USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 68
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The trails themselves served the military and the early settlers a useful pur- pose in transportation. The ponies which abounded in the woods were very serviceable for traveling through the country on these narrow pathways. It is recorded that in March, 1818, shoes for the troops were sent by pack horses from Detroit to Green Bay, and winter carriage for the upper country was conducted by dog trains.
THE GENESIS OF ROAD BUILDING
The first roads were along the river and lake, made for the convenience of settlers whose narrow farms fronted on the water. The first inland road in this part of Michigan was started as early as 1782, to conneet Detroit with the Mora- . vian settlement on the Huron (now Clinton) river, a much shorter route than the roundabout shore line. But the first comprehensive plan of road building was inaugurated by Governor Cass in 1821. The territory had suffered much from the misrepresentations of government surveyors, who in 1815 were sent here with a view of locating bounty land for soldiers. They were instructed to survey the land from the southern boundary northward for a distance of fifty miles. Their report described the country as an unbroken series of tamarack swamps, bogs and sand barrens, "with not more than one aere in a hundred, and probably not more than one in a thousand, fit for cultivation." As a result of this and other similar reports, the bounty lands were located farther west and south, and the settlement of Michigan was greatly retarded.
Governor Cass, knew better than almost anyone else, the falsity of these reports, for he had traversed the country from the Ohio River to Saginaw Bay on the north, and from Detroit to Lake Michigan on the west. He had helped cut the army path through the wilderness from Urbana, Ohio, to Detroit. He had gone over one of the Indian trails from Detroit to Saginaw, and in an early day had traversed the Indian trail that led from Detroit to Fort Dearborn. James Abbott and his bride, Sarah Whistler, were married in Chicago in 180S and returned overland to Detroit over this trail.
With a view to counteraeting the effeet of the damaging reports that had been
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made, and of retaining in Michigan some of the migration that was then setting westward from New England and New York, he applied to the United States Government for an appropriation of lands for the opening of roads through the territory. His efforts were ably supported by William Woodbridge, territorial secretary, acting governor during the frequent absence of Cass from Detroit, and the first delegate in Congress from the territory. Woodbridge, like Cass, had come overland from Marietta, Ohio, by way of Urbana and the military path. It was through their joint efforts that the long lines of communication, radiating from Detroit were commenced.
The official history of these was briefly as follows: In 1824 Congress appro- priated $20,000 for the construction of the road from the foot of the Miami [Mau- mee] Rapids at Perrysburgh to Detroit. In 1827 a like sum was appropriated for the road from Detroit to Chicago. The same year appropriations were made for a road from Detroit to Saginaw Bay and one from Detroit to Fort Gratiot. In 1833 Congress made appropriations for the road from Detroit through Shia- wassee County to the mouth of Grand River and one from La Plaisance Bay to the Chicago Road.
MODES OF TRAVEL
The modes of travel in the early days were almost as varied as the routes. There are numerous records of business or official journeys from Detroit to New York, Philadelphia and Washington on horseback. It was not always the case that "when two get to horse one must ride behind." For trips across the state the "ride and tie" method was sometimes used. In such cases the first tra- veler would ride a few miles, then tie the horse and go ahead on foot. The second traveler would start on foot, and when he reached the horse would mount, ride a few miles past the first, then tic again and walk on. This lap streak method of making a journey would obviously not answer in territory where there was danger from horse thieves or hostile Indians. For local travel through the French period, and even later, the two-wheeled cart for summer and the light sleigh for winter were about the only vehicles. As late as 1822 there was only one four- wheeled wagon in the city, and it was a dozen years later than that before the two seated carriage became a common sight. In1815 Governor Cass brought his family from Ohio in a carriage, but as there was but little occasion for so elegant a turnout for pleasure riding it was sold and turned to more useful purpose as a hack.
THE STAGE COACH
The era of the stage coach about which much of the excitment and romance of travel in the middle of the Nineteenth Century centered, commenced in June, 1822, when a regular route was established between Detroit and Mt. Clemens. It left Detroit after the arrival of the steamboat from Buffalo, at whatever hour that chanced to be. A regular line to Ohio towns started five years later. In winter when the boats were not running the line across Canada was an important link in travel. Stages leaving Niagara Monday morning were due in Sandwich Saturday morning. The taverns along the line at which regular stops were made attained considerable fame among travelers. One of them was widely known as "The Goose Tavern," for the reason that the piece de resistance for the hot sup- per was always a roasted goose. Time for this trip was ultimately reduced to four days, fare five cents a mile, which was a very common rate for stage travel.
Vol. 1-43
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By 1832 the system was well established and was quite comprehensive, as is shown by the following announcement made by Benjamin Woodworth: "The Sandusky Line, passing through Monroe and Maumee, leaves the hotel every evening at six o'clock. The St. Joseph line passing through Ypsilanti, Saline, Clinton, Jonesville, White Pigeon, Mottville and Niles leaves the hotel every morning at seven o'clock during the summer season and three times a week dur- ing the winter season. A branch of this line leaves Ypsilanti immediately after its arrival for Ann Arbor, Jacksonburgh and Calhoun. The Ann Arbor line, passing through Pekin, Plymouth and Panama, leaves the hotel three times a week.
"The Pontiac line leaves daily, and a branch three times a week passes through Rochester, Stony Creek and Romeo; and also a line to Mt. Clemens three times a week. A daily extra will also leave for Ypsilanti at 12 o'clock. As almost all the above routes are regular mail routes, the traveling public may depend upon a safe and speedy conveyance. Extra carriages will be furnished at all times for any part of the country."
The hotel referred to was "Unele Ben" Woodworth's Steamboat Hotel at the northeast corner of Woodbridge and Randolph Streets. It was headquar- ters for passengers by sail vessel and steamboat, the location of the offices of all the stage lines, and the scene of the most important social functions of the tine. Woodworth built his first hotel here in 1812, replaced it by a larger one in 1818, and it continued in operation till 1848 when it was burned down.
The stage continued to be one of the principal means of travel till the rail- roads began to cover the same routes. It then fell off rapidly, and the last of the regular lines went out of existence in 1873. It was an eminently social mode of travel but not always comfortable. In winter the passengers suffered from cold, and in spring and fall they had sometimes to work their passage by helping to extricate the coach from the mire.
The first regular line of street omnibuses in Detroit was started in 1843. The first regular route was from the Michigan Exchange out Jefferson Avenue to Hamtramck, covering part of the same route as that subsequently taken by the first motor-bus line in July, 1920. The bus line established in 1843 and an- other in 1850 were both short lived. But in 1853 a line was established, prede- eessor of the Detroit Omnibus Company, which continued in the passenger busi- ness till a very recent date. In 1883 it took over the coupes and express business of the Detroit Carriage and Express Company. Its baggage express business is still in operation.
THE FIRST WATER CRAFT
To the Indian and the fur trader the birch bark canoe was one of the first essentials of existence. From the mouth of the Ottawa River, up that stream to its sources, through Georgian Bay, the Straits of Mackinac and the Sault, along the shores of all the Great Lakes, and up every stream that empties into them, this graceful craft made its way. It furnished the quickest method of travel, the most available means of transporting furs and trading stores. It was easy of propulsion and a light weight for the portages. In its smaller forms it was readily propelled by a single paddle and easily carried by two men. The longer craft were six feet wide and thirty-five or more feet in length. One of this type would carry fifty or sixty packs of furs of 100 pounds each, besides the
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necessary provision for a crew of eight men. They were used not only by the Indians in their wanderings, but by the French missionaries and traders and later by the American explorers. It was in craft of this kind that Governor Cass and his party made their famous voyage of exploration to the Upper Lakes in 1820. In the party with the Governor were his distinguished fellow-townsmen Henry R. Schoolcraft, Charles C. Trowbridge, and six others, ten Canadian voyagers, seven United States soldiers, ten Indians, an interpreter and a guide. The flo- tilla consisted of four birch bark canoes and the long journey was made without a mishap. Through the writings of the governor and Mr. Schoolcraft it contrib- uted a vast amount of useful information in reference to the Upper Lakes and country. The next year Governor Cass and Mr. Schoolcraft used the same kind of craft in a journey from Detroit to the head of Lake Michigan by way of Detroit river, Lake Erie, the Maumee, Wabash, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. These were the most noted canoe voyages out of Detroit.
A variation from the birch bark canoe was the "dug out", made by hollow- ing out the trunk of a single large-sized tree. Another variation was the pirogue made from a single large cedar tree. A later device used by English and Amer- can traders was the "Mackinaw boat," built of oak or pine boards. It was flat bottomed, high at the sides, and with bow and stern shaped alike. It was a capacious and safe craft.
THE PIONEER SAIL VESSEL
The first sail vessel used on the lakes above Niagara Falls was the "Griffon." Of its inception Father Hennepin gives this account in his "New Discovery," according to a very early translation.
"The next day, which was the First of the Year 1679, after the ordinary Ser- viee, I preach'd in a little Chapel made of Barks of Trees and afterwards we had a Conference with 42 old Men, who make up their Council. One of our own Men, nam'd Anthony Brossard, told their Assembly, First, That we were come to pay them a Visit, and smoak with them in their Pipes.
"Secondly, We desir'd them, in the next place to give Notice to the five Can- tons of their Nation, that we were about to build a Ship, or great woodden Canow above the great Fall of the River Niagara, to go and fetch European Commodities by a more convenient passage than the ordinary one, by the River St. Lawrence, whose rapid Currents make it dangerous and long; and that by these means we should afford them our Commodities cheaper than the English and Dutch of Boston and New York.
"On the 14th day of January we arrived at our Habitation of Niagara, very weary of Fatigues of our Voyage. On the 20th arrived M. de la Salle from Fort Frontenac, from whence he was sent with a great Barque to supply us with Pro- visions, Rigging, and Tackling for the Ship we design'd to build at the Mouth of Lake Erie; but that Barque was unfortunately cast away on the Southern Coast of Lake Ontario, by the fault of two Pilots, who could not agree about the Course they were to steer, tho' they were then only within two Leagues of Niagara. The Sea-Men have call'd this place the Mad-Cape. The Anchors and Cables were sav'd but several Canows made of Barks of Trees with Goods and Commodities were lost.
"On the 22nd of the said Month, we went two Leagues above the great Fall of Niagara, where we made a Dock for Building the Ship we wanted for our Voyage.
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This was the most convenient place we could pitch upon, being upon a River which falls into the Streight between the Lake Erie and the great Fall of Niagara. The 26th the Keel of the Ship and some other Pieces being ready, M. de la Salle sent the Master-Carpenter to desire me to drive in the first Pin, but my Profes- sion obliging me to decline that Honour, he did it himself, and promis'd Ten Louis d'Or's, to encourage the Carpenter and further the work."
The vessel thus commenced was speedily completed, to the great amazement of the savages who "could not apprehend how, in so short a time, we had been able to build so great a Ship." "It might have been called a moving fortress, for all the savages inhabiting the lakes and rivers for five hundred Leagues together were filled with Fear as well as Admiration when they saw it. She carry'd five small guns, two whereof were Brass, and three Harquebuze. The Beak head was adorned with a flying Griffon, and an Eagle above it." This device was taken from the coat of arms of Count Frontenac, the patron of the expedition. "M. la Salle used to say of this Ship, while yet upon the Stocks, that he would make this Griffon fly above the Ravens." The writer naively adds that after the vessel was completed "we fired three Guns, and sung Te Deum, which was attended with loud Acclamations of Joy; of which those of the Iroquese who were acci- dentally present were also Partakers for we gave them some Brandy to drink."
After several short trial trips the "Griffon" started on her long journey, having on board Robert Chevalier de La Salle, Father Louis Hennepin, Gabriel de la Ribourde and thirty-three others and arrived in Detroit August 10th. Her arrival was thus commemorated in verse by Judge James V. Campbell at a celebration two centuries later.
"Never had vessel along this shore
"Cleft these quiet waves before.
"No better craft was ever seen
"Than brave LaSalle's stout brigantine.
"Out from the prow a Griffin springs,
"With scales of bronze and fiery wings,
"And the ship that earned so wide a fame
"Bore on the scroll a Griffin's name."
LaSalle left the vessel when he started from the Lake Michigan shore on his long journey of exploration to and down the Mississippi. The Griffon, with a valuable cargo of furs, started back from Washington Island in that lake Septem- ber 20, 1679 and neither vessel nor any of the crew was ever seen again. As she was the first of the thousands of sail vessels that have vexed the waters of the Upper Lakes, so she was the first of hundreds that have gone beneath the waves.
No sail vessel again visited Detroit for eighty-four years. During the Pon- tiac siege in 1763 the small armed sloops "Charlotte" and "Gladwin" brought supplies to the beleagured garrison. After the siege was raised, they, together with the "Beaver," plied regularly between Detroit and the Niagara River. The last named vessel was wrecked in 1769, with the loss of seven lives and a valu- able cargo. The first vessel built in Detroit was the "Enterprise," launched in 1769. Vessel building with craft of very moderate tonnage flourished from about that time on. In 1782 there were nine armed vessels in these waters, all built in Detroit. The largest was the brig "Gage" of 154 tons and carrying fourteen guns. The homemade craft of those days were small but they laid the foun- dation for the immense shipbuilding industry of later years.
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THE FIRST STEAMERS
The initial venture in steam navigation on the Lakes was made in 1818 when the "Walk-in-the-Water," named after a Wyandot chieftain, made her first trip. The vessel was built at Black Rock, was towed through the strong current to Buffalo by sixteen yoke of oxen, a "horned breeze" as they were facetiously termed. She left Buffalo at 1:30 P. M., August 23rd, and arrived at Detroit at 10:30, August 27th, a run of three days and twenty-one hours. Her log was officially given by William Woodbridge, collector of the port, as follows: "She left Buffalo at half past one on the 23rd, and arrived at Dunkirk at thirty-five minutes past six the same day. On the following morning she arrived at Erie, Captain Fish having reduced her steam during the night, in order to pass that place where she took in a supply of wood. At half past seven she left Erie, and came to at Cleveland at eleven o'clock on Tuesday; at 20 minutes past six sailed and arrived off Sandusky Bay at one o'clock on Wednesday; lay at anchor during the night, and then proceeded to Venice for wood; left Venice at three P. M. and anchored in Detroit River during the night."
Half the population of Detroit were out to cheer her when she arrived at Wing's wharf at the foot of Bates Street. The afternoon of her arrival she took a distinguished party of Detroit ladies and gentlemen on an excursion to Lake St. Clair, thus setting an example which has been followed tens of thousands of times by her successors. In 1819 she made a trip to Mackinac and Green Bay. During the rest of her existence she made round trips between Buffalo and Detroit once in two weeks. Although the fare between those cities was high, $18 a single trip, the boat was well patronized, carrying sometimes as many as a hundred passengers. She was wrecked in a storm near Buffalo in the fall of 1821.
The founders of Detroit made the first approach to the site of their settle- ment in batteaux and they and their successors have been engaged in construct- ing some sort of river and lake craft pretty much ever since. They have passed through all the successive steps from the canoe and the dugout to the largest of modern craft. Work at Detroit yards has included tugs, two, three and four masted schooners, coarse freight wooden steamers, package freight and passenger steamers with wooden hulls, steam barges, passenger ferry steamers, the largest car ferries, iron and steel freighters of every class, ice crushers, a floating dry dock, pleasure yachts, and the finest side-wheel passenger carriers that sail in any waters. The first merchant sail vessel was built here in 1769 and called the Enterprise. The Angelica, of forty-five tons, followed in 1771. In 1782 there were nine armed vessels afloat in these waters, all built in Detroit and all in good order, the largest being a brig with fourteen guns. In 1796 twelve merchant vessels were owned here, as well as numerous brigs, sloops, and schooners. In 1797 the U. S. schooner Wilkinson was built at Detroit under direction of Captain Curry. She later was renamed the Amelia and formed part of Commodore Perry's squadron. The Argo in 1827 was the first steamer built in Detroit, followed in 1833 by the Michigan, built by Oliver Newberry. In 1837 there were thirty-seven steamers on lake waters, of which seventeen were owned in this city. At the present time there are more passen- ger steamers owned in Detroit and with a larger passenger carrying capacity than in any other port in the country except New York. With joint tonnage of nearly 50,000 and licensed to carry 65,000 passengers, they visit every port
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from Buffalo to Mackinac. The largest steamers take from 3,500 to 4,000 passengers each and leave their docks daily, taking in the aggregate a larger number of tourists and excursionists than any other port ean show. These vessels were almost every one of Detroit build, engine and boiler as well as hull.
The season of 1911 brought a unique feature in lake shipbuilding. This was in the form of contracts for the construction of steamers and barges for the Atlantic trade. Two factors brought these contracts this way. The first was the ability to build vessels of the type wanted more quickly than the ocean shipyards are able to do it, and the other was the lower cost at which the work could be done here. The vessels are limited in size to the capacity of the Wel- land Canal. During 1917 and 1918 almost the entire construction work of both companies was in vessels built under Government direction, for ocean service.
The increase in tonnage of vessels built here has been almost as striking as the change in material and type of construction. In 1882 the record cargo of iron ore was 1,604 gross tons; in 1SS5, 2,254; in 1890, 2,744; in 1895, 3,843; in 1900, 7,045; in 1905, 10,629; in 1906, 13,294. That pretty nearly reached the limit of cargo possible with the present depth of channels, though in 1919 a maximum of 14,000 tons was reached. The record cargo of wheat from 1839 to 1845 was that of the "Oseeola," Chicago to Buffalo, with 3,678 bushels. Recent eargoes have execeded 420,000 bushels.
People in Detroit see more freight cargoes in the navigation season than do residents of any of the country's shipping ports except New York. The report of the Army engineers for the last fiscal year, 1920, published a few days ago, shows that 73,091,000 tons of freight were carried in boats in the Detroit river. New York, which tops the list, reported 87,930,000 tons, but the Detroit figures represent only part of the twelve months over all of which New York returns were spread.
In value of eargoes, Detroit drops to fourth place, New York, Norfolk and Philadelphia being ahead. The difference probably is due to the large pro- portion of iron ore among cargoes transported along the lake waterway.
Here is a table of the twelve first distriets, classed according to tonnage of freight :
Distriet
Short Tons
Value
New York
87,930,000
$9,373,000,000
Detroit river
73,091,000
979,423,000
Philadelphia
31,563,000
2,674,744,000
Norfolk
24,579,000
3,254,339,000
Baltimore
14,056,000
873,891,000
New Orleans ...
9,202,000
936,343,000
Newport News.
9,048,000
978,0SS,000
San Francisco
7,113,000
523,493,000
Portland, Ore.
5,782,000
186,203,000
Seattle
5,497,000
750,000,000
Mobile
1,988,500
100,000,000
Key West
1,980,000
178,468,000
The last fiscal year was considerably below the recent average for Detroit river shipping, previous tonnage totals having been: 1918, 88,855,000; 1917, 95,243,000; 1916, 100,907,000.
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NAVIGATION COMPANIES
The first passenger and freight service to be established between the eities of Detroit and Cleveland was initiated in the year 1850, when the steamers Southerner and Baltimore were placed in commission between these ports by Capt. Arthur Edwards. These steamers covered the route during the seasons of 1850-51, and were succeeded in 1852 by the Forest City, completed that year for John Owen and associates and run jointly with the steamers St. Louis and Sam Ward, owned by E. B. Ward & Company. In 1853 the steamers May Queen, built that year, and the City of Cleveland, built the year previous, succeeded the former vessels on the route. In 1855, the steamer Ocean was added with a view to operating both day and night lines. This arrangement continued during the season of 1855, and a portion of that of 1856, when the Queen was laid up, due to unremunerative business. The seasons of 1857-61, inclusive, saw the route covered by the May Queen and the Ocean. In 1862, the Morning Star was completed and displaced the Ocean, and then during the latter part of the season the City of Cleveland displaced the May Queen. The route was covered during the years 1863-66, inclusive, by the Morning Star, and the City of Cleveland. In 1867 the R. N. Rice was completed and dis- placed the City of Cleveland. The business at this time was operated as the Detroit & Cleveland Steamboat Line and was run in connection with the Michi- gan Central Railroad, affording the latter company a water route to Cleveland from Detroit, at that time its eastern terminus; and the service was known and advertised as the Michigan Central Railroad Line. The business was eon- dueted under the management of John Owen, who was heavily interested, and its local affairs were taken care of by Keith & Carter, at Detroit, and by L. A. Pierce, at Cleveland, acting as agents. The business had, during the seven- teen years of operation, grown to such volume that it was necessary to weld the various private interests which controlled its vessels more closely, and during the winter of 1867-68, John Owen and David Carter perfected an organi- zation which resulted in the incorporation, in April, 1868, of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, with the following incorporators: John Owen, David Carter, Capt. Ira Davis, Capt. E. R. Viger, W. B. Watson, James Moreton, W. MeKay, Joseph Cook and S. Gardner, of Detroit, and L. A. Pierce and George B. Burton, of Cleveland. The company was ineor- porated with a capital of $300,000 and granted a thirty-year charter by the state of Michigan. Its first election of officers occurred in May, 1868, when John Owen was elected president and treasurer, and David Carter, secretary. Its vessels were two in number, the steamers R. N. Rice and Morning Star. The latter steamer was lost in collision with the schooner Cortlandt on the 20th of June, 1868, with a loss of twenty-six lives, and her place on the route was filled by the steamer Northwest, which with the R. N. Rice was run con- tinuously until the close of navigation in 1876. During the winter of 1876-7, the Northwest was rebuilt at a cost of $80,000 and the following summer the R. N. Rice was practically destroyed by fire, while lying at her moorings in Detroit, the Saginaw taking her place on the route for the balance of the season. The first vessel to be built for this company was the City of Detroit, a composite hulled steamer, completed in 1878, at a cost of $175,000. This steamer, with the Northwest, took care of the traffic on the Cleveland route until 1886. The second vessel constructed was the City of Cleveland, which was built in 1880,
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