USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume I > Part 2
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EARLIEST GROWERS AND MANUFACTURERS.
Wolf Brothers, of Centerville, were among the early and heavi- est growers and manufacturers, and, in spite of the general decline of the industry, retain their supremacy. Thirty-five years ago
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
they were thus referred to, in a county publication : "Wolf Broth- ers & Keech (George, Jr.) are the heaviest producers of oils; aside from peppermint, they have probably the largest field of wormwood in the world-twenty-three acres; and the only fields of spearmint in the county, fifty acres. They also cultivate tansy and penny- royal." At this time Henry Hall, of Three Rivers, was also an extensive dealer in oils, and his son, Robert Hall (ex-mayor of the city) has long been operating perhaps the largest oil distillery in the county, five miles south of Three Rivers. Among the other leading manufacturers and dealers in essential oils of these early and "booming" times were A. P. Emery, of Mendon; William Roys, of Florence; Charles W. Jones, of Sherman, and Daniel Francisco, of Three Rivers.
For many years, in St. Joseph county, the mint crops contin- ued to be raised almost entirely on the uplands, but as these tracts commenced to be utilized by fruit growers, grain producers and farmers who had turned to standard and comparatively sure crops, those who still clung to mint culture and oil distillation turned again to the prairies and the lowlands. Improved methods of cul- tivation of recent years have demonstrated that, with perhaps a little additional expense, mint can be cultivated as successfully on the lowlands as the highlands, and, as Mr. Shellhouse remarks, "growers show a decided tendency to reach out into the muck lands for their mint fields."
OIL DISTILLATION.
The ordinary method of oil distillation, employed in pioneer times, consisted in cooking the plants in a common iron kettle. After a thorough boiling, the oil was skimmed off the water. When it had been demonstrated that the business was profitable, the regu- lar distillery was introduced which does not differ in its essentials from that of thirty or forty years ago, when the following descrip- tion of the cultivation of the plant and the manufacture of the oil in St. Joseph county was prepared by Albert M. Todd, of Nottawa: "In addition to peppermint, there are also other essential oils in our county-spearmint, wormwood, pennyroyal, tansy and fire- weed-but the combined amount of all these is but a trifle when compared with peppermint; therefore this sketch will be de- voted to this oil alone, especially as the process of distillation is the same in all.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
"Soon as spring opens, the ground being duly prepared, is marked out in deep furrows thirty inches apart. The roots and creeping tendrils (called runners) which have grown from the set- tings of the preceding season, being taken from the ground and separated, are packed into large sacks. These are thrown over the shoulders of the workmen in such a manner that there shall be at least one living root or runner the entire length of the row, and these, as they are thrown down, are covered by the feet of the work- men to the depth of an inch.
"Cultivation commences as soon as the rows can be distin- guished above ground. As the plants advance in growth, a com- plete network of roots is formed beneath the surface; they also send forth runners above ground in every direction. These, sometimes attaining a length of three feet, completely envelop the ground. As the runners also throw down roots, a second crop will be obtained from one setting, and sometimes a third, should they escape the frosts of the succeeding winters. The height attained by the plants is usually not over twenty-four inches, though sometimes it reaches forty-eight inches.
"Distillation commences in August when the plants begin to bloom. The effect produced by a large field of peppermint with its beautiful purple blossoms and rich fragrance is quite enchanting. The process of distillation is as follows: The plants having been cut and having lain in the hot sun for six or eight hours, are taken to the distillery and tightly packed in large vats capable of holding from two thousand to two thousand five hundred pounds each. The vat, when filled, is closed over by a steam-tight cover. The steam being generated in a large engine boiler, is conveyed through a pipe to the plants by means of an opening in the bottom of the vat. The oil, in the form of globules, is contained in minute vesicles on the lower side of the leaves and the blossoms. As the steam is forced through the plants, the globules, being expanded by the intense heat, burst from their prison cells and are carried off in steam, which escapes from an opening in the top into a pipe called the condenser, and thence into its continuation, the worm.
"Cold water being constantly pumped over these pipes, the steam inside is re-converted into fluid form. This having reached the terminus of the worm, flows out into the receiver, a deep vessel, from near the bottom of which a spout runs up on the outside to within a few inches of the top. As the fluid flows in, the water and oil separate of their own accord; the oil being lighter rises to the
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
top and is dipped off ; the water, continually sinking to the bottom, is forced by the weight above to flow out through the spout. The time required for steaming the plants is, if they are well dried, not over forty minutes, with a high pressure of steam; but the time varies with the steam capacity of the distillery.
"The amount of oil obtained from a given amount of plants varies greatly. If they are fine and well covered with leaves, and are distilled during warm, dry weather, and well dried, ten pounds of oil can be obtained from two thousand pounds of plants; but from coarse, undried plants less than one third of that amount can be obtained.
"After the charge is sufficiently steamed, it is lifted from the vat by pulleys attached to a crane, and being dropped upon a car or wagon is run off and used for fertilizing the fields. Our average crop in this county will not exceed twenty pounds per acre, al- though in other localities double this amount has occasionally been produced upon lowlands."
GOOD PIONEERING COUNTRY.
This brief review of the natural features and riches of St. Joseph county is fully explanatory of the favor which it earned in the judgment of pioneers from the eastern states. Coming hither from New England the old middle states, Ohio, Indiana and south- eastern Michigan, they found ready at hand and cleared of under- brush and trees, beautiful and fertile prairies and sunny openings in the timberland. Along the streams and dotting the landscape were abundant supplies of oak, beech, maple, hickory, ash, black walnut, butternut, cherry and elm; so that St. Joseph county pioneers found awaiting them a beautiful country with well wa- tered soil and heavy timber, thus assuring them bountiful crops, building material, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fuel to guard them against the severe winters of the frontier country. Although in those days the woods harbored wolves and bears, they also abounded in herds of deer, and when the first settlers came, and for several years afterwards, it was an easy matter for the householder, although he may not have been an expert marksman, to bring to his family a daily supply of venison. Wild turkey, geese, ducks and grouse were plentiful in the numerous lakes, and quail, woodcock, plover and snipe haunted the prairies and banks of the streams. The abundance of food supply which St. Joseph
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
county offered its first comers is by no means completed in the above statement, for its lakes and rivers abounded with sturgeon, pike, bass, perch and other rich supplies for the frying pan.
The favor with which St. Joseph county was viewed by those seeking homesteads in the early "thirties" is thus indicated by an extract from the "Gazetteer for the State of Michigan and Direc- tory of Emigrants," published in 1838, only a few years subsequent to its first settlement by white men : "This was formerly considered the best county in the state. The surface of the country is moder- ately undulating. The soil is exceedingly fertile and consists prin- cipally of oak openings and prairies. There is, however, a suffi- ciency of timber found in the western part of the country as high up as the Portage river and down as low as the Grand Traverse. The principal prairies are Sturgis, White Pigeon and Nottawa- seepe, which are not exceeded for their fertility by any in this or any other state. There are innumerable water privileges in the county, especially in the St. Joseph, Hog creek, Crooked, Portage and Pigeon rivers. The public lands are mostly taken up. This county is included in the Kalamazoo Land District."
As at present constituted, St. Joseph county contains about 329,619 acres, of which 319,895 are of land and 9,724 of water. In the early days the prairie surface included about 12,535 acres, the balance of the land being oak openings and heavy timber. Of course within the past twenty or thirty years the proportion of timber to prairie land has been very much decreased.
THE ST. JOSEPH RIVER. BY DELIA S. CROSSETTE.
In 1671 Pere Marquette founded a mission at St. Ignace, just across from Mackinaw. Two years later he discovered the Missis- sippi river, the greatest event of his life. On his return to St. Ig- nace he discovered and explored our river for some distance from its mouth, and named it the St. Joseph river; which name it has borne for two hundred and thirty-three years. But from Mar- quette's time until settlers came, it was only for the red men and . wild animals to enjoy this river and country and hold almost un- disputed sway.
I can imagine the beautiful deer taking their morning draught of water from the banks of the St. Jo. What was Michigan-at
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
least our part-when seventy-eight years ago the first settlers came to make their homes on the banks of this river? For answer, we must go back into the history of the southwestern territory :- A wilderness, whose vast and almost endless forests were as yet a stranger to the white man's tread: no farms, with their white-robed cottages and extensive barns; no cities, no villages, no railroads, no din or confusion of business strife. All was still and solitary, as the time when the stars of the morning first sang together.
What a wondrous change this mighty march of progress has accomplished ! It is as far removed from its primeval state as the east is from the west. The St. Joseph rippled on then as now ; but
VIEW ON PORTAGE RIVER
there was no Constantine reflected in its beautiful waters. It was thus when Judge Meek pitched his tent in our town in 1828. I have many letters written to relatives here, commencing "Dear Ones in the far West." Michigan was at this time looked upon as the far West; St. Jo county now looked upon as the garden spot of the state. We feel constrained to laud Judge Meek's choice. Prompted perhaps by speculation, more than any other, he selected this spot at the intersection of the Fawn and St. Joseph rivers, as the most desirable place for the then prospective village of Con- stantine. Meek erected a small saw and grist mill near the site of the present roller mills. This was the starting point and nu- cleus of the town which was laid out a year or two later. Of all
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
the people that settled here in Judge Meek's time, not one or any of their descendants are now living here. I remember some of them.
Constantine, situated on the St. Jo river, a stream navigable for small boats, gave her an outlet to the great lakes. This was a matter of no small importance to the surrounding country, and in fact it made Constantine headquarters for trade for a considerable distance round in those early days.
The St. Joseph river rises in Hillsdale county, in Bawbees lake. While in Hillsdale, some forty years ago, I crossed our river there between the station and college. It reminded me of a New England trout brook, so clear and narrow then. The river from its source to Three Rivers, runs on in a very crooked way, at Colon passing through Sturgeon lake in front of Colon station, thence on through Mendon to Three Rivers. This part of the river might be called the upper part; the lower part, from Three Rivers, Con- stantine, Mottville, Bristol, Elkhart, Mishawaka, South Bend, Niles, Benton Harbor and on to its mouth at St. Joseph City, where it empties into Lake Michigan ; then finds its way around the chain of great lakes, Niagara river and falls, to Lake Ontaria, down the St. Lawrence river and into the Atlantic ocean to mix with the oceans and seas of this world. A great thing for our lovely river to accomplish !
The valley of the St. Joseph river throughout almost its entire length contains abundant and unmistakable evidence of having been the habitation of that unknown and mysterious people, which mod- ern science has named Mound Builders. I so well remember some of the mounds on our farm on the banks of the St. Jo river, where we dug out flint arrows, beads, etc.
The first bridge was built on the St. Joseph river at Mottville in 1833, with timbers 60 feet long and 18 inches square, was used twelve years, and replaced by a pile bridge at that point where the Chicago road crossed the river ; hence, the need of this bridge.
The St. Joseph river was the channel by which the people brought their goods into the country in the early days, and by which they forwarded their products until 1851, when the rail- roads supplanted the old way. Before the railroads came, mer- chandise was shipped from New York (by the Erie canal) to Buf- falo; then by sail or steamboats around the lakes to the mouth of the St. Joseph river. There it was transferred by keel or flat boats, and finally by steamboats to Constantine, as often as occa-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
sion required. From Constantine to Three Rivers the water was shallow; in places could not always make the trip there. These steamboats ran on the river from 1842 to 1850, or until the rail- roads crowded them out. No freight was sent down the river before 1837. The crops were needed at home by the sparse set- tlement.
With little land under the plow, I so well remember the days before the threshing machines were invented or at least came among us. I used to hold the tin lantern, punctured full of holes to let the light through with its tallow candle (our own make) in it to light our barn floor (this barn built in 1833). The neighbors changed work in threshing, going from one farm to another to thresh their wheat, rye and buckwheat on their barn floors with a flail. I love to think of these early privations. They fit one to be happy with whatever befalls afterward.
After a good class of mills were built and there was produce sufficient to warrant it, then the flat-boats and arks were built to take the produce to St. Joseph and the eastern markets. An ark would hold some six hundred barrels of flour. After they went to the mouth of the river these arks were either broken up and sold or broken up and sent adrift into Lake Michigan. The millers would ship their flour in the fall or spring and not get returns for the same for six months.
Two men living in Colon wanted to purchase seed potatoes and wheat. They went to Allen's lake in Hillsdale county, pur- chased the wheat and potatoes, built two canoes, loaded their prod- ucts in, and drifted down Sand lake a few miles into the St. Jo river. This trip back to Colon occupied ten days. "Such was life in a new country."
The first dam across the St. Jo was built at Leonidas by Judge Cross. Today many are across the St. Jo, thereby furnishing power for manufacturing and lighting purposes. Before the dams were built fish were larger and more abundant. We do not get any more sturgeon, that used to come from the lake up the river before the dams were built. In writing this sketch, my mind goes back to the crossing and recrossing the river from our farm to visit in Florence; also crossing in lumber wagons with our feet high up on the seats, as the horses had to swim a small portion of the way-so exciting for little folks!
Then the picnics! The last one I attended was thirty-eight years ago. We went by railroad to Three Rivers, with fifty of our
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
townspeople, the Constantine band to furnish plenty of good music. After the six boats were made ready we floated down to an island, where we had dinner; and such a dinner! It rained; it poured; but we were provided for this and did not get wet. Of those fifty townspeople I do not believe there are more than fifteen now living that thoroughly enjoyed this day. There are some now that prefer the river for their outings. Surely we are justly proud of our state, St. Joseph county and its river St. Joseph !
CHAPTER II. MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS.
ANCIENT GARDEN BEDS-THE COLON MOUNDS-FORTIFICATIONS- SACRIFICIAL FIRE-PLACE-NOTTAWA-SEEPE RESERVATION-AR- RIVAL OF PATRICK MARANTETTE-PAPER BY MRS. ALICE (MAR- ANTETTE) BOSSET-THE POTTAWATOMIES IN 1830-SAU-AU- QUETT RELINQUISHES RESERVATION-LANDED IN KANSAS- THE BLACK HAWK WAR-THE FIRST PAYMENT-ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SAU-AU-QUETT-DEATH OF MORREAU-DETAILS OF SAU-AU-QUETT'S MURDER.
The advent of humankind into St. Joseph county commences, so far as any records go, with the mysterious Mound Builders, whose impressive marks in the shape of fortifications, altars, gardens and other evidences of an active occupation of American soil are scat- tered along its great river valleys almost from the Alleghanies to the far western plains. Marks left by the Mound Builders of Southern Michigan lack somewhat the impressiveness and military character of the earthworks and forts found further south in the Ohio valley, and seem to be largely garden plats and mounds of rather small dimensions. In the latter are found bones of animals, which point to the custom of these prehistoric Americans of mak- ing sacrificial offerings to their deities. Flints, celts (stone-heads), various utensils evidently of the household, and remains of huge fire-places, indicate that these early inhabitants of the state and St. Joseph county were more devoted to the ways of peace and the excitements of the chase than to the ambitions and horrors of war; but when the Mound Builders first commenced to occupy the fer- tile soil of this section of the state will probably always be one of the unsolved mysteries. All that archaeologists can see for certain is that their coming far antedates historical records.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
ANCIENT GARDEN BEDS.
The ancient origin of their works is testified to by the pres- ence of huge oaks growing at times from many feet of soil, and thus proving from what is known as to the age of such trees that the mounds must have been constructed many centuries before the In- dians, as the early settlers know them, commenced to occupy the land. In the "Schoolcraft Papers" are several descriptions of the garden-beds prepared by the Mound Builders in the upper St. Joseph valley, which apply closely to those found in the county itself. "Many of the lines of the plats are rectangular and par- allel," he says. "They consist of low ridges, as if corn had been planted in drills. They average four feet in width and twenty-five of them have been counted in a space of one hundred feet. The depth of the walk between them is about six inches."
THE COLON MOUNDS.
In Colon there are several mounds, some of which were exca- vated years ago by E. H. Crane, a professor of taxidermy and em- balming and an archaeologist, who resided at Colon. Mr. Crane opened two mounds on the farm of Phineas Farrand, in which he found all the characteristics of the works of the Mound-Builders, but no bones; the soil of which they were composed being porous and not capable of preserving the latter. He found flints-small ones-and in one, a fireplace. In a mound he opened on H. K. Farrand's farm, he found some remnants of bones, a very beauti- fully wrought celt, and some flints; and in one opened on George Teller's farm, flints and celts. Mr. Crane found in the mounds he opened in the county nearly every form of implement known to the Mound Builders, some of them very unique and handsomely wrought, and others in the rough, or first stage of work, as well as the partially prepared blocks of stone, for working.
FORTIFICATIONS.
Within three hours' ride of Colon village, there are no less than six fortifications of these ancient people. One of them is distinctly visible yet, and is in a square form, fronting on the St. Joseph river, with an avenue leading from the rear to Bear creek. Others in Leonidas had breastworks three feet high when first
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
discovered, with circular entrenchments, and pathways leading into the same, and sally-ports, showing method and skill in their con- struction. Some of these fortifications had three breastworks or circles, the gateway being at a different place in each, so that an enemy forcing an entrance, must still fight the besieged behind his entrenchments before he could force the second or third en- trance. On these breastworks, trees are, or were, growing four feet in diameter, of the same character as those of the surround- ing forest in which the entrenchments are now found.
SACRIFICIAL FIRE-PLACE.
Mr. Crane opened a mound on the banks of Sturgeon lake, which he calls a "sacrificial fire-place," in which he found the bones of all the animals and fish now known to St. Joseph county, besides some of the extinct animals. He, however, believes this deposit was made by the modern Indians, who in former times used to offer such sacrifices, by building a fire-place and a fire therein, and throw on their offerings of flesh, fish and fowl, and immediately cover the whole with earth, and the charred remains would pre- serve the bones. Mr. Crane also found in a mound he excavated in Burr Oak copper utensils and the usual flints. These relics are found all over the county, and are to be seen in every cabinet the people have taken the trouble to gather. Dr. Nelson I. Packard, of Sturgis, had some very fine flints, but Mr. Crane had the finest selection, he having paid more attention to the subject.
NOTTAWA-SEEPE RESERVATION.
The settled occupancy of the soil of St. Joseph county by the aborigines of today commenced in 1821, when by the treaty with the Indians made in Chicago the territory of southwestern Michi- gan was ceded by the red men to the United States, several reser- vations, however, being omitted in this important transfer. Among these was the Nottawa-seepe reservation which embraced one hun- dred and fifteen sections, or 73,600 acres of land, in the northern and northeastern parts of St. Joseph county, and the southern and southeastern sections of Kalamazoo county to the north. The res- ervation which lay within this county embraced the township of Mendon, a portion of the western part of Leonidas and the eastern part of Park township.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
ARRIVAL OF PATRICK MARANTETTE.
Patrick Marantette, for years afterward one of the leading citizens of the county, acted as government agent of the Nottawa- seepe Indians from 1823 to 1833, when they finally ceded their lands to the general government and the state of Michigan. He was therefore the first personage afterwards to become identified with the history of the county who came into intimate contact with the bands of Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas which com- prised the (so-called) Nottawa-seepe Indians. At the time when he first commenced to have dealing with these wards of the govern- ment, the Indians had two principal villages in St. Joseph county. The larger was in the present township of Leonidas, on the river, and the smaller on the opposite bank from the present village of Mendon.
As has been well stated by an early writer, the reservation comprised some of the choicest lands in St. Joseph county, taking in a portion of Nottawa prairie, the oak openings of Mendon, Leoni- das and Park, and the heavy timbered lands to the north; the set- tlers looked with longing eyes upon the Indians' home and desired to possess it for themselves.
THE POTTAWATOMIE NATION.
At the settlement of St. Joseph county, the Pottawatomie na- tion (which preponderated on the Nottawa-seepe reservation) was scattered over a vast territory. A portion remained in Can- ada, a portion in what is now known as the Upper Peninsula, a portion along the Miami of the lakes and a portion in the state of Illinois, besides the comparatively small branch which re- mained on the reservation. The separate branches or sub-divisions were governed by their respective head and subordinate chiefs, agreeable to their national policy and the usages, customs and tra- ditions by which they had always been governed. No national measures could be adopted, nor transfer of their hunting grounds be made, without the sanction of the majority of the head chiefs of all the several departments or tribes.
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