USA > Michigan > Bay County > Bay City > The County of Bay and Bay City, Mich., embracing a brief sketch of their organization, pioneer history, growth & development, from 1857 to 1876 > Part 2
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This bill meeting the approval of the members for Saginaw and Midland Counties, was duly recommended by the Governor and passed unanimously. The Gover- nor had promised to approve the bill, but it having pass- ed on Friday, too late to be approved by the Governor before he left the Capital, he did not receive the bill until the next week. Messrs. Freeman and Burns left the Capital for home on Saturday evening, well satisfied. When the Governor received the bill for approval, he saw at once its force,-that is, that the bill really established the organization of Bay County-and he sent for Messrs. Jerome and Ashman, as I am inform- ed, and drew their attention to this fact, and wished to know if they desired him to approve the bill. Mr.
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Jerome did not wish the bill approved, and it was not approved, although several other members urged the Governor's promise, that the bill should be approved.
Here it will be proper for me to say, that one great objection raised to our organization was, that it would be a Democratic county. But all joined in the assurance. that this was nothing like a certainty, and that the proba- bility was, that a Republican member from Bay County would be chosen in the person of James Birney, and Mr. Freeman stated that under the circumstances Mr. Birney would be his choice. But, I am told, that instead of . abating or cooling opposition, it rather added to it.
This was the last effort ever made through the Legis- lature toward An organization. Mr. Freeman and his friends now saw that any further effort must be through the courts, based upon the act of 1857, and acted accord- ingly, resolving to fight it through on that line, and the war went on.
Mr. Freeman and Mr. Wright arranged a suit to be sent up to the Supreme Court for a decision. But the suit upon which the question was finally settled had been bona fidaly commenced. I now give the parties, as well as the attorneys, in this suit, and they were all interest- . ed on either side equally, as to the organization of Bay County, and the battle now must be fought on that line. It was Bay County or no Bay County. All parties pre- pared for action, each sure of the case in his favor.
The case was one by the people. The late Dr. Dion Birney was the complainant vs. Daniel Burns. Burns was charged with perjury, said to have been committed June 29th, 1857, at the township of Hampton. The defend- ant filed a plea of abatement, alleging that "the said sup- posed offence, if any was committed, was committed within the jurisdiction of Bay county, and not within
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the jurisdiction of this court-mearing the jurisdiction of the Saginaw county Circuit Court. Upon this plea, issue was taken, and a case was made and certified to the Supreme Court, and was heard at the May term, 1858, at Detroit. Mr. Freeman had staked his reputation as a lawyer upon the result of this suit, and he prepared a full and exhaustive argument in the case, and whoever may read the same, will come to the same conclusion.
A little incident in the passing events of the suit I feel called upon to relate quite fully, as it tends to show the opinion of the legal profession on the question, and the worth and character of the late Hon. Wm. M. Fen- ton, of Flint, perhaps as no other thing could do. And this is my apology.
It was well known that Mr. Freeman did not attend the Supreme Court on the argument of this case, for the reason, that a few days before the case was to come on for argument, Mr. Freeman was confined to his bed with a fever, and was quite as insensible of what was going on in the case, as "Rip Van Winkle," except that the suit was uppermost in his wild and feverish head. Now, Mrs. Freeman comprehended the situation, and knew that Mr. Freeman could not possibly recover to be in Detroit to argue the case, so she sent all the papers with the argument prepared (in writing), to Mr. Fenton, informing him of the situation of her hus - band. Mr. Fenton replied to her, " All shall be attend- ed to," and the result shows that it was. The first time Mr. Fenton met Mr. Freeman after the case was de- cided, he said to him that when he arrived in Detroit, several of the most prominent lawyers (giving names) advised him to drop the suit, and not expose himself to ridicule, but to let Freeman alone, to fall. etc. He inform- ed them that Mr. Freeman was sick and could not be
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there, and Mrs. Freeman had requested him to see to the suit, and he had written her that he would ; that he was of their opinion, till his attention had been called to some of the words and language of the act, and he should soon call theirs to the same points; that he had not gone far in the argument when it was conceded that his pre- mises in the case were correct, and that when he had reached the close of his not very lengthy argument, there was nothing for the Hon. John Moore to reply to with any force.
But allow me here to say, that I am told Mr. Moore did all that he could in the premises.
The case was submitted, and the next morning the court on opening gave the decision, which may be found commencing on page 114 of 5th Michigan Reports, (1st Cooley) sustaining the plea, and thus declaring Bay county organized.
The next morning after the decision was made, the news was received here by the Detroit boat, that being the most reliable and shortest route we had. There was a route by rail, stage and canoe, and sometimes steamboat by the river, in the season, and by skates and sleighs on the ice of the river in its season, but not any road for general travel nearer than East Saginaw on this side the river, and Zilwaukie on the other. There being no cannon here, and no military company with fire arms, with which to sound the glad tidings of the reality of Bay county, the only anvil in the county was pressed into service; and the cannonading would drown, and did drown, the sleepy ideas of some of the sleepy people of this infant city, and send them along the path to pros- perity and to wealth. The news brought the people to their right senses, and the city and county have rushed along the rough track of building up, and burning down, and rebuilding in more substantial style.
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So long as we belonged to Saginaw county, our pro- gress was slow. We might, we would grow, and did, but we were at the mercy of the upper towns, and thus the growth was nothing like rushing business, as was done up the river-like mushrooms, soon reaching their limits, and then ! But our growth has been steady, substantial and rapid, as predicted by all far-seeing busi- . ness men, and hence the joy over our success was univer- sal.
As a city,-I mean Bay City,-from a little hamlet on the Saginaw river, we have superceded Saginaw City, and in a year or two more will be second to none in the valley. And besides, there has sprung up in the imme- diate vicinity of Bay City, the villages of Salzburg, We- nona, Banks and Essexville, all lively, thriving places, the smallest of them larger than Bay City was, when she became the county seat of Bay county; and when the county commenced its career, she could not count more than 1500 inhabitants. At this date we can safely count near 30,000, and our material and financial in- terests have grown in proportion, and from two towns, we have now seventeen organized in the county, in which there are found at this date, at least twelve villages, be- sides the thriving city of Bay City, with her seventeen thousand, inhabitants.
Also, this county has grown from a Board of Super- visors of two only, (Judge Campbell and Mr. Smock) to that of twenty-eight on the present Board. The first Board had but little to do, and never disagreed about the finances of the county. They paid the prosecuting Attorney $50 a year; now he is paid $1,800. Other officers were paid in the same proportion. Sheriff Si- mons moved from the county, and his office became vacant. The proper authorities appointed B. F. Part-
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ridge to fill the vacancy. Immediately after this the Sheriff leased a place for a court room, and prepared a jail. The jail occupied the lots where the Rivet Bros' blacksmith shop now stands, and was swept away in the first great fire in Bay City. The court room building now stands as it did then. We now have a Court House in which all can have a feeling of just pride; a jail second to none in the State, many stately private resi- dences and business places, many very fine churches, several large and elegant hotels, two fine bridges (one being rebuilt of iron), several railroads and fine depots and railroad bridge, machine shops and iron foundries, manufactories, mills, salt blocks and lumber yards, that bespeak the cultivated taste and business abilities of the people of the city and county, and furnish employment for thousands of people and that required an invest- ment of an immense amount of capital. The banks in the county, rank among the best in the State. The farming interests of the county have kept pace with every other branch of business. From 21 farms in Bay county in 1855, the number now runs up to 2,600. All this goes to show the thrift and prosperity of the whole people. As a city, Bay City surpasses all others of the same number of inhabitants in the State, for its safety from fire, and convenience for water, using the Lake Huron water through pipes from the lake to the city; her streets are beautifully laid out and ornament- ed : her street railway is finely furnished, and is a paying institution ; her places of amusement and public library are of the finest class, Westover's Opera House being the best place of the kind in the valley; and the numerous vessels and steamers and tugs in the harbor of Bay City at all times, show her great commer- cial advantages; her custom house reports and clear- ances being greater in number than those of any other city in the whole State of Michigan. No man need be ashamed to register his name in hotels in other cities, as a resident of Bay City.
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Bay County Court House.
BAY COUNTY.
THE GROWTH AND PROGRESS OF BAY COUNTY.
HISTORY of Bay County would be incomplete without, in at least a measure, tracing its growth and progress. While from sparcity of population the county, at its organization, consisted of but the two organized townships of Hampton and Williams, with a county board consisting of but two members, the territory comprised within its boundaries was of sufficient extent, when settled, to create many more, and we find the pro-
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gress and development to have been so great that in 1876 we have seventeen townships and one chartered city, with two village corporations, embraced within the county limits, represented upon the Board of Supervisors by a membership of twenty-eight. The first meeting of the Board of Supervisors was held August 10th, 1858, and was attended by Supervisor Sidney S. Campbell, who was chairman, and represented the township of Hampton, and Supervisor George W. Smock, represent- ing the township of Williams. At the October meeting of that year, the equalized valuation of the county was set down. as follows : Hampton, $486,423.00 ; Wil- liams, $44,166.59-a total for the county of $530,589 .- 59. In the light of subsequent history, we are constrain- ed to think, that the valuation of property was at that time, as high as the law would warrant, in order to make a good showing for the new county. The first incum- bents of county offices in the new county, as shown by the county records, were as follows :
Clerk-THOMAS M. LYON.
Treasurer -- JAMES WATSON. (second Mayor of Bay City. )
Register-THEODORE M. BLIGH.
Sheriff-NATHANIEL WHITTEMORE. .
Judge of Probate-SIDNEY S. CAMPBELL.
Prosecuting Attorney -- JAMES BIRNEY.
Circuit Court Commissioner-WILLIAM L. SHERMAN.
County Surveyor-GUSTAVUS OTTO.
Coroners-GEORGE E. SMITH and WILLIAM C. SPICER.
The above named officers were, in fact, the second officers elected to fill their respective positions, the diffi- culties attending the first efforts to organize the county, having evidently led to a suspension of records. The first election in the county was held on the first Monday of June, 1857, being a special election, under the act
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number 171 of the Session Laws of 1857, section 3, at which time the following board was elected, although the records of the county do not set forth the fact, so far as is now known ;
C'eik -- ELIJAH CATLIN.
Treasurer-JAMES WATSON.
Register-THEODORE M. BLIGH. Sheriff-WILLIAM SIMON.
Judge of Probate-SIDNEY S. CAMPBELL. Prosecuting Attorney-CHESTER H FREEMAN.
Circuit Court Commissioner-STEPHEN P. WRIGHT. Surveyor-BENJAMIN F. PARTRIDGE.
Coroners-WILLIAM C. SPICER and
The term of office of these officers expired subsequent to the general election of 1858, the Supreme Court hav- ing, meantime, decided on the validity of the organiza- tion, the facts concerning which are fully set forth in the commencement of this history.
THE COUNTY BUILDINGS.
In the act incorporating Bay County, it was provided that in January succeeding the organization, the Board of Supervisors should locate the county seat, and fix upon the site for county buildings. Accordingly, the present site of Bay City was selected as the county seat, and two lots of each of the blocks cornering on Centre and Jefferson streets, in the plat of the village, by the Saginaw Bay land company, having therein been set apart for public purposes, the two corners on the east side of Jefferson street, were designated as the sites for the County buildings, and the selection was approved by the proprietors of the village plat. Temporarily, a wooden building was erected on 6th street, between Water and Saginaw streets, which for several years was used as a county jail, meeting with the common fate of
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the neighboring buildings, in the great fire of 1863. Meantime a wooden building belonging to James Fra- ser, one of the enterprising and far seeing founders of the village, situated on the river bank, at the foot of 4th street, was used as a Court House, and by the officers of the County. until 1868, when the present Court House was built on the site before designated, at a cost of about $40,000.
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Bay County Jail.
This building combines all the modern appliances suited for the needs of the County and its officials. After the destruction of the jail in 1863, the Board of Supervisors secured the lease of a wooden building of one story, erected for the purpose by James Fraser, situated on the corner of Monroe and 7th streets, which did good service as a jail, and city lock-up, until 1870, when an elegant modern style, two story, white brick
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building, was erected on the south-east corner of Centre and Jefferson streets, combining a residence for the sheriff, with iron lined jail in the rear, the cells of boiler iron being two stories in height in the center of the main room, with large corridors between the gratings, and the outer walls. The upper story of the building is fitted with accommodations for females, and fraudu- lent debtors; the whole structure is furnished with the most approved modern appliances for the safe and healthy detention of prisoners, pending their trial. Water pipes, and closets are arranged with an eye to the comfort and health of the prisoners, while mea- sures for their proper use of the same, are fully pro- vided for. The jail is esteemed a model one, and both it and the Court House are taken as patterns by sur- rounding counties in similar erections. The cost of the jail buildings and fittings has been $40,000.
THE LEGAL FRATERNITY.
The legal fraternity are well represented in the county,; and its members enjoy a well deserved reputation through- out the State. In 1875 one of its members, the Hon. Isaac Marston, was appointed by his Excellency Gov. Bagley, to the position of Attorney General of the State, to fill a vacancy, winning warm encomiums from his legal brethren throughout the State in his discharge of the duties of that position, and in 1875, Mr. Marston was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of the State. The Hon. Sanford M. Green, now presiding over the Eighteenth Judicial district, in which Bay County is included, is a member of the Bay County Bar, and has served with distinction in the capacity of Judge of the Supreme Court, and for a good portion of his life as a Circuit Judge, while " Green's Practice," is a text book and authority in all the Courts of the land. The Hon.
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S. T. Holmes, who is also a member of the Bay County bar, achieved an enviable reputation as a lawyer and jurist in New York, and at one time represented the district in which he resided, in the Congress of the nation. Bay County Bar now numbers 42 members, including the presiding judge.
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Watson Block.
In February, 1859, the township of Arenac was consti- tuted by the board, from territory theretofore attached to Williams, and Supervisor William Markham was the first representative upon the county board. In March, 1859, the townships of Bangor and Portsmouth were admitted by the board, the former from the territory of Williams, being first represented by Scott W. Sayles, the latter taken from the territory of Hampton, sending as its first
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representative, Appleton Stevens, who subsequently. in 1874 and 1875, served, for two terms, honorably, as Mayor of Bay City, and in the State Legislature, as State Senator, for two terms. The census of the year 1860 gave to Bay County a population of 3,164. No more additions were made of new townships for several years, but, in 1865, a portion of Hampton being first in- corporated a village, and then, by act of the Legislature, Bay City receiving a charter, each of her three wards be- came entitled to representatives on the Board of Super- visors, and George W. Hotchkiss, from the first, Alex- ander M. Johnson, from the second, and John McDer- mot from the third ward, were admitted to seats in the councils of the county. In this year the equalized valua- tion of property, gave the city of Bay City $633,000 and the townships $7[7,000, a total of $1,350,000. The war of the rebellion had, at this time, shown its influ- ence in giving a fictitious value to property, and, while the assessments had been made as low as was possible, in order to avoid an undue apportionment to Bay County of its proportion of the expenses of the State, as deter- mined by the State Board of Equalization, it is unques- tionable that, in the view of the Supervisors of Bay County, the real estate of the county was worth, in market, seven times the amount of the valuation, or $9,- 550,000. In considering the valuation of 1876, after a financial revulsion and depression of three years dura- tion, in which a great shrinkage in ideas of value has taken place, this fact will become worthy of notice.
In 1867, by act of the Legislature, the township of Beaver was organized out of the territory of Williams, and Levi Willard was added to the Board of Supervi- sors. In January, 1868, by act of the Board of Super- visors, the township of Kawkawlin was organized out of the territory of Bangor, and Alexander Beard was ad-
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mitted to the board, as its first representative. In 1869, the Legislature took another slice from Bangor, and the new township of Monitor sent Supervisor William H. Needham as its first representative. In 1870 Arenac, by order of the Board of Supervisors, gave the township of Au Gres, which sent W. R. Bates (subsequently county representative in the Legislature) to represent her. The census of this year gave the population of the county at 15,900. In the same year Arenac and Beaver contribu-
Hon. James Shearer's Residence.
ted territory to form the township of Clayton, whose first representative was William Smith. In 1873 a division of Portsmouth was decided upon, and Henry F. Shuler was duly accredited as the supervisor of the new town of Merritt. In 1873 the towns of Pinconning, Standish, and Deep River were organized by act of the Legislature, and Supervisors Joseph U. Meech, of Pinconning, Menzo R. Havens, of Standish, and John Bullock, of Deep River, became members of the Board of Supervi- sors. In 1874 the townships of Mason and Moffat were
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organized by the board, the former sending Henry M . Smith, and the latter Alvin N. Culver, as their first representatives. The township of Frazer was organized by act of the Legislature, in 1875, and William Michie became its first representative. The charter of Bay City having been amended in 1867, by the addition of two wards, the fourth ward sent John O. Woolson, and the fifth ward sent William Gordon as their first repre- sentatives. The boundaries of the city being again en- larged in 1873, by the addition of what had been known as the village of Portsmouth, the sixth and seventh wards of the city became entitled to representation, and the former sent George Lewis, the latter Charles Stevens, as their representatives. The amended city charter of 1867, giving an increased representation to the city upon the county board, City. Recorder N. Whittemore and City Controller Robert Mckinney became members of the county legislature, and the city representation was again increased in 1875, by the addition of City Attor- ney Winsor Scofield, and City Treasurer Charles S. Braddock to that body. The Board of Supervisors of Bay County therefore, in 1876, has increased to twenty- eight members, representing seventeen townships, and one city, whose aggregate population has increased from 3,164, in 1860, to 24,832, in 1874, the date of the last authentic census, which figures may, no doubt, at this date, be increased by at least 6,000, making a popula- tion in 1876, for the entire county, of 30,000 souls. The development of the county since its organization has been largely agricultural, although no data exists by which its progress in this direction can be even approxi- mately given with any degree of correctness. The manufacturing interests of the county embrace, in 1876, fifty-four saw and shingle mills, of an average yearly capacity of four hundred million feet production; ten
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planing mills; one tub and pail factory; one oar factory; one lock factory; four foundries and machine shops; and thirty salt blocks, mostly connected with the saw mills, and manufacturing salt by steam from the same, with a yearly capacity of 600,000 barrels of salt; a large number of cooper shops, for supplying barrels for the salt; two ship yards, and a variety of other industries, contingent upon the developments above enumerated.
HARD
Jennison Block.
Coal has been discovered in the townships of Deep River, Standish and Pinconning, and a shaft is being sunk at the former place to test its quality and value. In addi- tion to the coal interests at Deep River, a shaft has been sunk on the flats of the Rifle river, by the Eureka Coal Co., which has taken out a few tons of coal from a vein of nine feet depth, at a point twenty feet from the surface, and have prospected to a further depth of fifty feet, pass- ing through a vein of eleven feet in thickness, an analy-
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sis of which, shows it to be of a superior quality of can- nel coal. This company has, for the present, suspended operations, on account of the stringency of the times.
Plaster or gypsum is known to exist in large quantities in town twenty, north, township of Au Gres, but no endeavor has yet been made to develop it. The extent of the manufactured products in timber, lumber and salt will be found in tabulated statistics in another part of this work.
The territory of Bay County comprises all that por- tion of the peninsula, lying between, and including towns thirteen north and twenty north, or the length of eight townships, its breadth being the five townships in- cluded between ranges three and seven east. The county forms a part of the Eighth Congressional district, the Twenty-fourth Senatorial district, the Eighteenth Judi- cial district, and by the last apportionment, has become entitled to two representatives in the State Legislature. The value of property, real and personal, in the county, as equalized by the Board of Supervisors at the June session, 1876, is $3,186,768, representing an actual mar- ket value of probably $19,000,000, and the bonded . indebtedness of the county at this time is $45,199.88, the last of which is payable in 1888. The amount of taxes for State and County purposes authorized to be levied in 1875 was $70,540, of which $38,546 was ap- portioned to Bay City.
UNINCORPORATED VILLAGES.
The principal uuincorporated villages of the county are as follows : Salzburg, Pine River, Standish, Deep River, Kawkawlin, Sterling, Culver, Skinner, Pincon- ning, Saganin and Essexville. These are all prosperons centres of growth and enterprise, having postoffice facili- ties, and in many cases, excellent school buildings in con-
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