present territory

* Erastn+ Ycomans, afterwards a prominent citizen of Ionia County.

+ Shiawassee County at that time extended south as far as the centre of the present county of Livingston.

# Tho Northern Wagon-Road, of which the route lay through the whole breadth of Shiawassee and Clinton Counties, and for which the Legislature made an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars in 1841, will be found mentioned in succeeding pages in connection with the account of the okl " Northern Railroad."

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

of Shiawassee, enters Clinton County at the southeast corner of the township of Watertown, and passes northwestwardly through that and the township of Eagle into Ionia County.

The first Legislature of the State of Michigan, at its ses- sion of 1835-36, provided for the laying out and establish- ment of a large number of State roads, and among them were a number of which the routes were partially within the counties of Shiawassee and Clinton. These were au- thorized by act approved March 26, 1836, as follows :

1. " A State road from Pontiac, in the county of Oak- land, on the most direct and eligible route to the village of Brooklyn, in the county of Clinton, and thence to the seat of justice in said county." Jonathan F. Stratton, William C. Rumsey, and Enos Leek were appointed by the act " commissioners to lay out and establish the same."

2. A State road " from the village of Pontiac, in the county of Oakland, by the most direct and eligible route, to terminate at the county-seat of Ionia." The commissioners appointed to lay out and establish this road were Alfred L. Williams, William Terry, and Erastus Yeomans. The route of this road crossed the entire width of the counties of Shiawassee and Clinton.

3. " A State road from Jacksonburgh, in the county of Jackson, through the centres (as nearly as may be) of the counties of Ingham and Shiawassee, to Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw." Commissioners, Daniel Coleman, David Scott, and William R. Thompson.

4. A State road from Pontiac, in Oakland County, to be laid out " on the most direct and eligible route until it inter- seets the Grand River at the mouth of the Looking-Glass River, passing the White Lake (Oakland County) settle- ment, Alfred Williams' on the Shiawassee River, and the county-seat of Clinton County." The commissioners ap- pointed to ' lay out and establish" this road were Alfred L. Williams, Jonathan F. Stratton, and David Scott.

5. State road to be laid out running " from the village of Pontiac, in Oakland County, to Mapes and Bursley's mills, on Ore Creek, in township 3 north, of range 6 east, and thence to the centre of Shiawassee County." To lay out and establish this road John S. Webber, Samuel Mapes, and George Buckley were appointed commissioners. The act authorizing the above-mentioned roads was declared to be inoperative and void after Dec. 31, 1839, as to such of them as should not at that time have been laid out and established.

It will be noticed that four of the five roads above men- tioned were to have their eastern termini at Pontiac. As it is certain that the public good could not have required so many highways running through these counties to that point, it might seem strange that the Legislature should have authorized all of them, but for the fact that it was expressly provided in the law that all State roads so author- ized were to be under the care of the commissioners of highways for the several townships through which they were to pass, and " subject to be by them opened and kept in repair in the same manner as township roads may be by them opened and kept in repair." It was also provided that " in laying out and establishing the roads, or any of the roads named, the State shall not be liable for the ex-

penses or damages incurred thereby." Therefore, as the laying out of these roads brought no expense to the State, it was the policy of the Legislature to grant such as were asked for by interested parties, though without any expec- tation that all would be actually built.

The second Legislature of the State, at its regular session in 1837, passed an act (approved March 17th) which author- ized the laying out of State roads to cross the territory of Clinton or Shiawassee County, or both, as follows :

1. A road " from Byron, in the county of Shiawassee, to Shiawassee town, so called, in town 6 north, of range 3 east, and from thence to Leach's Place in section 10, of town 6 north, of range I east, and from thence by the most direct and eligible route to the village of Lyons in the county of Ionia." The commissioners appointed to lay out this road were Francis J. Prevost, Archibald Purdy, and Henry Leach.

2. " A State road at or near Farmington City, so called, iu the county of Oakland, running by the head of Walled Lake to Byron, in the county of Shiawassee," with Erie Prince, Isaac Wixom, and John Thomas as commissioners to lay out the same.

3. A road " commencing at the village of Marshall, in the county of Calhoun, and from thence to Saginaw City, so called, in the county of Saginaw." The route of this road must necessarily pass through the county of Shia- wassee. The commissioners to locate and establish it were Sidney S. Alcott, Cyrus Hewett, and Charles T. Gorhaur.

4. A road " from the seat of justice in Eaton County, to Cushway's trading-point, on Maple River, in the county of Clinton, on the most direct and eligible route." The commissioners appointed were William Wheaton, Stephen B. Rogers, and Philander R. How.

5. A road " from De Witt, in Clinton County, to Pe- Shimnecon, in the county of Ionia;" for the location of which Sylvester Scott, Alexander Chapel, and Philander R. How were appointed commissioners.

6. Truman II. Lyon, A. F. Bell, and John McKelvey were appointed commissioners to lay out and establish a State road " from the village of Pontiac, in the county of Oakland, by the most direct and eligible route to the vil- lage of Lyons in the county of Ionia."

In 1838 (by act approved March 9th) the Legislature authorized the establishment of a State road " from the Rochester Colony, in Clinton County, thence on the most direct and eligible route to the county-seat of Tonia," and appointed Lyman Webster, Lockwood Yates, and Cyrus Lovell commissioners for that purpose. In the following year (by act approved April 18th ) Samuel Barker, Charles Baldwin, and John Ferdon were appointed commissioners " to lay out and establish a State road, commencing at the village of' Owosso in the county of Shiawassee, and running thence on the most direct and eligible route by the way of Rochester Colony, so called, to a certain point of intersec- tion with a State road running from Ionia to the Rochester Colony, at or near the dwelling-house of Hiram Benedict, in township 8 north, of range 3 west."

An act of the Legislature, approved March 4, 1840, ap- pointed Joseph P. Roberts, Apollos Dewey, and Elias Com- stock commissioners " to lay out and establish a State road

HISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE AND CLINTON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

commencing at the village of Mason, in the county of Ingham, thence in a northerly direction to the village of Owosso, in the county of Shiawassee, and to file the survey of so much of said road in the office of each township clerk [in any township] through which the road shall pass as shall be laid out in each township." And by another sec- tion of the same act Daniel Ball, Alfred L. Williams, and Alpheus F. Williams were made commissioners to lay out and establish another State road (a northern continuation of that above mentioned) " commencing at the village of Owosso, in the county of Shiawassee, running from thence in a northerly direction on the most practicable route to Saginaw City, in the county of Saginaw, and to file the survey of so much of said road in the office of each towu- ship clerk [in any township] through which the said road shall pass as shall be laid out in each township."

For several years after 1840 the Legislature authorized very few State roads to be laid out through Shiawassee or Clinton County. The popular excitement in that direction had in a great measure expended itself during the first three years succeeding the organization of the State, and not one- half the roads authorized by the Legislature in those years had been built, or even located. Railroad schemes, too, had already begun to attract public attention, and a few years later projects for the construction of plank-roads became so popular that many persons believed that this kind of high- way was destined to come into universal use, and to super- sede the common road. These, and other causes, had the effect to divert attention from the opening of new State roads during a number of years preceding the removal of the State capital to Lansing, but the accomplishment of that removal, in 1847, caused the people, particularly those of Shiawassee, Clinton, and other neighboring counties, to desire more and better roads, to afford access to the new seat of government. Among the numerous State roads authorized at the next succeeding session of the Legislature (in 1848) were several to be laid out within Shiawassee and Clinton Counties, viz. :

1. Alexander McArthur, Jonathan M. Hartwell, and Luke H. Parsons were appointed (by act approved April 1, 1848) commissioners "to lay out a State road from the village of Flint, in the county of Genesee, by the way of the village of Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee, to the capital of this State, or to such other point, touching any road leading to the capital, as the said commissioners, or a majority of them, may deem proper."

2. A State road was authorized, to run " from the vil- lage of Michigan, in the county of Ingham, on the most direct and eligible route by the way of Owosso, in the county of Shiawassee, and Northampton and the forks of Bad River, in the county of Saginaw, to the city of Saginaw." The commissioners appointed to lay out and establish this road were William Smith, Alfred L. Wil- liams, and Daniel Gould.

3. Harvey T. Lee, John Thomson, and James M. Cum- mings were appointed commissioners " to lay out and estab- lish a State road on the most eligible route from the village of Byron, in the county of Shiawassee, to the capital of this State."

4. A northeastern extension of the last-uamed road was

authorized by the appointment of Hartford Cargill, Ephraim Fletcher, and George C. Holmes as commissioners " to lay out and establish a public State road from Flint vil- lage, in the county of Genesec, through the township of Gaines; thence on the most direct and eligible ronte to Byron, in the county of Shiawassee, intersecting the State road at that place."

5. James Seymour, Alexander McArthur, and Luke H. Parsons were appointed commissioners with anthority "to lay out and establish a State road from the village of Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee, on the most eligible route to the village of Flushing, in the county of Genesee." And by the same act, J. B. Bloss, Simon Z. Kinyon, and Isaac Castle were made commissioners to lay out and estab- lish a State road from Corunna " to a point at or near where the present traveled road, leading from said village of Corunna to Shiawasseetown, touches the Shiawassee -

River."

An act approved March 31, 1848, appropriated six thousand acres of internal improvement lands " for the pur- pose of improving certain roads in the county of Clinton, as follows, viz. : three thousand acres thereof upon a road to be laid out from the village of De Witt to the village of Mapleton, in the township of Duplain, crossing the line of the Northern Railroad at or near the residence of Stephen W. Downer; also one thousand acres thereof for laying out and improving a branch of said last-mentioned road, commencing at a point where it intersects the Northern Railroad line, and running thence to the northeast corner of section 25, in the township of Essex ; and from thence on the most eligible route to a point at or near the centre of the township of Greenbush, in said county of Clinton ; and also two thousand acres of said land for laying out and improving a road from the village of De Witt through the German settlement in Westphalia to Lyons, in the county of Ionia; said appropriation to be expended within the limits of the county of Clinton." An act passed at the same session (approved March 21, 1848) appropriated seven thousand acres of internal improvement lands in the lower peninsula " for the purpose of opening and improving the road leading from Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee, to a point at or near the forks of Bad River, in the county of Saginaw."

It should be borne in mind, in reference to the roads au- thorized by the Legislature, as above mentioned, that the " laying out" of roads in that manner (particularly in the earlier years) was by no means equivalent to opening and making them ready for travel ; that some of them so au- thorized were never opened at all ; and that in nearly every case a long time (sometimes a number of years) intervened between the time when a State road was laid out by the commissioners and the time when it was actually worked, opened, and made passable for vehicles.

There have been a number of State roads laid out in Clinton and Shiawassee Counties later than those mentioned above. It is impracticable to notice in detail the laying out and construction of all these, but it is proper to men- tion the Shiawassee and Saginaw, and the Clinton and Gratiot State roads, as among the most important north-and- south thoroughfares of these counties. The first mentioned

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

was laid out from Owosso to St. Charles in 1861, and was worked through in 1862 to 1864 by Philip Mickle, con- tractor. The project of planking this road between Chesa- ning and Owosso was started, and a short distance was planked in 1865 ( the first plank being laid April 27th of that year at Chesaning), but the planking was not extended into Shiawassee County.

The fine thoroughfare passing northward through the village of St. John's, and thence into Gratiot County, is a part of the line authorized by act of Feb. 12, 1859, which provided for the laying out of a State road " from Port IIu- rou, in St. Clair County, to Bay City ; thenee westerly to the meridian township line between ranges 2 and 3 west ; thence southerly to St. John's, in Clinton County ; to be known as the Port Huron, Bay City and Clinton road." The sec- tion passing through the north part of Clinton into Gratiot, however, has usually been known as the St. John's and Gratiot road. This section was built by Christopher C. Darling, of Lansing, in 1859 and 1860, but has since been improved at great expense by the townships of Bingham and Greenbush, so that it is now one of the best highways iu the county or State.

PLANK-ROADS.

Projects for the construction of plank-roads began to come into general favor in Michigan about the year 1847, and it was in that year that the first two of these companies whose proposed route lay across any part of the territory of Shiawassee or Clinton County were formed, as follows :

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 6

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716