USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. I > Part 47
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In September, 1883. application was made to the council of Port Huron for a new thirty year franchise, granting permission to lay a track upon Elk street instead of Stone street, and also a track on Court street from Military street east to the Port Huron & Northwestern Rail- way station. This was granted as was also a franchise by Fort Gratiot village on Elk street and Elmwood avenue. With a foresight quite re- markable permission was asked and obtained to operate cars by electrie power. although there was then no electric railway in commercial oper- ation in the world. The old tracks were changed to the new locations but the branch on Court street was not constructed.
It was not until 1886 that this permission was utilized. In August of that year the Port Huron Electric Railway Company was organized and bought out the rights and franchises of the other company, obtained new franchises, and proceeded to install an electric system. This was the first established street railway in Michigan to use electrie motive power. In the same year, 1886, a short line was built on Dix avenue. Detroit, and operated for a few months. Prior to this, and the inducing motive to the adoption of electricity here, there was installed in Windsor
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an electric traction system. The Port Huron company was certainly a pioneer in this line and it is probably the second street car line on this continent that can show a continuous use of electricity as motive power from as early a time as the fall of 1886.
The motors were about seven horsepower and set in the middle of the car, on the floor, connecting with the axles through cog wheels. A trolley running on top of the wire strung over the track communicated the current to the motor. Many were the troubles and difficulties which these early cars met and subdued. The line was extended up Gratiot avenue to the beaches and was very popular.
In 1892 the Grand Trunk had completed the tunnel under St. Clair river, and located its station at Twenty-fourth street. It was felt that street railway connection should be made there, and that the entire sys- tem should be remodeled to include the improvements made since 1886. Accordingly a new company, the City Electric Railway Company, was organized in May. 1892, which bought out the older company, rebuilt the entire road, extended it to the tunnel station, and installed the most modern equipment. Subsequently, other extensions were made down Military street, and out Lapeer avenue, and farther up Gratiot avenue, and in 1900 all the interests were acquired by the Detroit United Rail- way. Very few cities of the size of Port Huron have enjoyed as good street railway service.
RIVER BOAT LINES
One mode of transportation which has always been of much im- portance to the people of this county, was the lines of river boats be- tween Port Huron and Detroit, and between Port Huron and Algonac. The first steamboat to ply between Detroit and St. Clair river was the "Argo," whose hull was built of two immense logs hollowed out, and then fastened together with a deck upon which was the small engine which operated the side wheels. Its speed was at the rate of about two miles per hour. This boat was owned and operated by Captain John Burtis, of Detroit, who used her also as a ferry between Detroit and Windsor. The "Argo" was very cranky, and required its load to be carefully distributed. The late General Friend Palmer relates that one occasion the "Argo" was bringing Thomas Palmer, who was a man of generous proportions and weight, up to his property at St. Clair. The movements of Palmer around the boat had so great an effect that the captain was compelled to frequently call out, "Trim ship, Uncle Tom." The boat was not large enough to carry along from Detroit all the fuel she would need to get to St. Clair, and it was her custom, in coming up via the North channel, which was the one in ordinary use at that time, to stop at Stromness Island and lay in another supply of wood. The dimensions of the boat were forty two feet in length, nine feet in breadth, and she had a capacity of nine tons.
The schooner "Emily," built in 1828, and owned by Howard & Wad- hams, had been used to carry lumber from Clyde Mills, on Black river, and supplies back, but the first steamer to run to Black river was the "General Gratiot," which was built in Ohio in 1831, and was owned by
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F. P. Browning, who built the first steam saw-mill at Port Huron in 1833. Her first captain was Arthur Edwards, who was succeeded in 1833 by Captain John Clark, who afterwards settled up on a large farm in East China township and was a prominent man in the county for many years.
In 1833 the steamer "General Brady" was also put on the river route. She had a tonnage of sixty-five tons, while the "General Gratiot" was eredited with forty-five tons.
The "Erie," of 149 tons, built in 1835, and owned chiefly by James Abbott, of Detroit, was placed upon the river route in 1836, and for some years maintained the reputation of being the fastest boat on the lakes, and was sunk by the ice in Lake St. Clair in the spring of 1842.
During the season of 1837 the "General Gratiot." Captain S. T. Hanson, and the "Erie," Captain Henry Ballard, left Port Huron for Detroit alternate mornings, going down one day and returning the next.
In 1840 the steamer "Huron," of 139 tons, built by the Wards at Marine City in 1839, was placed upon the route and commanded by Captain Eber B. Ward, who afterwards became the richest man of his time in Michigan. At this time business was brisk and the route was very profitable. The Wards continued to build new and larger boats for the lake and river service, and regarded the river route especially as one which belonged exclusively to them. From time to time various intruders appeared to contest this elaim, but with their larger resources and resourcefulness they were able to drive out all competitiors. In 1851 the "Pearl" and "Ruby," crack steamers of 251 tons each, ap- peared, and from their speed and beautiful fittings, aroused great en- thusiasm. The village plat of Ruby in the township of Clyde was named by Mr. John Beard from one of these boats. Two years later appeared the steamer "Canadian," one of their strongest rivals, and as the Wards, by their arbitrary methods, had created considerable enmity along the river, it was only by reducing the passenger fare to practically nothing, and by similar tactics in other directions, that they were able to maintain control of the route.
Later came the "Forester," the "Forest Queen," the "Dart." and in the sixties the "Reindeer" and "Evening Star," in 1870 the "Milton D. Ward." The White Star Line was organized and now operates the "City of Toledo," "Tashmoo" and "Owana," steamers admirably fitted for the business. At different times for short periods competition has existed, but the White Star Line has for thirty years enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the Detroit-St. Clair river business. In 1894 Mr. Crochet McElroy, the owner of the popular river boat, "Mary." planned and had constructed the steamer "Unique," which was intended to be very speedy, and it was expected would absorb a large part of the Port Huron- Detroit traffic. She failed however to meet expectations and after several accidents was withdrawn from the route, with great loss to her owners.
In the late sixties in order to accommodate the people along the St. Clair river, a small steamer was put on, at first running only from Marine City to Port Huron, later the route was extended to Algonac. In 1870 the "Belle of Oshkosh" was on. In 1871 the "Carrie H. Blood" was put on the line and operated for about ten years, then came the "Agnes" for a short time, followed by the "Mary," the best boat ever
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on the Port Huron-Algonac line, with Captain S. H. Burnham as master and Spain E. Pearce as clerk, the combination was a favorite one along the river, until the electric line so absorbed the business that the steamer line was no longer profitable.
FERRIES
One of the first acts of the first county court held in St. Clair county, in January, 1822, was to license James Fulton to maintain a ferry across Pine river. The situation was much the same as the highways. The community at large could not afford to build a bridge, and the traffic itself paid for the ferry. The rates authorized to be charged were: Each person, six and one-quarter cents; man and horse, nine cents; horse and carriage, one shilling. Two years later the same kind of license was granted to Jean B. Desnover to maintain a ferry across Black river, and the following year Louis Chortier was licensed to maintain a ferry across Belle river. This completed the list of official ferries entirely within the county and they were maintained until bridges were built. In the summer of 1831 floating bridges were built by the county across both Pine and Belle rivers, and in 1833 the government completed the military road from Detroit to Fort Gratiot and built a bridge across Black river, and ferries, officially licensed. ceased to exist.
There was, however, a growing traffic between Canada and Michigan, which could be transported only by boat, and with a view of nominal regulation, but actual monopoly. in March, 1837, application was made to the legislature, and an act was passed giving to Norman Nash and Nicholas Ayrault, the right to keep and maintain a ferry across St. Clair river near the mouth of Black river.
Rev .. or Dr. Nash, for he was called by both titles, was born in Elling- ton, Conn., November 17, 1790. After being ordained as an Episcopal minister, he went, in 1825, as a missionary to the Indians at Green Bay, and taught the Menominee Indians. In 1836 he was appointed by Presi- dent Jackson, missionary and teacher to the Indians near Port Huron. He came to Port Huron and built a house near where the Huron House stood later, the lower part of which was one large room which he used as a school room, and the upper part he used for living purposes. Al- though he was to receive a salary of $400. owing to some complication with the Indian agent and the Episcopal bishop he never received any. Having obtained some knowledge of medicine, he was often called on in default of regular physicians, and thus earned the title of doctor. In the teaching of the Indians he prepared a special alphabet and is said to have had some books printed in that language.
After the Indian reservation was sold he remained in Port Huron, buying the property just south of the Episcopal church, on Sixth street, where he built a house and lived during the remainder of his life. He never married. and although he never had a regular parish he used to preach regularly for many years at Clyde Mills, Fort Gratiot and other places. He was a notable man in many respects, possessed the universal love and respect of the community, and died November 11, 1870, after a residence in Port Huron of more than thirty-five years.
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Nicholas Ayrault was a merchant in Livingston county, New York, and became interested in the Huron Land Company and came to Port Huron in 1836 to look after that company 's interests. He remained here a few years and then returned to New York. While here, about 1840, in connection with Edgar Jenkins, sutler at the fort, he built a water- power saw-mill on MeNiel ereek, and, because of the interests he repre- sented, was a man of considerable importance in the community.
Although Nash and Ayrault were the first to obtain legislative sanc- tion for their ferry, they were not the first to eonduet the business. William Eveland eame from Canada in 1833 and not long after began to operate the first ferry between the localities now known as Port Huron and Sarnia. A man by the name of Hiteheock is also said to have oper- ated a ferry for a time until he was driven out by Malcolm Cameron, the founder of Sarnia, who had succeeded to the rights of Nash, and for some time kept out competitors by his claims of special rights. Under him, the carrying of passengers and light freight was by row boats. For teams and heavy freight he used a scow rigged with a sail, which obviously could be used only under favorable conditions. Cameron was sueceeded by Orrin Davenport, who introduced a startling innovation. A sort of catamaran was construeted and upon a platform two Indian ponies attached to a sweep furnished the power, the steering being done by a large oar hung on a pivot. Later Davenport bought the steamer "United," using it as a ferry in the winter time, and in towing in the summer.
In 1851, Captain James Moffatt, who had been in Davenport's em- ploy, started a ferry of his own, and together with a Mr. Curtis built a ferry whose power was furnished by four horses. They managed this ferry so well as to drive out their competitiors. A little later Captain Moffatt and Mr. Broekway built the small steamer "Union," and in 1859 the "Sarnia," and then eame the boats now in operation.
The license to Nash and Ayrault allowed eighteen and three-quarter cents for each passenger during the months from November to April, and one shilling during the remainder of the year, and ninety-three and three-quarter eents and sixty-two and one-half cents during the respec- tive seasons, for a single horse and carriage, but it is doubtful if these rates were long or ever in actual use.
The same legislature which gave the license to Nash and Ayrault, gave a similar one, at St. Clair, to Thomas Palmer, James MeClannan and David Loekwood. MeClannan, who had bought in 1836 a consider- able interest in St. Clair (Palmer) real estate, left after the panie of 1837, and it is not known that this ferry lieense was ever used, and it soon became known that the business was open to everybody. For many years rowboats and sailboats were the only kind in use, until the Canada Southern Railroad was built, when a steamboat was put on.
Vol. I-26
CHAPTER XXVI
SHIPPING
INDIAN AND FRENCH CRAFT-ENGLISH AND AMERICAN VESSELS-SHIP BUILDING IN ST. CLAIR COUNTY-PASSENGER TRAFFIC AND FREIGHT BUSINESS-BOATS BUILT IN MARINE CITY, PORT HURON, ST. CLAIR, ALGONAC, MARYSVILLE, LAKEPORT, FAIR HAVEN, FORT GRATIOT, BURTCHVILLE, CHINA, COTTRELLVILLE, HERSON'S ISLE AND CLAY, AND ON ST. CLAIR RIVER AND SWAN CREEK.
It is doubtful if any county bordering upon any one of the Great Lakes was as much interested as St. Clair county in the making and operating of wooden boats, but when iron and steel came to displace wood, the supremacy of St. Clair county began to disappear.
INDIAN AND FRENCH CRAFT
For centuries the waters of these lakes and rivers were troubled by no boat larger than the Indian eanoe. generally only large enough to hold two or three persons, and even long after the French and English eame, the canoe was practically the only means of transport and com- munication. The Huron Indians brought to Quebec their loads of furs in their birch-bark canoes, and it was by the same means that the first priests and missionaries poled their way. with great fatigue and suffer- ing, up the rapid and rocky Ottawa. or portaged around the falls and rapids.
The Lake Indians had found at hand in the bark of the native birch an ideal material for their purposes. Light and strong, it made a boat which could easily be carried by one man whenever a portage was neees- sary, and would carry two men and several hundred pounds of furs or other freight. Under the French rule. when the system of lieensing traders with the Indians was in vogue, there was specified in the lieense the number of people and of canoe loads which might be taken to the Indians by each trader.
The Iroquois Indians of New York, and the other eastern and south- ern Indians, were not so fortunate in their eanoe material. In general these boats were dugouts, or constructed of logs cut or burned hollow, but in lightness and ease of motion they could not compare with the birch-bark canoe of the Chippewa or Huron.
The French readily adapted themselves to the advantages and re-
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strietions of the canoe, and their voyageurs became as expert in their use as the Indians themselves. It was a favorite amusement of Governor Cass to be rowed by Freneh boatmen on his official trips, in faet his expeditions to the Northwest, in 1820 and later years, were accomplished in canoes. One drawback to the eanoe was the case with which it eap- sized and for that reason its users were required to keep near shore and could not venture out in wind or wave.
The French introduced in use a larger boat called batteau, rowed with oars and calculated to carry larger loads.
The first sailing vessel west of Niagara was the "Griffon," built by La Salle and launched in 1679. After a successful trip to Lake Michigan she was loaded with furs and started on her return, and was never again heard of, to the great loss and disheartening of her owner.
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN VESSELS
When the English came into control of the lakes and established a line of forts and posts, it became necessary to create a small fleet to carry the supplies and munitions to these various points, and a number of small sloops came into being to meet this demand. Thus we find in a return of the British vessels in the lakes in 1783, that they possessed the "Gage," of 114 tons, built in 1772; the "Dunmore," built in the same year, of 70 tons; the "Wyandot," of 37 tons, and in addition an unnamed sloop built at Maekinae.
The "Hope," of 70 tons; the "Faith," of 37 tons, and the "An- geliea," of 59 tons, were all lost in a storm of November, 1783, and the "Welcome," of 45 tons, was lost in 1781.
When the Americans, in 1796, came into possession of the posts on the Great Lakes, there was little need of boats to transport men or mer- chandise, and it was not until after the War of 1812 that American shipping on the lakes eame into existence.
SHIP BUILDING IN ST. CLAIR COUNTY
The county of St. Clair, with its large and convenient supply of oak and other timber suitable for ship building, was well adapted for the building of boats, but there was no demand. The government built Fort Gratiot in 1814 and, in 1818, built near the fort the first boat ever con- strueted in St. Clair county, the "Split Log" by name. Intended as a revenue cutter, it was thirty-four feet in length, with nine foot beam, and of thirty-four tons. This was the forerunner of a large fleet of all kinds and sizes, from the small seow or launch of a few tons to the large and palatial passenger steamers and modern freighters.
In 1824. Samuel Ward, of Newport, as it was then ealled, built the "St. Clair," with enterprise far in advance of the ideas of the time, with the intention of establishing a line to carry freight from the lakes to the Atlantic coast via the Erie canal. The time was not ripe and the trip which Captain Ward made in his own boat to New York and return was not repeated.
The Ward fleet, however, grew both in number and size until it was
.
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second to none on the lakes. Eber B. Ward became associated with his uncle, Samuel, and the combination was a very strong one. Profits gen- erally were good and sometimes extremely good. When the Michigan Central Railroad was completed to New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan, the Wards made a contract to deliver passengers and freight from that terminal to Chicago and Milwaukee and they put two boats upon the route. One of them was the "Pacific," built in 1848, at a cost of $40,- 000, which was put on the route in her second year, during which she cleared for her owners $45,000, with the companion boat doing equally well.
During a period of about twelve years, beginning with 1845, the Wards turned out a large number of first-class boats, most of them side- wheel passenger steamers. It was during that period that they came to feel that the route from Port Huron to Detroit belonged to them, and that anyone daring to put another boat on the line was an impudent trespasser. Rivalry at times grew very intense and it is said that occasionally travelers were not only given passage free, but good sub- stantial meals in addition.
In those days dwellers along the river had their favorite steamer. and took great pride in the speed and appearance of their favorites. The captain was an autocrat, and if of a courteous and obliging dis- position, soon acquired a widespread favorable reputation. Captain John Clarke, long a resident of East China, commanded the steamer "General Gratiot" from 1833 to 1835, and because of his manner and ability acquired a great and lasting popularity through the county. When the screw propeller came into use its extension on the lakes was slow, as was the idea that it would be found profitable to build boats adapted for freight alone. When Wesley Truesdail. of St. Clair. in 1846, built the "Goliath," of 279 tons, as an exclusively freight pro- peller, he was derided as a visionary, but the magnificent freighters of today with their freight capacity of 12,000 tous or more, passing daily during the season through the river, prove conclusively that Mr. Trues- dail was merely in advance of his contemporaries.
The rapid building of railroads during the decade from 1850 to 1860, had a serious and depressing effect upon the lake marine. The steamer from Buffalo to Chicago could not compete in time and expense with the iron horse, and many boats were dismantled or taken to the coast.
PASSENGER TRAFFIC AND FREIGHT BUSINESS
During the high tide of passenger traffic the steamboats were finely fitted up, first rate meals were served and a fine band of music was generally carried. The trip from Buffalo to Chicago was made in three or four days. In 1847, Thurlow Weed made this trip, and passing through St. Clair river, was greatly struck with the beauty of the land- scape and he noticed at St. Clair "the gigantic framework of a steamer building by Captain Walker, that is to be the leviathan of the lakes." This was the "Empire State," launched in 1848, and was indeed a monster for the time, as it had a measured tonnage of 1,691 tons. It
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perhaps was too large for the traffic and the facilities, as within a few years it was turned into a drydock at Buffalo.
During all this period and for many years afterward wood was the only fuel used on the steamers, and St. Clair river was lined with wood docks, evidence of which in many cases still remain. This demand furnished a ready market at a good price, for the hardwood timber, and many acres within the county were eleared in the process of entting wood for the boats.
When the passenger business declined, the freight business began to increase and this demanded a change in the character of the boats. Sailing vessels became more numerous, and a new creation came into existence, the steam tug, a boat of small size, but large power, adapted to towing the sailing vessels into and out of harbors, or through narrow channels, or against adverse winds or eurrents. In those days the St. Clair river was the theater of much of their operations, and it was a striking sight to see a small sturdy tug in advance pulling up the river a long line of six or seven vessels, each several times larger than itself, some of them perhaps with sails set.
The business was profitable and the rivalry between the tags or lines of tugs grew to be very great, and as many of the strongest and fastest ones were owned in Port Huron or other places in the county, their respective merits formed the subject of frequent and often acrimonious discussion along the water front, or during the winter at the meeting places of the sailors.
The following constitutes a list as complete as it is now possible to make of all the boats which have been constructed in St. Clair county, with the date and place of building.
BOATS BUILT IN MARINE CITY
1824-Schooner Sam Ward, 27 tons; Schooner St. Clair, 28 tons, sunk 1855.
1825-Schooner Isaac E. Pomeroy, 54 tons.
1827-Sehooner Grampus, 30 tons.
1830-Schooner Marshal Ney, 73 tons; Schooner Albatross, 20 tons. 1833-Schooner Elizabeth Ward, 65 tons; capsized 1845.
1835-Schooner General Harrison, 115 tons.
1838-Schooner Trader, 19 tons.
1839-Steamboat Hnron, 147 tons, dismantled 1848; Schooner Eagle, 29 tons; Steamboat Detroit, 350 tons; sunk Saginaw bay, 1854, collision with Nneleus.
1842-Schooner Vermont, 67 tons; lost Grand Haven, 1855.
1843-Steamboat Champion, 266 tons; broken up.
1845-Steamboat Oregon, 781 tons; burned at Chicago in 1849.
1846-Steamboat Detroit, 352 tons; made into barge.
1846-Schooner Mary Ann Larned, 79 tons.
1847-Schooner Samuel Ward, 433 tons; made into barge.
1848-Steamboat Franklin Moore, 192 tons; broken up in 1862; Steamboat Pacific, 462 tons; lost in Lake Michigan in 1867.
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1849-Steamboat Atlantic, 1,155 tons; sunk at Long Point by col- lision, 1852, with Propeller Ogdensburg, 250 lives lost.
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