USA > Michigan > Ionia County > Memorials of the Grand River Valley > Part 4
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As I anticipated, the State Legislature did, at the next ses- sion, pass a law for the sale of those lands, at the nominal government price of $1.25 per acre, payable in State dues: warrants could then be purchased at 40 cents on the dollar,
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bringing the lands at 50 cents per acre. After the passage of this law, the settlers who had not paid for their lands-and there were many of them who had not-wished mne to report their lands as selected, and I did so. The State Land Office was then at Marshall, and when the sale came on in July, 1843, they sent out by me to bid in their lands-having, most of them, by some means, got the small sum required-and all got their places without opposition, for they sold so cheap, none were pur- chased on speculation. After the lands had all been offered at auction, I made entry of a few lots, and paid for them with the warrants I had received for my services in selecting. I charged 83 per day, and got what was worth 40 cents on the dollar; but in paying for the lands it was worth dollar for dollar. But if I had been paid in cash, as I expected, it would have bought two and a half acres instead of one.
Though but few purchases were made at the first sale, some from the east part of the State having knowledge of the oppor- tunity, made some purchases. After a time, emigrants bound for the West, came to look, saying to me (for they all came to me for information), "We don't expect to like Michigan lands, but as they are selected lands, and can be got so cheaply, we thought we would come and see. But, to their surprise, they were well suited, and all purchased. On their report, a dozen wonld follow, so that in a few years the great majority of those lands were settled. I not only furnished them with plats, and directed them to the lands, but purchased warrants, sent them to the office, and made the purchases. If the funds were a little short, I gave them time to make up the deficiency, and if much was lacking, I would take the land in my own name, as security, giving them a receipt for what they paid. I man- aged to keep every man who came, in some way; and never had occasion to complain that they did not, on their part, ful- till their engagements.
I have been thus particular about those Internal Improve- nent Lands, to remind you to how great an extent it advanced the settlement of our valley. When, a few years afterwards. the Hollanders came in, and took the balance of those lands down near their settlement, and they and the other settlers
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came to Grand Rapids for their supplies, business revived, and we moved on again.
None of these first purchasers had much means-just enough to pay for their lands, and subsist till they could raise something. For a time they got on slowly. What they raised would bring but little. But they made improvements; their calves grew; so that when prices improved, they found them- selves better off than they were aware; built barns and good" framed houses, in place of their little first log cabins.
It does me good to go over those then forest lands, along well-made roads, lined with fine white houses, rich orchards, and fruitful fields.
Nine out of ten of those have succeeded-showing that cheap lands and industry are the surest road to competence, especially for young men and those of limited means.
I do not at once recognize them all, but they do me, and re- fer, with seeming gratitude, to their first coming to the coun- try, and my aiding them in getting their farms. This, to me, is better pay than the little fees they gave me for those services."
Uncle John, you are right. You have as many friends as the minister, and many a heart says "God bless you."
THE GRAND RIVER VALLEY IN 1837.
There was a rush of settlers into the Grand River Valley in 1836, and thereabouts; and a furor for locating lands as a speculative investment; a mania for platting cities and sell- ling lots. This was followed, of course, by a re-action.
From 1833 to 1837, may be called the years of occupation. The furor passed, and the sober realities of backwoods life had brought people somewhat to their senses. It was thought proper by the author to pause at this point, and give a general and graphic view of the Valley in 1837. To do this, the Hon. John Ball, whose business called him at that time into every part, and made him acquainted with every person, was ap- pealed to. To this appeal he kindly responded, by furnishing the following article. There is no doubt that the public will add their thanks to those of the author:
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" In 1837 the Grand River settlement was far detached from the rest of the world. To reach it from any direction had its difficulties, and required much time. If approached by what was called the northern route, through Shiawassee and Clin- ton counties, it was a day's journey from house to house to Ionia. The only other approach with a team and wagon was by the "Territorial Road," as it was called, through Calhoun and Kalamazoo; then by a day's journey from Battle Creek or Kalamazoo, to Yankee Springs, and another to Grand Rap- ids, or other parts. This was the usual route to Kent and Ottawa counties; keeping over the "openings " east of the Thornapple River to Ada. There was a bridle path or trail through the timbered lands direct ont through Gaines to Green Lake and Yankee Springs; and another through Byron to Alle- gan; and there was communication by keel-boats and "dng- outs " up and down the river. By these routes all supplies of goods, and even most of the breadstuff's for Kent and Ottawa counties, were brought. In Ionia county, being longer settled, they raised their own bread.
A colony, under the lead of Mr. Dexter, had come into Ionia in 1833; and a few as early into the other counties of the Grand River Valley. The Ionia settlers, as soon as possible, made arrangements to be independent of the outside world, as far as it regards food. But in Kent and Ottawa they had come as mechanics, or to operate in platting towns, and selling corner-lots. And here, so deep in the woods, they did not give up their hopes in that direction until long after it was known and felt in the habited parts of the country, that backwoods village plats were merely things on paper.
The traveler on horseback, by the usual route in those days, would stop at night at William's; and later in the year at De- Lang's; the next night at Scott's; and by the next night, riding through a dense forest twenty-five miles, he would reach Lv- ons, perhaps Ionia. Or, by another route, through a more open country, he could go to Portland, and down along the Grand River to Lyons. There were then at Portland, Mr. Boyer and three or four others. At Lyons was a tavern, kept by the late Judge Lyon. His brother Edward, since in De-
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troit, was living in a fine little cottage on a bluff of the river. There were perhaps some dozen other villagers, and a few farmers. Mr. Eaton and Mr. Irish, whose wives were of the Lyon family, had farms up on the Portland road.
Three miles above Ionia was a saw mill on Prairie Creek: and on a little stream from the hill, a grist mill. At Ionia were a tavern, a store, mechanie shops, and a few dwellings. all unpretending and limited in build and business. But hereabouts. in the country and in the woods, were a number of farmers-Esquire Yeomans, a little below the village, in his log house, and all the rest in theirs. If night overtook the weary traveler too far away to reach the usual place of stop- ping, he was always kindly welcomed to lodgings and fare. the best the cabin afforded; and would find as marked proof of good order, skill in cooking and neatness, as he would find in the sumptuous mansion. And also in the cabin the tray- eler woukl usually find a shelf filled with instructive books; and from conversation with the inmates he would discover that they had been read. The people of the Valley were so few that the person who traveled much soon became acquainted with most of the dwellers therein, and the sparseness of set- tlers led to greater cordiality when they met. Their common wants, sometimes for almost the needs of life, led to kindly thought of each other, and kindly, neighborly acts. And then they had the example of the Indians, then residing all along the Valley, who are always hospitable, and who not unfrequently aided the first settlers, by furnishing the means of subsistence from their cornfields and the chase.
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The Indian is too good a farmer to ever till a poor soil. Their cornfields were on the rich bottom land of the rivers. They had one at Lyons, in the forks of the Maple and Grand rivers. Tonia was located on an old Indian improvement. An extensive field was at the mouth of the Flat River, on the right bank, and then again at the month of the Thornapple.
As the Indian mode of tillage was the laborious one of breaking up the ground with the hoe. the settlers, in preference to taking the unsubdued land, plonghed the Indian fields for the privilege of cultivating a part; and, side by side, the In-
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dian corn generally looked the best, for the squaws were very good with the hce.
Rix Robinson, the first Indian Trader on the Grand River, resided at Ada, and his brother Edward one mile below, in his log house, from necessity larger than usual, to accommodate his large family of 15-his " baker's dozen," as he used to say. Still, they often had to entertain the traveler bound to Grand Rapids. The bedroom of the weary traveler was the roof or garret part of the house, with good beds, eight or ten, ar- ranged under the eaves, access to which was under the ridge- pole; it being high enough there for a man to stand upright. There were always two in a bed, and the beds were taken as the parties retired; say, a man and his wife first, then two boys or girls, and so on. This is mentioned as the usnal manner at stopping places. At first it would seem a little embarrassing to women and modest men. But use soon overcomes that feeling; and always in those times all seemed disposed to be- have civilly, and to act the part of a true gentleman ; occasion their kind entertainers the least possible trouble, and still re- ward them liberally for their fare, as was right they should, as their food had come all the way from Buffalo or Cleveland.
Uncle Louis Campan, as he was usually called, was the next trader on the river, unless Mr. Generau, at the Maple, was be- fore him. Campau sat down at Grand Rapids, and built his log dwelling and warehouse about half-way between Pearl and Bridge streets, on the bank of the river, the trail to which was where now is Monroe street.
In the year 1837, the Grand River settlements were far de- tached from the rest of the world. The approach from any direction required much time, and was attended with some difficulty. If by what was called the northern route, through Shiawassee and Clinton counties, there was but one stopping place in each-Lang's and Scott's. Then there were some twenty-five miles of dense woods to reach Lyons, and about the same to Portland. These were the usual routes in, for the Ionia people.
For Kent county and the region below, the approach was made usually by the so-called Thornapple road. This came
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from Battle Creek to Yankee Springs, in Barry county; then east of the Thornapple River, through the openings, to Ada, where it joined the road from Ionia to Grand Rapids and Grandville. The travel below Grand Rapids was, in summer, by keel-boats or canoes, and in winter, on the ice. There was a trail, or bridle-path, to Grand Haven, and down the lake beach to Muskegon, and also to Allegan. Sometimes there was a winter road more direct, ont, going through the heavy timbered land in Gaines to Green Lake, Middleville and Yan- kee Springs. There were other Indian trails in many direc- tions.
Most traveling was on horseback, requiring five days from Detroit to reach Grand Rapids. From Ionia, the traveler crossed the Grand River at Ada in a canoe, into which he put his saddle, towing his horse behind the boat. Coming from the south, when the water was high, the crossing of the Thorn- apple was in the same fashion. Soon scows were put on the river, on which teams and loads could cross.
No roads as yet were made, nor bridges built, so the travel- ing by wagon was rough and slow.
As to settlement, beginning at Portland, there were Mr. Moore, Mr. Boyer, and some half dozen other families. At Lyons, ten miles down the river, a few more than at Portland. At Ionia, the village was small, but there were quite a number of farmers around. They made their first planting ground of the old Indian improvement, where the city of Ionia now is. Squire Yeomans had his farm below the village, and some had settled on the other side of the river.
At Lowell, on the left bank of the river, was Mr. Marsac, and on the right bank, on an extended plain, an old Indian planting ground, was Louis Robinson. At Ada, were Rix and Edward Robinson.
There was already quite a population at Grand Rapids. Many settlers followed Mr. Campan from Detroit, and others came from all parts East. The Messrs. Hinsdill, Henry and others, from Vermont; Mr. James Lyman and his brother, from Connecticut, and many, more than from all other States, from New York. Perhaps at this time there were 500 in all-more
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than at times could be well accommodated for room. It seemed to be an attractive spot, where every comer seemed to think it was the place for him to make a fortune. This was the ease in the first part of the year, but before the year was through, that feeling had much abated, for it was in this year that the speculation bubble burst.
On Monroe street there was then Louis Campau's two-story frame house, since a part of the front of the Rathbun House, corner of Monroe and Waterloo streets. Mr. Richard God- froy had a similar building a little above. Mr. Myron Hins- dill had one where the Morton House now is. Darius Winsor was on the corner of Ottawa and Fountain streets, and was postmaster. The arrival of the weekly mail was an event. In after times, if one had money enough to pay the high postage of those days, he thought he was well-off. There was a house opposite the Rathbun House, where Esquire Beebee and Dr. Willson then had their offices. Both were worthy men, but both soon departed this life. Dr. Shepard was here, and at times the only physician.
At the foot of Monroe street, where is now open space, were three stores, or warehouses; one of them, then or soon, oecu- pied by Judge Morrison. Opposite, or where the buildings between Monroe and Pearl streets stand, was what was called the Guild House; and on the side hill, abont where the Areade building stands, was a log house.
Down Waterloo street was the Eagle Tavern, then kept by Lonis Moran, and on the other side of the street were the stores of the Messrs. Nelson (James and George). Down the street, in the chamber over the store, was Mr. Charles Taylor's tailor shop, and in the same building was Mr. Horsford Smith's store. Opposite, on the river's bank, were three warehouses, one of which is said to have been the first framed building in the place, and was erected on the west side for a church. It was moved over on the ice by Campau.
Going up street into the Kent plat, there were two or three shanties on Canal street, two small offices on Bronson street, built for the Land Office, expected to be at Grand Rapids in- stead of at Ionia. On Bridge street. Mr. Coggershall lived in
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the house now standing east of the Bridge Street House. Op- posite was the office of the Kent Company, built by Judge Alny.
At this time, thongh Canal and Kent streets were nearly impassable by reason of stumps, and innd from the water ooz- ing from the hills above, lots were selling for $50 per foot. There was a passable road from Fulton street to Cold Brook under the bluff on the east. Canal street was, in wet weather, little better than a quagmire.
There were as yet but few farmers in Kent county. Ont on Sonth Division street, beyond the Fair Grounds, was Alva Wansley. Over beyond, were Mr. Guild and Mr. Burton. Southwest of Reed's Lake, were Judge Davis and two Reeds. Going down the Grandville road, all was woods. At Plaster Creek was a small saw-mill. Plaster could be seen in the bed of the stream near it. As one went on, to the right, and off from the road, near a marsh, were the salt springs, with paths deep worn by the deer coming to lick the salt water; and just below, near the river, were observed the Indian mounds, near where the railroad now erosses the river. On the left of the road, farther on, was Esquire Chubb's log cabin, and over the creek beyond were Mr. Howlitt and Mr. Thompson.
The first house in Grandville was that of Jnlins Abel, Esq .; the next, that of Major Britton. Osgood & Bleake kept a tavern -- Osgood was a lawyer. Charles Oakes was there, and a number of others; and they claimed that, as the navigation of the river was so much better up to that point than it was above, Grandville would compete with Grand Rapids. Then some half dozen settlers had begun in the woods south of Grandville. On Bek Creek, Haynes Gordon and Wright had saw-mills. Near the month of Rush Creek, the Mich- igan Lumbering Company had a saw-mill, and a Mr. Ketchum, of Marchall, one a little above. A little beyond, in Ottawa connty, were Hiram Jennison and brothers. Beyond these few settlers all was deep forest, to the lake, and to the then new little village of Allegan.
Going down the river, three miles from Grandville, was a Mrs. Burton. The next house, on the other side, was that of a
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Mr. Yeomans, where is now Lamont, squatted on the newly purchased lands. Then, on the south side, below Bass River, were Rodney and Lueas Robinson. No more in Otta- wa, until Grand Haven. There were Mr. Ferry, who, with Rix Robinson, owned the village plat. The three brothers White, Mr. Troop and a few others, were residents. This place bing the grand harbor of the Grand River, soon to become a big city, its lots, corners and all, were held at high prices.
At Muskegon were two for traders, Mr. Lasserly and Mr. Trottier, with the latter of whom was Martin Ryerson, serving as clerk at $8 per month.
The lands north of the Grand River, in Kent and Ottawa counties, had only been purchased from the Indians the prece- ding year; were not in the market, and were not even yet sur- veyed. Still, settlers began this year to go on them, and to make pre-emptions, as they called it. They erected log cabins , in which to live, as all the farmers in the Valley did; and many of the houses in the villages were of the same construction. Still, then, as ever, these pioneers were hopeful, and seemed qnite happy.
All the impression the white man had made on the country was but a cypher. The largest clearings had but a few acres. The old Indian elearings were of greater extent than the white man's. They had quite a traet cleared at the junction of the Maple and Grand Rivers; at Ionia, Flat River, Thornapple. At Grand Rapids their clearing extended along the river front Mill Creek down to a short distance above the Plaster Mills, but not extending far back from the river. At Grandville was the Little Prairie.
The government built for the Indians a mill on the ereek, near where it is crossed by the D. & M. Railroad. The Indi- ans had a village of twenty or thirty houses, built of the lum- ber sawed by this mill. In 1837, all the ground spoken of above as then a cultivated field, was planted with corn, which the women well hoed. The men fished and hunted. They lived all up and down the river, and through the country, as ever before; and every fall assembled at Grand Rapids to receive pay for their lands.
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All beyond these Indian and white men's clearings was one interminable forest, the same as before the civilized man had entered upon the lands. In this Valley they lived in peace, and mostly there were in those times confidence and kindness between the different races. But there were some wrongs, more often committed by the whites than the In- dians.
All was a grand and noble forest, with its tall pine, its sugar tree and beech, and the sturdy oak scattered over what is called the " openings." These opening lands extended along generally on both sides of the river to a greater or less dis- tance back, through Kent and Ionia counties, up the Flat River to Greenville, and along the east side of the Thornap- ple. From Grand Rapids to Plainfield, and about that vil- lage, there was comparatively little timber, so that the travel- er on the old trail could see quite a distance about him. This scarcity of timber was also observable in parts of Grattan, Oakfield and Montcalm. But all of Ottawa, the south part of Kent, to the Thornapple, and the north part, commencing even in Walker and the south part of Ionia county, were heavily timbered with beech, maple, elm, oak and other hard wood trees, with patches of pine. Towards and along the lake in Ottawa county, the timber was pine and hemlock. In these forests the travelers could often see the fleet deer cross- ing his track, sometimes pursued by the wolf.
On the west side of the river, near where the Bridge street bridge is, were two block houses, where a Baptist Missionary preacher or teacher, by the name of Slater, tanght some of the Indians. But Father Vizoski (the Catholic) had more con- verts, and a little meeting house at their village below, which was the only meeting house on either side. In this, that worthy priest would hold forth to the Indians, the French and English-speaking people, to each in their own language.
Of course, there were no bridges over the river, but there was a fording place between Islands No. 2 and 3, or below the railroad bridge; and when the water was too high for fording, a ferry-boat was used.
And now, the effect of the break-down of the wild specula-
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tion of 1836, and the high hope of the first half of this year, began to be seen. Faces began to indicate thought and care. Business flagged, and Mr. Campan's laborers and mechanics. lacking occupation, began to seek labor elsewhere. No sale for corner-lots, and money, to pay for bread to eat, grew scarce. In Kent county, not half enough grain, of all kinds, was raised to feed the horses, and all else had to come from Ohio or New York-for to the west of us, they had raised as little as we. As another trouble, our wild-cat money would not buy things beyond our own limits.
Monroe street follows the trail to Campau's Indian trading post, on the bank of the river. It kept along close to the in- passable swamp, extending north from the corner of Monroe and Division streets, then wound along at the foot of an ab- rupt hill from Ottawa to Pearl street. This same hill con- nected with the (now disappearing) hill between Pearl and Lyon streets. Beyond these hills the trail descended to Bron- son street. South of Monroe street, the descent was steep, and the ground was so low as to be deeply covered at high water. The boat channel of the river was between the island and the main, and the landing was where the blocks of stores now are on the south side of Monroe street, at the foot of Canal street. West of the foot of Canal street, north of Pearl street, was Mr. Wadsworth's saw-mill."
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The value of the above article will be appreciated in after days. Its graphie simplicity will commend it to the general reader, and the fact that it is from one who knew whereof he wrote; whose memory is tenacious, and whose honesty is pro- verbial, renders its historical accuracy, reliable.
THE CRASH.
" The warrior bowed his crested head, And tamed his heart of fire."
Grand Rapids, then a village in the wilderness, had her dark day in 1837; when the light went out in her dwellings, and when bankruptcy and ruin seemed to be the presiding genii
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of the place. No town felt more the crushing effect of the financial revulsion which paralyzed the business of the conn- try between 1836 and 1842. During the few years before. Grand Rapids had been one of the centers of speculation. Settlers were filling up the region around, and great things were undertaken there; some wisely, and some based on sup- posed prophetie vision. A saw-mill, the greatest in the world. was begun; one that should "saw out young saw mills."
Lots were held, and sold at fabulous prices; there was money in everybody's pocket-" wild-cat ". money. Everybody was getting rich. Speculators were greedily buying up land and lots. No matter if a man did owe a few thousand dollars; he had the land and the lots, which were sure to double their valne in a year. But as Burns says:
" The best laid plans of mice and men, Gang aft agley."
All who lived in those times, know that there was the gen- eral idea that fortune was ready to shower down her golden treasures on the owners of wild lands or corner-lots. Lawyers, doctors, merchants and capitalists at the East, became rovers in the woods in search of lands. They bought lands and went home to dream of fortune. Alas! in after years their counte- nances elongated when they found it was all taxes and no sales. We are afraid that they, as the Dutchman expressed it, " thought cot tam." when, annually, their agent reported tures. Some did more than think ; they actually "swared" "the lands might go to blazes for all their paying taxes." But in 1835-6, land looked beautiful. Rainbow hues were in the sky. Ah! you have seen them in the floating bubble. But only think of a bubble covering the whole United States. It was a splendid bubble-it was an enormous bubble. The banks, in the shape of expanded loans, had furnished the gas, and ten million pairs of lungs were strained for its inflation. All at once the bubble burst, and the banks, speculators, merchants, all found themselves gaping and gazing into blank space. The big bubble had all their hopes in it; when it burst, their hopes were dissipated, and nothing was left but a bad smell.
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