USA > Michigan > Grand Traverse County > Sprague's history of Grand Traverse and Leelanaw counties, Michigan embracing a concise review of their early settlement, industrial development and present conditions...to which will be appended...life sketches of well-known citizens of the county > Part 30
USA > Michigan > Leelanau County > Sprague's history of Grand Traverse and Leelanaw counties, Michigan embracing a concise review of their early settlement, industrial development and present conditions...to which will be appended...life sketches of well-known citizens of the county > Part 30
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river or the singing of the north wind in the tops of the pine trees.
However, it was not the beauty of the place, nor its attractive solitudes, so near to nature's heart, but its promised advantages for gain, that brought the first adventurous settler to fix his abode there.
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
In 1847 Captain Boardman, a thrifty farmer living near Napierville, Illinois, pur- chased of the United States government a small tract of land at the mouth of the river, and furnished means to his son, Horace. Boardman, to build a saw-mill. The latter, with two or three men in his employ, arrived at the river in the early part of June of that year, and immediately commenced the con- struction of a dwelling. The place selected was on the right bank of the stream, a little way below where it issues from Boardman lake, but a few steps from the grass plat and. canoe landing above alluded to. The exact location of the building was in what is now East Eighth street, between the center of the street and its southern boundary, just east of the eastern boundary of Boardman avenue. It was a house of modest pretensions as to size, being only sixteen feet by twenty-four, and one story high. The material for the walls was pine logs hewn square with the broad ax. In after years it was known to the inhabitants of the village as the "Old Block- house." It was eventually destroyed by fire.
On the 20th of June, a week or more af- ter Mr. Boardman's arrival, the "Lady of the 1.ake," owned by him and sailed by Michael Gay, one of his employes, arrived in the mouth of the river, with supplies. There came with Gay a man by the name of Dun -;
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ham, who, having been in the bay on a pre- vious occasion, acted as pilot.
The ."Lady of the Lake," which should not be confounded with another vessel of the same name, in which Lewis Miller returned to Old Mission after his marriage, was a craft of only a few tons burthen, and had originally been a pleasure yacht. She was sharp built, sloop rigged and a fast sailer. Having become old and rotten, and therefore undesirable for the purpose for which she was originally intended, Mr. Boardman had been able to purchase her cheaply, as a ves- sel to answer his present convenience. Her only fault was that, on account of her de- cayed condition, she was unsafe in a storm.
After assisting for a few days in the building of the house, Gay was dispatched with the little vessel to the Manitou islands, to bring on a party of employes, who, it had been arranged, should come as far as the islands by steamer. Returning, the "Lady" entered the river on the 5th of July. There came in her as passengers Mr. Gay's young wife, then only about fifteen or sixteen years of age, and her fourteen months' old baby, Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, a hired girl named Ann Van Amburg, and several carpenters.
Only the walls of the house had as yet been erected. The building was without roof, floors, doors or windows. A sort of lean-to, or open shed, with a floor of hewn planks, had been built for a temporay kitchen, against one side of the house,in which a cook stove had been set up. A tent was now con- structed of some spare sails, inside the un- finished kitchen, for the accommodation of two married couples and the girl. The single men shifted for themselves as best they could. The company lived in this man-
ner during the remainder of the summer. The house was not finished till the saw-mill was so far completed as to saw lumber with which to finish it.
It was only a day or two after their ar- rival that the women, being alone, were alarmed by the sound of the trampling of horses, followed by a confusion of discord- ant yells, which their excited imagination magnified into the terrific warwhoop of a multitude of bloodthirsty savages hankering after scalps. Mrs. Duncan and Ann cow- ered within the tent. Mrs. Gay, though scarcely less frightened, thought it policy to put on a semblance of bravery. She accord- ingly went out and spoke to the Indians in their own language, a few words of which she had learned while living near Grand Rapids. To the relief of the women, the In- dians proved to be friendly. They had seen the "Lady of the Lake" sailing up the bay, and had come to visit the white man's camp, prompted mainly by curiosity, but had brought for traffic sugar, fish and potatoes, which they were glad to exchange for such commodities as the whites had to dispose of. They were particularly fond of pork, and were especially glad to give any of their own food in exchange for it. The trade with the Indians became afterwards an im- portant source of supply, when the failure of provisions threatened the little colony with famine.
Mrs. Gay was a French woman who not only spoke the English language, but the French as well, and one of the Indian women also spoke French fluently, and in future transactions the two acted as interpreters, Mrs. Gay translating the English into French and the Indian woman the French into Indian, the response being conveyed
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back in a similar manner, through a double translation.
How much of homesickness there was in the little colony we are left in a great meas- ure to conjecture. It may be related on Mrs. ยท Gay's own authority that, as for herself, she time and again sat for hours by the little grass plot at the canoe landing, the only place she could find that had a look of civili- zation, shedding tears over her separation from the associations of her former home. Mrs. Duncan was fortunate enough to pay a visit to the ladies at Old Mission the fall succeeding her arrival at the river, but Mrs. Gay had been here more than two years be- fore she had the pleasure of looking upon the face of a civilized woman other than the two with whom she came.
THE FIRST MILL.
It had been Mr. Boardman's intention to throw a dam across the Boardman river, at some point not far below the lake, and build a saw-mill on that stream. The convenience of residing near the mill had been the main consideration that determined the location of the block-house. After a more thorough exploration of the country, however, and an estimate of the probable difficulties in the way of building, he was led to modify his plan. Mill creek, a small stream that has its source in the hills to the south and west of the bay, and enters the Boardman at the western angle of its bend, seemed to offer facilities for cheaply building a small mill that should answer present purposes. He therefore determined to build on that stream, with the intention of erecting afterwards a larger and more permanent structure on the Boardman. By that plan he would have the
advantage of the smaller mill for making boards, planks and timbers for the larger, thus avoiding the difficulty of obtaining from a distance the lumber it would be neces- sary to have before a large mill could be put into condition for service. There was no place nearer than Manistee where lumber could be obtained, and the "Lady of the Lake" was too small and too unsafe to be relied on for bringing any large quantity such a distance. It was not easy, at that time, to induce vessel masters to enter the bay, which to them was an unexplored sea.
Immediately after the arrival of the car- penters, all hands were set to work upon the mill. The "Lady of the Lake" made a trip to Manistee after plank for the flume. When the frame was ready, all the white men at Old Mission and several Indians came to help raise it. It took three days to get it up. It was finally got into a condition to be set running about the first of October. Then some of the first boards made were used to complete the block-house, which up to that time had remained unfinished.
It was a long walk from the house to the mill. The path from one to the other ran along the southwestern bank of the Board- man. For convenience of reaching it from the house, a foot-bridge of poles was thrown across the river at the canoe landing, near the point now occupied by the East Eighth street bridge.
This mill was afterwards used for a flouring-mill, the first one in Traverse City, and later by J. E. Greilick & Company, of which firm the present J. E. Greilick Com- pany is the successor, for a planing-mill and sash, door and blinds factory. The building has now disappeared, as well as the dam across the creek, and the place oc-
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cupied by the pond is now nearly all built up and occupied with good and comfortable dwellings.
SHIPWRECK.
The mill having been completed, and there no longer being suitable employment for the mechanics who had been engaged upon it, it became necessary to provide for their conveyance home. It was arranged that Mr. Boardman should take them in the "Lady of the Lake" to the Manitous, where they could get passage on one of the steam- ers that were in the habit of touching there. He would then freight his vessel with sup- plies, which he expected to find waiting there, and return.
It was about the Ioth of October that the "Lady of the Lake" sailed on this her last voyage. While waiting for the supplies, which had not arrived after landing her passengers, the little vessel was caught in a storm, driven upon the beach and totally wrecked. The supplies came, but Mr. Boardman searched in vain for means to transport them to Grand Traverse bay. Convinced at last that he could ac- complish nothing by remaining at the islands, he took passage on a steamer for Mackinaw. Here he found means to cross to the mainland, and then set out on foot on his toilsome journey home. The route lay for more than a hundred miles along the beach, most of the way without even a sem- blance of a foot-path, and without a civilized dwelling, except at the missions of Cross Village and Little Traverse, at which he could ask for a night's shelter or a morsel of food.
In the meantime the people at home be-
came alarmed at his long absence. Then in- formation reached them, through the agency of some fishermen, that the vessel was lost. It was late in the season. Navigation would soon be closed. Something must be done, and done quickly. A consultation was held, the result of which was an agreement that Mr. Gay should go to Old Mission, get a boat there, if possible, and endeavor to reach the Manitous and bring away such supplies as he might be able to find.
HAVING A FEAST.
Mrs. Duncan accompanied Mr. Duncan to Old Mission, for a visit to the ladies there. The day after their departure Mrs. Gay and Ann, perhaps not having the fear of famine before their eyes, or perhaps ex- pecting to perish with hunger but believing in the maxim "live while you live," resolved to have one more good dinner. An examin- ation of the larder showed on hand a small supply of musty flour, some sour yeast, a little maple sugar, and fish enough for a meal-not a very promising stock, to be sure, out of which to prepare a tempting dinner. Among the men was one named Joe Mead. Joe had a contract with Mr. Board- man to cut logs for the next winter. To make sure of provisions for his hands, he had scoured the country-that is, he had been to Old Mission, the only settlement in the region, and brought back all the supplies he could get, the chief item of which was a barrel of hogs' heads. It was known, too, that Joe had some saleratus among his stores. A dinner without meat would be lacking, and sour yeast without an alkali would not raise musty flour. The women applied for a hog's head and a bit of saler-
..
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atus, but Joe would give them neither, so they were fain to make the best of it. Lye made of ashes, with the sour yeast, served to make the dough light, and some sugar was converted into syrup; so they had, after all, a respectable dinner for the time and place-pancakes of musty flour, maple syrup and fish.
The meal was scarcely ready, when they were agreably surprised by the arrival of Mr. Boardman, foot-sore and exhausted and glad to be again at home. At table tears of thankfulness ran down his cheeks, as he partook with a keen relish of the homely fare they had unintentionally prepared for him in their efforts to get up a "good dinner."
SUPPLIES OBTAINED BY MR. GAY.
Mr. Gay was successful in his expedition. At Old Mission he obtained the little schooner "Arrow," her owner, A. K. Cowles, with Robert Campbell and several others, volunteering to accompany him to the Manitous. Having loaded with the sup- plies, at the latter place, he returned in safety, reaching Old Mission on Thanks- giving day and the river on the day follow- ing.
It was found that the block-house was too far from the mill for convenience. After Mr. Gay's return from the Manitous he built a small log house for the use of his own family, near the mill. Both families, how- ever, and all the hands, were accommodated in it for a short time, till a small plank house could be built for Mr. and Mrs. Duncan and the men.
On examining the stores brought in by the "Arrow," it was found that a box of
boots and shoes intended for winter use had been left behind. Only one pair of shoes had come, which had been ordered expressly for Mrs. Gay, and these proved to be not a pair, both of them being shaped for one foot. We are not informed how the men managed for the winter, but Mrs. Gay resolved that the women should not go barefoot. Apply- ing to Mr. Boardman, she obtained permis- sion to use some spare belt leather belonging to the machinery of the mill for soles, and some heavy gray cloth found among the stores for vamps and quarters. One of the men made her a last. Then ripping to pieces one of the useless odd shoes to obtain patterns, she made a pair each for Mrs. Duncan, Ann and herself. Though not remarkable for beauty, they proved serv- iceable and comfortable.
And now the little community was shut in for the winter. All connection with the great world outside was severed, except an irregular and uncertain communication by way of Old Mission and Mackinac. Many were the incidents, however, novel, sad, cheerful and ludicrous, that occurred to break the monotony of their hermit-like existence.
Among these incidents a rather exciting one occurred in which Mrs. Gay gave an ex- hibition of her courage that is well worth re- cording. Fur-bearing animals were quite plenty and Mr. Gay was an expert trapper and spent some of his time in trapping. One day while he was out looking after his traps, all of the other men being also away with none in the house except Mrs. Duncan, Ann and Mrs. Gay, an Indian came to the house and, seeing none of the men about, asked where Mike was. Mrs. Gay told him that he was out visiting his traps, whereupon he
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promptly demanded that he should be given something to eat, and on Mrs. Gay inform- ing him that she had nothing for him threat- ened to kill her unless she complied with his his demands. Fortunately there was an axe standing in the house only a few feet away from Mrs. Gay when the Indian made his threat. The threat was no sooner made than Mrs. Gay sprang for the axe and raised it to strike the Indian, who, realizing that his threat to obtain a meal had failed, thought discretion the better part of valor, rushed out of doors and left hurriedly. Afterwards, when Mr. Gay met the Indian and took him to task for his action, he claimed that he did not intend to harm the women and only did it as a joke, which is probably true so far as doing them any personal injury was con- cerned, but he probably thought he could scare them into giving him a dinner, but, when he found that it did not work, was glad to escape with a whole skin.
In the summer of 1848 a small wharf was commenced at the shore of the bay, and a tram-way built for the purpose of trans- porting lumber to it from the mill. The next winter a beginning was made towards get- ting out timber for the construction of the contemplated large mill on the river. Mr. Boardman from time to time varied his busi- ness by getting out shingle bolts, and hem- lock bark for tanning purposes, for the Chi- cago market. He cleared three or four acres of land, and was successful in the cul- tivation of garden vegetables.
The summer of 1849 was marked by sev- eral incidents that added interest to the life of the settlement. A man of the name of Freeman came out and got a considerable quantity of hemlock bark for shipment, em-
ploying Indians to perform most of the labor. The bark, of course, was stripped from trees growing upon government land. There was no one in this remote region whose in- terest it was, or who considered it his duty, to prevent the spoliations of the public prop- erty. The government had found it neces- sary to order a re-survey of the lands in the vicinity of the bay. For some time the sur- veyors' camps were pitched in the vicinity, the settlement being for them a sort of head- quarters and base of supplies.
In the employ of Risdon, one of the surveyors, was Henry Rutherford, after- wards well known in the settlement, having his wife with him. Word was brought to the women at the mill, one evening, that there was a woman in Risdon's camp. The announcement was sufficient to produce a flutter of excitement. Mrs. Duncan had vis- ited the ladies at Old Mission, but Mrs. Gay, since her arrival at the river, had not seen the face of a civilized person of her own sex, except the two who had come with her. Set- ting out alone the next morning, she found her way to the surveyors' camp, and spent the afternoon with Mrs. Rutherford, re- maining to dinner in response to a cordial invitation from the latter. The cloth was spread on the ground, where there was a bit of clean grass, outside the tent, the com- pany sitting round it in oriental fashion. The viands consisted of pork and potatoes, fried, with huckleberries for dessert. The next day Mrs. Rutherford returned the visit, dining with Mrs. Gay. Mrs. Rutherford was partly of Indian blood, nevertheless she was regarded as an important acquisition to the society of the colony.
CHAPTER VIII.
HANNAH, LAY & COMPANY APPEAR ON THE SCENE.
In the month of May, 1850, three enter- prising young men, in the city of Chicago, entered into partnership, under the firm name of Hannah, Lay & Company, for the purpose of carrying on the lumber trade. The names of the partners were Perry Han- nah, Albert Tracy Lay and James Morgan. The firm opened business on the corner of Jackson and Canal streets, buying their stock by the cargo, in the harbor.
Early in 1851 they conceived the project of having, somewhere, a saw-mill of their own for making lumber, thus saving to themselves the profit they were now paying to the manufacturer. Falling in with a man of the name of Curtis, one of the mechanics who had built Mr. Boardman's mill, they obtained from him their first knowledge of the country on Grand Traverse bay. In the meantime the price of lumber had gone down to a very low figure. Captain Boardman found that his mill, as managed by his son, was not profitable. Concluding that it would be wise to dispose of the property he pro- posed to sell it to the new firm.
In the spring Mr. Hannah, accompanied by William Morgan and Captain Boardman, took passage on the little schooner "Venus," bound for the bay, for the purpose of view- ing the property. The "Venus" was com-
manded by Captain Peter Nelson, a Dane by birth, afterwards well known in the Grand Traverse county, for many years keeper of the light-house near Northport. The voyage was tempestuous. After riding out a gale of three days' duration on Lake Michigan, they finally entered the bay and made Old Mission harbor in pleasant weather.
The scene before them, as the vessel rounded to in the harbor, appeared to the tempest-tossed voyagers the loveliest ever beheld by mortal eyes. The sun was just sinking behind the western hills, the white- washed houses of the Indian village gleam- ing brightly in his parting rays, while the tops of the forest trees seemed bathed in a floating mist of gold. On the banks sat a picturesque group of In- dian men, enjoying the fragrant fumes of the pipe. The women were seen engaged in the feminie avocations pertaining to their simple modes of life. The shouting of a company of children in gleeful play, mingled with the sound of tinkling bells from a herd of ponies feeding on the hill-side beyond, made music in harmony with the quiet beauty of the scene. The restless spirit of the white man had not yet brought discon- tent to these simple children of the forest-
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the baleful effects of the destroying "fire -. water" were yet comparatively unknown.
After remaining two hours at Old Mis- sion, the "Venus" set sail for her destina- tion, the head of the west arm of the bay. The night was beautiful, with a glorious moon shining brightly in the heavens. When a mile out, with the vessel's prow turned to- wards the north, and a gentle breeze from the south filling her sails, Captain Nelson, who had been worn out with labor and watching during the gale, gave directions to the man at the helm, wrapped himself in a blanket, and lay down on the quarter deck, to get a little rest. Fatigued as he was, he seemed to have scarcely more than touched the deck, when a loud snoring indicated that he was in a sound sleep. The instructions given to the man at the helm were to hold to a north course till well down past the point of the peninsula, and then call the cap- tain, before tacking to the west. The kind- hearted sailor, knowing how hard a time the captain had had, and desiring to give him all possible opportunity to rest, could see no reason why he should not guide the vessel round the point, as there was but little wind and all looked clear. As he brought her round, at a sufficient distance beyond the point, as he supposed, sailing not more than a mile an hour, the sudden thumping of her bottom on the rocks alarmed all hands, and brought the captain quickly to his feet. Then such a chiding as the poor sailor received for his disobedience of orders is seldom heard in any dialect of the Scandinavian tongue. The vessel lay quiet, but was stuck fast. Sounding revealed the curious fact that her keel rested on a sunken rock, with not less than twenty feet of water all round. On making further soundings from the boat,
which was got out for the purpose, it was found that the rock on which she rested was situated in a pool of clear, deep water, sur- rounded by rocks on all sides,, and that the only way of escape was to draw her back, by means of a kedge anchor, through the nar- row and shallow passage by which she had entered. Several hours of tedious labor were required to liberate her from her peril- ous position. The captain slept no more till his vessel was moored to the slab wharf, at the head of the bay.
The only opening in the forest visible to the party, as they landed, was the narrow clearing which had been made for the tram- road. Following this, Captain Boardman keeping well in advance, they soon arrived at the mill. The mill was not running. On entering the house the hands were all found there, amusing themselves with the game of old sledge. After shaking hands all round, Captain Boardman said to his son : "Horace, how is this, that you are not running the mill?" The reply was, "Father, it was a little rainy today; the boys outside couldn't work very well, and they wanted the men in the mill to make up the number for the game; so I concluded to shut down for a time, in order that they might have a little fun." This easy way of doing business did not suit the energetic old farmer, Captain Boardman, who was now more fully con- vinced that the property had best be sold.
After looking over the premises for a day, a party, consisting of Mr. Hannah, Horace Boardman, Mr. Morgan and a man named Whitcher, with packs of blankets and provisions, set out to explore the country and examine the timber along the Boardman river. At the end of a week Mr. Hannah estimated that they had seen at least a hun-
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dred million feet of pine, on government land open to sale. This was a sufficient in- ducement to the firm to accept Captain Boardman's proposition to sell them his en- tire interest in the property, consisting of the saw-mill, the cheap buildings that had been erected, and about two hundred acres of land, on which the village plat was after- wards located, for forty-five hundred dollars.
The first work done by the new owners was to construct a tram-road from the bend of the Boardman to the mill, so that logs floated down the streami could be hauled out at the bend, and transported over land to the' mill, whence the lumber, as formerly, could be run down to the slab wharf for shipment.
The next task performed, which proved to be one of no small magnitude, was the clearing of the river, so that logs could be floated down from the immense tracts of pine on the upper waters. It was not merely here and there that a fallen tree had to be removed. In some places the stream was so covered and hidden with a mass of fallen trees, and the vegetation which had taken root and was flourishing on their decaying trunks, that no water could be seen. Ten long miles of the channel had to be cleared before the first pine was reached. With an energy and a steadfastness of purpose that ever after marked the transactions of the firm, the work was rushed on till logs could be run down the stream.
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