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 70
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Medical Society of St. Clair and Sanilac County was organized August 4, 1866. Dr. Thomas Hammond presided, with Myron Northrup, Secretary. The original members were John Travers, R. C. S. L .; R. I. Wilcox, B. M. M .; William W. Anderson, V. C., Can .; Cyrus M Stockwell, B. M. C., Mass .; Myron Northrup, Geneva, N. Y .; John A. Northrup, N. Y .; Thomas Hammond, L. of P. & F. N. Y. S. S .; G. Archie Stockwell, U. of A., N. Y .; James G. Maxfield, H. M. C., Mass .; Thomas S. Murdock, U. of M .; Francis Heil, L. G. D. C., also of Can .; George Todd, U. of M. Permanent organization resulted in the election of John T. Travers, President; Myron Northrup, Vice President; G. A. Stockwell, Treasurer. After permanent organization, Drs. E. P. Tibbals, H. D. Griswold, T. Baird, R. Wilcox and Jared Kibbee were elected members.
In November, 1868, Drs. P. W. Reed, D. A. O'Brien and P. A. Padfield were admitted members, and honorary membership conferred on R. M. Bucke and Archie McLane, of Sarnia, Dr. William C. Gustin, Dr. Ponssett, Thomas A. Hammond and M. K. Taylor, U. S. A.
453
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
In 1870, Dr. Northrup was elected President; J. G. Maxfield, Vice President; G. A. Stock- well, Secretary; C. M. Stockwell, Treasurer. In 1869, Dr. Shoebotham was admitted. In 1870, the officers elected were C. M. Stockwell, President; V. W. Anderson, Vice President; H. Shoe- botham, Secretary; and E. P. Tibbals, Treasurer.
The officers of the Association from 1871 to the present time are named as follows:
President-1871, C. M. Stockwell; 1872, A. Nash; 1873, - Jones; 1874, J. G. Max- field; 1875, H. McColl; 1876, H. McColl; 1877, H. R. Mills; 1878, H. R. Mills; 1879, J. S. Calkins; 1880, J. S. Calkins; 1882, J. R. McGurk.
Vice President-1871, A. Nash; 1872, H. R. Mills; 1873, H. McColl; 1874, H. McColl; 1875, H. R. Mills; 1876, H. R. Mills; 1877, J. S. Calkins; 1878, J. S. Calkins; 1879, M. Northrup; 1880, C. E. Spencer; 1882, S. W. Smith.
Secretary-1871, H. R. Mills; 1872, J. G. Maxfield; 1873, J. G. Maxfield; 1874, C. E. Spencer; 1875, M. C. Kenney; 1876, M. C. Kenney; 1877, C. E. Spencer; 1878, C. E. Spen- cer; 1879, C. B. Stockwell; 1880, C. B. Stockwell; 1882, Hugh McColl.
Treasurer-1871 to 1880, E. P. Tibbals; 1882, C. E. Spencer.
Roll of Members. - John T. Travers (deceased), C. M. Stockwell, R. J. Wilcox (deceased), Myron Northrup, W. W. Anderson (deceased), John A. Northrup (removed), G. A. Stockwell (removed), J. G. Maxfield (removed), E. C. P. Tibbals, H. D. Griswold (removed), Dr. Baird (de- ceased), Jared Kibbee, A. L. Padfield, M. W. Taylor (removed), Henry Shoebotham, H. R. Mills, I. K. Farmer (dropped), Alfred Nash (removed), George W. Jones, Hugh McColl, William A. Jackson, M. C. Kenney, A. L. Scott, C. H. Alden (removed), J. R. McGurk, George L. Connell (deceased), Wilson Ramsey (deceased), J. S. Calkins, M. T. Moore, A. R. Stone, D. V. Yeux, R. Bredin, W. W. French (removed), C. E. Spencer, M. M. Tucker (re- moved), William Blake, William B. Hamilton, Benjamin D' Arcy, J. R. Sniter, J. C. McTaggart (removed), W. J. Tayor, C. M. Woodward (removed), J. G. Bailey (dropped), J. S. Comstock, A. Howell, W. G. Ferry (removed), J. H. Taylor, G. G. Williams (removed), C. C. Hibbard (deceased), H. E. Shepherd (removed), R. B. Baird, C. G. Robertson (removed), C. B. Stock- well, A. J. Shockley, S. W. Smith, T. J. Jackson, A. M. Oldfield, A. Mitchell, D. O'Brien. J. K. Farnum, Carlos Carvallo, C. H. Alden, D. F. Stone.
INSURANCE AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES.
In the pages devoted to local history, the benevolent, political, military and industrial societies of the county are noticed. Here it will be only necessary to give a summary of the history of three societies, the affairs of each being so generally connected with the county, that they cannot be localized.
FARMERS' MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY,
of Macomb and St. Clair Counties, was organized at the Ridgeway Hotel, or Beebe House, August 1, 1863. Robert Irwin presided, with Samuel Goodsell, Secretary. After the adoption of the charter, the following officers were elected: Aratus Smith, President; James S. Durfee, Vice President; Robert Irwin, Secretary; C. D. Crittenden, Loren Andrus, J. S. Kimball, A. W. Freeman and Namson Farrar, Directors. The charter members were Loren Andrus, P. W. Bentley, Calvin Davis, George W. Phillips, Erastus . Day, George H. Cannon, Charles C. Leach, William Canfield, Henry Fries, Aratus Smith, Norman Perry, Hiram Taylor, Abraham Wells, George N. Chilser, Cornelius Jeffers, James C. Cox, Alexander S. Barnard, Peter F. Brakeman, Charles McMillan and James O. Roberson.
Aratus Smith continued President until 1865, when Joseph C. High was appointed. Mr. High was elected in 1866, and held the office until 1868, when R. H. Jenks was elected.
The Secretaries of the company were Robert Irwin, elected in 1863; W. P. Bartlett, 1870. Watson W. Lyons, elected in 1874, holds the position at present.
DIRECTORS.
1864-J. C. High, C. S. King, Amos N. Freeman, Charles McMillan, Loren Andrus. 1865 -- Same officers.
454
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
1866-H. H. Cady, R. H. Jenks, Charles Andrews, William A. Parsons, L. S. King, A. W. Clark.
1867-H. H. Cady, C. S. King, W. A. Parsons, George H. Stuart.
1868-Michael Plant, Silas Hart, E. W. True, Samuel Jones, and Mason Cole.
1869-Officers re-elected.
1870-David Weeks, S. Jones, M. Plant, Henry Frees, S. S. Hart and James Durfee. 1871-Albert Sperry, D. S. Priest.
1872-David Weeks, C. D. Crittenden.
1873-G. Schuchard, M. Plant.
1874-D. S. Priest, John M. Hart.
1875-R. D. Smith, C. S. King.
1876-M. Plant, G. Schuchard.
1877-D. S. Priest, Myron Kinyon.
1878-C. S. King, George H. Cannon.
1879-Gustave Schuchard, M. Plant.
1880-D. S. Priest, Myron Kinyon.
1881-L. M. Sperry, Stephen B. Cannon. The following table points out the progress made since 1869. The statistics for the pre- vious years are not given; but it may be said that the same ratio of advance marked the trans- actions of the company from 1863 to 1868.
YEAR.
MEMBERS.
RISKS.
ADDED.
YEAR.
MEMBERS.
RISKS.
ADDED.
1869
1,830
$2,818,255
1876
3,415
$4,964,590
27,905
1870
2,300
3,600,000
681,745
1877.
3,990
5,621,044
656,454
1871.
2,800
3,800,000
506,000
1878
4,271
5,646,284
566,673
1873
3,383
5,208,809
432,135
1879
4,496
5,796,295
539,774
1874.
3,419
5,014,765
196,770
1880
3,839
4,809,202
325,918
1875.
3,415
4,936,685
78,080
1881.
4,125
5,072,786
362,577
1
Agricultural statistics will be found in the chapter of county finances and statistics.
The annual statement of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company for November 1, 1882, is as follows: There are 3,969 members in the company, a gain of five during the past year. The amount of property at risk is $4,710,338. The statement of losses shows 34 members to be entitled to $4,510.57 for losses during the years 1880, 1881 and 1882. The moneys to be collected for the year ending November 1, aggregate $6,925.34. The amount of capital stock and the rates of assessment are as follows: $4,450,600 at $1.50 per $1,000; $90,180 at $1.25 per $1,000; $80,000 at $1 per $1,000; $60,100 at 75c per $1,000; $20,058 at 50c; $10,000 at 25c per $1. These figures certainly give a good showing for the company.
THE CITY AND VILLAGE INSURANCE COMPANY.
The organization of the City and Village Mutual Fire Insurance Company of St. Clair, Lapeer and Macomb Counties, was perfected at St. Clair on June 9, 1882. Officers were elected as follows: President, B. H. Jenks, St. Clair; Vice President, Henry Fries, of Mount Clemens; Treasurer, Henry Whiting, Marine City; Secretary, O. F. Morse, St. Clair.
The Board of Directors includes C. McElroy, R. W. Jenks, R. H. Jenks, H. Whiting. D. Sheldon, C. Griebs, Mark Hopkins and Robert Holland, of St. Clair County; A. W. Reed and Henry Fries, of Macomb County; J. B. Moore, S. Smith and David West, of Lapeer County. The company have a hundred members and $75,000 at risk.
AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The first fair of the St. Clair County Agricultural Society was held in 1856. During the meeting, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, John E. Kitton, of St. Clair; Vice President, Ralph Wadhams, Kimball; Treasurer, William M. St. Clair, St. Clair; Secretary, Edgar White, Port Huron; Executive Committee, S. B. Brown, of St. Clair, Martin
455
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
S. Gillett, of Port Huron, John Nicol, of St. Clair, Asa Larned, of Port Huron, James D. Brown, of Cottrellville.
In other pages, reference is made to the organization of the Agricultural Society. What share it had in the agricultural development of the county is well known. Its influence ex- tended into all sections of St. Clair, teaching the farming community the means to make their homes and farms abodes of peace and industry.
8
456
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
HISTORY OF FIRST INDUSTRIES.
To the visitor of to-day, witnessing the vast resources and accumulation of capital wielded in this section, it may seem almost incredible that some of the wielders of this capital com- menced business only a few short years ago with nothing but their own indomitable energy and perseverance. This has been accomplished, not by speculation and the adroit, lucky turn- ing of Fortune's wheel, but by actual creation of much wealth, added to the store of human comforts, using only the advantages supplied by Nature's abundant and common storehouse. The settler on any of our Western prairies, and the axman who enters on the primeval forests where no sign or mark of man's destructive force or redeeming power is seen or felt, is fre- quently the subject of strange reflections. As he follows his plow, turning up the virgin soil, that through all the ages has remained undisturbed, or hews down the stately tree that for a thousand years has flourished and grown, unnoticed and uncared for by the hand of man, he wonders how it occurs that he, of all the people that lived and still live on the face of the earth, swarming as it does with so many millions, should be the first to appropriate to his comfort and convenience the blessings so long held in reserve in Nature's vast storehouse. He won- ders, too, why his race should require all the resources of the earth, the productions of the forests, mines, rivers, lakes, oceans; of the soil plowed, planted, cultured and garnered; the flocks and herds, feeding and gamboling on a thousand hills, for his subsistence; while other races have remained, from generation to generation in all the untamed wilderness of the wild deer and elk, on which they subsist. What of the race that but yesterday was here? Havc these rivers, fields and forests, now so peaceful, always been so calm and still? or have they, like the old world, been the scene of some sanguinary and savage conflict ? We speculate in vain on the long-ago dwellers upon the banks of these pleasant streams. Their war-dance and
savage yells may have been the only sound that ever awakened the stillness of these lands; or a race long extinct may have plowed and sowed, and builded and loved and worshiped, and cultivated all the graces and amenities of civilized life; but the records of whose deeds and virtues have been obliterated by the convulsions of Time's relentless changes. Such must have been the musings of those persevering and energetic pioneers, who, severing the ties of home and kindred and early association, plunged into the wilds of this county and carved from the rugged forces of nature the comfortable homes they now enjoy.
FUR TRADERS.
Incidental to the history of the entire Northwest is the record of the traders in furs, although the region covered by this volume does not contain the site made noted by the loca- tion of the chief trading post. Many sub-posts were established throughout this State and the adjoining States, especially where streams and lakes made the point easy of access to the deal- ers. There is required here, however, only a general sketch of this earliest of commercial undertakings. The Northwest was visited and explored by French voyageurs and missionaries from Canada during the seventeenth century. The object of the former was gain; the purpose of the Jesuit fathers was the conversion of the savages. As early as 1624, the traders were operating about Lake Huron and Mackinac. Previous to 1679, a considerable traffic in furs had sprung up with Indian tribes in the region of "Ouisconsin." That year, more than two hundred canoes, laden with furs, passed Mackinac, bound for Montreal. The commerce of the lakes was then carried on solely in birch-bark canoes. The lightness and strength of the little craft enabled the French explorers to make portages or navigate large bodies of water with comparative safety. When the military possession of the Northwestern domain passed from France to Great Britain in 1760, the relationship of the fur trade to the Government changed. France, as is mentioned elsewhere in these pages, used the license of traders as
457
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
a bond of fealty to the King. The policy of England was to grant exclusive charters to par- ticular companies. The Hudson Bay Company had grown rich and powerful between 1670 and 1760. Its success excited the envy of other capitalists, and rival organizations were formed. The original company purchased their furs at certain trading stations. The newer firms sent out their voyageurs into every nook of the land to buy up the furs, or, indeed, to catch the fur-bearing animals themselves. This competition diminished the profits of the
business. In 1815, Congress prohibited foreigners dealing in furs in the United States or Ter- ritories. This action founded John Jacob Astor's colossal fortune. Mr. Astor organized the " American Fur Company," he being the sole owner, in 1809. In connection with the North- west Company, he bought out the Mackinac Company, and formed the Southwest Company. The war of 1812 interrupted the existence of that organization; but it was revived in 1816, as an American institution. Considerable trade is still carried on in Northern Michigan, but mainly by individuals.
Fur traders, or at least their employes, were the first explorers after Nicolet. They were cotemporary with the Jesuit missionaries. Those traders sent from the St. Lawrence hatchets, knives, blankets and other articles coveted by the savages, to exchange with them for furs. Their employes, the voyageurs, made their journeys into the far-off regions in birch-bark canoes, of the lightest possible construction; for they had frequently to be carried by hand around rapids, and from one stream to another, along carrying places, called portages. They usually made up their outfit at Quebec or Montreal, and, ascending the Ottawa during the summer, and subsequently the French River and the lower lakes, proceeded to the various tribes inhabiting the region of the upper lakes, either wintering at Indian villages or at sta- tions that had been established by them in their neighborhood. With their peltries, gathered during the winter or early spring, they returned usually the next summer; but sometimes they were required to make longer voyages. The fur traders were, as a class, men of some wealth, of respectable families, and of considerable intelligence, and were possessed of enterprising and adventurous habits. They found the fur trade more profitable or more congenial to their dispositions than agricultural pursuits. Their menials, the voyageurs, penetrated the fastnesses of the Western wilderness with a perseverance and courage almost without a parallel in the history of explorations of savage countries. Indeed, they out-savaged the savage in that re- spect. The French Government early manifested a disposition to extend her dominion in America. At the very commencement of the seventeenth century, she had colonized A cadia. In 1608, Quebec was founded. In 1663, New France (Canada) was made a royal colony. The reports circulated in France of the advantages of the fur trade were such as to induce many of the nobility and gentry to invest their fortunes in the New World. With this patronage, and the constantly increasing number of colonists, New France grew rapidly in commerce, the most lucrative branch of which was dealing in furs. The traders and voyageurs were the usual agents employed by the French Government to extend and uphold its dominion in the North- west. The traffic in furs maintained with the Indians constituted the only value of this region in the eyes of Frenchmen, so long as France continued her dominion over it. The regular fur trader was licensed by the Government, this license generally stipulating the territory in which he was permitted to operate. It was drawn in the nature of a colonial commission, confer- ring on the licensed trader the authority of a military officer over the voyageurs in his employ. It also made him a commercial agent of the Government among the Indians. He was fre- quently employed as special agent of the colony, to make treaties. Sometimes he was required to lead his voyageurs upon war expeditions, in return for his fur trading privileges. His
employes therefore were always around, equipped and familiarized with military duties, partly from necessity of defending themselves from attacks of hostile Indians, and partly to be enabled to carry out any requisition made by the Government. The dominion of France over the Western country was thus made self-sustaining. But the Government found some trouble in controlling the traffic in furs. There grew up an illicit trade maintained by couriers de bois, in contradistinction to the regular traders or voyageurs. They followed the Indians in their wanderings, and sometimes became as barbarous as the red man. A few years of forest life seemed to wean them from all thought or desire for civilization. They spread over the
458
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
Northwest, the outlaws of the forest. Although rendering essential aid, at times, to the Gov- erment, the King of France, in 1699, launched a declaration against them. The following hymn of those olden travelers is still remembered:
Derrièrchez nous yátun étang, En roulant ma boule. (Chorus.) Trois beaux canards s'en vout baignant, Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, En roulant ma boule, roulant. (Chorus.) En roulant ma boule.
Trois beaux canards s'en von baignant En roulant ma boule, Le fils du roi s'en va chassant, Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, En roulant, ma boule, roulant, En roulant ma boule. Le fils du roi s'en va chassant
En roulant ma boule, Avec son grand fusil d'argent. Rouli roulant, ma boule roulant,
En roulant, ma boule, roulant,
En roulant ma boule.
THE PINE.
A few words in relation to this tree, the object of the early settlements of most of Michi- gan. Unlike the oak and most other trees, the pine is not reproductive; when a generation matures or is cut off, it will not again produce a crop on the same soil. It is confined to its peculiar territory, and when we remember that the average age of a pine tree is only 300 years, it is seen that our pine forests were not in existence when Columbus discovered America. The pine evidently succeeded some growth that could not be reproduced, and it evidently exhausted the soil of the special material for its growth, leaving it, however, in a condition to grow oak and a variety of other productions. In the growth of a pine forest there is a constant death and decay of inferior or overshadowed trees, and comparatively a small number come to a con- dition suitable for the lumberman's ax. The pine has several causes of decay. There are no known insects that originate decay, but several that hasten it, when once started from any cause. The three most prominent causes of decay in the pine are punk or rot, wind shakes and loose knots. The punk is a kind of cancerous growth on the side of a tree, that eats into its very vitals. A low state of vitality will produce it. The black knot is a decayed limb that has not been closely grown around, and induces decay. The wind-shake is a most exasperat- ing defect of lumber, occurring near the butt, and is caused by the bending of the tree in high winds, when the annual growths are separated by sliding on each other. Another external en- emy of the pine tree is fire. A pine tree that has been scorched must be utilized, or the insects will render it useless. Among these is the pine weevil, tornicus, zylographus, which goes for a sound tree, but not a live one. There is another worm that goes straight to the heart, leav- ing a small, black hole. The hurricane may also be stated as one of the causes of destruction. A full-grown pine is from ninety to 160 feet high, averaging 125. A log sixteen feet long will average 250 feet of lumber, although some have yielded ten times this amount. The roots of a tree are supposed to equal one-half the lumber above ground. The diameter of a log aver. ages thirty inches; sometimes it is six feet. A pine, as found standing in the forest, has branches for the top third of its height. The task of reproducing the pine forests that are now falling with such remorseless rapidity, is a hopeless one, and science and art will combine to produce a substitute, for it is only a question of time as to when an article made of so com- mon a material as pine shall be eagerly sought after as a curiosity, to be carefully preserved among the bric-a-brac of future generations. In years to come, when the pine lumber which is so plentiful to-day may have been superseded by a material resulting from the combined art and skill of the chemist and mechanic, it will be interesting to read an account of the pecul- iarities of lumbering on the Black River, the hazardous, uncertain and excitable part of which is even now among the things that were, having been supplanted by railway transportation
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.
almost exclusively. Realizing the rapidity with which old things are passing away and all things becoming new, the methods of conducting the lumbering operations on the Black and St. Clair Rivers will be here recorded. Lands were purchased up the rivers by the various lumber companies, who sent an expert to estimate the amount of lumber per acre. This was done in various ways; the most simple was to count the trees, noting their average size, and, by well tried rules estimating three, four or more trees to the 1,000 feet, arrive at a close ap- proximation of the yield. On the approach of winter, camps were sent into the woods-so many teams, so many men, so much feed and so much provision. Contracts were sometimes made at a certain price per thousand. The logs were cut in lengths of twelve, fourteen and sixteen feet, and exceptionally longer for specific purposes; hauled to the river to await the breaking-up of the ice and the rise of the river in the spring. Every lumberman had a regis- tered mark, which was one or more initials, or some other device, cut into the log. When the freshet came on, the logs consigned to the stream floated on with the current; but in the some- times narrow and tortuous stream there was not unfrequently a jam, where millions of feet piled up, tier upon tier, to finally break loose and, with the accompanying flood, hurry on, to be caught in the booms below. The boom was a floating dam kept in position by piers or wing rudders, which could be adjusted to maintain its position by the current itself. From the boom connected with the mill, the logs were hauled up by various devices and sawed into tim- ber, scantling or boards, as they seemed best to work up. The boards were sawed one and one-eighth of an inch thick, so that they could be dressed down to one inch with little waste. The old North Atlantic method of marking the number of feet upon the board was not followed here. The manner of shipping by the river, formerly the only method of getting lumber to market, was by means of rafts, after being sawed. A raft was formed in this way: The lum . ber was laid up in cribs composed of three grub planks at the bottom, about five feet apart, with three two inch auger holes to insert the grub-pins of hard wood, four feet long. The crib was made up this way: 12x16 feet, or twelve feet square, by alternating the layers length- wise and crosswise, until from ten to twenty tiers of boards were laid, when they were securely pinned together. Six of these were placed end to end by coupling planks, and a stick of tim- ber secured across each end. To this was pivoted the oar, a stick thirty-six feet long, with a board blade on the water end. By means of a spring-pole, the forward end of the raft was turned up to some extent, to facilitate its movements over the various obstructions. Thus arranged, it was called a "rapid piece." A rope ran from end to end to enable the raftsmen to hold on, as the piece might become submerged on diving over the rapids. Each crib would contain about 3,500 feet. It would take from two to eight men to manage one of these pieces. And what was called a "fleet," consisted of twenty of these pieces, all under the charge of a pilot with his gang.
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