USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 70
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"Early in January, 1830, the commissioners started from Sheldon's, on the Chicago road, and run the line of the new road west. When they reached Ann Arbor, a party of eight volunteered to go on with them to Grand river. Henry Rum- sey, Samuel Van Fossen, Zenas Nash, Jr., William Hunt, Edward Clark, Mr. McCarty, Alexander Laverty and J. Bennett were the eight. They had provided themselves with an active yoke of oxen and a lumber wagon, a tent, blankets, provisions, rifles and axes. The object of the volunteers was to mark the road as fast as it was surveyed. The two parties kept together and spent the first night on the floor of Samuel Clement's log house in Lima. Here we took on all the hay we could, for this was the last settlement. Early the next morn- ing the parties forded Mill creek and pushed for- ward. The volunteers soon found use for their axes and handspikes in felling trees and rolling them out of the road. The snow was about four inches deep, and the weather was very cold ; but good progress was made each day, as the country was sparsely timbered. Each morning after breakfast, the teams went forward, and the team- sters would find a camping ground and start a small fire and wait till the parties came up, when the axemen would fell trees and cut them into logs ten or twelve feet long, place skids on the ground and roll three logs on them, then two, then one on top. Care was always taken to build the log heaps so that the wind blew lengthways of the logs. The snow was brushed off the ground and the tents pitched, the blankets spread. and the supper prepared and eaten with a relish. The evenings were spent in smoking, telling sto- ries, and playing pranks upon each other. In this way the time was spent until the parties crossed the Grand river at the site of the city of Jackson.
This was as far as the volunteers had proposed to go. They found a body of a log house with a roof on it at this place. A Mr. Blackman, one of the commissioners' party, had entered some land here and built this house on it and left it in this incomplete condition. There was no 'chink- ing,' doorway, nor place for a window. A hole was soon made, and both parties took possession. A rousing fire was soon burning and the tents and spare blankets were hung up to break off the wind. The parties lay there two nights. The road was brought up to the east bank of the river. It was prosposed to give a name to the place. For this purpose, on the second night, a 'convention' was organized and Judge Rumsey, one of the vol- tinteers, was unanimously elected president. Here let me say the judge had served Washtenaw county in the legislative council, and was ac- quainted with parliamentary rules, and was of a genial and mirthful disposition. Soon after the president had taken the 'chair,'-a seat on a log, -a committee of three was appointed to propose a name for the place. As soon as the committee retired, that is, gone to the other side of the log heap, the president rose with all the dignity he could assume, and spoke in substance as follows: 'Gentlemen of the convention: You have ap- pointed a committee to select a name for this place, and while they are absent permit me to make a few remarks. I am personally acquainted with you all. I know that at home you are gen- tlemanly in you deportment. You have each of you a nice sense of honor ; but I have sometimes observed that when men of good standing at home are among strangers, their behavior is strangely at variance with their home conduct. Gentlemen, you represent Ann Arbor, you repre- sent Washtenaw county, and let me beg of you, gentlemen, that on this interesting occasion you will not do anything that shall bring discredit to our village or county. When your committee has proposed the name of this place, and you have adopted it, some one may propose that it be received with cheers. If the cheers are ordered, allow me to request that they may not be given so loud as to disturb the neighbors.' As the near- est neighbor was more than thirty miles off, the remark brought down the house. The committee
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returned and reported the name of Jacksonburg, which was accepted and adopted, and nine as wild cheers were sent up as fifteen men could give.
"One of the party had a violin, and a dance was next in order. Judge Rumsey and Mr. Commis- sioner Neal, being the oldest men, opened the ball. It soon became evident that there was a strife between the dancers and the fiddler which should get ahead. As the dancers wore stoga boots, the fiddler gradually went ahead, but the race was well contested, much to the amusement of the spectators. After taking breath and some refreshments-for this occasion had been antici- pated and provided for-dancing was resumed and kept up until the small hours of the morn- ing. That morning the volunteers were to part with the commissioners and their party and re- turn home. After a few hours' rest. all were astir, when, upon inspection, it was found that the volunteers had only about three pints of flour left. They dare not call upon the commissioners for any of their provisions, for they had none to spare. Some water was procured. and the flour was stirred in a fryingpan and partly baked. The cake was divided into eight parts, and each man took his piece and ate it hot. This is all the food the party had to travel thirty odd miles on, and break a track in the snow. As soon as it was light enough to see, 'goodbye' was said, and one party started east and the other west. Of the volunteers, two were left with the teams having the tent, blankets, axes, etc .. the other six started out in single file, each taking his turn to head and break track a mile. On reaching the top of the short hills, Van Fossen and Nash left the party, who moved too slow for them. They started off on a trot and were soon out of sight. When the party reached the pond on the west side of Lima. they found the two men sitting on a log nearly asleep, and badly chilled. They took some time and effort to arouse them. They had hurried on until they were warmed and fatigued. and sat down to rest. The wind swept across the frozen pond, cold and bleak, and it is probable if the party had not discovered them, that they would have frozen to death. It was long after dark when they were found. The most serious obstacle was the crossing of Mill creek, Lima
Center. The water was nearly waist deep, the night was cold. It was between the party and home. There was no going around it. It must be passed. and passed it was, and the pace in- creased. Disagreeable as is a cold bath in winter, and unpleasant as it is to have one's clothes frozen on hin1. no bad effects followed. At Clem- ent's the same stream had to be forded again, but there the water was only knee deep. Some of the party remained at Clement's, and some went on with McCarty to his home. At each place a good warm supper and a night's rest put all right again. The next day all except McCarty reached Ann Arbor in time for dinner. The trip occu- pied six or eight days.
"In conclusion it may not be improper to say that in the following spring the road was used to such an extent and so many emigrants moved west of Ann Arbor on it. that the people who had made a home at Jacksonburg concluded that they would celebrate the Fourth of July in the good old-fashioned style. Gideon Wilcoxson, of Ann Arbor, gave an eloquent oration. About seventy persons sat down to a good dinner. Captain Alex Laverty, who had taken np his residence there, commanded the escort. Ann Arbor furnished the orator, marshal of the day, and part of the com- mittee of arrangements, besides about a dozen citizens. The day was all that could be desired, and everyone who took part in the celebration seemed well pleased."
THE TERRITORIAL ROAD.
In 1829. a stage arrived at Ann Arbor from Detroit three times a week. It was the building of the Chicago and the territorial roads that side- tracked Woodruff's Grove and established Ypsi- lanti. The picture of the early roads given in the second issue of the Western Emigrant in a letter from the same Canadian traveler, whose letter in the first issue has proven of so great interest, is contained in his description of Ypsilanti. He says : "This place possesses some advantages over its competitors. One in particular I will mention. The United States has laid out a road leading from Detroit to Chicago, in the state of Illinois, that passes immediately through it. This is partly
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finished by the government from Detroit twenty miles west to this place. A number of hands are now at work on the road and will, in all prob- ability, keep pace with the settlement. It is of great advantage to the emigrant in the facility it affords for the transportation of goods from De- troit to the interior. You would be astonished to see the number of teams and persons that daily pass upon it to the west. At present, however, it is almost impassable on account of the quan- tity of rain that has fallen within a few days; and those who do travel it in its present state are lavish in their curses and imprecations they heap upon those who built the road, especially upon the men appointed by the United States to super- intend its construction. A part of the road has been badly constructed. Large and long trees have been placed together in the center of the road and carefully covered with the soil from the sides, which soon, as it becomes softened by the rain, lets the wheels through to the timber, and if they pass through a crevice between the logs, a 'set.' as the teamsters say, is the inevitable con- sequence. In addition to the great inlet into the interior afforded by the Chicago road, the legis- lative council, who are now in session, have passed a law and appointed commissioners for the establishment of a territorial road to leave the Chicago road a few miles northeast of this vil- lage running thence in a westerly direction through the village of Ann Arbor, across the headwaters of the Grand river, through a part of the valley of the Kalamazoo, and from thence to the mouth of the St. Joseph river." The letter de- scribes at length the dissatisfaction of a number of the people because two of the gentlemen who had been appointed commissioners to lay out this new territorial road resided on the route that it would probably take.
The commissioners appointed to lay out the territorial road were Seeley Neal, of Panama, Or- rin White, of Ann Arbor, and Jehiel Ears, of Grand Prairie. They were appointed on the 4th of November, 1829.
In May, 1831, there were two daily stage lines leaving Ann Arbor every morning, passing through Ypsilanti, for Detroit. At Ypsilanti they intersected with a third stage line for St. Joseph
county ; and not infrequently it happened that two extra stages arrived at Ypsilanti, loaded with passengers for the west. Emigration increased so rapidly that stage coaches hardly sufficed to carry the emigrants to the west.
RAILROADS.
In 1831 the Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad, or Michigan Central Railroad, as it afterward came to be called, was chartered with a capital of one million five hundred thousand dollars, to run di- rectly through Washtenaw county, and through the villages of Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Dexter. This road was some time in building, and before it was completed or even much had been done on the construction it was purchased by the state, which completed the road to Ypsilanti in Janu- ary, 1838. A railroad meeting was held at Ann Arbor in September, 1834, for the purpose of rais- ing funds for the expenses of engineers to survey a route for a railroad across the territory. Nearly four hundred dollars was immediately subscribed, and the Emigrant of September 1I, 1834, said, that after the meeting the required amount had been obtained. On September 18th, the paper stated that the engineers were proceeding with the survey, and that between Detroit and the Huron river they had met with no obstacles. The route struck the Huron river a half a mile above Ypsilanti, and between that point and Ann Arbor, it became necessary to cross the Huron several times ; and the paper stated that this was, per- haps, the most difficult section on the route. An- other railroad meeting was held in Ann Arbor on December 6, 1834, for the purpose of applying to congress for aid in the construction of the rail- road across the peninsula. Edward Mundy was chairman of this meeting, and George Corselius secretary. They recommended the holding of a meeting for this purpose in Detroit, and the cir- culation of petitions. On the 5th of December, 1835. David Page, Edward L. Fuller, William R. Thompson, Charles Thayer and James Kingsley were appointed a committee to solicit subscrip- tions to the capital stock of the road. Later stock subscriptions were opened at the Bank of Michigan in Detroit, at Mr. Andrew's house in
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Ypsilanti and at Mr. Clark's house in Ann Arbor. The estimated cost for constructing the railroad from Detroit to Ann Arbor was one hundred thousand dollars, and the newspapers of that day argued that twenty-five per cent. of the increase in value which the road would cause to the prop- erty in Detroit, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor would build the road. On July 23d, the local papers stated that seventy thousand dollars had been sub- scribed at Detroit, one hundred thousand dol- lars at Ypsilanti, and nine thousand dollars at Ann Arbor. It was also stated that a large part of the stock taken at Ypsilanti had been sub- scribed by the capitalists from the east.
At the time when, in 1837, the state purchased the road and the charter rights of the company, the company had expended one hundred sixteen thousand, nine hundred two dollars and sixty- seven cents. The road was completed by the state to Ypsilanti in January, 1838, and the cost of constructing the section of the road between Detroit and Ypsilanti, including the purchase of locomotives and cars, and the erection of depot buildings, was about four hundred thousand dol- lars. The estimated cost at that time of con- structing the balance of the road from Ypsilanti to St. Joseph was one million five hundred thon- sand dollars. The Michigan Gazateer published in 1838 gives some idea of the amount of busi- ness done during the first six months of the op- peration of the road from Detroit to Ypsilanti. The receipts from January 10 to May 20, 1838, were twenty-three thousand, nine hundred and sixty-three dollars and fifty-four cents ; from May 20 to July 18, 1838. the receipts were eighteen thousand, nine hundred and eight dollars and sixty-one cents. In this period of about two months nine thousand, seven hundred and ninety- six passengers had been carried, two million, eighty-six thousand. nine hundred and eighty pounds of merchandise, one thousand, one hun- dred and twenty-three barrels of flour, six thou- sand, seven hundred feet of lumber and two hun- dred, thirty-three thousand shingles. The Ga- zateer continues: "There were at the last date. (July 18th), four locomotive engines in opera- tion, five passenger and ten freight cars. The business was increasing upon the means of trans-
portation. The average weekly receipts for the six or eight weeks preceding the first of July was about two thousand, five hundred dollars. Up to the 24th of May, four thousand, five hundred passengers had been transported from Detroit to Ypsilanti, mainly emigrants, and about one thousand, six hundred to intermediate places, making six thousand, one hundred. An exten- sion of the road is making from the depot in De- troit to the Detroit river through Woodward avenue, extending one thousand feet in the lower street each side of it. The road is constructing from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor, and both improve- ments will be completed by the first of October, 1838."
The road was not completed, however, to Ann Arbor until October 17, 1839, and the celebration of the great event which had been planned for some weeks is thus described in the Western Emigrant :
"Last Thursday was a proud and happy day for Ann Arbor. Although the people of Mich- igan have great cause to complain of the out- rageous inefficiency of those heretofore entrusted with the building of this road, and of the pro- crastination of the event which thousands finally had an opportunity of celebrating in an appro- priate manner, yet all party feeling was now checked by common consent, and all were dis- posed to forget the delay in the general rejocing and conviviality of the occasion. A more lovely day never dawned. Our Indian summer, as was anticipated, reigned in all its softness and deli- ciousness. All was gaiety and delight. People came from all quarters, to witness the arrival of the cars for the first time at our new and beauti- ful depot, and to aid our citizens in the reception and entertainment of their civil and military guests. At noon the cars arrived, bringing up- ward of a thousand visitors from Detroit. They were met at the depot by the committee of ar- rangements, who welcomed them through the Hon. James Kingsley, in a brief but appropriate speech. George C. Bates, Esq., on behalf of the common council of Detroit, made a felicitous reply. after which the procession formed and marched through the principal streets to the courthouse square, where a splendid banquet had
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been prepared by Messrs. Clark and Petty, of the Exchange. Here the Brady guard pitched their tents, and a general interchange of good feeling between them and the Washtenaw guards followed. A detachment of the Pittsfield volun- teer corps came in, and we should infer from their soldier-like appearance that the whole company would have been, as they were, an acquisition to the pageantry of the day.
"The dinner went off well, notwithstanding a burning noonday sun kept many from partaking. After the cloth was removed, a great many en- thusiastic toasts were drank, which were the fol- lowing :
"'The first train from the city of Detroit-it brings with it a long train of pleasant reflections.'
"'The state of Michigan-Internal improve- ments necessary to the development of her abun- dant natural resources.'
"'Railroad and Canals- the business of months is now done in a day ; if they do not lengthen our years, they enable us to live more in the same time.'
"'The Central Railroad-the Michigan link in the great chain from the seaboard to the Mis- sissippi.'
"'Railroads and Steam-power-A Yankee's notion of the Utile cum dulce.'
"'The City of Detroit and the Village of Ann Arbor-Next door neighbors.'
" 'The University of Michigan-Genius aided by science, the true source of all practical good.' "'The West-The great west-an empire in itself.'
"'The Valley of the Huron-Beautiful by na- ture, a fit path for a beautiful track.
"'Woman-Cupid's locomotive.'
"'City of Detroit-The commercial emporium of Michigan ; its prosperity is identified with the general interests of the state.'
"By George C. Bates, Esq., in behalf of the city of Detroit : 'The Village of Ann Arbor- Appropriately selected as the literary emporium of this beautiful peninsula. May the streams of learning and science gush from the surrounding hills as from the seven hills of the imperial site. refreshing and perfuming the whole land.'
"The company broke up about three o'clock and the citizens of Detroit generally returned in
the cars that afternoon, gratified, we doubt not, with their visit."
The completion of the road to Dexter was the occasion of another celebration which took place on the Fourth of July, 1841, and has been de- scribed by Judge Alexander D. Crane :
"The 4th of July, 1841, was a day long to be remembered by the people of Dexter. Early in the morning of that day the people of the sur- rounding country came pouring into the village on foot, on horseback, in carriages and wagons, not only to celebrate the anniversary of the na- tion's birthday, but at the same time to celebrate the completion to our village of the Michigan Central Railroad. By nine o'clock in the fore- noon a large concourse of people had assembled at the depot, awaiting the arrival of the cars, which were to bring the visitors from Ann Arbor and other eastern villages along the line of the road. We had but a few minutes to wait before the shrill whistle of the iron horse was heard, and instantly the train came in its grandeur and maj- esty around the curve into full view, and thun- dered up to the depot, when the air was filled with loud huzzas and shouts of welcome, and every- body was happy. The train brought a large dele- gation of visitors from the east, and as soon as it was stopped, the Washtenaw Guards (who were invited guests), about fifty strong, filed out of the cars and into line under command of their gallant captain, E. S. Cobb, who lost his life on the ill- fated steamer Erie, early in the following August. The guards were handsomely equipped, well dis- ciplined and made a fine appearance. After marching to the bank of the river, near the bridge, where they fired a fue de joie, the captain placed himself and company under the orders of the mar- shal of the day, when a grand procession was formed, and, escorted by the guards and their band, marched to the place appointed for the ex- ercises of the day and the occasion. Here they were welcomed by an eloquent and stirring speech from our much esteemed friend and neighbor, Hon. Samuel W. Dexter, which was responded to by Franklin Sawyer, of Ann Arbor. The Rev. Lorenzo Davis was the chief orator of the day, and gave us a very fine oration, suited to the day and the occasion.
"On this day everything was harmonious, and
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everybody was happy and joyful, for we had been placed in communication by railroad with the city of Detroit, which communication was soon to be completed through Canada to the eastern states. The day passed off without accident. or anything to mar our happiness. The Washtenaw Guards remained with us over night, having brought their camp equipage with them for that purpose, and camped on the open space which now constitutes the village park, where they established a regular military camp. After guard mounting in the even- ing, the citizens were invited by Captain Cobb to visit the camp and witness the routine of camp duty. If I may be pardoned for so doing. I will mention one or two incidents that occurred to the guard during the night. In the middle of the night, when all the citizens were at their repose, one of the sentinels discovered fire issuing from an ash-house, which was contiguous to a very fine dwelling near the camp; and considering the dwelling to be in danger, the sentinel gave the alarm to the guards, whereupon the officers or- dered a squad of men to repair to the fire with their camp pails and extinguish it. The men at once repaired to the well of the man on whose premises was the fire, but found the bucket locked, so they could get no water. Their efforts to ob- tain water aroused the man of the house, who raised his windows and peremptorily ordered them off his premises ; but the guards, not willing to let the fire go unextinguished, went with their pails a distance of twenty rods or more, to a well where the bucket was not locked, and procured a sufficiency of water and extinguished the fire, thus saving the citizen's property from destruction.
"Along in the after part of the night some of the guards came to the conclusion a little milk punch was quite desirable, and that they could procure the requisite milk from some of the vil- lage cows that were lying on the green ; so one of their number was detailed to go on a foraging ex- cursion for the milk, and taking his camp pail he started forth ; but the next question was, how to pass the guard, as he was not in possession of the countersign, and the sentinel had not been let into the secret of the enterprise. But, nothing daunted, he approached one of the sentinels on duty, who hailed. 'Halt! who comes there?' 'A friend.'
'Friend, advance and give the countersign.' He advanced to the point of the sentinel's bayonet. and holding up the camp pail to the sentinel, he said, 'So, bossy, so!' which was received by the sentinel as the countersign, and he passed without the line and went and found one or more cows, to which he gave the same countersign, procured his full pail of milk and returned to the same sentinel, and by the same token passed within the line. The boys had a good time with their milk punch, not forgetting the sentinel who had accepted the countersign."
The road was soon built to Jackson, and in 1846 it was completed to Kalamazoo. In 1846 the Michigan Central was sold by the state to a pri- vate corporation for $2,000,000, and thus ended the first experiment in Michigan with the govern- mental ownership of a railroad.
Previous to this, however, many other roads had been projected, some of which were to come into Washtenaw county. Among them was the Monroe and Ypsilanti Railroad Company, incor- porated in 1836 with a capital stock of $400,000, to be built to connect the village of Monroe with the Central Railroad at Ypsilanti. This road was never built. The same year the Monroe and Ann Arbor Railroad Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $300,000. This was to connect Monroe and Ann Arbor instead of Monroe and Ypsilanti, the rivalry of the two cities of Washte- naw county being thus shown at this early date.
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