History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 72

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.. > Part 72

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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 Alinont.

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 Marens H. Miles, Commissioners. The capital stoek 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 inust 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.

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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 & Michigan Southern, extending from Chicago, ria 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 theso 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.

There are several very important roads operated by this corporation. Chief of these is the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw, which now forms the Saginaw and the Mnekinae Divisions of the Michigan Central. It extends from Jackson to the Straits of Mackinac, a distance of 295 miles, and passes through Lansing, the capital of the State, Saginaw, West Bay City, Gaylord and Cheboygan, to Mackinac City, crossing the counties of Jackson, Ingham, Shia- wassee, Saginaw, Bay, Ogemaw, Roscommon, Crawford, Otsego and Cheboygan. A glance at the map will show this line, unquestionably destined to become an important artery of trade and travel, passing midway through the central part of the Lower Peninsula, north of Saginaw Bay, and opening to settlement a country hitherto largely undeveloped. It connects at the Straits of Mackinac, by a ferriage of five miles, with the Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette Railroad of the Upper Peninsula, and also at Bay City with the Detroit, Saginaw & Bay City, another feeder of the Michigan Central, with which it forms a direct line between De troit, the commercial metropolis of the State, and the new and rapidly growing portions of both peninsulas.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

The Detroit, Saginaw & Bay City, which is operated as the Bay City Division of the Mich - igan Central, extends from Bay City to Detroit, passing through Vassar, Lapeer, the county seat of the county of that name, Rochester and Utiea. It has branches extending from Den- mark Junetion through East Saginaw to Saginaw, from Vassar to Cairo, the county seat of Tus- eola, and from Lapeer northward nine miles to Five Lakes. The Grand River Valley Division of the Michigan Central extends from Grand Rapids to Jackson, passing through Hastings and Charlotte, the county seats of Barry and Eaton Counties. The Kalamazoo & South Haven Division runs through Kalamazoo and Van Buren Counties and connects the two places named, the latter an important point on Lake Michigan. A short branch also connects Niles with South Bend, Ind. The total length of the Michigan Central and its branches in Michigan is 911 miles, exclusive of double track, which extends for many miles along the main line

The Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad extends from Chicago to a connection with the main line of the Grand Trunk of Canada at Port Huron. It enters the State at the southwestern border of Cass County, which it erosses centrally and diagonally, then traverses consecutively the counties of Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Eaton, Ingham, Shiawassee, Genesee, Lapeer and St. Clair. Its chief stations are Cassopolis, Battle Creek, Bellevue, Charlotte, Lansing, Flint and Lapeer. Belonging to the same system is a line from Port Huron through Mount Clemens, the county seat of Macomb County, to Detroit, with a branch from Ridgeway through Romeo and Rochester to Pontiae, whence it will soon be extended to Jackson. The total length of the roads in Michigan controlled by Grand Trunk interests is 319 miles, and they form part of a great thoroughfare to the Atlantic seaports, to Montreal as well as to those of the United States.

The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacifie system spreads through several Western States, and touches the principal cities of the West and Southwest. It enters Michigan from Ohio, in the southeast corner of Hillsdale County, and crosses Lenawee diagonally, passing through Adrian. It also erosses corners of Monroe and Washtenaw Counties, then traverses Wayne to Detroit. The total present length of the road in this State is 78 miles. It not only connects the chief city of Michigan with the Wabash system, but at Auburn. Ind., taps the important Baltimore & Ohio road.

The Detroit, Lansing & Northern R. R. extends from Howard City. on the G. R. & I, road. through Greenville, Tonia, Portland, Lansing. Howell, Brighton and Plymouth to Detroit. In its course it traverses the counties of Montcalm, Ionia, Ingham, Livingston and Wayne, and passes through parts of Clinton, Eaton, Oakland and Washtenaw. It has a branch extending from Ionia through Stanton, the county seat of Montcalm, and Blanchard, in Isabella County. to Big Rapids, the county seat of Mecosta: this Stanton Braneh is connected with Belding by a short line. It also operates the Saginaw Valley & St. Louis Railroad, running from Alma through St. Louis, in Gratiot County, to Saginaw City. With this latter road, connections are made by an independent line, which is known as the Chicago, Saginaw & Canada, and runs from St. Louis through Alma and Edmore (on the Stanton Branch of the main line) to Lakeview. The total length of the lines operated by the Detroit, Lansing & Northern is 254 miles, and that of the Chicago, Saginaw & Canada, 38 miles.

The D., G. H. & M. R. R. extends from Grand Haven, one of the principal ports on Lake Michigan, and the county seat of Ottawa County, through Grand Rapids, Ionia, St. John's, Corunna, Owasso, Fenton, Holly and Pontiae to Detroit. It erosses the counties of Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee and Oakland quite eentrally, and also passes through the southern portion of Genesee. Its total length is 189 miles.

The main line of the Flint & Pere Marquette commenees at Ludington, on the western shore, and passes through Mason. Lake, Osecola, Clare. Midland. Saginaw, Genesee, Oak- land. Wayne and Monroe Counties, to the city of Monroe. Among its stations are Baldwin, Reed City. Hersey, Evart. Clare, Midland, Saginaw, East Saginaw, Flint, Holly, Milford, l'lymouth and Wayne. Au examination of the map will show that this is one of the important roads of Michigan, serving a large belt of new and rapidly developing country in the northern midland district, and also traversing some of the oldest and richest counties. The Flint & Pere Marquette has branches extending from Mauist ve to Manistee Junction on the main line,

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

from East Saginaw to Bay City, from a point near East Saginaw to South Saginaw, and fron Flint through Otter Lake to Fostoria. This corporation also controls and operates the Sag- inaw & Mount Pleasant (Narrow Gauge) Railroad, running from Coleman on its main line in Midland County, to Mount Pleasant, the county seat of Isabella, and the Saginaw & Clare Railroad connecting it with Harrison, the county seat of Clare. lis total length, including that of its branches of all kinds, is 315 miles.

The G. R. & l. R. R. extends from Petoskey, in Emmet County, almost due southward through the counties of Antrim, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Wexford, Osceola, Mecosta, Monteah, Kent. Allegan, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph to Fort Wayne, Ind., where it conmeets with the great Pennsylvania system leading to the Atlantic coast, affording the main outlet to all sonth- eastern consuming points. Its important stations are Cadillac, Rood City, Big Rapids, Grand Rapids, Plainwoll, Kalamazoo and Sturgis. It has those branches: 1, from Monteith to Allo- gan; 2, from Orono completed twelve miles to Luther and projected to Manistoo: 3, from a point above Cadillae tive miles toward Lake City; 1. From Walton to Traverse City; 5, from Petoskey to Harbor Springs. The main line is being extended to the Straits of Mackinac, and will reach that point during the summer of 1882. This road is the most important of the Western Michigan lines, and has been a valuable factor in the development of the northwest ern portion of the Lower Peninsula. The total length in Michigan of the lines owned or operated by it is 341 miles.

The Chicago & West Michigan Railroad traverses the important fruit belt of the western shore. Commencing at Pentwater, on Lake Michigan, it passes through the counties of Oceana, Muskegon, Ottawa, Allegan, Van Buren, and Berrien to New Buffalo, on the Michigan Central. It has also branches from Holland to Grand Rapids, from Muskegon to Big Rapids, from Mears to Hart, from Holland to Alegan, from White Cloud, on its Big Rapids Branch, through Newaygo to Grand Rapids, from White Cloud north toward the line of the Flint & Pere Mar- quette, from Woodville southeast into the pineries, along the shores of Muskegon Lake, and a short loop line south of Muskegon. Its extension north to the Flint & Pere Marquette line is under progress. Its extension south is also projected, by a line from New Buffalo, through La Porte, Ind., to points of junetion with the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio systems. The total length of this road and its branches is 379 miles.

The Canada Southern Railroad extends in Michigan from Toledo to Detroit, passing through Monroe and Wyandotte. Its main line proceeds eastward from Trenton Junetion, crossing the Detroit River at Grosse Isle, and thence passing through Canada to Buffalo, forming one of the chief railway outlets of the State. This company also operates the short line (known as the Michigan, Midland & Canada) between St. Clair, on the river of that name, and Ridgeway, on the Detroit Branch of the Grand Trunk. The total length in Michigan of this road and its branches is 65 miles.

The Fort Wayne & Jackson Railroad extends from Fort Wayne, Ind., to Jackson, enter ing this State at the southeast corner of Branch County, and thenee crossing Hillsdale County in a northorly direction, passing through JJonesville to Jackson. Its length in Michigan is 46 miles.

The Toledo, Ann Arbor & G. T. road was projected from Toledo to Pontiac, and is in operation at the present time to South Lyon, Oakland County. It crosses, in a nearly northern direction, the counties of Monroe and Washtenaw, passing through AAnn Arbor. Its total length in Michigan is 57 miles.

The lumber districts of the State contain many short fines of railroad, constructed by lumm- bermen to carry logs from the pineries to the banks of rivers or lakes, or to some point of ship ment. As a rule, these are private lines, and used only for the business of their owners. In a few instances, however, they have been incorporated under the general laws of the State, and thus opened to the public. These latter lines, which are of full gange, are three in number, as follows: The Lake George & Muskegon River Railroad, in Clare County, connects the for ests about Lake George with the Muskegon River; the Saginaw Bay & Northwestern Railroad extends from Pinconning, on Saginaw Bay, in Bay County, westward nearly to the line of Gladwin, with north and south branches near its western terminus; and the Lake County con

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

nects with the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad at New Branch station. The total length of these lines is 50 miles.

The roads included in the preceding deseription are of the standard gauge usually em- ployed in the railroad construction of the United States-4 feet 83 inches-except that the track of the Grand Rapids & Indiana (not including its Allegan Branch) is half an inch wider. There are also several narrow gauge lines, which have been built and are operated at a much less cost than that of the standard roads, and which supply thriving towns and districts with railroad facilities. One of these is of considerable length and importance. This is the Port Huron & Northwestern, which is completed from Port Huron to Sand Beach, with a branch to East Saginaw. The distance to Sand Beach is 71 miles, and the road runs almost due north entirely across the county of Sanilac. and about half way through Huron. The East Saginaw line takes a northwesterly course, crossing the counties of Sanilac and Tuseola, and touching northern Lapeer. The length of both branches is 150 miles. This is proving a very service- able road in developing the Huron Peninsula.

The Saginaw. Tuscola & Huron Railroad extends from East Saginaw ria Reese, Gilford and Unionville, to Sebewaing, a distance of 37 miles. It will extend beyond Sebewaing into the Huron Peninsula. The Paw Paw and the Toledo & South Haven roads make a continuous narrow gauge line of 13 miles, extending from Lawrence, near the center of Van Buren County, to Lawton, a station on the Michigan Central, through Paw Paw, the county seat of Van

Buren. The Saginaw & Mount Pleasant Railroad is a narrow gauge line, operated, as has been said, by the Flint & Pere Marquette as one of its branches. The Hobart & Manistee River, the Tawas & Bay County, and the Muskegon River & Rose Lake lines are logging rail- roads of less than standard gauges, located respectively in the counties of Lake. Ioseo and Osceola. The St. Joseph Valley Railroad is a short line which connects Berrien Springs, the county seat of Berrien County, with Buchanan, on the Michigan Central. Its extension to St. Joseph. on the shore of Lake Michigan, is expected during the summer of 1882. Its present length is 10 miles. All of these lines possess a gauge of three feet, except the Hobart & Man- istee River, which is two inches wider.

Besides the proposed extensions of the lines now in operation already noted, there are sev- eral projected roads, which are considered reasonably sure to be built in the immediate future. Chief of these is the Bay City & Alpena. which is to run from some point on the Flint & Pere Marquette, or on the Mackinac Division of the Michigan Central, through Bay. Iosco, Alcona and Alpena Counties along the Lake Huron shore to Alpena, touching the important towns of Alabaster, Tawas City, East Tawas, Au Sable, Oscoda and Harrisville. This road is to be of standard gange, as will also be a projected line connecting Ovid, on the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee, with Walton, on the Grand Rapids & Indiana, and thus forming a new route between Detroit and Traverse City. Prominent capitalists and the localities interested are also considering projects for the construction of narrow gauge roads from Detroit to the chief towns in the Huron Peninsula, from Pontiac to Caseville or Port Austin, from Frankfort to Manistee, from Almont to Port Huron, from Traverse City into Leelanaw County, and from Pontiac to Jackson-a continuation of the St. Clair & Ridgeway Railroad.

Of the sixty-seven counties in the Lower Peninsula, tifty-one have county seats possessing railroad communications. Of the sixteen county seats which have no railroad as yet, nine are lake ports. and have water communication, leaving only the county seats of seven- Sanilac, Huron, Gratiot, Gladwin, Missankee, Montmorency and Oscoda-which have neither rail nor water outlets, and not one of these is twenty miles from a railroad station. The counties in the Lower Peninsula which no railroad touches are but eight in number, namely, Aleona, Alpena, Gladwin, Leelanaw, Missaukee, Montmorency, Oscoda and Presque Isle. In his re- port for 1874. the Railroad Commissioner of Michigan made this striking statement, and the comparison is equally valid now: " In the four southern tiers of counties of this State, em- bracing 17,894 square miles of territory, and a population, according to the census of 1874. of 997,701, we have 2,333 miles of railroad. This is equal to one mile of road to every 427 inhab- itants, while in Massachusetts there is only one mile of road to every 879 inhabitants; and in Connecticut there is but one mile of road to every 620 inhabitants; so that we have, within

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

the limits of the territory mentioned, in proportion to the population, more than two miles of road to one in Massachusetts, and one and two- fifths miles of road to one for Connecticut."

RAILROADS OF THE COUNTY.

The P. H. & N. M. road was projected as early as 1836. one of the great enterprises of that year. The company was formed in 1841. In 1856, the P. H. & N. M. R. R. Co. was or ganized, the line located and a large sum expended. The interests of the company were sold in 1864. and the organization broken up. In 1865, another company purchased the property and rights of the defunet railroad organization. This company operated the road, until its re- cent transfer to the Grand Trunk Company, with Mr. Bonner as general manager

REMINISCENCES OF THE NORTHERN RAILROAD

An old resident of the Saginaw region wrote a series of letters for the Bay City Journal. the last of which, regarding the Northern Michigan Railroad, now the Port Huron & Lake Michigan, is thus given: " At the present time the name woukl hardly indicate its location, but at the time it was located it was to pass through the northern tier of counties in which there was any settlement, except the sparse and isolated ones in Saginaw, Mackinac and Chip- pewa counties, and to give your readers some indication of the rapid growth of Northern Michigan. it should be stated that a sectional contest for the election of a United States Sen- ator in 1847. only twenty-five years ago, when the North, South and West each presented a candidate, all the representatives from the counties north of the tier through which the Central Railroad passes, and east of the meridian line including Clinton and a part of Ingham west of it, marshalled themselves together as the champions of Northern Michigan and constituted less than one-third of the members of the Legislature. The Northern Railroad, not having as many interested advocates as the Central and Southern lines, was not presented with the same vigor, but there must have been a large appropriation made for its construction at an early day; for in 1841. after much money had been expended in elearing and grubbing the line of the road, there was an unexpended balance of the appropriation amounting to $60,000, which was ordered by the Legislature to be expended in the construction of a wagon road. I think the whole of that balance could not have been available for that purpose. for but a small por- tion of the line was passable as a wagon road in ISIS, when an appropriation of 20,000 acres internal improvement land was appropriated, to be expended under the direction of a special commissioner in the construction of a wagon road on the before- mentioned line. I think the Hon. A. N. Hunt. of Lapeer, was appointed special commissioner to make the outlay. Up to 1519, the expenditures of the appropriations for a wagon road were confined to the line adopted for the Northern Railroad. In that year the Legislature passed an act appointing Lewis S. Tyler, of Genesee County (father of Doit Tyler, of our city). Albert Miller, of Saginaw County, and Henry Hunt, of Shiawassee County, commissioners to re-survey and locate the line of road upon which the special commissioner should expend the land appropriation which had been appropriated to that section of the road which lies between the villages of Flint and Corunna. The commissioners had three lines to choose from-the southern, passing through what was then known as the Miller settlement; the central, passing through the Lyon settle- ment, and the northern line, passing through the village of Flushing. A line of road had been opened on each of the two first-mentioned routes, and the country partially settled all the way between Flint and Corunna, and on the northern route a good road had been constructed from Flint to Flushing, a distance of ten miles. The country was all settled along here, but after passing one mile west from the Flint River at Flushing, they came to a tract of fine timber land, which had never been penetrated by the settler, which extended nearly to Corunna, and a large portion of which had been selected and reserved for the payment of labor on the very road the line of which they were required to locate. The act appointing the commissioners authorized them, in locating the road, to take into consideration the individual subscriptions which might be made on the respective roads, and locate where the public interest might be the best subserved. There were heavy subscriptions made in favor of the northern route by James Seymour, of Phishing, and by George and Porter Hazleton, of Flint. After carefully

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 72

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814