History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 8

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 8
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

As has already been stated, all legislative aid to the northern line of railway ceased with the appropriation made in April, 1839. Soon after this, the financial embarrass- ments of the State caused a feeling to spring up among the people and their representatives that the adoption of so extensive a plan of internal improvements had been pre- mature, to say the least, and the result of this growing sentiment was the restriction of appropriations to such works as did, or could easily be made to, return the inter- est on their cost. Accordingly, further aid was withheld, except to the central and southern lines (then in partial operation), and finally, in 1841, all idea of the construction of the " Northern Railroad" as a State work was abandoned, .and the Legislature passed " an act relative to the appro- priation upon the Northern Railroad" (approved April 2d in that year), which recited in its preamble that "it is thought impolitic under the present embarrassments of the State to make at present further expenditures on said road for the purpose of a railroad ;" that " a large amount has been expended in chopping, grubbing, and clearing said road, which, if left in its present condition, can be of no interest to the people of the north ;" and that "it is the united wish and request of the people in the vicinity of said road that the same should for the present be con- verted into a turnpike- or wagon-road, and thus open an important thoroughfare through the centre of the tier of counties through which the said road passes, and thereby render the money heretofore expended on said road avail- able to the best interests (under existing circumstances) of the people in the northern section of the State." It was therefore enacted that the commissioners of internal im- provement be directed to expend thirty thousand dollars of the unexpended balance of the moneys which had been appropriated for the Northern Railroad " for bridging, clear-

ing, and grading said road, or so much of it as the said commissioners shall judge will be most beneficial to the inhabitants and public in the section of country through which the same passes, so as to make a good passable wagon- road."

In March, 1843, an act was passed "to authorize the construction of a Wagon-Road on the line of the Northern Railroad," and ordering the application and appropriation, for that purpose, of all the non-resident highway taxes for a distance of three miles on either side of the line, to be expended under the superintendence of a special commis -. sioner to be appointed for each of the counties of St. Clair, Lapeer, Genesee, Shiawassee, Clinton, and Ionia. The aet was repealed in 1846, but in the following year another act was passed (approved April 3, 1848) " to provide for the construction and improvement of the Northern Wagon- Road from Port Huron, in the county of St. Clair, through the counties of Lapeer and Genesee to Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee," and appropriating " twenty thou- sand acres of internal improvement lands" for the purpose. To earry its provisions into effect the Governor of the State was authorized to appoint a special commissioner, and he did so appoint to that position the Hon. Alvin N. Hart, of Lapeer. Still another act was passed in 1849 appointing Lewis S. Tyler, Albert Miller, and Henry Hunt as com- missioners, " with power to relocate, upon the most eligible ground, the Northern Wagon-Road from the village of Flint, in the county of Genesee, to the village of Corunna, in the county of Shiawassee."

The result of all the laws passed and appropriations made for the construction of the Northern Railroad and Northern Wagon-Road was the clearing of the route of the former as before mentioned, and the grading or partial grading of parts of that route (but principally east of Owosso) into an indifferent wagon-road, which never proved to be of much practical advantage to Shiawassee County, and still less to Clinton.

DETROIT AND SIHIAWASSEE RAILROAD COM- PANY.

The Detroit and Shiawassee Railroad Company was in- corporated by act of the Legislature, approved March 22, 1837, under the provisions of which Marshall J. Bacon, Silas Titus, Elijah F. Cook, Thomas Curtis, Alfred A. Dwight, Robert Warden, Jr., and Ely Barnard were ap- pointed commissioners to receive subscriptions to the capital stock, the amount of which was placed at five hundred thousand dollars. The company so created was author- ized and empowered " to construct a railroad with a single or double track from Detroit, in the county of Wayne, through Farmington, in the county of Oakland, Kensing- ton, in the township of Lyon, Byron, in the county of Shiawassee, to Shiawassee village, in said county of Shia- wassee; with power to transport, take, and carry persons and property upon the same by the power and force of steam or animals, or of any mechanical or other power, or combination of them." The company was required by its charter to commence the construction of its line within one year; to finish and put in operation twenty-five miles of road within three years; and to complete the whole dis-

$ Taken from the official report of Rix Robinson, L. S. Humphrey, and William R. Thompson (composing the Board of Commissioners of Internal Improvements) to the Legislature of Michigan, dated Dec. 1, 1839.

HISTORY OF SIHIAWASSEE AND CLINTON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

tanee within six years from the date of incorporation, under penalty of forfeiture of charter. A change of route was authorized by aet approved April 6, 1838, but no part of the line was ever built ; few, if any, subscriptions to the stoek were procured, and the company, having effected only a temporary organization, ceased to exist by non-compliance with the conditions under which it was created. The in- corporation of this company being a matter of very little importance is mentioned here only because its charter was the first which was granted by the Legislature authorizing the construction of a railway in any part of the territory which now composes the counties of Shiawassee and Clinton.

DETROIT, GRAND HAVEN AND MILWAUKEE RAILWAY.

The line now known as the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway was the first which was built and com- pleted to any point within the boundaries of the counties of Shiawassee and Clinton ; and it was also over the eastern link of this line (the old Detroit and Pontiac road, which was in operation many years before the locomotive reached the waters. of the Shiawassee River) that the inhabitants of these counties enjoyed their earliest railway facilities, by means of stage lines which ran from Lyons, by way of De Witt, Laingsburg, and other points in Shiawassee, Genesee, and Oakland Counties, eastward to the successive termini of the railroad,-first at Royal Oak, then at Birmingham, and finally at Pontiae. For this reason it seems proper to make brief mention here of the building and opening of the Pontiac Road, for though it was purely an Oakland County enterprise, yet it was one in which the people of Shiawassee and Clinton were interested,-first, because its connecting stage lines gave them communication over it, and afterwards because by its extension it became a part of the grand through line which passes through these coun - ties to Grand Ilaven and Milwaukee.

The Detroit and Pontiae Railroad project was agitated in Oakland as early as the spring of 1830, and an aet in- eorporating the " Pontiae and Detroit Railway Company" was passed by the Legislative Council of the Territory, and approved by Gov. Cass, on the 31st of July in the year named, this being the first railway company ever chartered in Michigan. The eorporators were John P. Ilelfenstein, Gideon O. Whittemore, William F. Mosely, William Thompson, Hervey Parke, "and such other persons as shall associate for the purpose of making a good and suffi- eient railway from Pontiac to the city of Detroit," the stoek of the company to consist of one thousand shares, at one hundred dollars each. This company, however, found the project to be too heavy for the means which they could command, and their charter became void by reason of their failure to comply with its conditions.

A second company was formed, and an act granting a new charter was passed by the Territorial Legislature, and approved by the Governor, March 7, 1834. Under this act, William Draper, Daniel Le Roy, David Stanard, John- son Niles, Seneca Newberry, Elisha Beach, Benj. Phelps, Joseph Niles, Jr., and Augustus C. Stevens were appointed commissioners to receive subseriptions to the stock of " The

Detroit and Pontiae Railroad Company," the amount of which was fixed at fifty thousand dollars. The work was to be commenced within two years from the passage of the aet, and completed within six years, the charter to be for- feited by failure to comply with these conditions. The principal stockholders were Alfred Williams, and Sherman Stevens, of Pontiae, who were also managers of the affairs of the company. Operations were soon commeneed, but very slow progress was made in the construction of the road, and it was not until the fall of 1838 that a track (which even then was composed of wooden rails for a part of the distance) was completed as far as Royal Oak, and trains made up of ears of the most inferior description were run from Detroit to that point by horse- power. In the fall of 1839 the road was extended so that the trains ran to Birmingham, and steam was introduced as a motive-power for their propulsion. At that time (September, 1839) the - Pontiac papers contained the advertisement of Henry J. Buckley, agent and conductor, informing the publie that the trains were then running two trips a day between De- troit and Birmingham, and making connection at the latter place with a daily line of " post-coaches" for Pontiac and Flint, and a semi-weckly line for Lyons on the Grand River, by way of Byron, De Witt, and other points in Shiawassee and Clinton Counties.

In 1840, the company being heavily in debt and without means of payment, the road was sold at sheriff's sale, and passed into the hands of Dean Richmond, of Buffalo, and other capitalists of the State of New York. Then followed another period of delay and discouragement, but finally, in September, 1844, the road was opened to Pontiae, which for more than ten years continued to be the western ter- minus, and the point of connection with the stage-lines run- ning to Flint, Saginaw, and the Grand River.

In the earlier years of its operation, this road was made the subject of' unmeasured ridicule on account of the poverty of the company, the rough and superficial manner in which the line was constructed, the poor quality of its carriages and machinery, and the exceedingly slow and irregular time made by the trains between Pontiac and Detroit. From an article which appeared in the Detroit Post a few years since, containing some reminiscenees of pioneer railway travel, the following-having reference to the Pontiac line -is extracted : " The trains would frequently stop be- tween way stations at a signal from some farmer who wished to ask a few questions, or to take passage. An old lady denizen of a farm-house, with speetaeles of a primi- tive manufacture placed high upon her forehead, eame running out to the train, waving her bandanna. Her signal being heeded, the train was brought to a stop, and her inquiry of the conductor was, if a certain lawyer named Drake was on board. After receiving a negative answer, a short conversation was kept up before the train started on its journey. It was no uncommon occurrence for the en- gineer, who kept his shot-gun with him, to bring down game from his engine, shut off steam, and send his fireman after the fruits of his marksmanship. The road being laid with strap-rail, one of the duties of the conductor was to keep a hammer for the purpose of spiking down ' snake-heads' whenever they were seen from the eab of the engineer."

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

An old resident of Shiawassee County has said to the writer, that he recognizes this as a truthful description of the operation of the Pontiac road in the year 1841, and there are no doubt many others who have similar recollee- tions of their travel upon it at about the same period.

After a few years of operation with the primitive and unsafe " strap-rail," the line was leased for ten years to Gurdon Williams, but the lease was purchased or relin- quished before its expiration, and the road came into the possession of a company, of which H. N. Walker, Esq., was made the president. Under his administration a suffi- cient amount of money was raised on the bonds of the road to relay the track with solid T rails and to make other improvements necessary to put the road iu condition for business.

Immediately after the completion of the road from De- troit to Pontiac a project was formed to build a railroad from that village westward through Shiawassee, Clinton, and other counties to Lake Michigan at the mouth of Grand River, to connect at that point with steamers for Milwaukee and other lake ports. This resulted in the formation of the " Oakland and Ottawa Railroad Company," and its incor- poration by aet of Legislature approved April 3, 1848. The persons appointed as commissioners to receive sub- seriptions to the capital stock (which was fixed at two mil- lion five hundred thousand dollars) were Gurdon Williams, Edward A. Brush, H. C. Thurber, Alfred Williams, Bow- man W. Dennis, John Hamilton, C. P. Bush, W. A. Rich- mond, and Charles Shepard. The company was empowered by the act " to construct a railroad with a double or single track from the village of Pontiac, in the county of Oakland, to Lake Michigan, iu the county of Ottawa, passing it through the most desirable and eligible route, by the way of Fentonville," and was required to begin its construction within five years and to complete it within fifteen years from the passage of the act. In 1850. an act was passed (approved March 20th), providing " That the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad Company be and they are hereby author- ized to extend said railroad so as to connect with the Oak- land and Ottawa Railroad when constructed, thus forming a continuous line of railroad through the village of Pontiac."

The construction of the Oakland and Ottawa road was commenced iu 1852, and in the following year H. N. Walker (who was a leading spirit in this as well as in the Pontiac road) purchased in England twenty-six hundred tons of iron, which was estimated to be sufficient to lay the track through to Fentonville. On the 13th of February, 1855, the Governor approved " An act to authorize the consolidation of the Detroit and Pontiac and the Oakland and Ottawa Railroad Companies, so as to form a continuous line from Detroit to Lake Michigan, under the name of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway* Company." By this act the name of the Detroit and Pontiac was changed to that of " The Detroit and Milwaukee Railway Com- pany," which was empowered to increase its capital stock to an amount not exceeding ten millions of dollars; and it was provided that " the said company is hereby authorized,

for the purpose of forming a continuous line, to purchase all the property, rights, and franchises of the Oakland and Ottawa Railroad Company upou such terms as shall be mutually agreed upon ; and the stockholders of the said Oakland and Ottawa Railroad Company shall, in case of sale, become stockholders of the said Detroit and Milwaukee Rail- way Company, in such proportions as may be agreed upon in the terms of sale ; and the said Oakland and Ottawa Rail- road Company shall thereupon become merged in the said Detroit and Milwaukee Railway Company."

Under the authority so conferred the two companies were consolidated, and the Oakland and Ottawa became the De- troit and Milwaukee line. The work of construction west of Pontiac had proceeded but slowly during the three years succeeding its commencement, but as the new company had negotiated a loan in Europe to the amount of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, it was now pushed more vigorously, so that in October, 1855, the road was opened to Fentonville, where stage counections were made for Grand River, and for Flint and Saginaw. In the fol- lowing spring the locomotive entered Shiawassee County for the first time, and on the Ist of July, 1856, the road was for- mally opened to Owosso, where the arrival of the pioneer train was hailed with demonstrations of almost unbounded delight and exultation. The same enthusiasm greeted the opening of the road to St. John's on the 16th of January following. Well might the people of Clinton and Shia- wassee congratulate themselves as they saw the first trains speeding westward, for their coming was an event which lifted the ban of isolatiou from these counties, and more than doubled the value of their domain.

Between St. John's and lonia the work was prosecuted with vigor, and the road was completed to the last-named place in September, 1857. Finally, on the 22d of Novem- ber, 1858, the line was opened to its terminus at Grand Haven, and the locomotive traversed the entire peninsula from Detroit River to Lake Michigan.

The Detroit and Milwaukee road, although a very great benefit to Shiawassee and Clinton Counties, proved a bad investment for its original stockholders. The foreclosure of the bondholders' mortgage in 1860 placed the road in the hands of a receiver, and it remained in this condition until Oct. 19, 1878, when it became the " Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway," by passing into the possession of a company of that name, organized in the interest of the Great Western Railway of Canada. It is still owned and coutrolled by that company.

The road enters Shiawassee County in the township of Vernon, and passes thence northwestward into Caledonia. Then, turning to a nearly due west course, it crosses the remainder of Shiawassee County and all of Clinton through the third tier of townships north of the south line of the counties. The stations on the line within these counties are Vernon, Corunna, and Owosso, in Shiawassee, and Ovid, Shepardsville, St. John's, and Fowler, in Clinton.

JACKSON, LANSING AND SAGINAW RAIL- ROAD.

The first link in the present important line known as the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad was built as part

* The name was changed to " Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad Company" in 1860.

IHISTORY OF SHIAWASSEE AND CLINTON COUNTIES, MICHIGAN.

of a proposed line to run from Amboy, near the south line of the State, to Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad Company became incorporated in 1857 for the purpose of construct- ing the line above mentioned, and in the expectation of receiving in aid of such construction certain lands granted by an act of Congress approved June 3, 1856. The act referred to provided " that there be, and hereby is, granted to the State of Michigan-to aid in the construction of railroads from Little Bay de Noqnet to Marquette, and thence to Ontonagon, and from the two last-named places to the Wisconsin State line ; also from Amboy, by Ilillsdale and Lansing, and from Grand Rapids to some point on or near Traverse Bay; also from Grand Haven and Père Marquette to Flint, and thence to Port Huron-every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width, on each side of each of said roads." Where such odd-numbered sections had already been sold by the United States, or pre-empted, then the deficiency to be made good by selections of a like number of alternate sections of land owned by the government outside of the six tiers of sections ; but in no case to be farther than fif- teen miles from the lines of the proposed roads. By an act of the Legislature of Michigan, approved Feb. 14, 1857, the State accepted this grant of lands from the United States, with the terms and conditions imposed.

The route on which it was originally proposed to build the road from Amboy to its Lake Michigan terminus was by way of Hillsdale and Lansing, and from the latter point northwestwardly to Traverse Bay, leaving Owosso and Saginaw far to the east of its route; but the influence of these two cities was exerted to change the route and bring the road to their own borders. This was accomplished, though at great danger of losing the land-grant, a strong effort being made to deprive the company of its benefit, on the ground that it had never been the intention of Congress to give lands in aid of roads built on routes unnecessarily circuitous, as this was elaimed to be. One of the Lansing newspapers, in ridiculing the alleged erookedness of the line, named it in derision the " Ramshorn Railroad," a term which elung to it (almost entirely superseding its legitimate title), and has not yet been forgotten.

Among the men who were most influential in promoting the success of the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay road, and who were especially prominent in its board of directors, were Judge Amos Gould and Alfred L. Williams, of Owosso ; George C. Monroe, of Jonesville ; and Alvin N. Hart, of Lansing. The construction of the road was commenced in 1857 on the section between Lansing and Owosso; and though there ensued many delays and discouragements to the friends of the enterprise, the obstacles were finally so far overcome that the road between Lansing and Owosso was completed and opened for travel and traffic about Nov. 20, 1862. The Owosso Press of Jan. 10, 1863, said, " The rush over the Ramshorn road to Lansing this week has been like the rush to a newly-discovered gold-mine." The business of the road seems to have been considerable from the first, but it was far from being sufficient to render it profitable to the stoekhoklers, and in 1864, under pres- sure of financial difficulties, it passed into the hands of a

receiver,-the Hon. C. C. Trowbridge,-who held posses- sion about two years, operating it through the superintend- ent of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, that road fur- nishing the rolling-stock. In the latter part of the year 1866 it was sold with all its franchises to the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad Company, which was or- ganized as the Jackson and Lansing Railroad Company, Feb. 23, 1864, and changed its name to that of Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw, Feb. 24, 1865. It opened its road for business from Jackson to Lansing in June, 1866, and through the whole distance,-Jackson to Owosso,-in- cluding the purchased road, in January, 1867.

The Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Company, after opening its road to Owosso, in 1862, continued the work of construction on the section of the road between Owosso and Saginaw, and a considerable amount of grading was done before their financial difficulties compelled suspension. The work was continued by the Jackson, Lansing and Sagi- naw Company immediately after the purchase, and was pushed with such vigor that the road was opened through Saginaw and Bay City in the same year. The railway line thus opened, affording communication with important points north and south, was and has continued to be an important one to the interests of Shiawassee County, though much less so to those of Clinton. The road is now operated by the Michigan Central Railroad Company. Its route lies through De Witt, Bath, and Vietor townships, in Clinton County, and Sciota, Bennington, Owosso, and Rush, in Shiawassee. At Owosso City it crosses and con- nects with the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railroad.

DETROIT, LANSING AND NORTHERN RAILROAD.

The railroad line now known as the Detroit, Lansing and Northern, which crosses a corner of the southwestern- most township of Clinton County, was formed by a con- solidation of the Detroit and Howell, the Howell and Lan- sing, and the Ionia and Lansing Railroads. The last-named road (which included all of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern line that is within Clinton County) was com- pleted and opened for travel between Ionia and Lansing in December, 1869. The Detroit and Howell and the Hlow- ell and Lansing Companies (the titles of which indicate their respective routes) were consolidated in April, 1870.

In September next following the consolidation the frau- chises were conveyed to James F. Joy and other capitalists composing the " Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad Company," to which the Ionia and Lansing Railroad was soon after conveyed by consolidation. The road between Detroit and Lansing was completed about Aug. 10, 1871, and on the 22d of the same month the officers of the com- pany opened the line from Detroit to its (then) northern terminus at Kaywood Station, five miles north of Green- ville, Montcalmn Co., the road having been completed from Ionia to the last-named point in September, 1870. It was completed in August, 1871, to Howard City, where it forms a connection with the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. This point continued to be its terminus for several years. In 1877 the name was changed from Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan, to Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 8

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