The history of Detroit and Michigan; or, The metropolis illustrated; a chronological cyclopedia of the past and present, Vol I, Part 11

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 11

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Rum, which they take with them to make sweet grog of the liquor when half boiled, to entertain their friends who may walk out to see them.

8 On a bark sleigh, he being lame.

4 The commandant's lady, who at this time of the year generally gives the neighboring squaws each a chintz shift, and some ver- milion, and other articles.

6 Boxes made of birch-bark, sewed with the fibre of the spruce- tree root (called watap), holding from thirty to fifty pounds each. " A sweet kiss. The Indian maidens are remarkable for white teeth and sweet breaths.

SOIL AND PRODUCTS, GAME, GRAIN, AND FRUITS.

Notwithstanding various discouragements, wheat was raised in considerable quantities. On Septem- ber 9, 1763, the barn of Mr. Reaume, containing about one thousand bushels of wheat, was burned. In 1768 there were five hundred and fourteen and a half acres of land under cultivation, and ninety-seven hundred and eighty-nine French bushels of corn pro- duced; but in 1770 food was so scarce that a famine became imminent.

The Annual Register, an English periodical, con- tains a letter from Paris, dated March 19, 1770, which says :

Letters from Detroit by Monday's New York mail inform us that several boats with goods have been seventy days crossing Lake Erie, in which time the distress of the people has been so great that they have been obliged to keep two human bodies, that they had found unburied upon the shore, in order to collect and kill the ravens and eagles, that came to feed on them, for their subsistence. Many other boats have been frozen up within forty miles of Detroit, and several traders' small boats with goods have been lost.

Ten years later the inhabitants were again in trouble for want of certain kinds of provisions. On March 10, 1780, Colonel De Peyster wrote to Colonel Bolton at Niagara, saying: "The distress of the in- habitants here is very great for want of bread, not an ounce of flour or a grain of corn to be purchased. Many will be at a loss for grain to put in the ground; the fall wheat, however, has a good appearance from having had a quantity of snow." In the same letter he said, "I am sorry to inform you, sir, that Lieuten- ant Bunbury and Mr. Godfrey, the conductor, are drowned by the overturning of a canoe. The ducks flying in clouds past the fort, the gentlemen, forgetting they had been desired not to go in canoes, too eager of sport, have lost their lives."

This accident occurred the day before he wrote. On March 12, 1780, he wrote to Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Sinclair, saying: "Everything here is in the greatest tranquility except the cry for bread, the inhabitants being so much in want that without the assistance of the King's stores, many must starve." The same year, however, twelve thousand and eighty-three acres of land were reported as under cultivation.

Two other times of scarcity are noted in Zeis- berger's diary. On June 18, 1784, he wrote :

Br. Schebosh, who came from Detroit, brought news that there is great scarcity in Detroit, and nothing to be had for cash. With his own eyes he saw a Spanish dollar offered a baker for a pound of bread and refused. A hundred weight of flour costs £7 13s., and is not to be had. * * *

Five years later, on July 17, 1789, he writes :

From Detroit two white people came here on their way to Pitts- burgh, who told us there was such a famine there that most of the French were living upon grass ; that neither corn, flour nor bread were to be had in the city for money, and that already five children in the settlement had starved to death. There isa com- mon famine in the whole country, and what was this year planted has been eaten by the worms, sothat the fields stand bald and bare.

From a very early period the pear, apple, and cherry trees were prominent features in the scenery of Detroit. Our orchards have produced many noted varieties of fruit, among which the Snow- Apple is particularly famous. In 1796 a large apple called Pomme Caille, deep red from skin to core, was noted for its flavor. Cider was largely made and freely used a century ago. In 1818 our exports of fish and cider were valued at sixty thousand dol- lars. Immense pear trees, a hundred feet and more in height, with trunks from one to three feet thick, with large, thick limbs and heavy foliage, were at once the pride and pest of their owners; for then, as now, boys and pears affiliated. Almost every farmer had from one to half a dozen of these trees, which produced from thirty to fifty bushels each.

The seeds or young trees from which they were grown were probably brought from France. None of the early travelers mention their existence, and although they were once numerous they have largely disappeared.

In the absence of further facts concerning these grand old trees, their memory deserves to be honored by the insertion of two poems that they inspired. The first, giving them legendary origin, was written several years ago by L. J. Bates; twenty-one out of the thirty-three verses are given :

THE MISSION PEARS.

In his deerskin covered chair Overlooking blue St. Clair, Rippling to its marshy edges, Sat the Jesuit father, thinking, And the summer odors drinking From the wind-blown, wavy sedges

Wide the mission lodge before,

'Twixt the forest and the shore. ** * * * *

Twice and thrice, with zeal unspent, Urgent missives had he sent To the Jesuit colleges

In far France, o'er land and ocean, Begging help of their devotion To convert the savages, That the Church might found and keep Realm and empire broad and deep. * * *

* * "Send me one of burning zeal,- Someone who can speak and feel, That these heathen stocks shall hear him;

Someone with an holy unction,

Eloquent in every function, Bold, that savage hearts may fear him;

Someone patient, quick to teach; Someone wise, and strong to preach. *

* * * * Stirred the leaves upon the trail From the forest, and a pale Face, impressed with wasting sorrow, Toward them came, young, sad, exalted;

SOIL AND PRODUCTS, GAME, GRAIN AND FRUITS.

By the father's chair it halted, And a sad voice said, " Good morrow!" While the stranger bent his knee. " Lo, a missive sent to thee." * * * * * Long his countenance he bent O'er the missive, strangely sent From the far-off Jesuit college: " Him we send, though young, is fervent, Faithful, resolute, observant, Valiant, earnest, full of knowledge, Eloquent and wise of speech; Patient, tender, quick to teach."

And the wise Superior wrote, In a separate sealed note Most discreet, a private letter, Telling of a lady, fairest Of the belles of France, and rarest, Bound in hated marriage fetter, Fondly by this youth adored, Murdered by her jealous lord.

* * *

" Work him ever, night and day, Else his heart will eat away, And a gallant life be wasted. Use him, for his soul's salvation,- Give him constant occupation. Death he hath already tasted, And its after-coming pain.

Work may make him whole again."

Soon this pale-faced eloquent, Ever on his tasks intent, Won the love of all around him. All the children loved him nearly, All the women held him dearly; Flinty hearted warriors found him Full of strange attractiveness

With his strong, sad gentleness.

But when every task was done, Often, at the set of sun, When the sky, with glory gleaming, Flooded the blue waters sparkling, Reedy marsh and forest darkling, Would he stand, as one day-dreaming, Gazing o'er the fair expanse, While his heart returned to France. * * * * *

Once, as thus he stood distrait, Like a soul o'erborne by fate, The good father, coming on him, Saw him pluck from out his bosom Withered pear and clover-blossom. While to silent tears they won him, On his head the father laid Disapproving hand, and said:

" Son, this world thou hast put off,- Earthly love or earthly scoff, Nevermore, hast vowed, shall move thee. Much it grieves me, in this fashion, Then, to witness mortal passion Call me, loving, to reprove thee. Give those tokens to my care, And betake thyself to prayer."

" Father, for each erring soul One hath died to make it whole: Me unworthy! me heart-broken! Two for me,- most undeserving !-

For my sin have died unswerving; And I look upon this token As my penance, seeing there All my sin and my despair. * *

* *

Long the father walked apart, Deep communing with his heart, While the brother knelt and waited; Then, at last, the father, standing, Spoke in kindness, not commanding: "Son, thy penance is abated. This thy token holds within That which may relieve thy sin.

"Genuine love, though at its worst, Rarely hath been wholly cursed; Still some spark of good is in it. In thy passion, so forbidden, May we find one blessing hidden, And from out the evil win it. Possible that good may be

Cure or comfort unto thee.

"Son, I bid thee rise and stand, Look upon this needy land! In thy withered pear lies dormant Nature's power to bloom, and bless This unfruitful wilderness. Here is healing for thy torment! Many and many a voice of prayer Long may bless thy withered pear. * * # * *

"Son, thine own hand shall prepare Mold, and plant the seed with care; Haply with it may be buried, For a noble resurrection,

Murdered love, unblest affection, Faith and truth that so miscarried.

Peace and rest descend on thee, First fruit of the earliest tree!"

Thus, like souls redeemed from sin, Did the mission pears begin In the ancient Jesuit garden; And the shoots, as they ascended, Prayerfully were watched and tended, Till the wood could grow and harden, Often, in their early years, Watered by repentant tears.

Then, to other missions sent, Wandered far the eloquent, Till forgotten for another; And the father slept, immortal Many years; when, at the portal, Bent a sick and feeble brother, Craving rest, from travel sore, At the mission's welcome door.

In the sunset red, one day, Lo, the stranger dying lay Underneath the pear-trees, laden With their ripe fruit, bent and swaying, Where the happy children, playing, Little man and rosy maiden, Loved to visit. On each child Sweet the dying brother smiled.

Glowed the western sky like fire. " This," he muttered, "this is Loire, Rippling through the sedges slowly Of his marshes. Lo, my lady

SOIL AND PRODUCTS, GAME, GRAIN AND FRUITS.

Walks the old pear-orchard shady! O beloved, purged and holy, Thou dost bring deliverance, Home, and peace, and love, and-France!" Many a thrifty Mission Pear Yet o'erlooks the blue St. Clair, Like a veteran, faithful warden; And their branches, gnarled and olden, Yield their juicy fruit and golden. In the ancient Jesuit garden Still, each year, their blossoms dance, Scent and bloom of sunny France.

The following verses were written in 1849 by W. H. Coyle, then a resident of the city :

TO THE OLD PEAR TREES OF DETROIT.

An hundred years and more ye have stood Through sunshine and through storms, And still, like warriors clad in mail, Ye lift your stalwart forms.

Proud in your might ye challenge the winds As in your palmy days; And ye laugh in scorn at the howling blast And the lightning's lurid blaze.

Ye have seen the boy in his childhood play In your cool shades, blithe and brave,

And have moaned with the evening's summer breeze O'er the old grandsire's grave.

From your lofty tops o'er the river blue Ye have looked, long, long ago, As the savage leaped on the shining sands With scalping-knife and bow.

'Neath your leafy boughs the painted chief Has pitched his peaked tent,

And the council fire through your quivering leaves Its silver smoke has sent.

From the frontier fort ye have seen the flash, And heard the cannons boom, Till the stars and stripes in victory waved Through the battle's glare and gloom.

When the ancient city fell by the flames, Ye saw it in ashes expire, But, like true sentinels, kept your posts In the blazing whirl of fire.

And where tall temples now lift their spires And priest and people meet, Ye have seen the giant forest oak And the wild deer bounding fleet.

Where the white-sailed ship now rides the wave Ye have watched the bark canoe,

And heard in the night the voyager's song And the Indian's shrill halloo.

The lingering few " vieux habitans " Look at ye with a sigh, And memory's tear-drop dims their gaze While they think of the times gone by.

Oh! those were honest and happy times, -- The simple days of old,

When their forefathers quaffed and laughed, And lived for more than gold.

One by one, like brown autumnal leaves, They are falling to the ground,

And soon the last of that honored race 'Neath the yew-tree will be found.

Live on, old trees, in your hale green age! Long, long may your shadows last, With your blossomed boughs and golden fruit, Loved emblems of the past."

The interior of the State was for many years deemed almost useless for agricultural purposes.

On November 30, 1815, Edward Tiffin, Surveyor- General at Chillicothe, wrote to General Meigs, Commissioner of the Land Office at Washington, that in the whole of Michigan Territory there was "not one acre in a hundred, if there would be in a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultiva- tion. It is all swampy and sandy." On December II he again wrote: "Subsequent accounts confirm the statements, and make the country out worse, if possible, than I had represented it to be."

Detroit and the private claims near by were repre- sented as being somewhat better, without so many swamps and lakes, but the region as a whole was said to be extremely sterile and barren. Such repre- sentations must have been founded on unpardonable ignorance or knavery. No State in the Union has a larger proportion of excellent farming lands. The wheat crop in 1886 amounted to twenty-six million bushels, and the productions of our gardens, fields, and orchards are unexcelled.

In 1821 H. Berthelet raised a pumpkin that was six feet eight inches in circumference, and after it had been picked three weeks it weighed one hun- dred and seventy-four pounds and twelve ounces. The previous year, two seeds planted at Grosse Pointe produced thirteen hundred and fourteen pounds of pumpkins.

As early as 1823 water-melons weighing from thirty-six to forty-four pounds were frequently seen, and beets weighing eighteen pounds and water- melons weighing forty pounds were common.

The following item from the Gazette of December 13, 1825, tells its own story:

Better Prospects .- We mention as a singular fact, and entirely new in this territory, that a wagon-load of FLOUR arrived in town last week from the interior. It was made at Colonel Mack's Mills at Pontiac, and we understand that there are several hundred barrels there which will be brought in soon.

This notice marked an era, and soon after Detroit had bread to eat and flour to sell. In 1827 she made her first export of flour to the amount of two hun- dred barrels. About this same time, in 1828, she began to contribute what some would call one of the luxuries of life to other places, "sending coals to Newcastle" in the shape of one hundred hogsheads of Michigan tobacco shipped to Baltimore, besides packages to other places.

In 1827 a pear, weighing thirty ounces, was grown by Judge Sibley; it was seven and a half inches long and fourteen and a half inches in circum- ference.

SOIL AND PRODUCTS, GAME, GRAIN AND FRUITS.

On November 13, 1833, Mr. Moon exhibited a beet two feet and six inches long and two feet and five inches in circumference. It weighed seventeen pounds without the top. In June, 1848, a straw- berry nearly three inches in diameter was grown by Horace Hallock; and in 1854, in the garden of John Farmer, on Monroe Avenue, one tree produced plums measuring nearly six inches in circumference, and the peach trees were heavily laden with peaches as large as any ever seen in this market. A garden near by produced a potato of such immense size that it furnished a full supply of that edible for four meals to a family of two. A quince tree in the same garden produced quinces one of which weighed nearly three pounds.

Notwithstanding the productiveness of the soil, provisions, in early days, were very dear. The reason is given in the Detroit Gazette of January, 1819; it says : " There are families owning from one hundred to two hundred acres of land in the vicinity of the city who are in the constant habit of buying their bread at the baker's and vegetables of their more enterprising neighbors."

In 1837 so much interest was taken in the raising of fruits and grain that a meeting was held on April 24 at .the City Hall to organize an Agricultural and Horticultural Society. Colonel Mckinstry acted as chairman and H. G. Hubbard as secretary. An organization was effected which continued in exist- ence for several years. It was succeeded by the Detroit Horticultural Society, whose annual exhibi- tions were highly appreciated.

In ancient days, as now, whitefish, sturgeon, pick- erel, pike, perch, black bass, catfish, sunfish, and bullheads were plentiful. Large numbers of fish- from the half-pound perch to the one-hundred-and- twenty-pound sturgeon-are caught yearly. Who that has lived here so long does not remember the large reels that twenty years or more ago were so often seen along the river-bank, with the fishers' nets hung upon them ?

Of all species, the whitefish is most numerous and highly prized. Schoolcraft thus sings their praise :-

All friends of good living by tureen and dish Concur in exalting this prince of a fish,

So fine in a platter, so tempting a fry, So rich on a gridiron, so sweet in a pie,

That even before it the salmon must fail,

And that mighty bonne-bouche, the land beaver's tail. * * *

* * *

Its beauty and flavor no person can doubt, When seen in the water or tasted without; And all the dispute that opinion ere makes Of this king of lake-fishes, this deer of the lakes, Regards not its choiceness to ponder or sup,

But the best mode of dressing and serving it up.

In 1818 whitefish were worth only three dollars

per barrel, and boat-loads were sold for fifty cents per hundred.

In 1822 there were taken at Hog Island twelve hundred barrels, then worth from four to five dollars per barrel. On the grounds they were sold at from four to eight shillings per hundred. In 1823 the catch was not so large, and they sold at from two to three dollars per hundred. In the early part of the week ending October 23, 1824, at the fishery on Grosse Isle, twenty-five and thirty thousand white- fish were caught in a single day. In 1825 they were worth six and seven dollars per barrel, and thousands of barrels were shipped to Ohio and New York.

In 1827 they were so numerous that fifteen thou- sand were taken with a single seine, in five hauls. The catch in Detroit River from 1836 to 1840 averaged about thirty-five hundred barrels per year, worth eight dollars per barrel. In 1880 there were caught about twelve thousand half-barrels, worth four dollars and seventy-five cents each.

The importance of fish as an article of food induced the establishment, in 1873, of a State Fish Commission. The first fish hatchery in the State was successfully operated in the winter of 1873-1874, by N. W. Clark,-about one million five hundred thousand young fish being produced. On April 14, 1874, five thousand young whitefish were deposited in Yerkes Lake, Plymouth Township. On March 13, 1875, three hundred and sixteen thousand young fish were deposited in the Detroit River. On August 3, 1876, the Commission resolved to estab- lish a hatchery at Detroit. A cheap frame building, twenty by fifty feet, was erected at Number 475 Atwater Street, near Dequindre; with the apparatus, it cost $1,300. It was completed September 25, 1876, and fully equipped by November I. Between November I and 12, 1876, four hundred and five female fish were stripped on the fishing grounds and ten million eggs procured; nearly twice as many male fish were also stripped, and the hatchery was set in operation. In recent years large fish are kept in the hatchery, and eggs obtained more easily, The first eggs hatched out on March 1, 1877. Up to 1887 nearly one hundred millions of fish had been produced. In the spring of 1887, forty-five millions were hatched out, and many of them were deposited in the Detroit River. When from eight to fifteen days old, the young fry are shipped to such places as the superintendent may designate. In 1883 a new building for the hatchery was erected on the northeast corner of Lafayette Street and Joseph Campau Avenue.

In the winter months, and especially in March or April when the fish are hatching, the institution is well worth a visit.

CHAPTER IV.

CADILLAC'S GRANT .- FRENCH FARMS OR PRIVATE CLAIMS.

THE city of Detroit, as now laid out, includes not only the ancient town, but several adjoining farms, and some public land never owned by private per- sons until granted by the United States. It is pos- sible that the French occupied the site of Detroit several years before the founding of the city by Ca- dillac, but if so, the previous occupation, whether temporary or continuous, involved no personal rights. In the more settled portions of New France, grants were made of seigneuries giving the seigneur entire control of large estates, which were generally par- celed out to purchasers, or, if retained by the seig- neur, were cultivated by his own people, or farmed out to ordinary lessees on such terms as the parties agreed upon.

The terms on which lands might be sold by him were not left to his own option, but were fixed by the Coutume de Paris or by special decrees of the king. When an officer was allowed to build a fort in a new place, he was frequently made proprietor of the fort and certain adjacent lands, which he could lease or sell.

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the founder of De- troit, is said to have been granted a domain of fifteen arpents square. The arpent, however, was not a uniform measure. The United States standard fixes it at 192.24 feet. A woodland arpent is a little more than a square acre; but arpents and acres are often used as interchangeable terms Mr. C. Jouett, the Indian agent at Detroit in 1803, so used them. He said that Cadillac's grant was fifteen acres square, or two hundred and twenty-five acres in all. If that were true, it would now be bounded on the east by the farm known as the Brush Farm, west by the Cass Farm, in front by the Detroit River, and in the rear by Grand River Street. As usually regarded, it reached to the present line of Adams Avenue.

Original documents, copies of which are on file in Quebec, show that he claimed all of the land on both sides of the Detroit, from Lake Erie to Lake Huron; and it is not probable that he would have made this claim if previously there had been granted to him a domain of only fifteen arpents square. He claimed the entire strait because of the great expense he in- curred in establishing the first colony, because of the general benefits accruing to New France from

the peace he secured with the Iroquois, and also for the reason that the establishment of the fort at De- troit prevented the English from reaching the west- ern Indians.

In pursuance of his claim, he made a concession to his eldest son of a tract of land on the river, be- ginning at the entrance into Lake Erie, with a front- age of six leagues, and extending five leagues back from the river. This concession included Grosse Isle and all the adjacent islands.

In support of his demand for all the lands on the strait, Cadillac said that he had established French or Indians here and there along the whole course of the river. There can be doubt that he was granted power by the king to dispose of land on the river, for there is abundant evidence to that effect in a letter from Pontchartrain, dated June 14, 1704, and also in the decrees of June 14, 17, and 19, 1706. Under these decrees he made two grants, now in- cluded in the city, and known as Claims No. 12 and No. 90, or the Guion and Witherell Farms. The grant to François Fafard de Lorme embraced what is now known as Private Claim 12 and part of 13. It was made March 10, 1707, and covered a strip of land four hundred feet wide by four thou- sand feet long, or nearly thirty-two acres. De Lorme was to have the privilege of trading, hunting, and fishing, but was not to kill hares, rabbits, partridges, or pheasants. He was to pay annually, on March 20, five livres as seigneurial dues or rental, and ten livres for the right to trade. He was to commence improvements in three months, and was to plant, or help plant, annually, a May-pole before the door of the seigneur. He also bound himself to have his grain ground at the public mill, and to pay toll, at the rate of eight livres for each minot,-a measure of one bushel. He could not sell or give his land as security without consent; and in case of sale. Cadillac was to have the first right to purchase. He was also to furnish timber for vessels and fortifica- tions when desired; and further promised not to work as a blacksmith, cutler, armorer, or brewer, without special permit. He might import goods. but could employ no clerks unless they lived in De- troit; and he was not to sell liquor to Indians.

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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 11

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