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 72

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 72

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In December, 1863, a boring for oil was made in the vicinity of Lake Port. When a depth of thirty five feet was reached, oil appeared on the water which then began to flow.

In January, 1864, a company undertook to sink a well on the Pulsifer farm, south of Black River, about four miles from Port Huron. At a depth of fifty-seven feet the water was found impregnated with oil. The White well on this farm reached a depth of 115 feet in Feb- ruary, 1865, and produced one barrel per day.

In February, 1865, the Baker well, at Lakeport, reached a depth of ninety-three feet with- out striking rock. Within twenty-four hours, the oil flow was reported between thirty and forty barrels.

The Howard, Johnson & Co. oil well was begun February 18, 1865, one fourth of a mile southeast of the Baker well. The Gratiot Oil Company commenced boring February 16, 1865, a half-mile south of the Baker well.

Lands in the vicinity of Lake Port sold for $1,000 per acre in the spring of 1865.

The Petrolium Board of Exchange organized at Port Huron in February, 1865, with John Hibbard, President; F. A. Harrington, Secretary; and E. M. Carrington, Treasurer.

The Gratiot Petroleum Company was organized in February, 1865, with a capital of $500,000.

John Miller was chosen President, W. B. Hibbard, Vice President, and Alexander Elmore, Secretary and Treasurer. John Hibbard, Cyrus Miles, B. P. Hutchinson, H. H. Hanson and N. P. Brainerd, with the officers, formed the Board of Directors.

The Huron Petroleum Company, of Toledo, purchased 500 acres of land near Lakeport, in the spring of 1865. The company was organized with a capital of $100,000. The officers were J. S. Norton, President; C. B. Phillips, Vice President; H. H. P. Platt, Secretary; Nehemiah Waterman, Treasurer. C. A. King, D. B. Smith, O. White, R. Cummings, J. Stevens and H. Hall, Directors.

The Michigan Petroleum Company, of Detroit, was organized in February, 1865. The capital subscribed was $ 12,500; nominal capital, $500,000. W. A. Butler, President; H. E. Benson, Vice President; W. D. Morton, Treasurer; and Alvan Wilkins Secretary.

The Port Huron Petroleum Company, was organized in February, 1865, with A. S. Berry, Pres- ident and Treasurer, R. A. Coe, Secretary, John Johnson, R. W. King, W. B. Hibbard and A. S. Berry, Directors. This company purchased the Howard, Johnson & Co. oil lands, near Lake Port. The same month, two wells were bored, one on Oil Creek.

Up to March 22, 1865, no less than ten oil wells were bored -- two by the Port Huron Co., one each by the Gratiot Co., Fish & Co., Funk, Chicago & St. Clair Co., Brockway & Co., one by Harbeck & Co., near the head-waters of Black River, and two by the Messrs. White.

During these stirring times, the local wags were not idle. One of these characters, who took every misfortune with enviable pleasure, contributed the following record of a well, which he termed the Munchausen Well:

Cooking butter

Substitutes.

XXX ale ..

Bounty money.

Mush and milk.

Greenbacks .. .

Cod liver oil.

Peace proposition. 2

Billy Patterson 2

Lawyers. 9

Quinine . 4

Brimstone

Brigadier generals.

Milk of human kindness

Sardines. . .

Oil 3

Turtle soup.

2 1 A leak. 1 Bear's oil.

Total 100

For higher wages.

Lottery tickets.

466

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY,

In March, 1865, A. & H. Fish & Co. began work on their well near the Fish Saw Mill, four miles west of the city.

Chicago enterprise was represented almost in every quarter of the county. From the East, too, wise men came to seize upon the channels of liquid gold.

The following reference to the mineral well, near Lapeer Avenue Schoolhouse, of July 13, 1870, goes to prove that, even after the lapse of five years, this undignified cynicism existed:

Specific gravity 1.01375₴

Ox (h)ide of Durham (tail). 33,783

Temperature (Fah.). 578

Ox (h)ide of iron from scraps procured at

Chloride of sodium (Onondaga).

22,817

the Phoenix Iron Works and carefully placed in the well) 782,002

Chloride of sodium (Saginaw).

17,211

Chloride of sodium (St. Clair).

187,438

Carbureted hydrogen. . 68,017

Carbureted hydrogen (extract Gas works) ..

49,701

Carbolic acid.

41,729

Sulphureted eggs (decayed). 103,024

Sublimate of leather (old shoes) 27,991

Lithia a trace.

Bicar. of potash (tinc. grease de savon) ...

49,342

Iodide of aqua fortis .. 13,201

Bicar. of pomme de terre (parings). 11,830 Solid contents in one Imperial gallon (grs.). . 21, 782,437

Phosphate of buckwheat (cooked). 16,411

Total carbonic acid (cubic inches). 282,944

During the year 1870, the magnetic wells claimed the attention of many peculiar spirits. The following paper is one of many specimens of their legal and literary tastes:

STATE OF MICHIGAN,

COUNTY OF ST. CLAIR, SS.

On this 14th day of July, before me a Notary Public in aforesaid county, personally appeared, Ignatz Peterchoff, who, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I am now one hundred and nine years old; reside in St. Pe- tersburg; am teacher of elocution in the Russian Court ; have been deaf and dumb from my birth until the 9th inst. On the 10th of last April, at 37} minutes past one o'clock in the morning, I had a vision telling me to come to Port Huron and be cured of my infirmities. I came, and, after using the water two days, could hear and talk with perfect case. This morning I received a cable dispatch from the Czar instructing me to offer Prof. Barnes a Siberian squirrel for exhibition in his next show, if he would dig up the well and move it to St. Petersburg. IGNATZ PETERCHOFF.

Sworn and subscribed to, before me, this 13th day of July, 1870.

H. G. BARNUMTON, Notary Public St. Clair County.

Regarding those old times, a contributor says: " We cannot fail to remember the lively times created by the supposed discovery of the existence of oil in this region. Many most prominent citizens were attacked with great violence by the oil fever, which finally settled down to 'oil on the brain,' when the antics enacted by the patients afforded very general amusement for the outsiders who had escaped the contagion. The brigade with 'oif on the brain' pitched in lively, leased or bought up something less than a million of acres of exceed- ingly rich 'oil lands,' and, digging a number of holes in the ground, rented a room, fitted it up, and opened an 'Oil Exchange!' For a time, the meetings at the 'Exchange' were crowded with 'big fish ' from Toledo, Chicago, Milwaukee, etc., who bit lively at the ‘oil lands' so temptingly displayed -and to their intense satisfaction became the happy possessors of large interests in the lands from which oceans of oil were soon to be flowing! Regular minutes of the meetings of the Board were kept by the Secretary; a copy of which we acci- dentally came across the other day, from which the following racy extracts are made:

" March 9, 1865-Meeting at usual hour. A general pause in oil speculation! Many faces elongated- a constant inquiry and anxiety about the quantity of oil in the Baker Well.

" March 10-Meeting at usual hour. Members not very prompt in attendance; but those present still anxious about the quantity of oil in the Baker Well. Many hopes, doubts and fears; while some stiff-backed gents offer to wager on quantity.

" March 11-Met at usual hour. Numbers decreasing. W. B- - migrates to Western parts, to get nearer the setting sun; supposed to be where 'hope deferred,' etc., 'distance lends enchantment,' etc. An anxiety to sell oil territory a little lower.

"March 12-Met at usual hour. Secretary gone to Detroit, to keep up courage of a few

desponding purchasers. The Baker Well to be measured. Good news from said well sends a thrill of hope to many a weary millionaire.

" March 13-Met at usual hour. Attendance growing beautifully less. Baker Well has been measured by State Geologist (no printed report); from six inches to a foot of oil in it; a

Chloride of lime.

107,590

4,072

Sulphate of soda (water sarsaparilla syrup) Sulphate of asafoetida ..

112,081

467

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

good prospect of an entire failure of the well until again dug deeper. President gone to con- cert-needs a little cheering up.

" March 14-Meeting of a few to read the daily papers; long, steady faces, proposing to hold on for future developments. A sample of the oil from the Baker Well deodorized by J. N -; a 'splendid ' article; pronounced neither Enniskillen or Penna. oil. Hope rises; a permanent feeling pervading members not to buy or sell.

" March 15-Met at usual hour. More hope and some discouragement; the White Well is roaring with gas! White sanguine, but Harris has got the tools fast in the well. A few new arrivals from Chicago-plucky fellows-but can't see that flowing well. H --- , confident and sound on oil; he is about to dig a big hole in the ground where he found the 'oil weed.' He's some on oil!

" March 16-Met at usual hour. President and Secretary alone in their glory. Dark dreary, lonely, muddy, rainy day; all operations at a standstill; President thinks the New York Herald a very good paper; editor of Port Huron Press steps in for an item; he may get it.

" March 17 -- Good news from the different wells. Some feel better, not that they have struck oil, but that the draft has not struck them. Excitement on the draft has the inside track. Funk is fast closing up on the first wells, and he is in a fair way to outstrip them all. Go in, Funk! * * * *

* * * * * *

" March 25-A goodly number of hopeful, strong believers in oil present. So far, had a rather dark week; but can see no lack of confidence among the 'true blues.' Gratiot Co. down 80 feet, clay and sand, saturated with petroleum; Huron Co. progressing with fair prospects. Stock, generally, does not run up as much as it does down.

" April 1-All Fools' Day opens rich. W. B -- scents the whirlwind of Petroleum ' from afar, and starts up to Gratiot Co.'s hole in the ground; returns late at night, having found oil and gas! The President grows young and nimble, jumps into the bucket and goes down to the bottom to make a sure thing of it. He swears, by the Great Jehovah, it's genuine black oil; cuts a pigeon wing in the hole and risas to the surface again."

After this, oil matters gradually assumed a deep blue-the good-natured President cut no more pigeon wings, our Chicago, Milwaukee and Toledo friends faded from view-the " Ex change " was closed, and naught remains to remind us of the "oily era " of '65, save a vial on a shelf before us, which once contained the " genuine " article from the Baker Well!

A RETROSPECT.

St. Clair County, to-day rejoicing in the pride of its strength, teeming with wealth and glittering in the sunlight of a prosperity that startles the visitor into a smile of gladness, was, even in 1835, a wilderness almost as unbroken as when John Nicolet, in 1632-34, visited this section. The historian takes up the thread of life since then, as tangled by events, slowly. What prompted the pioneers to their advent into this land? Was it that spirit of adventure which impelled the cavaliers of the olden time to pursue with eagerness the phantom of a hope into the East? Was it a sense of duty, which first found expression in the New World in 1620, on Plymouth Rock? Perhaps, after all, it was only that they might better their condition - might find cheap lands and soon obtain comfortable homes. But many of them are dead, and the inquirer, who has seen so many of his idols turned to clay, and his ideals perish, comes naturally, by and by, to the time when he analyzes, such and such things have happened- why? Such and such men have passed away-how? Such and such events have lighted up the sky of advancing civilization, as a meteor might the physical. Whence do they proceed ? The men who came to the front, and laid the foundations for this continuous and lovely land- scape of nature, glimmering like a gem in its emerald setting, belonged to a regime that is fast giving place to an enterprise which, though greater, is less earnest, because providence and nature more materially aid man's ambitions. They were the grizzled grenadiers in the army of pioneers, who never, in any sudden storm or rally, desperate melee or sorrowful en- counter, forgot to doff their plumed hats to an adversary and cry out, through their gray mus-

468

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

taches, as they shortened their sword-arm, " En garde!" It may be anything or nothing, but the one thing certain about it all is they were the enterprising spirits who laid the foundation for this teeming wealth and sunny prosperity. Though dead, they live again. Not alone in the promised land beyond the swift Borysthems, but in the land they prepared for after gener- ations. Many of the prominent actors in the prelude are dead, but the drama goes on, and will last until the human race has run its course, and the wide firmament is rolled up like a scroll. Many of the singers are dead, but their song has gone on; out of the darkness has come a light, out of the sorrow an exceeding joy. The present should profit by the past, and take examples from the views of these, which shall make heart and home happy, better men, citizens and Americans. The present should be admonished by the past, to labor with equal diligence for the personal blessings of health of body, vigor of mind and success in life, as also for the blessings promised in the life to come. But the hard hands which prepared the way for the fruitful fields which grew from the wilds of the county; for filling its cities and towns with the habitations of men, seminaries of learning, public edifices and other evidences of a pronounced prosperity, are quietly folded in their mother earth, and it must be of interest to those who enjoy their possessions, to know when, where, and by whom civilization was com- menced, and to learn some of the incidents connected with the first settlements, as also with the steps by which St. Clair County has attained the importance claimed by its inhabitants and conceded by its neighbors.

469

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

ROADS AND RAILWAYS.

Next to the lake and river boats, the old stage coach, and later the primitive railroads were known to the traveler. Few of the early settlers of Michigan fail to remember the lights and shades of travel forty or fifty years ago; fewer still can fail to realize what a journey by boat or stage in those days really meant.

Fort St. Joseph Road .- During the years 1798.1800, the means of communication with Detroit was by way of the river and lake. The Gratiot Turnpike had not then been projected or opened. This was surveyed long after this, in 1827, and cut through the next year, as a road of communication between Fort Detroit and Fort Gratiot. at Port Huron and the head of the St. Clair River. In connection with the history of this turnpike, the traveler of modern days can scarcely appreciate the difficulty of the opening of this highway. We need not tell that from Detroit to Port Huron was one vast stretch of forest, with slough holes, pit-falls, swales and mud, at such frequent intervals as would appall the traveler of to-day. It is said that about four or five miles north of Mount Clemens-now a high, dry and pleasant location -the road passed through a swamp which, in the wet season, furnished the wild duck and swan with a swimming place, and, consequently, the Indian a splendid hunting-ground for bird game. A few rods below the Carl farmhouse, three miles south of Mount Clemens, was another slough that would have compared well with the one which is described by John Bun- yan in his " Pilgrim's Progress." It was two days' journey then from Detroit to the settlement at Huron River or Mount Clemens. This was then a trading post and stopping place for those whose business called them to and from Detroit and Port Huron.

By an act of March 4, 1831, a road from Romeo to St. Clair Village was authorized, with Roswell R. Green, Horace Foot and Thomas Palmer, Commissioners.

William Brown, Joseph Mini and James Robertson were appointed Commissioners to complete location of Territorial road, hitherto authorized, from William Brown's on St. Clair River to the Territorial road, from Point au Chien to the Fort Gratiot road, within the year 1834.

The State road from Cottrellville to Mount Clemens was laid out under authority of leg- islative act, approved July 26, 1836, by B. C. Cox, William Brown and Peter F. Brakeman, Commissioners.

The State road from Palmer Village, in St. Clair County, by Gallagher's mill, in China, intersecting the road from Point du Chien to the Gratiot Turnpike, was authorized July 26, 1836. Sargeant Heath, B. Cox and Porter Chamberlain were the Commissioners.

The road from China Township to the intersection of the Gratiot Turnpike, in Macomb County, was laid out by Joseph Boynton, B. Cox and Reed Jerome, Commissioners, under authority of the act of July, 1836.

From Mount Clemens to Sault Ste. Marie .- The Territorial road from Mount Clemens, opposite the North Branch of the Clinton, following, as near as practicable, the route of an old survey by Romeo; thence, on the most eligible and direct route to the seat of justice in the county of Lapeer; thence, to the town of Saginaw, to the northern extremity of the penin- sula, and thence to the Sault Ste. Marie, in the County of Chippewa, was authorized to be laid out in 1839. Horace H. Cady, of Macomb, Daniel Leroy and Nathaniel Squires were the Com- missioners appointed to carry out the act.

At the same time, there was ordered to be laid out a Territorial road from Romeo to Port Huron. Roswell R. Green, Horace Foot and Thomas Palmer were the Commissioners ap- pointed to establish such road.

The following roads were authorized to be built: From Palmer to Lapeer; from Black River to county seat of Sanilac; from Newport to Fort Gratiot Turnpike; from Algonac to Fort Gratiot Turnpike; from Fort Gratiot to Point aux Barques, March 17, 1837.

470

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

The act approved April 7, 1846, authorized Abner Smith, George Judson and William Young to lay out a road from the village of Corunna, in Shiawassee County, via Romeo, to St. Clair Village.

The road from Almont, in Lapeer County, to Port Huron, was established Apri 15, 1846, and Joshua Tompkins. Daniel B. Harrington and James H. Andrews appointed Commis- sioners.

The Detroit & Port Huron Plank Road Co. was incorporated under authority of act ap- proved March 9, 1844. Jonathan Kearsley, Porter Kibbee, William Lewis and John Heath were appointed Commissioners.

The State road from Lexington to Point aux Barques was authorized to be built March 9,1844.

The State road from Palmer, or St. Clair, to the village of Riley, was authorized March 17, 1847, with John Grinnell as Commissioner.

The St. Clair & Romeo Turnpike Co. was incorporated March 24, 1845, with Timothy Morse, Jarvis Hurd, Alfred Ashley, Aldis L. Rich, Neil Gray, Jr., Asahel Bailey and Thaddeus Hazelton, Commissoners.

An act approved March 31, 1848, appropriated 4,500 acres of State lands, in St. Clair County, for building a road from Almont to St. Clair Village, being a continuation of the road ordered at the same time, from Lapeer to Almont.

The Port Huron & Lapeer Plank Road Co. was incorporated March 16, 1849, with John R. White, Lorenzo M. Mason, Samuel Rogers, N. H. Hart and James W. Sanborn, Commis. sioners

The St. Clair Plank Road Co. was incorporated April 2, 1849, with Pierce G. Wright, Charles Kimball, Horatio N. Monson, Simeon B. Brown, Harmon Chamberlin, John E. Kitton and Marcus H. Miles, Commissioners. The capital stock was set down at $20,000, and the road was to be built from St. Clair Village to the Gratiot Turnpike, in St. Clair Township.

The Clyde Plank & Macadamized Road Co., organized to build a road from Port Huron City to Brockway Centre, with a branch to the Wild Cat road in Grant Township, and thence to the Davisville & Lexington Plank Road, was organized November 30, 1874, with John Beard, John Kinney, Alexander McNaughton, E. Vincent and T. A. Beard, shareholders. In later days, the work of road-building has been almost entirely undertaken by the county authorities.

On the completion of these roads, a stage was placed on the route. So late as 1840, the visitor from the Eastern States looked forward to the journey by stage into the pine-lands with anxiety.

Within the ten or twelve years succeeding, great improvements were effected; railroads were completed from Detroit and Toledo to Chicago; roads were rebuilt, and the means of travel rendered tolerable. But for those who came in early days and entered upon the work of building up a State, the roads were few, and rough in the extreme.

RAILROADS.

The railroad system of Michigan is one of the most perfect in the world, claiming over 3,814 miles. To the people of this county, who have already one great railroad center at their county seat, and look for another one, equally as extensive, at their old seat of justice, the fol- lowing review of the railroads of the Lower Peninsula must be of some value. The informa- tion is taken from the State reports for 1882:

The Atlantic seaboard cities are, and are likely to be, the great markets for the produce and supplies of this part of the United States; and hence, the land thoroughfares of traffic of this region mainly run east and west. There are six important lines of railroad which traverse the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, practically in that direction. These are the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Michigan Central, the Detroit, Lansing & Northern, the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee, the Flint & Pere Marquette, and the Chicago & Grand Trunk, Southeastern Michigan is also crossed by the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, connecting it with the main lines of the Wabash and the Baltimore & Ohio corporations.

471

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

The Lower Peninsula has, in addition, a well-developed north and south railway system; which, beside carrying to market the products of farms, gardens and orchards, derives a large share of its revenue from the transportation of lumber and the business growing out of lumber operations. This comprises these roads: The Flint & Pere Marquette, which is also an im- portant factor in the east and west system; the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw, which, as the Mackinac Branch of the Michigan Central, may be called a feeder of the same system; the Grand Rapids & Indiana, which is purely a north and south road, but has intimate relations with the wealthy Pennsylvania Company; the Chicago & West Michigan, which will soon have a southern connection with the Baltimore & Ohio; and the short lines of the Fort Wayne & Jackson and the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Grand Trunk.

Of the great east and west trunk lines north of the Ohio River-the Grand Trunk, the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore, connecting with the New York Central system, the Wa- bash the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio-the first four traverse Michigan territory, and the others reach it by valuable connections with friendly roads.

Nearly all of the Michigan lines named have branches or feeders spreading over the Lower Peninsula and interlacing with each other, so that not only is every populous rural community supplied with railroad facilities, but nearly all the cities and villages of importance have two or more railroad outlets, and the benefits of the resulting competition.

One of the oldest and richest of these railroad corporations is the Lake Shore & Mich igan Southern, extending from Chicago, via Toledo, to Buffalo. Its main line enters the State at the western border of St. Joseph County, and thence traverses that and the counties of Branch, Hillsdale and Lenawee, passing into Ohio through a corner of Monroe. Upon this line, which crosses the three counties first named centrally, are the thriving towns of Coldwater, Jonesville, Hillsdale, Hudson and Adrian. The Lake Shore has numerous branches in Michgan, all op- erated as feeders to the trunk line from Toledo to Buffalo. These include the roads extending from Toledo through Monroe to Detroit; from Adrian to Monroe; from the main line near Adrian through Tecumseh and Manchester to Jackson; from Banker's on the Fort Wayne & Jackson road, through Hillsdale and Manchester to Ypsilanti; from Jonesville through Homer, Albion and Eaton Rapids to Lansing; from White Pigeon through Three Rivers, Kalamazoo and Allegan to Grand Rapids; and from Trenton, on the Detroit River, through Monroe and Lenawee Counties to Fayette, about four miles within the borders of Ohio. The total length of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and these several branches, within this State, is 532 miles.

First of the railroads of the State in age, and perhaps in importance so far as Michigan is concerned, is the Michigan Central. Its main line extends from Chicago to Detroit, crossing the counties of Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Jackson, Washtenaw and Wayne, and counting among its stations the important towns of Niles, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Marshall, Albion, Jackson, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Its Air Line Division extends from Niles to Jackson, passing through the counties of Cass, St. Joseph, Branch, Calhoun and Jackson, and touching Cassopolis, Three Rivers, Centerville and Homer.

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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 72

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