History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 103

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan > Part 103

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The building containing the fog whistle stands 100 feet north of the light-house. It is of wood, 18x30 feet in size, sided up on the outside and ceiled within, with a shingle roof, cement floor and painted without, including the roof. Inside, the north part is fitted for storing the fuel, mostly hard coal, wood being used only for kindling.

In the center of the rest of the building stands the upright flue boiler, which generates the all-potent steam. It is six feet high, including the base, which latter is 3x4 feet in size. 30 inches high, and contains the fire box, besides, forming the bed on which the engine rests. The back of the base is in circular form, corresponding to the main portion of the boiler above, which is 30 inches in diameter, and contains 88 flues 12 inches in diameter. The engine rests on the base immediately over the fire, has a horizontal motion and is of two-horse power, hav- ing a three-inch cylinder, ten inches long and six-inch stroke. The balance wheel is intended to run at a speed of 120 revolutions per minute, or two to a second; and by means of an end- less screw turns a wheel with 120 cogs, each representing one revolution, or half a second. On this wheel is a cam, which opens a valve and operates the whistle eight seconds out of every minute. It requires 90 to 95 pounds of steam to run it on time.

The whistle is just above the roof, and is six inches in diameter. Larger ones were tried, but required more steam than the boiler could furnish. The boiler and machinery were made

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

and put up by the Detroit Locomotive Works, under the direction of Gen. Poe, United States Engineer, and being the first of the kind upon the lakes, may be considered a most successful experiment. The eccentric George McDougal was among the first if not the first keeper of this light-house. He was a well-educated man, singular in many respects, decidedly a Britisher in sympathies and ideas, yet a man who won the regard of the United States authorities at Detroit in Territorial days.

The cholera which was prevalent in 1822 and 1842, created some excitement among the inhabitants of the town, yet no panic followed, as would be the case in thickly settled communities. But in those days, men, and women, too, for that matter, were calloused to fear, and insensible to circumstances that would to-day be regarded as critical. The type of men and women who flourished in the early history of the West were radically different from those who came after, in many instances; more of bone and muscle, and less of superfluous matter, than possess types of succeeding generations; more of genuine gold and less of gilt; more common sense and less of sugar candy. As communities are built up and their influence is extended, they become wealthier, and thereby educate an effeminacy, which is expressed in the deterioration of the energies, capacities and endurance of those who are directly benefited by these pecuniary accretions.

ESTABLISHMENT OF FT. GRATIOT VILLAGE.

In 1880, the first steps were taken toward the establishment of a village government in the settlement of Ft. Gratiot. In 1881, the question was presented to the Supervisors' Board in the form of a petition, of which the following is a copy: "The undersigned legal voters re- siding within the territory hereinafter named, respectfully ask its incorporation into a village to be called ' Ft. Gratiot', represent to said Board as follows:

"First-We have caused an accurate census of the resident population of such territory to be made, the taking of which was intrusted to Julius Granger, and who commenced the same on the 21st day of December, A. D. 1880, and completed the taking thereof on the 31st day of December, A. D. 1880, all within ten weeks of the time of presenting this application, and the number of inhabitants residing in this territory is 1,300.

"Second-The census taken aforesaid represents the name of the head of every family resid- ing within such territory on the day the same was completed and during the taking thereof (none having removed while it was in progress), and it also represents the number of persons belonging to each family. And the same with its proper affidavit verifying it, written and sworn to by the person taking the same, hereto attached and marked Exhibit 'A ' and made a part of this petition.

"Third-Your petitioners have caused notice of this application to be given and published pursuant to law, and we submit herewith a copy of such notice and proof of the publication thereof as required by statute.

"Fourth-The territory which your petitioners desire to have incorporated into the village of Ft. Gratiot as aforesaid is not now included in any incorporated village, and it contains a resi- dent population of more than three hundred persons to every square mile included within its boundaries.

"Fifth -- These petitioners therefore ask your honorable body to incorporate as a village under the name aforesaid the following territory situated in the township of Ft. Gratiot, in the county of St. Clair, and State of Michigan, viz .: Bounded on the west by Pine Grove avenue, as extended northwesterly from the north boundary of the city of Port Huron, being a continu- ation of the avenue of the same name in the said city; on the south by the north line of the city of Port Huron; on the east by the center of the River St. Clair and Lake Huron; on the north by the north line of Lots 18, 25, 27, 30, 31 and 41 in the subdivision of the McNeil tract so called, being parts of Section 34 and 35, in Township 7 north, of Range 17 east, in said township of Ft. Gratiot. And your petitioners will ever pray, etc.

"R. E. French, George S. Merritt, David Shannon, W. G. Staw, O'Brien J. Atkinson, W: 11- iam Fowler, Adolphus Phoenix, Joseph Winegar, Columbus Pheonix, Thomas Southerland, T. P. Phoenix, L. E. Tarraer, S. W. Merritt, James McDoniel, Walter F. Busby, J. Hazlewood, W.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

J. Stewart, R. A. Hammond, Thomas Dow, Thomas Basendale, John Dent, Thomas Watson, T. French, John B. Ross and W. L. Rettie."

The action taken by the board in his matter is given in the official report as follows:

"Moved by E. White, supported by R. Shutt, that it be referred to the Committee on Divis- ion and Erection of Townships. The Committee on Division and Erection of Townships made a report in writing. Moved by G. W. Carleton, supported by Townsend Lymburner, that the report of committee be submitted and spread upon the journal. Unanimously carried. TO THE HONORABLE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF THE COUNTY OF ST. CLAIR:

" Your Committee on Erection of Townships, to which was referred the petition and pa- pers in reference to the village of Ft. Gratiot, respectfully report: The petition appears to be in conformity to Chapter 129 of Compiled Laws, pages 11,12. The proposed territory contains over thirteen hundred people within less than one mile square, and is not included within any village and city. We find that the petitioners, more than fifteen in number, all reside within the proposed territory. We find the census attached to the petition to have been taken accu- rately properly verified. We also find that due notice has been given of the application as re- quired by law that proof thereof accompanies such petition. We further report that we have heard all parties interested in the matter who asked to be heard, and we would recommend the adoption of proper resolution incorporating such village, of which respectfully submit Freder- ick Lindo, Frank Ufford, Martin Stapleton."

A resolution offered by Townsend Lymburner was read by E. G. Stevenson, when John McGill moved, supported by Edgar White, that the resolution be received, adopted and spread upon the journal.

The village was established under authority given in the following resolution:

"WHEREAS, It appears from the report of the committee of this board and from an exami- nation of the papers connected with the application for the incorporation of the village of Ft. Gratiot, that all the requirements of law have been complied with, and it appearing to this board that the territory described in said petition and also hereinafter named, containing a population of 1,300 people.

"Therefore Resolved, by the Board of Supervisors of the county of St. Clair, and it is hereby ordered and declared by said Board, that the following territory to wit (described in the petition), be and the same is hereby incorporated and the same shall be an incorporated village under the name of the village of Ft. Gratiot, and it is further resolved and declared that Thomas Southerland, Julius Granger and Walter T. Busby, all electors and residents of such territory, are hereby appointed Inspectors of Election, to hold the first election in said village, and such election shall be held on the first Tuesday of March, A. D. 1881, at Eddison's Hall, in said township of Ft. Gratiot and within the village of Ft. Gratiot aforesaid."

The new village held its first charter election March 15, 1881. The regular ticket nomi- nated at the citizens' meeting and subsequently slightly changed by consent, was elected, with the exceptions of Francis P. Phoenix (Republican), in place of Richard Eades (Republican), for Treasurer, and J. A. McMartin (Democrat), for Clerk, instead of W. T. Busby (Republican). Phoenix's majority over Eades was eighty, and McMartin's over Busby, sixty-eight.

The following are the names of the officers elected:

President-O'B. J. Atkinson, Democrat.

Trustees for two years -- Thomas Sutherland, Republican; Edward Hollis, Democrat; P. M. Edison, Democrat.

Trustees for one year-John Waterworth, Democrat; Hiram Morse, Republican; S. W. Merritt, Republican.

Treasurer-F. P. Phoenix, Republican.

Clerk-Julius McMartin, Democrat,

Assessor -- Julius Granger, Democrat.

Street Commissioner-B. B. Dewey, Republican.

Constable-John Clark, Republican.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

THE TWO ELECTRICIANS AND INVENTORS.

In a history of Fort Gratiot, the reader will very naturally look for the personal history of the two Edisons; one of whom lives to electrify the world, while the other died in an effort to wake up sleepy Europe. The biography of the Thomas A. Edison was prepared by George H. Bliss; that of the younger Edison is taken from a sketch of his life published immediately after his death.

THOMAS A. EDISON.

The personal history of this celebrated electrician is one full of instruction to all readers, and of special interest to the people of St. Clair County, among whom he lived. The sketch is taken from his biography by George H. Bliss. "His ancestry," says Mr. Bliss, "can be traced back 200 years, when they were extensive millers in Holland. In 1730, members of the family emigrated to this country. Thomas Edison was a prominent bank official on Manhattan Island during the Revolution, and his name appears on the Continental money. The race is long- lived. Edison's great-grandfather lived to be one hundred and two and his grandfather one hundred and three years old. His father, Samuel Edison, is now living, aged seventy-four, and in perfect health. He stands six feet two inches, and in 1868 outjumped 250 men belonging to a regiment stationed at Ft. Gratiot, Mich. He learned the tailor's trade, but subsequently entered commercial life, and engaged consecutively in the grain, commission, lumber, nursery and land business. He has always been in easy circumstances. Edison's mother, Mary Elliot Edison, was born in Massachusetts. She was finely educated, and for several years taught in a Canadian high school. She was an industrious, capable, literary and ambitious woman. She died in 1862 at sixty-seven years of age. Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, 1847, at Milan, Erie Co., Ohio. This was then a thriving town of several thousand inhabit- ants. Located at the head of Milan Canal, four miles from Lake Erie, it was the center of the ship-building, wheat-shipping and stave-making interests of that region. Exhaustion of the surrounding timber and the construction of the Lake Shore Railroad some distance south of the town, brought about decay, which compelled Edison's parents to remove to Port Huron when he was seven years old, which has since been their home. Edison never went to school over two months in his life. His mother taught him spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic. She was a fine reader and often read aloud to the family. Edison acquired his love of reading from her, which was encouraged by his father, who paid him for each book mastered. At ten years old, he had read " The Penny Encyclopedia," Hume's History of England, History of the Reformation, Gibbon's Rome, Searl's History of the World, several works on chemistry, and other similar works. He read them all with the utmost fidelity, never skipping a word or a formula, although mathematics were and are especially repulsive to him. It is this habit of

concentration which has led him to the accomplishment of many astonishing results. As a boy, he was always occupied, and amused himself making plank roads, digging caves and trying experiments, his mind being full of subjects. He was uneasy to get into business, and at twelve years of age his father secured him a place as train boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad. When the road was completed between Detroit and Port Huron, he acquired an exclusive news dealer's right, having as high as four assistants. During the four years he ran the road, his earnings averaged $1 a day, which was given to his mother. In commencing to visit Detroit, he joined the library, and started to read it through. He began on the bottom shelf and read every book for fifteen feet, when the job was given up as hopeless, and thereafter congenial selections were made. He was an occasional reader of fiction and poetry. Victor Hugo is his favorite author. The Les Miserables, he read a dozen times, and has reviewed it as often since. The Toilers of the Sea he considers a grand book. His memory is so retentive that he can quote extensive extracts from many sources, and can usually refer direct to the book and page of his scientifie library for any fact or information needed for experiment or research. His mind is crammed with an immense mass of information, It being difficult to mention a subject about which he knows nothing. He has a partial knowledge of the French, German, Italian and Spanish languages. Attached to the mixed train upon which he sold papers was a freight car having a room partitioned off for smoking purposes. As the car was without springs or ventilation, no one would ride in it. Edison obtained Tresenius' Quality

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

of Analysis,' bought some chemicals on the installment plan, induced the hands at the railroad shop to make him some retort stands in exchange for papers, and turned the smoking room in- to a laboratory. The Detroit Free Press, then owned by Wilbur F. Storey, came out in a new dress. Edison purchased 300 pounds of old type, and for six month published a weekly paper on the train called the Grand Trunk Herald. The price was 3 cents and the subscription list ran up to several hundred. It was printed on one side only, by hand, and was devoted to rail- road gossip, changes, accidents and information. George Stephenson, the English engineer, who built the tubular bridge at Montreal, when passing over the road found Edison at work, and ordered an extra edition for himself. The paper was afterward noticed by the London Times. One day the water in Edison's phosphorous bottle evaporated, it fell on the floor and ignited the car. The conductor with difficulty extinguished the fire, threw the materials out of the car and gave Edison a thrashing, so that his newspaper and laboratory came to a sud- den end. He continued his experiments in the cellar at home, and carried his printer's mate- rial with him for several years.

While running into Detroit, he became acquainted with the telegraph operators, and in hanging about the office the idea suggested itself to telegraph the newspaper headings to the stations in advance of the train. The effect was to spread the information of the battles then taking place and greatly increase his sales. The success taught him the value of the telegraph, and he determined to learn the business. He purchased a work on the electric telegraph, and, in conjunction with James Ward, one of his assistants, they constructed a telegraph line be- tween their residences in Port Huron. They used common stovepipe wire insulated with bot tles placed on nails driven into trees and crossed under an exposed road by means of a piece of abandoned cable, captured from the Detroit River. The first magnets used were made of wire wound with rags for insulation, and a piece of spring brass was used for a key. They were somewhat mixed as to the relative value of dynamic and static electricity for telegraph pur- poses, and the first attempt to generate a current was by means of a couple of cats rubbed vigorously at each end at an appointed time. This effort proved a failure, although they suc- ceeded in getting rid of the cats with lightning-like rapidity. Soon after this experiment, some old telegraph instruments and battery materials were purchased, and a successful short line was inaugurated. This was quite an achievement in those days, although now there are hundreds of such short lines throughout the country.

About two months afterward, as the railroad train was switching some cars on to the side track at Mt. Clemens station, the agent's little boy, two years old, crept upon the tract in front of the approaching cars. Edison, seeing the danger, sprang to the ground, seized the child and bravely saved his life. J. A. Mckenzie was the agent and operator, and in gratitude for the act, volunteered to assist Edison to learn telegraphy. Thereafter, on reaching the end of his route, Edison would go back by freight train to Mt. Clemens, and worked nights to perfect himself in operating.

In five months he was sufficiently advanced to secure employment in the telegraph office at Port Huron. The office was in a jewelry store, and Edison had an opportunity to indulge his mechanical inclinations. He worked night and day to improve himself, but resigned in six months because compensation promised for extra work was withheld. His regular salary was $24 per month.

He next went to Stratford, Canada, as night operator. The operators were required to re. port, 'six' every half hour to the Circuit Manager. Edison indulged his ingenuity to a bad purpose by making a wheel with Morse characters cut in the circumference in such a way that when turned it would write the figure six and sign his office-call. This the watchman turned for him while Edison slept.

His stay at this point was brief. One night the dispatcher sent an order to hold a train. Edison repeated back the message before showing it to the conductor. When he ran out for the purpose, the train had pulled off from the side track and was gone. When the dispatcher was notified the opposing train was beyond reach. Fortunately the two trains met on a straight track and no accident occurred. The railroad superintendent sent for Edison and so frightened him with threats of imprisonment, that, without getting his wardrobe, he started

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for home and was greatly delighted to reach his native land. He spent a few weeks at Port Huron in study, but operators were in demand and he obtained a situation at Adrian, Mich. Here he had a small shop and a few tools, where his spare time was used in repairing instru- ments and making such experiments as he had the means to accomplish. It was then a peculiar- ity of the Morse telegraph system that only one message at a time could be sent on one wire. It is also a characterstic of young operators, that each considers himself the most important personage on the line, and that his business must go first. Being at safe distance, operators fling the most violent abuse at each other with impunity, and meanwhile messages wait. Edison proved no exception to the rule, and on one occasion, when he had some message from the Su- perintendent insisted on taking the line from all comers. The Superintendent of telegraph lived in the same town and had an instrument in his house. Hearing the tussel on the wire, he rushed to his office, pounced upon Edison and discharged him for violation of the rules.

His next situation was in night service at Ft. Wayne, and in two months he had improved so much as to secure a situation in Indianapolis. Here he invented his first successful auto- matic repeater, which is an arrangement for transferring the writing from one telegraph line to another without the medium of a sending or receiving operator. It was an important achieve- ment for so young and inexperienced an operator.

The ambition of all operators is to be able to take 'press reports.' Edison practiced nights incessantly to accomplish this end. He was finally given a trial, but finding himself making too many breaks or interrogations, he rigged two more recording registers, one to re- ceive and one to repeat the embossed writing at slower speed so it could be copied. When this was done, he told the sending operator to 'rush him,' which gave him a brief reputation, for the 'copy' was so slow in reaching the press it caused complaint, and he was suspended from the work.

At the end of six months, he was transferred to Cincinnati. Here he worked a day wire, but continued to practice nights and 'subbed' for the night men whenever he could get the priv- ilege.

He had been in Cincinnati three months when a delegation of Cleveland operators came down to organize a branch of the Telegraphers' Union, which resulted in the great strike a few years since. They struck the office in the evening, and the whole force, with one excep- tion, went off on a gigantic spree. Edison came round as usual to practice, and finding the office so nearly deserted took the press report to the best of his ability, and worked through the night, clearing up business. The following day he was rewarded by an increase of salary, from $66 to $105 per month, and was given the Louisville wire, one of the most desirable in the office. Bob Martin, one of the fastest senders in the country, worked the Louisville end, and from the experience here acquired, Edison dates his ability as a first-class operator.

Edison's utter negligence of dress and appearance, his willingness to work at all hours night or day, his insatiable thirst for reading, and his enthusiastic attempts to solve what ap- peared to his companions impossibilities, earned for him the name of 'luny' or crazy man, which clung to him a number of years. He retained, however, the personal good will of his associates.

In 1864, he went to Memphis and obtained a more remunerative salary. His associates were dissolute and imposed upon his good nature to such an extent that the work he did was enormous. Abstemious himself almost to stoicism, he freely loaned his money to his compan- ions or expended it in the purchase of books or apparatus. He made and put into operation his automatic repeater, so that Louisville and New Orleans could work direct. The idea of du- plex transmission had taken possession of him, and he was perpetually advocating and experi- menting to accomplish it. These efforts were looked upon with disfavor by the manage- ment, and in the changes resulting upon the transfer of the lines from the Government to the telegraph company he was dismissed.

Being without money, and having transportation to Decatur only, he walked to Nashville, where Billy Foley, an operator in the same predicament, was found, and they traveled together to Louisville Edison had only a linen suit, and on ariving at Louisville he found the weather extremely chilly. He hunted up a friend who loaned him money for his immediate need.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

Foley's reputation was too bad to obtain a situation himself, but he recommended Edison, who obtained work. For this service Edison supported Foley till he could get a job.

Edison describes the Louisville office at this time as the dirtiest and most free and easy in the business. The common disposition of tobacco-quids was to hurl them at the ceiling, where they stuck by the hundred. Rats in great numbers kept the operator in company at night. The discipline was lax in all things, except the quality and promptness of work. Edison was required to take reports on a line worked on the blind side of a repeater, where he had no chance to break. This requires skill, and he attained to a rare perfection by the most careful study of names, markets and general information. The line was old and in a poor condition, being subject to many interruptions and changes. To assist in his work, Edison was in the habi't of arranging three sets of instruments, each with a different adjustment, so that whether the circuit was strong or weak, or no matter how rapid the change, he was able to receive the signals accurately. He remained in Louisville for nearly two years, and then got the South American fever. In connection with Messrs. Keen and Warren, two of his associates, he saved money for the trip, and they started, intending to go via New Orleans. On arriving at the lat- ter place, the vessel upon which they were to ship had fortunately sailed. Edison fell in with a Spaniard who had traveled around the world. He told him of all the countries visited the United States was the best, having the most desirable government, institutions, climate and people. This wholesome advice shook Edison's determination in connection with his disappoint- ment at delay, and he resolved to go home. He went to Port Huron via the Gulf and Atlantic States. After remaining a few weeks, he again got work at Louisville, and returned there. He now began to save his earnings more than ever, and invested them in additions to his library, apparatus, printing office and shop. He started to publish a work on electricity with his own office, but the task proved too much for his facilities. He went into a most elaborate series of experiments, as was his custom when investigating any subject, to determine the most rapid and best-adapted style of penmanship for an operator's use. He finally fixed upon a slightly back- hand, with regular round characters, isolating the letters from each other, and without shad- ing. This beautiful penmanship he became able to produce at the speed of forty-five words per minute, which is the extreme limit of a Morse operator's ability to transmit.

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History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 103

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818