History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 79

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 79
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 79

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" It has been known from the carliest settlement of the country that the Indians formerly supplied themselves with salt from springs occurring on the peninsula; numerous reservations of lands supposed to contain salt-springs have been made by the United States. Many years ago several unsuccessful attempts were made by individuals to manu- facture salt, but, after all, the fact that most of the springs reserved by the United States contain little else than some of the salts of lime and iron, and the failure in the original attempt to manufacture the salt, had with much reason given rise to doubts as to the existence of saline springs to any extent. In ascending Maple River saline indications were first observed in township 8 north, range 4 west, and were seen to occur at distant intervals between that point and what may be considered as the head of navigation of the stream, not far from the line between ranges 1 and 2 west. The Maple River, between these points, is a slug- gish stream, having so slight a current as to resemble a suc- cession of narrow lakes, while the alluvial shores, scarcely rising above the water, even when lowest, are covered with a dense forest of soft maple, giving to the whole stream, at first, rather a forbidding aspect. But in passing from this valley, which varies from half a mile to two or three miles in width, we come upon a beautiful elevated and undula- ting country, for the most past heavily timbered and well adapted to the purposes of agriculture. The bottom of the stream is seen to be composed of a yellowish sand, as are also the alluvial deposits which bound it on either side, with which are frequently seen bowlders of primary rocks, but no rock was seen at any point upon the river.

" In Clinton County, township 8 north, range 4 west, section 15, and where by a somewhat sudden turn the river approaches near to the elevated boundary of the valley just described, saline indications of a decided character appear in the narrow marsh or alluvial bottom which bounds the river upon its northern side. Two marshes scarcely ele- vated above the surface of the river, and partially separated from each other, occur, in the lower of which no distinct springs can be said to exist, but the water is seen at several points oozing through the sandy soil in connection with the water of the river, and although no means could be devised for preventing the constant accession of fresh water and foreign matter, it will be seen by reference to spring 14, tables Nos. 1 and 2, a much more favorable result was ob- tained than could under those circumstances have been an- ticipated.

" TABLE 1 .- Spring 14, Lower Marsh, Clinton Salt- Works," Township 8 North, Range 4 West, Section 15.

" Ilow owned Private property.

Grains.

Specific gravity 1.0026

Mariate of soda.

67.70

= lime ..

1.22

" rungnesia.

5.51

Carbonato of lime .. S.45

iron

Sulphate of lime ...

7,13

Vegetable mattert.

.51

Siliceous and aluminonst

.22

Solid matter 90.90

"TABLE No. 2 .- Showing the Constituents of One Hundred Grains of Solid Contents of Spring 14, in Table 1.

Grnins.

" Muriate of soda ...

74.50

lime ....

1.35

magnesia.

6,10

Carbonate of lime ...

9.30

Sulphate of lime

7.85

Carbonate of iren ..

.05

Vegetable matter

.60

Siliceous and aluminoos matter.

.25

Total 100.00

" At the upper marsh an excavation had been made to a depth of a few feet, but not sufficient to prevent the free ingress of fresh water. There was a constant discharge of water in small quantities, perfectly transparent and having a temperature of 46°, and, as was also the case with that at the lower marsh, having a slight odor of sulphuretted hy- drogen. Since my visit to this place I am informed a shaft has been sunk through alternate beds of sand and coarse gravel to a depth of about forty feet, and has been attended by a considerable increase of the saline contents of the water. I have received, through the politeness of Messrs. Parks & Warner, proprietors of the springs, several bottles of the water, taken since the shaft was sunk. One hundred cubic inches (three and one-half wine-pints, nearly) of the water subjected to analysis give the following results :

Grains.

" Muriate of soda .....

143.88

44 lite ....

4.30

magnesia

12.83

Carbonate of limno ....

6.23

iron

.09

Sulphate of lime ...

13.47

Total solid matter .. 180.80

" In consequence of the shaft which has been sunk there has been an increase over a former analysis of 92.42 grains of solid matter and 77.05 grains of salt in one hundred cubic inches of water. As we continue to ascend the Maple River indications of saline occasionally appear, until we

# Tho "Clinton Salt-Works," referred to in Dr. Hooghton's report, was not what its name wonkl imply,-an establishment for the man- nfacture of salt,-but a paper-village enterprise, started on the Maple River, in the township of Lebanon, Clinton Co., by Robert S. Parks, Lawson S. Warner, Thomas B. Andrews, Charles Hubbell, and Calvin C. Parks, who afterwards (by act approved April 3, 1838) beenme in- corporated as " The Clinton Salt-Works Company"; the object of the incorporation being set forth to be " for the purpose of manufactoring salt by erecting the necessary buildings, vats, ete." The platting ef an imaginary village, the procuring of this high-sounding aet of ineor- poration, and the starting of the " Clinton Silt-Werks Bank" (wild- cat), by which many people sufferod loss, was tho only result of the enterprise of theso gentlemen.

+ Foreign.

334

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

arrive near the source of navigation of that stream in Gra- tiot County, some fifteen to twenty miles above these al- ready described."

This report, from so eminent an authority as Dr. Hough- ton, established the fact of the existence of salt-springs in the valley of the Maple River. It is certain, too, that the Indians had made salt in small quantities from the springs for many years. Mr. B. O. Williams, of Owosso, who was a trader among them as early as 1831, says he has seen and eaten salt made by the natives from brine obtained there. But no result was ever reached in the discovery of supplies of salt water which would pay for manufacturing. The same result has followed all searches for remunerative veins of coal in Clinton. The fact became apparent years ago, and is now universally accepted as such, that for the people of this county at least, it is far better to expend their labor on the surface of their magnificent fields than to delve in the earth beneath them in search of mineral wealth.

CHAPTER XLVI.

CHANGES OF CIVIL JURISDICTION.

Clinton County included successively in Wayne, Oakland, and Kala- mazoo-Erection of Clinton and its Attachment to the County of Kent-Subsequent Attachment to Shiawassee County-Subdivision of Clinton County into Civil Townships.

IT is frequently said of the county of Clinton (as indeed of many other counties of the lower peninsula of Michi- gan) that it once formed a part of the county of Wayne, which was first " laid out" by proclamation of Winthrop Sargent, Acting Governor of the old Northwest Territory, Aug. 18, 1796, with boundaries running from the Cuya- hoga River, in Ohio, west to the eastern line of the State of Illinois, and thence north to the boundary between the United States and Great Britain, thus including all the country between Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, and Lake Michigan, as well as a great tract between the latter and Lake Superior. Nominally, therefore, this county and all the adjacent country was included within the indefinite boundaries of Wayne for many years, and yet, practically this inaccessible wilderness region, uninhabited as it then was except by savages and wild beasts, was no more within the jurisdiction of Wayne County than it had been within that of the ancient Plymouth Company, to whom, in the early part of the seventeenth century, James I. of England had granted all the lands between 42º 2' and 44º 15' north latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In the subsequent " laying out" of Wayne County, by proclama- tion of Governor Cass (in 1815), it was ouly made to in- clude that part of Michigan Territory to which the Indian title had already been extinguished, and as at that time the western boundary of Indian cessions was a line identi- cal with that which was afterwards established as the prin- cipal meridian of the United States surveys, the county of Wayne, as then defined, included no past of the territory of Clinton.

On the 12th of January, 1819, a proclamation was made by Governor Cass, erecting the county of Oakland, to in-

clude six tiers of townships north from the base-line, and extending westward to the line which is now the principal meridian, thus leaving all of the present county of Clinton outside its limits. Oakland County was organized in 1820 with its original boundaries ; but by a proclamation of Governor Cass, dated Sept. 10, 1822, it was reduced to its present size, and the new counties of Lapeer, Sanilac, Sagi- naw, and Shiawassee (which were erected by the same proclamation) were attached to it, as was also " all the country not included within the boundaries of any of the before-described countics, to which the Indian title was extinguished by the treaty of Saginaw." This latter at- tachment of territory to Oakland included what is now Clinton County, with many other counties lying to the south, west, and north of it ; and it continued in force, as regards the domain of Clinton County, until 1830, when an act was passed by the Legislature (approved July 30th and taking effect October 1st in that year) organizing the county of Kalamazoo, and providing " that the counties of Calhoun, Barry, and Eaton, and all the country lying north of township four, north of the base-line, west of the prin- cipal meridian, south of the county of Michilimackinac, and east of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen and of Lake Michigan, where said range-line intersects the lake, shall be attached to and compose a part of the county of Kalamazoo County for judicial purposes." Included in the above-described unorganized territory was that of the county of Clinton, which remained so attached to Kala- mazoo for about five and a half years.

The crectiou of the county of Clinton was effected by an act of the Legislature (approved March 2, 1831), which provided " that the country included within the following limits, to wit : west of the meridian and east of the line between ranges 4 and 5, west of the meridian ; south of the line between townships 8 and 9, north of the base-line ; north of the line between townships 4 and 5, north of the basc-line, containing sixteen townships, be and the same is hereby set off into a separate county by the name of Clinton."

Legislative acts, bearing even date with that which erected Clinton, erected also the counties of Ottawa, Ionia, and Kent. The last-named county was organized by act approved March 24, 1836, which also provided " that the unorganized counties of Ottawa, Ionia, and Clinton shall be attached to the county of Kent for judicial purposes." Clinton remained attached to Kent until March 18, 1837, when, by the provisions of an act of that date organizing the county of Shiawassee, it was attached, for judicial pur- poses, to the last-named county, and so continued until its own organization as a separate county, in 1839.

SUBDIVISION OF THE COUNTY INTO TOWN- SHIPS.

The entire area of Clinton County was at first embraced in a single original township, -De Witt,-which was erected by an act of the Legislature of Michigan, approved March 23, 1836. That act provided : "Section 49. That the county of Clinton be and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of De Witt ; and the first township-meeting therein shall be held at the dwelling-house of David Scott, in said township."

335

CHANGES OF CIVIL JURISDICTION.

By an act approved March 20, 1837, the township of De Witt was divided in its centre,-on the north and south line which forms the boundary between ranges 2 and 3 west of the meridian,-and the western half was erected into a new township; that part of the act which has refer- ence to this erection being as follows : "That the townships in ranges three and four west, in the county of Clinton, be a township by the name of Watertown; and the people therein shall be entitled to all the privileges incident to inhabitants of organized townships, and the first township- meeting therein shall be held at the house of Anthony Niles, in said township of Watertown."

The north half of the territory of Watertown was set off and erected into a separate township by the terms of an act (approved March 6, 1838) which provided that " all that part of Clinton County designated by the United States survey as townships numbers seven and eight north, of ranges three and four west, be, and the same is hereby set off and organized into a separate township by the name of Wandaugon, and the first township-meeting therein shall be held at the house of George Campau, in said township." The Indian name given to this township appears to have been unfavorably received by the people, and an attempt was soon after made to have it changed. This resulted in the passage of an aet (approved April 2d in the same year) which provided that " That portion of townships seven and eight north, of ranges three and four west, according to the United States survey, be and the same is hereby set off and organized by the name of Lebanon, and the first township-meeting therein shall be held at the house of James Sowle, Jr." It will be noticed that the above de- seription of the boundaries of the new township is exceed- ingly obscure. The law-makers had undoubtedly meant to enaet that " that portion of the county of Clinton which is embraced in townships seven and eight north, of ranges three and four west," should be set off and organized, etc., but the omission of the words here italicized was fatal to the operation of the act. The proposed change of name was therefore postponed until the next session of the Legis- lature, and in the mean time the township remained Wan- daugon, as before.

At the time of the organization of Clinton County there had been erected within it only the three townships already mentioned,-De Witt, Watertown, and Wandaugon,-and the territory embraced, respectively, in these subdivisions at that time was as follows: De Witt included all the eastern half of the county from the meridian westward to the west boundary-line of range No. 2; Watertown covered the southwest quarter of the county, comprising the present townships of Eagle, Westphalia, and Riley, in addition to its own reduced territory.

Immediately after the organization of Clinton the north- east quarter of the county-embracing the present towns of Ovid, Bingham, Greenbush, and Duplain-was erected into the township of Bingham, by act of Legislature approved March 21, 1839. As this block of territory was taken from De Witt, that township was left with only four survey- townships, comprising the southeast quarter of the county, and the east half of this was taken off on the following day (March 22, 1839) by the Governor's approval of an act

which provided, " That all that part of the county of Clin- ton designated in the United States survey as townships Nos. 5 and 6 north, of range No. 1 west, be and the same is hereby set off and organized into a township by the name of Ossowa." Again, on the 20th of March, 1841, survey- township No. 6 north, of range No. 2 west,-being the north half of the then remaining territory of De Witt,-was set off by legislative act and erected into the township of Olive, thus leaving to De Witt only a single survey-township, which has continued to be the extent of its area until the present time.

Watertown, which at first embraced the entire west half of the county, but had yielded the north half of its area in the erection of Wandaugon township, as before noticed, was further reduced by an aet (approved March 21, 1839) which took from it the survey-township numbered 6 north, of range 4 west, and organized it as the township of Westphalia. About two years later (March 15, 1841) an act was ap- proved erecting survey-township No. 5 north, of range 4 west, into the civil township of Eagle, and township 6 north, of range 3 west, into the township of Riley. This left the township of Watertown with only its present area, that of a single township of the government survey.

The township of Wandaugon, having survived the act of April 2, 1838, continued to exist under its original name until March 22, 1839, at which date an aet was approved which provided that " the township of Wandaugon, in the county of Clinton, shall be hereafter known and designated by the name of Lebanon." At that time, and for about a year afterwards, the township retained all the original area of Wandaugon (the northwest quarter of the county), but on the 19th of March, 1840, an act was passed setting off the eastern half of its territory, viz. : survey-townships Nos. 7 and S north, of range 3 west, and erecting the part so set off into the township of Bengal. And finally, in 1845, an aet was passed (approved March 19th of that year) by which the township of Dallas was erected on survey-town- ship 7 of range 4 west. This took from Lebanon the south half of its then remaining territory, leaving it with but one survey-township, as at present. Bengal township (taken from Lebanon, as before noticed, and embracing the north- ern two survey-townships of Clinton County in range 3 west) was partitioned under the provisions of an act ap- proved March 9, 1843, and its northern half was erected into the township of Essex. The boundaries of both these townships still remain as then established.

The township of Bingham, from the time of its erection in March, 1839, continued to embrace the entire northeast quarter of the county until March 19, 1840, when, under the provisions of an act of that date, the cast half of its territory was set off and erected into the townships of Sena* and Ovid, the latter covering survey-township 7, and the former township 8 north, of range 1 west. Of the terri- tory remaining to Bingham after the setting off of these two towns, the north hall' (township 8 north, of range 2 west) was taken by aet of February 16, 1842, and erected

$ The name of Sena was discontinued, and Duplain adopted as the namo of this township, by act of the Legislature, approved March 20, 1841.

336

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

into the town of Greenbush. The boundary as then estab- lished between Greenbush and Bingham continued undis- turbed until April 7, 1846, when an act was passed pro- viding " that all that part of the township of Greenbush, in the county of Clinton, known and designated as the south half of section 30, and sections 31, 32, and 33, be and the same is hereby attached to the township of Bing- ham, in said county." The sections and half-section above named continued to form a part of the township of Bing- ham until March 20, 1850, when, by an act of that date, they were re-annexed to Greenbush, and the original boun- dary between the two townships was re-established.

Ossowa township, set off from De Witt in 1839, held its original area of two survey-townships until March 9, 1843, when the Governor approved an act changing its name from Ossowa to Bath, and ereeting the north half of its territory (township 6 north, of range 1 west) into the township of Vietor. These two towns have remained unchanged in limits from that time to the present.

During several years prior to the organization, but after the laying out, of Gratiot County, the two tiers of town- ships composing the southern half of that county were attached to the northern tier of townships of Clinton County. The first act of the Legislature by which any of those townships were so attached was approved March 16, 1847. It provided " that all the territory designated by the United States survey as townships Nos. 9 and 10 north, of range No. 2 west, be and the same is hereby attached to the township of Greenbush, in the county of Clinton." In the same way it attached township 9 north, of range 3 west, to the township of Essex ; and townships Nos. 9 and 10 north, of range 4 west, to the township of Lebanon. A subsequent act, approved March 9, 1848, provided “ that townships Nos. 9 and 10 north, of range No. 1 west, in the county of Gratiot, be and the same are hereby attached to and made a part of the township of Duplain, in the county of Clinton ; and that township No. 10 north, of range 3 west, in the county of Gratiot, be and the same is hereby attached to and made a part of the township of Essex, in the county of Clinton."

The effect of this legislation was to attach the townships which are now North Shade and New Haven, in Gratiot, to the township of Lebanon, in Clinton County ; the town- ships now Fulton and Newark, in Gratiot, to the township of Essex, in Clinton ; the townships now Washington and North Star, in Gratiot, to Greenbush, in Clinton ; and the townships now Elba and Hamilton, in Gratiot, to the town- ship of Duplain, in Clinton County. On the 12th of Oc- tober, 1853, the Board of Supervisors of Clinton County, in the exereise of powers conferred on such boards by the State constitution of 1850, set off the two Gratiot town- ships which had been attached to Lebanon, and erected the southernmost of the two into the township of North Shade, attaching the other one to it. After the organization of this town, its supervisor met regularly with the supervisors of Clinton County, and acted with them as a member of the board. Some of the other Gratiot townships were set off and organized by the Clinton Board of Supervisors in 1855, but their supervisors never met with the Clinton board, for the reason that the organization of Gratiot County,

which was effected in the same year, severed all connection between its southern townships and the county of Clinton.

CHAPTER XLVII.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS-COUNTY ORGANIZATION -COURTS AND OTHER COUNTY MATTERS.

Low Estimate of the Value of Michigan Lands in Early Years-First Settlements in Different Parts of Clinton County-Organization of the County-Early Proceedings of the County Commissioners and Supervisors-Wulf-Bounties-Establishment of Courts in Clinton County-County Sites and County Property.

IT was not until late in the present century that white settlements began to invade the wilderness of Clinton County, and the same is true to a great extent of the region adjacent to it as far east as the older county of Oakland, which had itself remained an almost unknown country for fully a century after the cabins and clearings of French immigrants began to cluster along the shores of the Detroit River, only a few miles farther eastward. That this should have been so, that these lands of almost marvelous fertility, lying within a comparatively short distance of the old post of Detroit and the navigable waters north of it, should have remained unappropriated-and unnoticed, except in contempt-by emigrants seeking comfortable homes and produetive farms, seems not a little mysterious at first thought ; but the cause is made tolerably clear by reference to a few facts which are narrated below, showing that for many years the peninsula was believed to be a land unfit for white men's occupancy, and how it came to be so re- garded.

The earliest, as it was also the most extreme, among the unfavorable notices of the lands forming the Michigan peninsula is found in the writings of the French Baron La Hontan, who passed up through the Detroit River, and the lake and river of St. Clair, in 1686, and who, judging of all the country from his glimpses of the swampy lands bordering the lake and rivers, chronieled his opinion that the entire region was truly " the fag-end of the world." So contemptnous an expression from such a distinguished man and extensive traveler could not fail to have its effect on the minds of the people of that day, and it was, perhaps, the beginning of the opinion which afterwards became well- nigh universal, and continued for more than a century and a quarter, that Michigan was but another name for a coun- try of morasses, irreclaimable swamps, and barren sand- knolls.

In the year 1812 an aet was passed by Congress requir- ing that two millions of acres of land in each of the (then) Territories of Michigan, Illinois, and Louisiana-in all six million aeres-should be surveyed and set apart as military tracts, out of which each soldier serving in the armies of the United States in the war then existing with England should be entitled to receive one hundred and sixty aeres of land fit for cultivation. Under the provisions of this act surveys were made; but, while engaged in the work, the surveyors seem to have formed an idea of the country similar to that expressed by La Ilontan, and to have im-

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 79

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