The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 10

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I > Part 10

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Previous to 1854, persons and teams frequently crossed over on the ice ; and on February 10, 1855, the river was so completely frozen that a little shanty was erected in the middle, in which liquors were sold.

The breaking of the ice by the daily trips of the Railroad Ferry Boats, since 1854, has precluded any further crossing on foot in front of the city. Such is the rapidity of the current that the river is soon cleared of floating ice. The gathering of ice is an extensive business, and from 50,000 to 100,000 tons are annually stored for summer use. The water sup- plied to citizens amounts to 10,000,000,000 gallons yearly.

THE RIVER-ISLANDS.

The river is usually tranquil and never danger- ously rough. The water is of a bluish tinge, and in transparency and purity is unrivalled.

Like other bodies of water, the river rises and falls, but unlike other large rivers, the variations are never so sudden or extreme as to cause any incon- venience, and buildings are erected at the water's edge without fear of damage.

In the year 1800, again in 1814-1815, and also in 1827-1828, and in 1838, the river rose from three to six feet above its usual level, remaining so for two or three years, and then subsiding quite rapidly.

The mean annual rise is about sixteen inches dur- ing July or August. The low-water period is in February or March. The highest recorded level was on June 2, 1838, when the water was only two and eight tenths feet below the water table of the Water Works Engine House. One of the lowest levels recorded was in the winter of 1819, when the water was eight and five tenths feet lower than usual.

A succession of wet seasons, or winters of heavy snows, causes it to rise, and the reverse occurs in dry seasons. The most marked effect is produced by winds; the river is perceptibly lowered when a southwest wind strikes it, and the water is driven into Lake St. Clair and blown down into Lake Erie. In March, 1873, a strong wind of this kind lowered the river some five feet below its mean level. A northeast wind will reverse the above conditions and cause it to rise proportionately.

The temperature of the water varies from 33º Fahrenheit for the winter months to 73° for the sum- mer season. The variation between the surface and the bottom is about 3º.

The breadth, general safety, and smoothness of the river make it specially inviting for boating and yachting, and in later years many persons have availed themselves of the facilities afforded. Sev- eral noteworthy regattas have been held here, and boatmen all concede that no finer location can be found for a trial of skill. During the summer sea- son, excursions up and down the river, and to differ- ent islands, are of almost hourly occurrence.

ISLANDS.

The islands vary in size from one to several thou- sand acres. Two of them are located above, and twenty below the city. Beginning at the head of the river, the first is Isle La Pêche, or Isle of the Fishes, also called, in 1810, Peach Island. It is situated on the Canadian side of the river, and was, during the summer months, the home of Pontiac. Belle Isle, the City Park, is described in the article on Parks. Beginning at a point six miles below the city are the islands known as Fighting, Mud, Grassy, Grass, Mama-Juda, Grosse, Turkey, Stoney, Slo-

cum's, Humbug, Fox, Elba, Calf, Snake, Hickory, Sugar, Bois Blanc, Horse, Cherry, and Tawa, or Celeron. Fighting Island, also called in 1796, Great Turkey Island, was originally occupied by the Wyan- dotts, and in 1858 it was sold by the Canadian Gov- ernment for their benefit. In 1810 Indian intrench- ments were plainly visible on the northeast end of the island, and from these warlike appearances the island took its name.

An old French memoir of the date of 1717 says :

Two leagues from Fort Detroit is an island called Isle aux Din- des. It is so called because Turkeys are always to be found there. It contains only very little timber, only prairie. Four or five years ago, a man named Le Tonnerre, principal Chief of the Foxes, and two of the same tribe, were killed there by the Hurons, settled at Detroit. The two Foxes who were with Le Tonnerre were de- voured by wild beasts, crows, or other vermin; but the body of Le Tonnerre was still uninjured a year afterward, not an animal hav- ing touched him.

Grosse, or Great Island, is the largest in the river. The French memoir just quoted says:

It is very fine and fertile and extensive, being, as is estimated, from six to seven leagues in circumference. There is an extraor- dinary quantity of apple trees on this island, and those who have seen the apples on the ground say that they are more than half a foot deep; the apple trees are planted as if methodically, and the apples are as large as small pippins. Abundance of excellent mill- stones are found on this island; all around it are very fine prairies. It was a long time doubtful whether Detroit should not be founded there. The cause of the hesitation was the apprehension that the timber might some day fail.

At one time, the locating of Fort Wayne on this island was seriously considered, and on some accounts it would have been an extremely favorable situation. The banks rise abruptly from the water in many places to fully twenty feet in height. In 1776 Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton gave William Macomb leave to occupy the island, and on July 5, 1793, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe gave his family permission to continue.

Several citizens of Detroit have elegant residences here, and there are many fine farms and homes. The Canada Southern Railroad extends to the island, connecting by ferry with the Canada shore.

Mama-Juda Island contains twenty-nine acres, and is named from an old squaw, who, prior to 1807, used to camp there year after year, during the fish- ing season. She finally died on the island.

Slocum's Island, of about two hundred acres, is owned by G. B. Slocum.

Humbug Island, of some forty acres, just below, is also owned by Mr. Slocum. It is not inappro- priately named, for it is rather a part of the main land than an island.

Elba Island, in 1817, was thickly covered with trees.

Bois Blanc, or Whitewood Island, on the Cana- dian side of the river, was occupied by the Huron

ISLANDS-WHARVES AND DOCKS-STREAMS AND MILLS.

Indians in 1742, and contained a village regularly laid out and inhabited by several hundred people. Father Potier was in charge of a mission among them, but in 1747 they became estranged from the French and he returned to Detroit. The following year the difficulties were settled, and a Huron Mis- sion was established at Sandwich under charge of Fathers Potier and De la Richardie.

In 1796, when the British yielded up Detroit, they erected a blockhouse on this island, but as the United States protested that it did not belong to them, they for the time yielded the point, and soon after erected a fort at Malden.

In 1813, during the fight which preceded Perry's victory, Tecumseh and his Indians were here encamped. When the patriots were in possession in 1838, they denuded it of the trees in order to get better range for their cannon.

Celeron Island, of seventy acres, is so named after Sieur de Celeron, once Commandant of Detroit.

WHARVES AND DOCKS.

By the building of wharves and docks, and the extension of the shore by "made land," the river is continually encroached upon. At the foot of Wood- ward Avenue, it once came up seventy-seven feet north of the north line of Atwater Street; and between Woodward Avenue and Wayne Street it covered half the space occupied by the blocks between Atwater and Woodbridge Streets. At Cass Street it covered a part of what is now Jeffer- son Avenue. On T. Smith's map of the town as it was in 1796 are shown two wharves called respect- ively Merchants' and Public or King's Wharf.

One of the earliest records concerning the wharves recounts the voting of a tax, on " July 26, 1804, of twenty-eight pounds eight shillings New York cur- rency for repairing wharf." The wharf repaired was probably that formerly known as King's Wharf, still in use in 1823.

In 1819 permission was granted to H. Berthelet to build a wharf at the foot of Randolph Street. Wharves were also built, about this time, by Mr. Hudson and Mr. Roby. As the city grew, an increas- ing amount of rubbish and refuse was deposited on the low grounds at the river's edge. This created an almost constant nuisance, and from time to time efforts were made to correct the evil. On July 3, 1820, a tax of five hundred days' labor was voted to be spent "on the border of the river." In 1826 the permanent improvement of the river front was begun by the depositing, along the margin, of earth from the embankment of Fort Shelby. During the following years up to 1834, the work was continued at an expense of over $10,000.

One of the improvements of 1827 was known as the Steam Mill Wharf. The City Council voted to

give the perpetual use of sixty feet in width on Woodward Avenue, from Atwater Street to the channel of the river, to a Steam Mill Company, for the erection of a mill, provided it was built within two years; the city also expended $3,000 in filling in and building a dock for the site of the mill, which was never erected. Since that time the work has gone on until good and substantial docks, nearly five miles in length, now line the river along the city front.

STREAMS AND MILLS.

Within the present city limits three different streams once flowed on their winding way, buoying up the light canoe, or turning the mills of the French settlers.

The courses of these streams, in their relation to present street lines, in so far as old deeds, maps, and observations furnish data for judgment, are indicated on the accompanying map.

The Savoyard Creek, branch of the. Huron, or Xavier River, as it is variously called, had its rise in a willow swamp on the Guoin Farm, near where Riopelle Street now crosses Congress. In 1821 the south bank of the stream was one hundred and ninety-one feet north of the south side of Larned Street; meandering westward, it reached Woodward Avenue at Congress Street, and here a wide bridge spanned the stream. At other places, single planks enabled pedestrians to cross. In 1822 L. E. Dolsen, then a boy of nine years, was jumping on one of these foot-bridges on Congress Street, just east of Griswold, when the plank broke, letting him fall into the water, which was about eight feet deep. Be- coming entangled in the reeds and rushes which were plentiful at the bottom, he barely escaped drowning.

The stream, in early times, was much used in go- ing to and from the river; and boy-anglers found successful fishing at the corner of Woodward Ave- nue and Congress Street. Its outlet was at a point on the Jones Farm close to the Cass line, about where Fourth Street intersects Woodbridge Street. Prior to May, 1826, there was a jog in Woodbridge Street at this point, and an old bridge which crossed the creek, not being in line with the street, was re- moved by order of the Common Council, and a new one of stone was built in proper line. A channel, walled with wood, was also constructed from the bridge to the river. On December 4, 1826, a certi- ficate was issued to De Garmo Jones for $422.31 for constructing said bridge and channel.

In course of time, and increasingly as the years went on, the people living near the border of this stream used it as a drain, and after Fort Shelby was demolished, the bottom and sides, for some dis- tance, were planked with lumber from that fortifica-

STREAMS AND MILLS.

tion. It then became practically an open sewer ; and, as such, lost all its primeval charms, and grew so offensive and malodorous that in 1836 the city was compelled, at a great expense, to convert it into a deep and covered sewer by enclosing it in stone. A "grand sewer " it became, and still fulfils its mis-

erected the first grist-mill on the stream, just north of what is now Fort Street, and near the railroad crossing. The stream supplied water sufficient to run the mill six or eight months of the year.

Parent's Creek, or Bloody Run, is the real historic stream. It was first named, presumably, after

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MAP SHOWING ROUTE OF FORMER STREAMS, AND OLD RIVER LINE.

sion. The creek is said to have been named Savo- yard from the fact that one of the earliest settlers on its banks came from Savoy.

The stream more recently known as May's Creek, after Judge May, was formerly called Cabacier's Creek, from Joseph Cabacie, or Cabacier, who lived here in 1780. It was designated in 1747 as Cam- pau's River. It is claimed that Jacques Peltier

Joseph Parent, a gunsmith, whose name appears in St. Ann's records on May 21, 1707. Only a few years ago the entire course of the stream could be traced; now nearly half its length is filled in, and its channel will soon be entirely obliterated.

The name was changed to Bloody Run after the defeat of Captain Dalyell and slaughter of a large part of his company by the Indians on July 31, 1863.

STREAMS AND MILLS.

On John Farmer's map of Michigan for 1830, a mill is marked on this stream, just south of what is now Jefferson Avenue. There was also, at one time, a mill where the stream crossed the Gratiot Road.

Knagg's Creek was just outside the present western

limits of the city, and the course of the stream can still be traced. Near its terminus, on the Bela Hubbard Farm in Springwells, was located the old Knagg's Windmill, built in 1810. It was in use till about 1840, and was torn down in 1853 or 1854.

WINDMILL POINT (ON BELA HUBBARD FARM) AND THE RIVER IN 1838.

CHAPTER III.

SOIL AND PRODUCTS, GAME, GRAIN, AND FRUITS.

ALMOST all of the land in the city and vicinity is available for gardening and farming, producing good crops with but little fertilizing.

In boring for a well on Fort Street, near Shelby, in 1829, the following strata were successively reached : alluvial earth, ten feet; yellow and blue clay, with veins of quicksand, one hundred and fifteen feet ; sand and pebbles, two feet ; geodiferous limestone, sixty feet; lias limestone, sixty-five feet. A small stratum of carbonate of lime was then reached, and then more lias limestone.

Three miles from the river, and a few rods south of where the railroad crosses Woodward Avenue, is a broad belt of land, of a lower level, which proves, with drainage, both rich and fertile.

The natural products were well set forth by Cadillac in a description written October 8, 1701, to one of the French officials. He said :

The business of war being so different from that of writing, I have not the ability to make a portrait of a country so worthy of a better pen than mine; but since you have directed me to render an account of it, I will do so, premising that the Detroit is actually but a channel or river of medium breadth and twenty-five leagues in length, according to my estimate, * * * through which flows and escapes slowly and with sufficiently moderate current, the living and crystal waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron (which are so many seas of sweet water) into Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, or Frontenac, and which finally, together with the waters of the St. Lawrence, mingle with those of the ocean.

Its borders are so many vast prairies, and the freshness of the beautiful waters keeps the banks always green. The prairies are bordered by long and broad rows of fruit trees which have never felt the careful hand of the vigilant gardener. Here, also, orchards, young and old, soften and bend their branches, under the weight and quantity of their fruit, towards the mother earth which has produced them. It is in this land, so fertile, that the ambitious vine, which has never wept under the knife of the vine-dresser, builds a thick roof with its large leaves and heavy clusters, weigh- ing down the top of the tree which receives it, and often stifling it with its embrace.

Under these broad walks one sees assembled by hundreds the timid deer and faun, also the squirrel bounding in his eagerness to collect the apples and plums with which the earth is covered. Here the cautious turkey calls and conducts her numerous brood to gather the grapes, and here also their mates come to fill their large and gluttonous crops. Golden pheasants, the quail, the par- tridge, woodcock, and numerous doves swarm in the woods and cover the country, which is dotted and broken with thickets and high forests of full-grown trees, forming a charming perspective, which sweetens the sad lonesomeness of the solitude. The hand of the pitiless reaper has never mown the luxuriant grass upon which fatten woolly buffaloes, of magnificent size and propor- tion.

There are ten species of forest trees, among them are the walnut, white oak, red oak, the ash, the pine, white-wood and cotton- wood; straight as arrows, without knots, and almost without branches, except at the very top, and of prodigious size. Here the courageous eagle looks fixedly at the sun, with sufficient at his feet to satisfy his boldly armed claws. The fish are here nourished and bathed by living water of crystal clearness, and their great abundance renders them none the less delicious. Swans are so numerous that one would take for lilies the reeds in which they are crowded together. The gabbling goose, the duck, the widgeon, and the bustard are so abundant that to give an idea of their num- bers I must use the expression of a savage whom I asked before arriving if there was much game. "So much," he said, " that they draw up in lines to let the boats pass through." * * * In a word, the climate is temperate, and the air purified through the day and night by a gentle breeze. The skies are always serene and spread sweet and fresh influences which makes one enjoy a tranquil sleep.

If the situation is agreeble, it is none the less important because it opens and closes the door of passage to the most distant nations which are situated upon the borders of the vast seas of sweet water. None but the enemies of truth could be enemies to this establishment so necessary to the increase of the glory of the king, to the progress of religion, and the destruction of the throne of Baal.

In addition to the animals named, other early ac- counts tell of elk, moose, wolves, bears, rabbits, otters, lynxes, wildcats, beavers, and musk-rats; and say they were very numerous in the vicinity of De- troit. So numerous and large, indeed, were the wild bisons, that the making of garments from their wool was seriously considered.

Between 1820 and 1830 the howling of the wolves was frequently heard in the edge of the town. Bounties of three and four dollars were paid by the county for killing them; and no small share of the taxes was devoted to paying for wolf scalps.

In 1824, and also in other years, myriads of wild pigeons made their roosts in the forests of the county. They were so numerous that hundreds could easily be killed with a walking stick.

As late as the fall of 1834 deer were abundant within a morning's walk, and black bears would oc- casionally perambulate the streets. Wild turkeys and quails were numerous up to about 1850, and frequently stray ones came into the city, and innu- merable flocks of ducks and geese, in their annual migrations, swept over the town, often flying so low that their notes could easily be heard.

The surrounding woods and meadows have always been enlivened with the songs of meadow-larks,

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SOIL AND PRODUCTS, GAME, GRAIN AND FRUITS.

robins, brown thrushes, and bobolinks; and year by year bright-plumaged humming birds flit about the trumpet-vines.

It was not alone the gayly-feathered birds that made the place a pleasant one. In the forests were wild honeysuckles, and the eglantine, or Michigan rose. Snow-berries and fleurs-de-lis were scattered here and there, and the perfume of locust blossoms often filled the air, while river and streams were bordered with the white and blue of the pond-lily and the sweet flag. Strawberries, whortleberries, cranberries, and raspberries were indigenous, and melons, beans, and other vegetables were cultivated by the Indians before the whites appeared. In addi- tion to those named by Cadillac, the forest included trees of beech, birch, hickory, maple, elm, butter- nut, cedar, basswood, and coniferous trees of various kinds.

In the way of sweets, the wild bees stored up honey in the trees. The maples also contributed their store of sweetness. In 1819 one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of maple sugar were produced in Michigan, and in September, 1825, one merchant advertised forty thousand pounds for sale. Charle- voix says the Indians did not know how to make sugar out of the maple sap until the French mission- aries came. Prior to that time, they made only syrup. They soon became experts, and a "sugar bush," to them, was better than a farm.

Maple sugar was used almost exclusively until recent years. Loaf sugar was the only other kind kept for sale, and was used only on state occasions. The maple sugar was brought in by the Indians in mococks, which held all the way from four ounces to fifty pounds. One of the smaller mococks was a toothsome prize for children in days gone by, and was appreciated far more highly than the French bon-bons of to-day. The method of making this sugar, together with several points regarding life in those days, is set forth in the following lines, writ- ten by Colonel De Peyster while at Mackinaw:

THE MAPLE SUGAR MAKERS. TUNE-The Jolly Beggars. I'll sling my papoos' cradle,1 said Kitchenegoe's Meg, With kettle, bowl, and ladle, and scoutawaba2 keg. CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, will go, will go, will go, A sug'ring I will go.

Nasib and Charlotte Farlie, of whom the lads are fond, Shall drag3 their father early out to the twelve-mile pond. CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, etc.

Come Nebenaquoidoquoi, and join the jovial crew, Sheeshib and Matchinoquoi shall tap a tree with you. CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, etc.

Bright Kesis, deign to aid us, and make the sap to run, Eninga, who arrayed us, at least should have a tun. CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, etc.

In kettles we will boil it, on fires between the rocks, And lest the snow should spoil it, there tramp it in mococks.5 CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, etc.

Of all our occupations, sweet sug'ring is the best, Then girls and their relations can give their lovers rest. CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, etc.

But when the season's over, it will not be amiss, That I should give my lover a sissobaquet kiss.6 CHORUS-A sug'ring I will go, etc.

As to cereals, old records show a good harvest in 1703, and abundant supplies for a garrison of one hundred and fifty men. Up to about 1706 almost the only grain grown was Indian corn. Cadillac then procured eight tons of French wheat and other grain from Quebec. After this there was a good supply of wheat, which, then as now, was sown in both spring and fall.

The Hurons and Ottawas were excellent farmers and raised large quantities of corn. In 1714 twenty- four hundred bushels were sent from Detroit. Agri- culture was, however, greatly neglected, and the con- ditions on which grants of land were made tended to discourage any intelligent efforts at farming.

In 1747, owing chiefly to the number of Indians who gathered here and consumed the supplies, pro- visions were very scarce, and M. de Longueuil was compelled to apply to Montreal for help. On Sep- tember 22 a convoy of provisions arrived under com- mand of M. de Celeron, escorted by one hundred and fifty men, including merchants and servants. Their coming saved the settlers from starvation.

M. Bougainville, in his memoirs on Detroit, under date of 1757, says :

There are two hundred habitations abundantly provided with cattle, grains, and flour. The farmers can raise as many cattle as they want, as there is abundant pasture. * *

* They gather, in ordinary years, two thousand five hundred measures of wheat and much oats and corn. They formerly sowed some fall wheat, but very often that seed produced only rye. A farmer of that place assured me that he sowed two measures of very good wheat, but the product was only rye. They sow during the months of February and March, and gather in the month of July; the pro- duct in wheat is usually twenty measures for one. * * * It would be well for the authorities to encourage the inhabitants of Detroit in the cultivation of their land and afford them facilities for selling their produce. It would be a great advantage to pro- cure from them all the provisions needed in th' garrisons of the forts Presque Isle, Marchand, Rivière-de-Bœuf, and Duquesne.

These provisions would cost less than those sent from Montreal. as the expenses of transportation from there are excessively high; and there is such great difficulty in getting the provisions that the garrisons are often in danger of being in need.

1 The Indian child, swaddled upon a flat board, and carried upon the squaw's back by a band across the forehead, by which it is at night often hung on a tree.

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The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 10

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Detroit, S. Farmer & co
Number of Pages: 1096