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 7
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In the summer of 1830 Mishael Beadle built a small mill, very similar in construction to that of Judge Meek's, which went into operation in the fall of 1830, or winter of 1831.
In the summer of 1831 Weston W. Bliss built a carding and cloth dress- ing-mill, into which he also put a run of burr stones, for gristing.
The winter of 1831-2 set in early and severely, and the water in Judge
Meek's race froze solid in December, and his mills were stopped all winter ; Beadle, Bliss and Newton supplying the people in the meantime with flour and meal.
In 1832 Judge Fitch built his saw-mill at the mouth of Hog creek, in his little village of Eschol, where he did an extensive business until 1840; but his mills have rotted down, the dam no longer obstructs the current of the stream, and Eschol is scarcely remembered by the " oldest inhabitant."
Mishael Beadle sold his Flowerfield mill to Challenge S. Wheeler, who settled there in December, 1831-Mr. Beadle coming to Three Rivers, and putting up, in 1832, a little mill on the east side of the Portage.
In 1832 Robert and James Cowen built a saw-mill on Nottawa creek, in Leonidas, now known as Kidd's mill. During its erection they wanted a small hook for some purpose, and as the nearest blacksmith-shop was at White Pigeon, twenty-five miles distant, James went there on foot to get it made. On his arrival, he found several parties waiting to be served at the only shop in the village and the smith drunk. After spending four dollars for board and consuming five days' time, he got the work he wanted done, paying fifty cents for it. The Schellhous saw-mill was built nearly as early in Colon, as Cowen's.
Merchant flouring began in the summer of 1834. In the Michigan Statesman and St. Joseph Chronicle, published in White Pigeon that year, Clark & Williams at White Pigeon, offer "fifty cents per bushel, in trade, for any quantity of good merchantable wheat delivered at the Constantine mills before the 1st of August," next ensuing, dating their offer May 27. After the 1st of August they offered only forty-three cents per bushel in the same kind of payment. But the immigration of 1835-36 made a de- mand on the mills sufficient to consume the entire product, and no ship- ments were made of any moment until the fall of 1837, at which time the old mills had been enlarged and improved and new ones built. The saw-mills were driven to their utmost capacity to supply the home demand.
The first wool-carding and cloth-dressing factory was built by W. W. Bliss, on Pigeon creek, as before stated, in 1831. The first brick made in the county were burned by Samuel Pratt and Philander A. Paine, in the months of August and September, 1829, at Mottville. They put up a kiln of 40,000, embracing both chimney and well brick. The well at Savery's " Old Diggins," was curbed with them. In 1830 Mr. Pratt and George Thurston made brick at the mouth of Crooked creek (Fawn river).
The first shoemaker in the county who brought his " kit " for regular trade, was Edwin Kellogg, at White Pigeon. In 1830 Savery built a large stabling barn near his hotel with an ample loft, in one end of which Kellogg made the first shoes manufactured in the county, and, at the same time, in the other end of the loft, two down-east Yankees, as Mr. K. says, " were doing a smashing business in the fanning-mill line."
A Mr. Weed built the first distillery in the county on Crooked creek, near Newton's mill, in 1832, and the Newtons having sold out their mill to W. W. & Elisha Miller, they rebuilt it, and soon after Weed's distillery went into operation they also built one. Some of the Nottawa Indians played a prac- tical joke on one of the Millers to get some whisky. Going through the woods one day the Indians found some dead honey-bees on the ground, and marking the tree under which they were lying, they took the bees along with them toward the distillery, and when in its vicinity, scattered the in- sects on the ground under a sturdy old oak and went into the still-house, and told Mr. Miller they would show him a bee-tree if he would give them two gallons of whisky (squiby), and offered to show it to him first if he doubted their statement. Mr. Miller went out with the jokers, who led him to the tree where they had scattered the dead bees; on seeing which, Miller said he would give them the whiskey, which he did, and the Indians went away with it. As soon as a convenient opportunity offered, Mr. Miller cut dowh the tree and found not what he had sought, but that he had been badly "sold " by the " poor Indian." A Mr. Wilson once bartered three hundred bushels of fine white wheat to Miller for whisky, and drew the liquor to Detroit and sold it for twenty-five cents per gallon to get cash to buy necessaries with.
The first wagon-shop in the county was opened on White Pigeon prairie, at Newville, in 1830, but not much business was done. John Masterman was the first one to do a good business, and he located in White Pigeon about the year 1831-2. The first foundries were put in operation in Constantine, Sturgis and Flowerfield, in the year 1836, and plows and other castings were made. The first flour-barrels in the county, were made in 1834, at Centre- ville, for Johnston and Stewart.
The foregoing is substantially the history of the beginnings of manufac- tures, in outline, in St. Joseph county.
22
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
By the census of 1874 the following pleasing exhibit is made of the manu- facturing business of the county, for the year ending May 4, 1874. There were eighteen flour mills (water), with fifty-eight runs of stone, employing $261,000 capital, and fifty employees, which made 103,381 barrels of flour, valued at $675,054. Sixteen saw-mills (four steam, twelve water power), employed $40,300 capital, and forty-one persons, and made 3,494,662 feet of lumber, valued at $37,949. Four planing-mills, five foundries and machine- shops, three agricultural-implement works, eight carriage-factories, five chair-factories, three pump, two stave-head and hoop, two barrel and churn factories, one tannery, two trunk-factories, one canning establishment, two woolen-factories, two boot and shoe factories, three brick and tile yards, two stone-yards, and one knitting and batten-factory, employed 475 persons and $543,450, and the value of their products was $607,364, making a total of eighty-two establishments, giving employment to 574 persons, and $844,750 capital, and producing products of commerce valued at $1,320,367.
The first merchants to bring a stock of goods for sale into the county were Hart L. and Alanson C. Stewart, which were brought to White Pigeon in the fall of 1829, but not opened for sale there, being transferred in bulk to Mottville, where the Stewarts afterwards located in the early part of 1830. Messrs. Bull & Kellogg brought the next stock of goods into White Pigeon, the summer of 1830, and they also opened a store at Sturgis soon after Elias Taylor, the old Indian trader at the " grand traverse" of the St. Joe, Mottville, located there in the year of 1828, but his supplies were principally whisky and tobacco. Judge Wm. H. Cross transferred a load of supplies to Taylor from Monroe in 1830, and he says the bulk of it was whisky. Taylor was the conservator of the public peace and morals in all that region of country for some years, and he made it his duty to see that the United States laws were not infringed by the sale of whisky to the Indians, except such as went over his counter. A Mr. Clements brought the first stock of goods to Sturgis prairie. Elias S. Swan followed Bull and Kellogg in 1831, and Barry & Willard opened up a heavy stock of general merchandize in the latter part of 1831. The first stock of drugs and medicines was kept by Bull & Kellogg. A man one day came into the store and inquired for qui- nine, and on being asked how much he wanted, replied, "Oh, two or three pounds, I suppose !" He was somewhat nonplussed when he was told it would take his best horse to pay for that amount. Niles F. Smith had a little stock of goods in White Pigeon in the spring of 1830.
The business of the pioneer merchant was almost exclusively conducted by barter and exchange. Money was scarce, and constantly grew scarcer as the emigrants used up their surplus, and could get no more for their pro- duce. The dealers took wheat and had it floured, and shipped the flour to their eastern creditors, as the only medium of exchange within their reach. Men had wheat, pork, and the products of their dairy, but could get no cash for them, and so the merchants were forced to take their produce and run the risk of replenishing their stock on credit.
One day a well-to-do farmer came into the store of N. E. Massey, in Con- stantine, and asked to see some boots ; he was shown some, and after exam- ining two or three pairs, put a pair on, which seemed to fit him, and he in- quired the price, and being told, he immediately asked Massey how many bushels of wheat he must bring to his store for the articles. Massey replied, " I cannot sell my boots for wheat, I must have the cash for them." The farmer repeated his inquiry more earnestly than before, and Massey reiter- ated his refusal to take wheat for the boots, adding that he could not refill his stock unless he had cash for such articles. But all to no purpose-the farmer persisted in knowing how many bushels of wheat would satisfy the merchant. Finding him inexorable, he said, "Well Mr. Massey, I have got these boots on, and I am not going to take them off, neither do I think you can take them off; now say just what I must bring you, in wheat, to make it square; I am not particular how much, set your own figures, but the boots I must and will have." Massey was forced to submit and state the number of bushels of wheat he considered an equivalent (which was some fifteen), and the same was at once brought, and the score settled.
FIRST BANKS.
A system of banking was inaugurated by the first Legislature that con- vened under the constitution of 1835, the same being based on what was known as the " safety fund," and several banks were chartered, and some of them did a fair, honest and legitimate business. But in 1837 the panic was so disastrous, that the financiers of the State thought unlimited banking fa- cilities would mitigate the commercial distress and prostration, if, indeed, they did not prove a veritable Hercules, and lift the wheels of trade entirely out of the rut of stagnation and disaster, and, therefore, a general banking
law was passed, whereby an unlimited issue of paper could be put out as money, secured by real estate.
At the same time the State began to build her railroads, loaning $500,000 therefor, and being terribly swindled before she found her citizens could do such work better than herself, and wisely left internal improvements there- after to private individuals and corporations. The general government ex- tended aid, and also the State, generously, by donations of land, and while the money lasted, times were easy ; but the crisis came at last, and the banks whose circulation was secured so slightly, collapsed at once, and swept away all the means the people had invested in them.
The first and only safety fund bank in St. Joseph county, was the Bank of Constantine, which was chartered July 23, 1836, with an authorized capital of $250,000. It was the only charter granted at the session of 1836, among many applications. The stock-books were opened, and the en- tire capital subscribed, and four hundred and forty-seven surplus shares besides, the first week. Among the heavy subscribers were: Isaac J. Ullman, two hundred and ten shares; Wm. E. Boardman, fifteen hundred shares ; J. S. Barry, two hundred shares; Wm. H. Adams, two hundred shares. The first board of directors were W. T. House, Presi- dent, N. E. Boardman, John A. Welles, I. J. Ullman, E. S. Swan, W. H. Adams and John S. Barry. The first instalment of capital was paid in, in specie, February 24, 1837, and the doors were opened for business March 3 following, with Chas. Augustus Hopkins, of Buffalo, for cashier. Business flourished with the new institution ; the people gave it their confidence, and business began to feel its new factor's power. The first statement of the bank commissioner, Thomas Fitzgerald, made March 6, 1838, showed the following condition of the bank and its business : capital stock $250,000; paid in $27,025 ; circulation $29,430 ; specie on hand $15,465.49 ; bills of other banks $9,821.50. The bank continued its operations until 1841, when it closed its doors and suspended payment.
Under the general banking law the banks were designated in common parlance "wild cat" and "red dog," according to the facts of the case. If the notes the bank issued were printed directly for its location, that is with the name of the place where the bank was doing business, in the same colored ink, and at the same time the rest of the note was engraved, the bank was a " wild cat "; but if the notes were left blank, to be filled up with the place of business whenever that unimportant locality might be found, which filling up was done by stamping with red ink, then the bank belonged to the Canidae instead of the Felidae, and was denominated "red dog." Both were of the same genus, however, and scratched or bit the dear people who gave them their claws and fangs, indiscriminately.
There were two of the latter class of banks established in the county, which issued their promises to pay, and commenced to do business ; one of each de- nomination, and both located at Centreville. There were two others attempted, one at White Pigeon, which went so far as to get the notes all ready for issue, but before they were put forth the supreme court of the State decided some important point against the law, and they all collapsed at once, and the White Pigeons preserved their purity in that respect, per force. The other bank was to be located at Lockport, but no further progress was ever made than to subscribe for the stock and elect directors.
The charter for the St. Joseph County Bank at Centreville was granted in the summer of 1837, with an authorized capital of $100,000, ten per cent. of which was paid in specie, November 21 following, the same having been subscribed for by farmers chiefly. Columbia Lancaster was the first presi- dent, and W. E. Boardman, cashier. This was a " wild cat," and its con- dition on March 6, 1838, as shown by the bank commissioner's statement, was as follows : Capital, $100,000; paid in, not known ; circulation, $18,095; specie on hand and on deposit with Bank of Constantine, for redemption, $1,038.50 ; bills of other banks, $734.
The Farmers' and Merchants' bank was a "red dog," and designed for St. Josephs, in Berrien county, but began business in Centreville. It was char- tered February 1, 1838, and on the 6th of the same month the stockholders elected a board of directors and officers, but had difficulty in getting them to serve. Finally the men most interested in the bank gave bonds to T. W. Langley for the prompt redemption of the notes issued, and he published a notice warning the people against selling the notes at a discount, as they would be redeemed at par in twenty days. But the parties who gave the bonds failed to fulfil their agreements, and the bank "went the way of all the earth " early in the spring of 1838. W. C. Pease, of Constantine, was the first president, then William Foster, with A. C. Hubbard and Charles S. Adams, cashiers, but all resigned, and Mr. Langley acted as before stated. The first statement of the bank commissioner did not show a very healthy condition of the finances of the bank. The capital was $50,000, as author-
23
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ized, but it was not known how much, if any, was paid in. Circulation was bad, too, there being $19,860 out, and no specie to keep the currents good ; but there were other bank bills, probably as good as those the bank had itself issued, that figured upon their face $1,113.
The bad odor of these banks did not prevent the counterfeiter from in- dulging his peculiar faculties, for before the St. Joseph County Bank had been presented with a single note of its own for redemption, counterfeits were passed over its counters, and into its "till." However, in a very short time afterwards, the counterfeit was as good as the genuine, both being equally worthless.
It was the custom of the parties who owned or controlled the last class of banks to join in getting a certain amount of specie, sufficient to comply with the law so far as any one bank in the arrangement was concerned, and make that deposit serve for all, which device was executed by loading up the specie as soon as the commissioner had inspected a bank, and sending it on to the next bank in the round of inspection, and so keeping the specie in cir- culation.
There were no other banks of issue established in the county, besides those above mentioned, until the national bank law was passed by Congress, when the First National Bank of Three Rivers was organized, in December, 1864, with $100,000 capital, and Edward S. Moore as President.
There are at the present time six national banks in the county, with an aggregate paid-up capital, surplus and undivided profits, of $610,866.49; whose discounts and loans, on December 31, 1876, amounted to $617,394.65. There were deposits in those banks, subject to call, or at a specified time, $342,669.05, and their outstanding circulation amounted to $264,800. These institutions owned real estate, furniture and fixtures, valued at $43,043.29, and other banks and the United States treasury and its agents owed them $152,315.09. Their circulation is secured by the deposit with the United States Treasurer of United States bonds, amounting to $295,000; and in their vaults they had $90,000 in cash, consisting of legal-tender notes prin- cipally.
CHAPTER VIII.
ROADS-CHICAGO TRAIL-THE VALUE OF COST-MARK AND ECONOMICAL SURVEY, BUT A CROOKED ROAD-A PIONEER TOLL-GATE-THE WASH- TENAW TRAIL-ROADS LIMITING JURISDICTION-QUICK PASSAGE FROM NEW YORK-FIRST POSTAL ROUTE-STAGE-LINE-FIRST TAVERN- FIRST POST-OFFICE-COMMERCE ON THE ST. JOSEPH RIVER-ARKING -A "CLOSE SHAVE "-STEAMBOATING-TRAGEDY-DAMMING THE ST. JOE-RAILROADS-BUSINESS OF 1876.
Sociability is a prominent characteristic of the human family. The recluse in society is an exception, tolerated because he is in nobody's way, but of little use to those around him, whatever he may accomplish for the future. The desire in man's nature to communicate with his fellows leads him to make the means of such communication easily accessible, and there- fore roads are laid out, streams are bridged, marshes causewayed, railroads built, telegraphs constructed, and the telephone invented.
The first roads were the trails of the aborigines followed for ages between distant points, but always in a direct line-"as the crow flies "-between the fords of the streams to where hard ground could be found to enter the same. There were two important and principal trails passing through the St. Joseph territory when the first settlers came to it, one of which they fol- lowed in their journeyings thither. This was the Chicago trail, between that point and Detroit, along which every year the Western Indians, led by Black Hawk and other less-noted warriors of the Sac nation, rode in im- mense cavalcade to Malden to receive from the British government their annuities. When the procession began to approach the settlements, runners would be sent out to notify the inhabitants along the trail that the main body were coming, and to assure them of the pacific intentions of their people. It was rarely that any trouble arose between the whites and these Indians, in fact no disturbance ever was made unless the Indians were in- toxicated. Mr. Marantette, of Mendon, mentioned an incident that occurred at the trading-post at Coldwater in 1825 while he had charge of it, although he was then a boy about eighteen years old. Black Hawk and his people had been to Malden and received their annuity, and were returning home, and stopped at the post to trade, that being the last one before reaching Chicago. They dismounted, and soon the room where he sold his goods was filled with the braves and squaws indiscriminately,-all wanting to buy something-Black Hawk, armed with a long lance, among the number.
3
While the bartering was going on, a squaw offered Marantette a very fine smoked deer-skin in exchange for something she saw on the shelves, and at a glance he saw it was one he had bought but a few days before, and which bore his cost or price mark ("sixteen shillings ") on one corner. He im- mediately seized it and claimed his property. The squaw retained her hold upon it, also, and vehemently disputed his title thereto, and amidst the wrangle Black Hawk came up, and laying his lance upon the skin, proposed to settle the difficulty by taking it himself. The boy persistently refused to be imposed upon by the woman or bullied by the chief, and he immediately took another skin he had just purchased, and taking his pen he made a similar mark on the corner of it and laid it down beside the skin in dispute, and pointed to the two marks as evidence of his title, and was greeted with the loud "How!" "How !" "How!" of the Indians, who at once relinquished the skin and drove the squaw out of the room, and patronized the boy- merchant more than ever, buying some five or six hundred dollars worth of goods.
The Chicago trail entered St. Joseph county on the east on the line of the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 55, in Burr Oak town- ship, thence ran southwesterly to Fawn River township, passing between Honey and Sweet lakes, thence westerly through Sturgis, White Pigeon and Mottville townships, crossing the St. Joseph at the village of Mottville, which was designated the "grand traverse of the St. Joseph."
The second important trail was called the Washtenaw trail, and entered the county from Calhoun county, in the northeast corner of the township of Leonidas, thence running in a southwesterly direction to Nottawa prairie, thence via Centreville to White Pigeon.
In 1825 the National Congress ordered the survey of a highway one hun- dred feet wide, for military purposes, between Detroit and Chicago, and appropriated ten thousand dollars to complete the same. The surveyor began an elaborate work, but after a few miles' progress discovered that if he pursued his original plans the appropriation would be exhausted before the work would be completed, and he at once began to make the survey and the money run parallel to each other. The result was, the road was laid out with the Chicago trail for a center-line, and is so traveled to this day, with the exception of a single mile in Washtenaw county, which was straightened by the first settlers and fenced out. Otherwise than this one change, the road follows the trail of the Sacs in every angle, bend and turn from Tecumseh to Chicago. The flagmen were sent in advance as far as they could be seen, the bearings taken by the compass, and the dis- tance chained and marked; then the flag was advanced as before, the trees being blazed fifty feet on either side of the trail. The road was not worked by the government through St. Joseph until after the Black Hawk war, but the emigrants cut their way through and filled up the marshes sufficiently to pass, each one adding a little, and bridging the smaller streams as occa- sion required. The stage-companies also worked the roads sufficiently to get their coaches through, and built more bridges, but it was not until 1833 that the government made systematic and thorough work of building the road through Branch, and 1834 in St. Joseph county. Then for thirty feet the road was grubbed out and leveled, for thirty feet more the trees were cut low, and the balance of the width the trees were cut ordinary height.
FIRST BRIDGE.
The bridge at Mottville, over the St. Joseph, was built in the summer of 1833-4, by Hart L. Stewart as contractor. It was a very strong and well built structure, sixteen thousand feet of timber being used ; some of it the very best the country afforded. Some of the " stringers" were sixty feet in length, and eighteen inches square. It cost about five thousand dollars, and stood till 1845, when it was taken down to make place for a pile-bridge.
One of the Nottawa Indians, called "Shavehead," once established a toll- ing station on the trail, and demanded and obtained tribute from the passers along the same. The demands generally being light, the travelers paid it rather than have any trouble with the old fellow, who claimed the land as his own. One day, as Asahel Savery was riding along the trail, Shavehead appeared and demanded his usual toll, and Savery stopped his team. The Indian coming up to the wagon dropped his chin down upon the edge of the box, leaned his rifle against the body and looked up at Savery, wickedly peering at him, as was the custom of the Indians whenever they gathered about a wagon. Savery, instead of handing out the demanded fee, reached over and grasped the would-be exactor by his scalp-lock with his left hand, and with his right laid his black whip about the bare shoulders of the strug- gling victim until he had punished him severely, when taking up the rifle he discharged it and threw it to the ground, and drove on. That toll station was discontinued, and never again re-opened.
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