USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph county, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 6
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There were one hundred and sixty distinct entries made of lands in the year 1829, among them Judge Meeks' location in Constantine, and the loca- tions of Henry Powers, Henry and Russel Post, William Connor, William
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19
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Hazzard and John W. Fletcher, on Nottawa prairie; Jacob McInterfer at Lockport and Three Rivers, and Joseph R. Williams and Robert Clark, Jr. and the Stewarts, at Mottville.
From their first settlement until June 1, 1831, the settlers were obliged to go to Monroe to enter their lands ; but at the last named date a land-office was established at White Pigeon, of which Abram S. Edwards was the register, and T. P. Sheldon the receiver. In 1834 the office was removed to Kalamazoo, then called Bronson.
During the location of the land-office at White Pigeon, a tragic ending of a journey thither, befel Jacob Knox, the father of David, Charles H. and Lewis Knox, so well and favorably known to the St. Joseph citizens. Mr., (or, as he was familiarly known and called), "Squire " Knox, accompanied by Lewis, had been, June 6, 1831, to the land-office to enter his land, and having finished his business, came to the "Old Diggins," where some land-hunters were shooting at a target. Lewis, being a good shot, loaded one of the rifles, to try his skill, but the day being a damp, misty one, the gun missed fire, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts to discharge the piece, he threw it across his arm, and his attention being attracted by an advertisement posted up against the house, he began to read it, at the same time lightly snapping the trigger of the rifle, which unexpectedly exploded the priming and discharged the piece, the bullet entering the father's breast, killing him almost instantly.
After the office was removed to Bronson, a Miss Van Patten, of Centre- ville, having a desire for a certain eighty acres of land in Nottawa, started off on foot one summer morning for the office, to purchase the tract, and after fording the St. Joe near the present farm of W. B. Langley, was passed by a gentleman on horseback. Miss Van Patten kept on the even tenor of her way, and on coming out of the land-office met the same horseman going in, who, as it appeared in a few minutes, was after the same tract of land the lady had just secured by her superior powers of locomotion.
A party once went to White Pigeon to enter his location, and his boys, who were with him, proposed to go to the hotel first, but the old gentleman, a German, said, "No, poys, yust hitch the horses, and I will go and get the lant," and he did, and as he came out he met a neighbor who had just came in for the same land. "Dere poys, you see vat would have been the matter, off you had gone to der hotel ! Remember to do to-day yust what you can't do to-morrow," said the old gentleman.
The United States surveyors took advantage of their knowledge of the lands they had surveyed, and entered for themselves and their friends some of the best sections in the county. Among them were Robert Clark, Jr., Orange Risdon, Musgrove Evans, and John Mullett.
The first orchard in the county was set out in the spring of 1829, by a Mr. Murray, on White Pigeon prairie, on the farm now known as the Tracy farm. The trees came from Fort Wayne, and are still bearing. Russell Post, who located on the Nottawa prairie in the year 1829, was a good hor- ticulturist, and had an orchard, and a good one, as soon as the one first named, though it was not set out so soon by a year or two.
Leonard Cutler planted the first apple-seeds for nursery purposes, in the spring of 1828. When three years old, the young trees were grafted by a Mr. Jones, who, on Cutler's removal in 1831, transplanted them on the farm now known as Disbrow's, five miles east of Pigeon. A great many of the first orchards in the county were supplied from this nursery.
The first improved live stock was introduced by Elisha White, from Con- necticut, in 1835-36. He first brought some short-horn cattle, and an im- proved breed of hogs, to his farm on White Pigeon prairie. The hogs were known as White's breed. Adams Wakeman also brought into the county some thorough-bred short-horns, after 1850; and from that time considerable attention has been paid to the improvement of cattle.
In 1834 Henry Chapin, Jr., advertised Saxon sheep for sale, selected from General Wadsworth's flock, of New York. The American merinos were in- troduced after 1850. At the Centennial exhibition, at Philadelphia, St. Joseph county wool, prepared by Franklin Wells, of Constantine, carried off the first award among one hundred competitors.
The stock of horses began to be improved, generally, earlier than other stock, and it is difficult to say who should have the credit of first intro- ducing blooded horses. The father of J. J. Davis, of White Pigeon, brought the first blooded horse on that prairie for stock purposes, from Ulster county, N. Y., in 1833, but it was not until after 1840, that general attention began to be paid to the business.
The first improved farm machinery was introduced in 1841 and later, though the settlers were constantly devising methods of putting in and har- vesting their crops, in a more economical and expeditious manner. The plows first used were cast-iron implements, which were soon thrown aside as impracticable, and in 1841 A. C. Fisher invented a plow with heavy cast-
ings and timber, measuring some fifteen feet from the handles to the clevis, the motive power required to work it being ten yoke of the best oxen to be had. Roots and grubs from six to eight inches in diameter were cut off by its share, easily and smoothly. This plow was used for breaking the opening and prairie sod. The plows now made in the county are perfect models of strength and beauty, and are most efficient implements.
The grain was first cut with cradles, and it was not until 1842 that a reaper made its appearance in the county, and horses took the place of men in the heavy work of the harvest field. The first reaper was brought into the county on White Pigeon prairie in 1842, but it did not work well, and was thrown aside. It was an old Kirby machine. The next season a McCor- mick machine was brought on the prairie by J. J. Davis and C. C. Newkirk, and when it was first started, it frightened the horses and they ran away, breaking up the machine seriously, and the old, discarded Kirby was called into requisition to finish the job. The same season the machines made by John M. Leland, the inventor of the open guard and sickle-edged knives, were introduced on Nottawa prairie, and proved a great success, and the Hussey reaper also was introduced by the Johnsons on Nottawa prairie.
The pioneers tramped their wheat out of the straw with their horses, and winnowed it in the wind, at first, and later, in 1835, improved their condition somewhat by bringing in the open-cylinder threshing-machine, which also was an invention of John M. Leland. The first machine he built in the county was a small one for his own use, which was worked by two men with crank-power. The old cylinder and concave are preserved by Mrs. Leland at the old homestead on the St. Joe, in the northeastern corner of Lockport.
In 1844 the first separator was introduced on White Pigeon prairie, the same being manufactured at Constantine. They were introduced throughout the county soon after. There was a separator brought to Nottawa in 1842. An industry has. grown up in St. Joseph county from small beginnings- which now almost equals the entire product in all the rest of the State-in the distillation of mint and other essential oils.
Peppermint, which is the chief article from which oil is distilled, began to be cultivated on White Pigeon prairie, but within the present limits of the township of Florence, in 1835, by a Mr. Sawyer, who brought the roots from Ohio. However, before he distilled any of the product, he sold his farm out to Glover and Earle in 1836, who continued the culture for a time, but the prairie soil proving unsuited to the best development of the herb, it was dis- continued.
Marshall and Orrin Craw, about 1840, obtained roots of the plant of Glover and Earle, or elsewhere; they introduced its culture into the oak openings in the northern part of Florence, which proved to be eminently fitted for its production, and in which it is entirely cultivated at the present time. The Craw brothers continued the cultivation of the plant and the dis- tillation of its essential oils for several years.
Ranney & Smith began the culture in 1843, and since then the industry has rapidly grown into prominence, at one period the county producing more peppermint oil than all of the United States besides.
The original mode of the distillation of the oil was a very simple and rude process. The plants were corked in an ordinary iron kettle, and the oil skimmed off the water. The process was not economical, neither was it very profitable, but as soon as the distillation became more generally introduced, distilleries were established as at present.
The following sketch of the oil of peppermint, to which the manufacture of essential oils in this county and State is almost exclusively confined, has been written by Albert M. Todd, of Nottawa, who, though but a young man, is an extensive dealer in essential oils, and exhibited specimens of the same at the Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia, for which he obtained several prizes and diplomas :
" In the cultivation and distillation of oil of peppermint our country is far in advance of all others, annually producing about four-fifths of all that is distilled in the world; and of this amount about one-fourth is produced in the county of St. Joseph and its immediate vicinity. Next to the United States in importance is England, then Germany. Quite recently this in- dustry has also extended to China and Japan, the former of which nations exhibited their production in the form of crystals at the late international exhibition.
" For the quality of their production the English have formerly claimed superiority, especially for that distilled from a variety of plant known as the "white Mitcham," cultivated near a town of that name, about twenty miles southwest of London. This district the writer of this article visited in the summer of 1875, and was by the proprietor shown over the most ex- tensive estate in England devoted to the manufacture of essential oils. The growth of the plants was much inferior to that of our country, particularly
20
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the " white Mitcham," which was distinguished from the common variety by lighter-colored leaves. Though bringing a much higher price this variety is but little cultivated owing to its very inferior growth.
"In addition to peppermint, there are also other essential oils in our county, viz. : spearmint, wormwood, pennyroyal, tansy and fireweed, but the com- bined amount of all these is but a trifle when compared with peppermint ; therefore this sketch will be devoted to this oil alone, especially as the process of distillation is the same in all.
"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 settings 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 workman to the depth of an inch.
"Cultivation commences as soon as the rows can be distinguished above ground. As the plants advance in growth a complete net-work of roots is formed beneath the surface; they also send forth "runners " above ground in every direction. These, sometimes attaining a length of over three feet, completely envelope the ground. As the runners also throw down roots a second crop will also be obtained from one setting, and sometimes a third should they escape the frosts of the succeeding winters. The height ob- tained by the plants is usually not over twenty-four inches, although some- times 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 vescicles on the lower side of the leaves and in 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 from 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 surface, and is dipped off; the water continually sinking to the bottom, is forced by the weight above to flow out through the spout.
" This water holds a certain per centum of the oil in solution still, yet is thoughtlessly allowed to go to waste, but should be retained for re-conver- sion into steam, as fresh water converted into steam will continue to absorb the oil ; whereas that already impregnated would throw off the entire amount taken from the plants of successive charges. The importance of calling attention to this will be readily appreciated when it is stated that the amount of " peppermint water " which was formerly sold in England, but is here wasted, is over eight thousand barrels annually. The time re- quired 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.
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" The amount of oil obtained from a given amount of the 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 the plants ; but from coarse, undried plants, less than one-third that amount has been 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, although in other localities double this amount has been occasionally pro- duced upon low-lands."
Among the heavy manufacturers of and dealers in essential oils in the county, are the Wolf Brothers & Keech (George, Jr.), of Centreville; A.
P. Emery, of Mendon ; William Roys, of Florence, and Charles W. Jones, of Sherman. Henry Hall, of Three Rivers, is an extensive dealer, and in former days Daniel Francisco, now of the latter place, has been a very ex- tensive grower of the herb, and manufacturer of the oil of peppermint. Wolf Bros. & Keech are the heaviest producers of oils, aside from pepper- mint, they having probably the largest field of wormwood in the world- twenty-two acres; and the only fields of spearmint in the county, fifty acres. They also cultivate tansey and pennyroyal. The product of mint-oils in 1865, in the county, amounted to about 40,000 pounds, which was valued at $100,000. In 1870 there were 23,000 pounds produced, valued at $58,000. In 1876 there were about 30,000 pounds produced, and its average price per pound was $2.25, aggregating about $78,000. The price of the article varies according to the supply and demand, and being an entirely fancy product in the market, cannot be "pushed " when once the present demand is supplied. Peppermint oil is used mostly in confectionery and in phar- macy, and somewhat in perfumery.
The following agricultural statistics are taken from the census of 1874 : Of taxable lands there were that year 305,532 acres, 197,404 of which were improved; 55,233 acres of wheat were harvested, yielding 593,241 bushels, the county ranking No. 7 in the State in that respect. There was a gain of 30,000 acres, and 228,000 bushels since 1854. In 1874 there were sown 67,000 acres of wheat. There were 29,771 acres of corn harvested in 1873, which produced 843,670 bushels, the county ranking No. 9 in the State. There were harvested also in 1873, 110,423 bushels of potatoes, and 20,639 tons of hay cut. The wool-clip was 161,190 pounds, and the pork crop was 2,294,276 pounds. There were made 642,900 pounds of butter and cheese, 9,306 barrels of cider, and 7,785 pounds of maple sugar; 1864 produced more "sweetenin'" by nearly 14,000 pounds. The cheese fell off largely from 1864, but the butter nearly doubled. There were 5,576 acres in orchards, 18 acres in vineyards and small fruits, and 54 in gardens, which produced in 1873, 186,485 barrels of apples, 5,841 bushels of other fruits and vegetables, the value of the whole product being $76,026; 100,000 pounds of fruit were dried. There were 2,450 farms in the county, averaging 113 47-100 acres each. There were 7,736 horses, 104 mules, 103 oxen, 7,078 milch cows, and 6,027 other neat cattle, over one year old, and 16,847 hogs and 32,683 sheep, in 1874.
CHAPTER VII.
EARLY MANUFACTURES -- INGENIOUS DEVICES TO OBTAIN FLOUR-PIONEER MILLS-FIRST SAW- AND GRIST-MILL-CARDING FACTORY-WAGON SHOP -DISTILLERY-FOUNDRIES-MANUFACTURES OF 1876-EARLY MER- CHANT'S BANKS, "SAFETY FUND," " WILD-CAT," "RED-DOG "-SPECIE CIRCULATION-NATIONAL BANKS-PRESENT EXHIBIT.
The old adage, "necessity is the mother of invention," was amply illus- trated in the early pioneer-life in St. Joseph county. The early settlers brought in, generally, but small supplies of breadstuffs ; and there being no mills to grind the raw material-which, too, was wanting for the first two or three years, in sufficient quantities to supply the demand-the first thing the man of the family set about doing, after providing a shelter for his charge, was to enlarge the bill-of-fare of the household. Notwithstanding the fact that wild game covered the prairies and filled the openings, and fish sported in the rivers and lakes in abundance, and the wild bees had been storing their honey for years uncounted in the hollow trees, thus affording a plenti- ful supply of such articles of diet for any one who chose to take them, " without money and without price:" yet with all this array of nature's boun- tiful provision before them (which would be considered by epicures of to-day, luxuries), the settler was not satisfied ; but he and his family's appetites craved bread, whether of corn or wheat, it did not so much matter, but bread of some sort must be had; and therefore the inventive genius of the pioneer was at once actively exercised to produce something to reduce the raw material, whenever it should be got, into meal, trusting the good wife to get it baked in some shape fit for eating. Various devices were employed to get meal and flour; and graham, which is called for by many now-a-days as an article of use not often met with, was then the main-stay of breadstuffs.
Mrs. Judge Sturgis says the first bread she made in the county was pre- pared from corn meal, produced by rubbing the ears on the bottom of a tin pan perforated with holes, the rough edges of the perforations forming a grater surface, and the meal moistened with water, and baked on a board before the fire in an enormous fire-place. The corn was bought of the In- dians, who were her nearest neighbors. The first buckwheat pan-cakes she
21
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
made was from flour made by grinding the grain in her coffee-mill, and sifting the hulls out in her sieve. The coffee-mill was of common use among the earlier settlers.
The next device was called the pioneer mill, and consisted of a block of wood or stump of a tree, with a hole rounded and smoothed out therein, into which the grain was poured, and reduced to meal by means of a pestle attached to a spring-pole. The Indians had the pestle or mortar before the settlers came, but Yankee ingenuity invented the labor-saving part-the spring-pole-and, what is more wonderful, never patented the improvement.
In the summer of 1828, Arba Heald, living then near the east end of White Pigeon prairie, put up against a large tree near his house a large pepper mill, with double cranks for two persons working; which would grind about half a bushel of grain in a half-hour. This was for common use throughout the neighborhood, and served its purpose during the years 1828-29, as occasion required, until better facilities were offered. Samuel Pratt went to Cutler's to board in June, 1829, and a part of the considera- tion for his accommodation was that he should assist in grinding half a bushel of shelled corn in Heald's mill every other day.
In 1828 the nearest water-mill was at Fort Wayne, and the settlers of that year were compelled to go to that place, or Tecumseh, or use the expedi- ents above described to procure their breadstuffs. In 1829 there was a mill on the Dowagiac. In the summer of 1828 Judge Luther Newton built a saw-mill one mile south of the Chicago road, on Fawn river-then called Crooked creek-but the dam went out, and the mill was undermined and thrown down before any work was done.
The mill was rebuilt in 1829, and the first sawing done in the fall of that year. The mill was built double for the purpose of putting in a run of stones for gristing, but no grinding was done in it for some time afterwards.
The first grist-mill put in operation in the county, was one built by Judge William Meek, on Crooked creek, near the present site of the railroad bridge, in Constantine. The judge located the water-power and mill site, June 15, . 1829, and in the spring of 1830 built a small mill after this wise, as is rela- ted by Hugh Wood, the millwright who built the same. The dam thrown across the creek was as primitive as the mill. The mud sills were large logs sunk to the bottom of the stream, and puncheons split or hewed out of other large logs, pinned upon them ; then a large log was placed on either side of the stream, one of them forming the foundation of the mill, and upon these two logs was hung the water-wheel, which was about eighteen feet long, and
six feet in diameter. Brush and straw were thrown in above the mud-sills, and the water raised about eighteen inches, forming a current which carried the wheel. The wheel-shaft was a hewed log, with arms mortised into it, . upon which the floats, or buckets, were withed. The gudgeons were made of wood, banded with iron that had once performed a similar service for wagon-wheel hubs. The bed-stone was made of a flat boulder found in the river, about two feet in diameter, and the runner was made of a similar one, found about three miles up the river. The wheels by which the stones were driven were entirely of wood. The wheel was stopped by floating a log under it, and when motion was again required, the log was drawn out. The mill was a log building, eighteen feet square, one and a-half stories high.
This mill was begun and completed (so states the millwright, Woods,) in twenty days, in the spring of 1830. William Hazzard says he carried his grists to this mill in 1830, and Lewis Rhodes, who was then living on White Pigeon prairie, and but a short distance from the Newton mill, says he went to Meek's mill in the fall of 1830, before Newton's mill did any grinding. This mill of Judge Meek's had no bolt at first, but afterwards he made one, the chest being made of flattened poles, and covered with ash bark, no iron being in the bolt, except the spindles. The meal was carried by hand from the stones to the bolt, which was turned by the hands of the owners of the grists-male or female.
Judge Meek the next season began a permanent improvement of his water- power, putting in a more substantial dam, just above the first mill, across Fawn river, digging a race and taking the water to the bank of the St. Joseph, where he built a saw-mill; into one end of it he put the mill stones of the primitive mill for a short time. He then built a small build- ing, into which he put a run of good burr stones, and subsequently enlarged the building and put in two runs. The second mill (the saw-mill) went into operation in the summer of 1831.
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