777 777 777 7777777777n` T I T, z 41 -i, L-7 -g-g MI 9, HE S "Y 4" ;Butt erv- e.^l Gc. E. PREFACE [g 0 1HIS little book was compiled by the six B classes of all the [ r schools of the city. It combines the geography, history and the civil government of the city and the community, and con] im Is stitutes a study in the concrete, of these subjects. The old[ ] fashioned method of learning was largely a process of rubbing the child's head against the dry and uninteresting pages of a book. That was not all bad-perhaps not more than half bad. But the new education stresses the doing side rather than the receptive side of the child's nature. It sets him a problem to work out, rather than the irksome task of rehearsing the accomplishments of others. The child may know much, and yet, as a man, he may not be able to meet practical problems in life. Knowing about things through the eyes and ears and experiences of others is one thing, and knowing things through one's own eyes and ears and experiences is quite another. The one means merely the acquisition of knowledge; the other means the power of application. The present work has afforded the children of the public schools an opportunity of doing something that is quite worth while, and then it lays the foundations for a rational study of geography and its allied subjects by presenting facts which come within the child's observation. They present to him a concrete application by which he may judge and evaluate and interpret other geographical facts which must, by virtue of their distance from him, be foreign to his senses and his experiences. The book has been carefully edited by Mr. George E. Butterfield, principal of the McKinley school, who has been careful, as far as possible, to preserve the original language of the children furnishing the manuscript. The writer of this preface, the present superintendent of schools, wishes to express his appreciation of the excellent work done both by Mr. Butterfield and by the children. F. A. GAUSE, Superintendent of Schools. INTRODUCTION CAREFUL study of the home region furnishes an excellent foundation for the later study of the geography, history, and government of our nation and of other nations. It is interesting and understandable because the child is living in the midst of the conditions, events, and things studied. He sees old friends in a new light. Moreover, most of the elements in the more advanced studies are to be found at home in the regional study. The interaction between man and his physical surroundings has taken place in many ways right here in Bay County. The forests furnish the best example, for they attracted the people here, furnished them with their occupations, and in the meantime were cleared away by those people who established rich farms and built great factories in their places. Bay City furnishes a good example of two types of cities, as it combines the elements both of the trading and distributing center and of the manufacturing center. Government has developed step by step from the very simple government of an unsettled region into the complex government of a densely populated county. When such a study of Bay County was undertaken two years ago at the request of Superintendent Gause, it was found to be very difficult to get suitable material on the many topics. In some schools there was very little material to be found, because the parents were mostly recent immigrants. In other schools there was,a wealth of material to be obtained directly from the pioneers, but there was no way in which this material could be given to the other schools or could be preserved for future classes. The libraries contain much valuable material, but not in a form suitable for use by sixth grade pupils. To overcome these difficulties, Mr. Gause suggested that the geography department, with the pupils of the sixth grade, make a detailed study of the county for one year. This would give the pupils an important piece of constructive work to do, and the results could then be published as a text book for use in future classes. The method of procedure has been as follows: The sixth grade teachers of geography met at frequent intervals to discuss the work, the sources of material, and to form general outlines for the classes to follow. Beginning in January, 1917, and continuing through May, pupil representatives from each sixth grade in the city met for an hour once a week with the chairman to present reports from their classes, discuss various parts of the work, and decide questions that had arisen. By the close of the school year in June, reports of the work of each class had been handed in to the chairman. These reports were sifted, conflicting statements investigated, and sources of all kinds consulted. Many of the pioneer residents were interviewed. Then the work was put in final form for publication. It has been our object to have an interesting book. This accounts for many of the stories and illustrations. At the same time we have attempted to make the work as reliable as possible and to record the sources of our information. Lack of time has made it impossible to go to the real sources in many cases. We have aimed to place the emphasis on those phases of the work that are significant, but are not at hand for study now. The present industrial and governmental conditions need no text for their studyin fact, ought to have none. The daily paper with its advertisements, statements about business and the industries, and with its proceedings of the Common Council, Board of Education, Board of Supervisors, and of other governmental bodies of the city and county furnish text enough for this part of the work. At the same time it is desired that the personal observation of the pupil be used wherever possible. This can be accomplished by means of individual, group, or class excursions and visits to interesting places, to industrial plants, and to the meetings of the Common Council, etc. Many suggestions and much valuable information have been received from individual citizens, city and county officials, and the libraries. Many valuable illustrations have been donated at considerable expense by several of our factories and by individuals interested in the success of the book. Superintendent Gause has personally examined each chapter and has offered many helpful suggestions. The half-tones and zinc etchings for the illustrations and the maps were prepared by Bay City's engraver, Darwin C. Schmidt. The interest and care given the entire book by the publishers, and especially by Mr. Chan Gregory, is in evidence throughout the book. Much valuable material had to be omitted because of the limit to the size of the book and on account of the special purpose for which it was prepared. There are doubtless many mistakes that will need correcting on account of the great variety of sources used. Suggestions and corrections will be gladly received, passed on to the classes, and filed for future use. GEO. E. BUTTERFIELD, Chairman. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. General Facts -----------—.... --- ------—...-.... --- —-—.. — 1 II. Physical Features...-....... --- —--------------- 3 III. Climate -—.......... ---- -------------------- 12 NATIVE LIFE. IV. Vegetation -- ---- -- ---- 18 V. Animals - ------------------------ ---------------------------------------- 20 VI. First Evidences of Human Life.. —. —.. --- —----------- 25 VII. Legendary History of the Sauk Indians --- —-----------------------—. 29 VIII. The Chippewa Indians -....-....... --- —---------- 33 WHITE PEOPLE TAKE POSSESSION. IX. The French Period —...... ---- ----------- 42 X. The English Period -........ — ------------ 46 XI. The Fur Traders.. ----—... --- —------------ 50 XII. The American Period-Boundary Changes....... — 58 XIII. The American Period-Indian Treaties... --- —-------------- 61 XIV. The American Period-Conditions Favorable and Unfavorable to Settlement...... --- — -... --- — ------- 67 SETTLEMENT. XV. The First Settlers............. --- —--------- 73 XVI. Pioneer Life...... --- —------------------ 82 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. XVII. Early Development-Lumbering -----—.. --- —---------—.. 94 XVIII. Early Development-Salt, Shipbuilding and Fishing..... 108 XIX. General Manufacturing and Agriculture...... —. --- —. ----. 118 XX. Transportation and Communication -----—....... ------- 124 XXI. Period of Transition..... --- —--—.... ----------- 138 XXII. Bay City as a Commercial Center.. ----....- ------—. 155 PEOPLE. XXIII. The People of Bay County. -----—. - --------—.-.. 160 GOVERNMENT. XXIV. History of Its Organization. -....... --- —-.. 169 XXV. Some of Its Activities........ --- —.... --- —--- --------------- 175 Appendix —... --- —-—..... --- —--- ---—. --- —--------- - 191 Index................-..-...-..........-..... --- —--- 207 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Page Street Car Barns on Cass Avenue Bay City, The Glad-Hand Town —. 2 Dredge, Made in Bay City, at Work in Bay County --------—. --- — 10 Cass Avenue Flooded in 1916 —. - 11 Saginaw's Tall Whispering Pines 18 W olverine -... --- ——.. --- —---.. --- —-. --- —-. 24 Bay County Indian Relics ----------- 27 Captain Joseph Francois Marsac__ 62 Mader Tromblee ---... --- —--—. --- —------ 74 The Center House -...75..-.... 75 Judge Albert Miller -. —. --- ——.. — 76 Jaines Fraser -------------------------------- 77 Mader Tromble Homestead -------- 79 Bay City in the Fall of 1 838 ------- 80 Captain John S. Wilson............- 82.oseph Tromble.. --- —--—.-...... —.-..... 84 Mrs. Thomas Rogers. --- —-------------- 87 Wm. R. McCormick. --- —— 8.... ---. ----. 89 Sidney S. Campbell... —.-. —.......... 90 James G. Birney.... ----..........9....... 92 Bay City in 1854 ----—. —. --- —........ 94 A View Looking West from the W ater W orks -----------— 9....-........ 98 The Sage Mill and Third Street Bridge.-.-.....-.................. 100 Big Wheels Used in Hauling Logs 101 S. O. Fisher's Camp, at Pinconning, al)out 1882.. --- ------— 0... —.. 102 The Lumber Camp.. —... ----............ 1 02 The Lumber Woods ------. 103 --- —- 103 Saw Mills and Lumber Yard --- —-- 104 An Early Saw Mill.... —. --- ——..... 105 The Kneeland-Bigelow Saw Mill.. 1 06 Bigelow-Cooper Salt Block.... --- — 11l Building of the Ship, at Davidson's Shipyard... --- —----—. ---... 112 Launching the Ship...............-. 114 Sturgeon Caught in Saginaw Bay........................-..... 115 Mending the Nets.-... --- ——....... ---- 116 Boring Solid Pipe, Michigan Pipe Company... ---........-................... 1 20 Showing Method of Banding Pipe 120 One of the Large Coating Machines -------—.......................1...... 121 The Boutell Fleet -----........ ---..... 124 Passenger Service on Saginaw River-the Evening Star, and the L. G. Mason... --- —..............-1.. 124 Saginaw River, 1882 -................... 125 Center Avenue in 1875 --—..-....... 129 Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, 1866............................... 131 -— Built in 1882 -1 32 B1ay City Post Office. --- —------- 136 Michigan Central Depot -13.. —. --- —- 137 Lewis Manufacturing Company____ 138 W. H. Nickless Box F actory -... ----. 140 Sugar Factory and fBeet Field --- —- 141 North American Chemical Co.General View and Engine Room 142 Modern Fire Room ------------ 143 Bay City Dry Dock —... —.............. 144 Unloading Sugar Beets ----------- 145 The Industrial WorksGeneral View, the Shops, and Cranes at Work.-......-.......... 1 46 T. F. Marston's Jersey Cattle.. ---- 147 Chevrolet.Motor Car Plant --- —------ 1 48 Monitor Coal Mine ---The First in Bay County...-.. --- —-----—. --- —---—. 150 Hydro-Electric Power Generated on the AuSableFive Channels Dam, Loud Dam, Cooke's Dam, and Transmitting Tower --—.- --—. --- —-- -. 151 W. D. Young & Company, Hardwood Flooring Plant-Birdseye View ---................ 152 and 153 Zagelmeyer Cast Stone Block and Machinery Company -........ --- —.. 154 Chicory Factory...-.... --- —............... 154 The City Market ---------------—. 156 The World's Star Knitting Mills_ 157 Northeastern Michigan Development Bureau-Automobile Exhibit ------------------------ 159 Wenonah Hotel... --- —----------- 163 Young Men's Christian Association --—. --- —---------------- 164 Wading in Saginaw Bay -—.1 --- 165 Log Rolling Contest —"Ready for the Contest," and "The Winner" _.. --- —--------—..-.. —.. ----.. 166 Camping Along the Bay Shore ---... 167 Bathing —Wenona Beach --- -—. 168 Boating-Along the Bay Shore..-. 169 N. B. Bradley.. --- —------------- 172 Captain Benjamin F. Pierce --- —--- 173 E. L. Dunbar ----------------—.. 177 The Michigan Pipe Works on Fire -------------.. --- —- ----- 179 "Try Us" Fire Engine, 1859 ----- 181 Neptune Company, 1866.. ---.. 182 Chief T. K. Harding -.-l --- — - 183 Bay City's Modern Fire Apparatus 184 ITLLUSTRATIONS S- (ON TI I EDl)) Page SCIItOOLS. Riegel.......... D olsen ----—................... ---\W oodside -------------—. W ashington -... —.......... W enona ---------- - ----- ------------- Garfield ---- --------—.... McKinley -------------- P ark --—... —............. — -- K olb - -- --.... --- —---—.... —.............Sherm an -------------------- Trombley ------ ----------—. — Lincoln -- --- --------------.Frem ont ------------ ------------ IV hittier.................. C orbin.. --- —---—.. --- —------------ ----.....- - First School House in Lower Saginaw, 1844..- ------- ---—. The Last Log School in Bay County --- -----—.-... Farragut School-High School of 1868....... --------—....... W estern High School... --- —... --- —-. — Bay City's "New High School"1883.. —...-3 - M\A PS. 28 Mlichigan Froltisi 32 32 Sketch of \orld, Showing Parallel 3) and Meridian Through Blay City 41 45 One Stage of the Great Glacier, 49 Showing Lake Saginaw ----------- 53 Bayr Coulnty-r........................... a 5 7 ) IUnited States Weather Mapl) --- —-- Bay City, Mount Pleasant, Lud6 ington and Sioux Falls. --- —------- 66 72 Temperature and Rainfall Maps 96 of the Southern Peninsula ---—.96 Indian Tribes in Michigan ----------- 107 General Location of the French, English and Spanish in America 5 John Mitchell's Map, 17 55. --- ——. — 186 Northwest Territory... --- —-.. ----. ---Michigan Territory -.....-.......... —.7 Saginaw Valley Counties in 1831 188 The Erie Canal ---------------------------- 189 Northeastern Michigan.-.. —. --- —----, >iece 1 16 29 42 44 58 58 59 71 158 REFERENCES. Special referenc es are given in notes at the bottolll o the pages. Lists are given at the end of each chapter. References to the Michigan Pioneer and History Colloctions are given by volume and page; the name is omitted-that is, any reference such as VIII, 329, refers to those collections. Bay Counnty, Past and Present CHAPTER I.-GENERAL FACTS. EFORE we study those facts that deal with Bay County in particular, let us compare our location with that of other places on the earth. If we were to go around the world on the meridian that passes through Bay City, we would find few cities, but we would learn some interesting facts. To the north we would pass west of Alpena and east of Mackinaw and Sault Ste. Marie, through thinly settled parts of Canada, into the Hudson Bay. Traveling southward on the meridian, we would go within sight of Ann Arbor and our great State University, and at that point Detroit would be about forty miles to the east. We would also pass near Knoxville, Tennessee, and Talahassee, Florida. Then in crossing the Gulf of Mexico we would touch at the western end of Cuba and reach the continent again in Central America. But many of us would be greatly surprised on continuing south to find that we were in the Pacific Ocean, too far west to see any part of the continent of South America. 2 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. On the meridian directly opposite us, on the other side of the globe, we would go through central Russia, desert and mountainous regions of the Chinese Republic where we would find very few people, and on into the interesting land of Burma or Farther India, with its dense forests of valuable teak wood, and its fertile and densely populated valley of the Irawadi River, where the world buys its rice and where the elephant does the heavy work. South of Burma we would find the warm Indian Ocean and the most western islands of the East Indies. In traveling due east and west, that is on the parallel that passes through Bay City, we would have a trip no less interesting. In Michigan we would go through the well known towns of Cass City, Midland and Mount Pleasant. Farther to the west we could see the Wind Cave National Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and would reach the Pacific Ocean near the central part of the Oregon coast. Crossing the ocean far to the north of the Hawaiian Islands and the other well known islands of the Pacific, our trip would take us through the northern and less important parts of Japan and the Chinese Republic, and through southern Russia in Asia into the Black Sea. Going east from Bay City we would pass through Toronto, in Canada, and Portland, Maine, over the southern edge of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and on across the Atlantic Ocean. When we reached Europe many would be astonished to find that we were far south of the British Isles, Holland, Belgium and even Switzerland, and that we in Bay County live no farther from the equator than the people of Marseilles in southern France, or than those of the famous cities of Pisa and Florence in the warm and sunny Italy. Returning home, let us examine some of the general facts about our city and county. Although only four other counties of Michigan are smaller, Bay County is equal to more than j\W one-third of the entire state of Rhode Island, and extends over about one-half of one degree of latitude and of longitude. It is located at about the center of the eastern shore of Michigan, at the head of that great arm of Lake Huron, Saginaw Bay, where the "Thumb" of the Michigan mitten joins the hand. We see that the county is irregular in shape on account of the political boundaries made in carving Bay County from Saginaw County and later in forming Arenac from what for over twenty-five years was the northern part of Bay County. Its position on the bay shore also PHYSICAL FEATURES. 3 adds to the irregular shape. A glance at the map will show that the bounding counties, with the exception of Arenac, are larger and much more regular than ours. Bay City, like the county, is long, rather narrow, and irregular, being built up along both banks of the Saginaw River. It extends from within one and one-half miles of Saginaw Bay at its nearest point in Banks, to about seven and one-half miles from the bay at its southern boundary. No point in the city is two miles away from some part of the river, while its greatest width from east to west is but little more than three miles. Both city and county are divided by the river into natural divisions-the east and west sides. For purposes of government the city is divided into nine wards (1), and the county is divided for the same reason into one city and fourteen townships. The usual township is six miles square, but in Bay County we see that there is great irregularity in both the size and the shape of the townships. CHAPTER II.-PHYSICAL FEATURES THE UNDERLYING ROCK' FORMATION. K ---_ OR ages what is now Michigan was almost entirely at the bottom of a great inland sea that covered much of this part of North America. In the Upper Peninsula is found old, hard rock formed by the action of volcanoes-there are even the ret- -- mains of some volcanic cones in the Copper Country. But in the Lower Peninsula, in drilling into the underlying rock for many hundreds of feet (2) there have been found layer after layer of soft rock formed by the detritus brought into that old inland sea by its many rivers. Being far from the shore, the water could carry only the finest material to this bottom land. Layers of limy ooze were left to be changed by time and by pressure from still other layers into sandstone. Mud formed layers of shale, the color varying with the kind of mud. Part of the time this inland sea had no outlet and was salty, (1) In case the commiission form of governmient is adopted, these wards, with slight boundary changes, will be retained for certain purposes. (2) See Geological column in Appendix. 4 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. so that there are at least two layers of salt underneath this part of Michigan. These were formed in much the same way as salt layers are now being formed at the bottom of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. At other times part of the great sea was shallow and dense vegetation in swampy places formed layers of muck or peat, and as other changes put layers of rock on top, the pressure changed this material into coal, though the pressure was not great enough to create any except a soft or bituminous grade of coal. Some of these layers of rock, especially of shale and coal, are only a few feet, or in places a few inches thick, and others, especially those of sandstone and limestone, vary from ten feet to several hundred feet-one layer of shale is recorded as being 560 feet in thickness. THE EFFECT OF THE GREAT GLACIERS. At a much later time, when the inland sea had disappeared, the present Great Lakes were only river valleys where rivers were cutting their way down through part of the land that had been so carefully built up by the sea. Then the great glaciers moved over this part of North America at four or five different periods of time, gouging boulders out of the rock, grinding these into smaller pieces, forming gravel, sand and clay and carrying it all southward in their slow but irresistible movement. Part of these masses of ice and rock material covered Bay County. After long ages of time the ice gradually disappeared for the last time and left a great mantle of rock material covering the layers of sedimentary rock that had formed at the bottom of the former inland sea. This glacial drift, made up of huge boulders, smaller rocks, gravel, sand and clay, covers the bed rock in Bay County to a probable average depth of 97 feet (1), and in places, as near the Midland County line along the Midland road, it is probably as much as 250 feet or more in depth. Bed rock does not reach the surface anywhere in Bay County. It comes nearest to the surface in Fraser Township where in some places it is only thirty feet below. (2) When the last glacier had melted back so that its edge was across part of Saginaw Bay or Lake Huron, a large lake was formed south of it, called Saginaw Lake by scientists, into which the water from the surrounding land and from the melting ice drained. This Saginaw Lake extended around the end of the present bay, and toward the (1) See Geological column in Appendix. (2) Cooper, p. 1,2. PHYSICAL FEATURES. 5 southwest, part way across On(tr a t oDf Great Glrcfier the state. The water flow<.rom Ta1/~r Q' Leu.ereft) ed out through the Grand )C^^ A x^e d A. St-hr jRiver into Lake Michigan, and reached the Atlantic / pIe of "- ' w tC /Acer r.//:,.t-~. iOcean through the Missis-::. - d; Ssippi River. As the ice r an $ ' continued to melt back and. i B at times advanced again, |I Ad^^ Id ~~ ^ this lake changed its shore i.^8 ^^f KfiY-,lines very many times, and iHa Irc1 /anid / later it Joined with other lakes that were formed in fttet* ^ the same way near Port //t / 'i ~Huron and Detroit. When the glacier had receded far enough to allow the water to pass out to the ocean through the St. Lawrence River, these temporary lakes disappeared, but left the present Great Lakes.. (1) Then the Saginaw River was formed and in time it has built up a flood plain on top of part of the old lake bottom by spreading over the level valley the mud that it has carried in great quantities during heavy rains and especially during the spring high water. The foregoing facts will make clear much that follows in regard to the present surface, drainage and soil conditions of Bay County and the neighboring counties. SURFACE. The shore of Saginaw Bay is about 580 feet or about one-ninth of a mile above the level of the sea. There is no appreciable tide, according to a report of a United States Government official. The coastline, thirty-five or thirty-six miles in length, is low and sandy. There are many swampy places near the shore. The coast is very regular when compared with such rocky and irregular coasts as that of Georgian Bay in Ontario. But there are a few slight indentations or bays in addition to the estuaries formed at the mouths of the Saginaw and Kawkawlin rivers, as Tobico Bay in Bangor Township and Neamquam Bay north of Lengsville in Fraser Township. The shore is gradually receding, and has left sand ridges near the present shore. The mouth of the Saginaw River affords the only good harbor. (1) Frank B. Taylor, p. 298-323 for the various stages in this change. 6 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. From the bay shore the rise of land is very gradual (1). In the southern part of the county, located as it is in the river valley and on the old lake bottom, the surface is particularly low and very level. At no point east of the river does it rise more than twenty-five feet above the level of the bay. The highest points are near the southern boundary of the county in Merritt Township, and near the river in Bay City, beginning near Columbus Avenue and extending south, perhaps to Fremont Avenue. The same low condition is found on the west side of the river for a mile or more from the river, though the rise is slightly greater than on the east side. The highest point in the limits of Bay City is at the intersection of Jenny Street and Euclid Avenue (2). In the western and northern part of the county the surface is not quite so level as in the south, though there is no place outside of Gibson and Mount Forest townships where the land rises one hundred feet above the level of the bay. Much of this part of the county was also covered by the glacial lakes, but they reached their western limits here and many sand ridges are found that were formed by their shores. The ridges in the western tier of townships formed part of the western shore of Saginaw Lake, which was the oldest and highest of the glacier lakes of this region. Lakes formed after that were lower and had their coasts nearer the present shore of the bay. The sand ridge extending along the Kawkawlin stone road and on north into Arenac County is perhaps the most continuous of these old shores, but many others formed in this way are to be found in every township on the west side of the river. Most of the time during the glacial lake period the east side of the county was entirely covered by the water of the lakes, so there are few sand ridges compared with the rest of the county, but even here some are to be found. One is quite continuous. It starts at Washington Park, passes the Farragut School and the cemeteries, and continues southeast, passing a little to the west of Munger. (3) In the northern part of the county the surface is quite high and rolling, and northwest of Bentley, where a glacial moraine extends a short distance into Bay County from Gladwin County (4), there are many hills, some rising to about 820 feet above the sea level or 240 feet above Saginaw Bay (5.) This is the highest land in Bay County. There are a few hills of sand - that is, sand dunes - near the bay (1) See countour lines on Map of Bay County. (2) 602.7 feet above sea level, from maps in office of City Engineer. (3) For details regarding these old beaches. see Cooper, pp. 343-350. (4) Cooper 342. 343; Maps: Leverett, 1911; Leverett and Taylor, 1914. (5) See contour lines, map of Bay County. PHYSICAL FEATURES. 7 shore in Pinconning and Fraser townships that have been formed by the action of the wind on the sand along the shore. (1) DRAINAGE. The natural drainage of the county as a whole is very poor, as we might very well expect after studying the general surface conditions. There are few streams in Bay County that empty into the Saginaw River, and although that river is the largest in the state, is from ten to sixteen feet deep in its lower course and is nearly half a mile wide in some places, it has a very slow current except in the spring, and is bordered by many swamps and bayous-a condition found in the flood plains of most rivers. One of these bayous, which passes near the Grand Trunk Railway tracks and the Wenona School, and continues southwest to Salzburg, was used as a drain until 1886 or even later, by the villages of Salzburg and Wenona. (2) There are a few other rivers and streams that help drain the county, the Kawkawlin River with its north and south branches being the most important. Others, that were quite important fishing and lumbering streams during the early period of our history, had many creeks flowing into them. There are the Pinconning or Potato River, the Saganing Creek which reaches across Arenac County into Gibson and Mount Forest townships, White Feather Creek in Pinconning Township, and one branch of the Quanicassee River in Merritt Township. These, with their tributaries, are now useful mainly as drains. Since the land has been cleared of the forests and a network of ditches have been dug, the water passes off rapidly and the streams have become small and very narrow, drying up entirely in their upper branches during the summer. This dwindling process is continuing. at the present time with these streams and also with the tributaries of the Saginaw River. Much of the low swamp land in the southern part of the county has been drained by large "dredge cuts" and ditches, thus changing it into good farm land. In the city there used to be many swampy places, especially on the east side of the river. The present location of the Farragut School was once a swamp, and in early times row boats were used where we now find Cass Avenue. But as the rise of land from the river is everywhere enough to allow the land to be (1) Map, Leverett and Taylor, 1914. (2) West Bay City Council Proceedings, May 25, 1886. 00 MAP of BAY COUNTY MICHIGAN o 1917 x Arranged from maps by H. C. Thompson, 1'94; Bay County Land Office; W. F. Cooper (Topographic map, 1905); Monroe and Learman (1916 Atlas), etc. By GEO. E. BUTTERFIELD Scale about 3" miles to one inch. Exact scale may be determined from Garfield Township, where the sections, one mile square, are shown and numbered. For the explanation of the meaning of the various lines, see key to map c given just south of Frankenlust Township. Contour lines pass through places H of the same height above sea level. Lake Huron is about 580 feet above, making the present shore at that height. Contour lines are drawn through places 585 ft. above sea level (or 5 ft. above the shore line), others for 600 ft. above, and the rest for each rise of 25 ft. If the water in Lake Huron were to rise to the height of 585 ft. above the sea, the Iew snor. wnmii h tn.r. r ~.n. A x. Tr I -4 LtnL zW V ji~~~~~~~~~~~~f~~~~~~sP........... I,J J.LJ - ~ Cout(~ o' ab[BU/ri&\ J 'N SS/RS ~ Ct19 iihef~rti L~VA oA Wnf//?v~n~1rLV — SECTICON ou Lne (_tiurqip ~art6 N ie rcs d~l ~ RI&. height of 585 ft. abo ve the sea, the new snore wouct13 bsat tne ozso it. contour line, and so on for the other lines. The distance circles are drawn wiith the City Hall for center..4 The stone roads-include, as far as could be determined, those to be completed by the spring of 1918. 10 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT.:4*:~~~~~~~~ i Ii i PHYSICAL FEATURES. 11. drained by sewers, all these places have been drained and filled in, so that a healthy condition is maintained in the city in spite of the low, level land. There are spring floods in the Saginaw Valley as in the lower courses of most rivers, but as the land in the valley in Saginaw County is lower than that in Bay County, the floods cause the most trouble between Bay City and Saginaw, where large areas are flooded annually. Disastrous floods, however, are rare, the main difficulty being interference with railroad and inter-urban traffic. The streets of Bay City, with a very occasional exception in the south end of the city; are never flooded as they are in many other cities located in river flood plains. Cass Avenue Flooded in 1916. SOIL. There are many different kinds and grades of soil in Bay County (1). Fine clay is found over the river flood plain in the south, and over that part of the county that was formerly part of the bottoms of the old lakes. Sandy soil is found in connection with the abandoned shore lines in many places in the county, but particularly in the west and north. Sandy soil is also found along the shore and in the northern part of the county in the water and land moraines (2). The water moraine was formed of rather fine sand carried by the water from the melting edge of the glacier and dropped in the water of the lake. In the land moraine, where the material was not carried by the water, but was left directly on the surface by the melting ice, the sand is mixed with clay, gravel and some boulders. There are also many places in the county where muck soil has been formed in the former swamps. Some of these cover quite a large area, and may be compared to similar beds of muck now forming in places near the bay shore and along the river. Over all this variety of soils and mixed with them, there is a layer of black soil or humus formed by the decaying vegetable matter during the ages when the county was covered by forests, prairies and swamps. This, mixed with the other soil, gives clay-loam and sandy-loam of many grades and makes it possible to raiise an unusually great variety of farm products in Bay County successfully. (1) Cooper, page 350, 351. (2) Map, Lever-tt, 1911, shown by dark and light bluish strips. BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. REFERENCES. Michigan Geological Report on Bay County, 1905-W. F. Cooper. The Glacial and Postglacial Lakes of the Great Lakes Region-Frank B. Taylor. From the Smithsonian Report for 1912, pages 291-327. Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan-Fuller. Mich. Hist. Pub. 1916. Michigan Geography-L. H. Wood. Tarr and McMurry II, pages 1-13. Tarr and McMurry Michigan Supplement-Parkins and Stickle. Dodge Michigan Supplement-Mark Jefferson. Brigham and McFarlane Michigan Supplement-E. C. Warriner. Tackabury's Atlas of Michigan-Walling. 1873. Topography and Geology-Winchell. MAPS. Map of the Surface Formations of the Southern Peninsula-Frank Leverett, 1911. Michigan Geological Survey. Glacial Map of Southern Peninsula of Michigan-Leverett and Taylor, 1914. Michigan Geological Survey. Geological Map of Michigan-Allen, Smith and Barrett, 1916. Michigan Geological Survey. CHAPTER III. CLIMATE HE climate of this section, as is true with other places, is determined mostly by our latitude or distance away from the equator. We are about half way between the equator and the north pole. This position gives us a temperate climate with the four seasons. It affords us a growing season of about five months between killing frosts, and with an extra long day during this growing season-much longer than in places nearer the equator. Our longest day is about fifteen hours. This gives so much sunlight that it helps the crops to ripen before the frosts. The short nights also help to prevent killing frosts on the cold nights in late spring and early fall. The latitude also places us in the wind belt called the Prevailing Westerlies, with the winds from some westerly direction about twothirds of the time.' The storm centers or cyclonic storms so common in the belt of Prevailing Westerlies have their usual effect here. These storms, which generally pass across the country from west to east, have winds blowing toward the center from all directions. During the first part of the storm as it passes a place such as Bay County, the winds are usually from an easterly direction and so may bring rain from the Atlantic Ocean-for the storm area often extends over many hundreds of miles. After a time, as the storm moves farther east the CLI MATE. 13 wind shifts to the north or south. If to the south, more rain may be brought, this time from the Gulf of Mexico, and there is likely to be a rise in temperature. Still later, perhaps two or three days after the beginning of the storm, the wind shifts to the west, bringing fair weather and in winter perhaps extreme cold. Do not think that these storms are always severe. Frequently such a storm center will pass over us and we will hardly notice it as the winds are light, and it may be accompanied by little or no rain. At other times some of our severest wind or snow storms may be the result of such a storm center. Cyclon'i \)$torm Areampa which c~a dcd trnd in W fhOern Michigan \ which ca~ n cat ed y ng. Airws \how direct n of wind.., Center f storm is at place marked LOW?.' EXPLANA ORY NOTES. Ob.ferations taken at 8 *. m., 75th meridian time. Air precsure uoed to sea Icrel. Isoo.ns (continuous lines) pass through points of equal air pressure. ISOTIIERWS (dotted lines) pus through points of equal temp.rature; O clear; 9 partly cloudy; * cloudy; R rain; S snow; M report missing. Arrows fly with the wind. Shxded urea show prec!pitatiou of 0.01 inch or more In past 24 hours. Wind ~elocities of les than 10 miles an hour, anod unuols of precipitation or less than 0.01 inch at- not published beron. Note: 1. Direction of wind toward center; 2. Area covered by storm; 3. Rain in storm area indicated by shading' 4. Clear weather west of storm area. Bay County is seldom visited by really destructive winds. This is explained by some as being due to the fact that we are located in that low lake bottom with much higher land around us so that the severest part of the wind is said to pass above us. Winds frequently come up the Mississippi River valley, reaching us and causing rain and at the same time warm weather. People who have long noticed weather changes have found that winds from the east, including the northeast and southeast, are much more liable to bring rain than are other winds, and that very frequently our severe snow storms come from the northeast. This may be in part because BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. these easterly winds have blown over Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay, but more probably because they are moisture laden winds from the Atlantic Ocean. The rainfall in Bay County averages from thirty to thirty-five inches a year. If all this came at one time the water would be from two to two and one-half feet deep. Fortunately it does not come at one time, but is usually quite well distributed throughout the four seasons, with plenty during the spring and summer growing season, about the same in the fall, and the least, a little more than half as much as in each of the other seasons, in the winter. While there are seasons with more rain than is good for the crops, and others with not enough for the best results, as a rule the rain is distributed so that the crops average well. It may seem strange, but the records show it to be true, that there is usually a greater amount of rainfall during the year in the southern part of the county than in the northern part. (1) Our climate as determined by latitude is not changed by other conditions nearly so much as is the case with many other places in the United States or in other countries. We are not so near the ocean as to have oceanic climate with an extra amount of rainfall and a narrow range of temperature on account of warm winters and cool summers. In fact we have quite a wide range of temperature from the coldest night in the winter which generally comes in February, to the hottest day in summer in July or August. In the year 1916 there was a range of 126~ (2) from 22~ on February 14 to 1040 on July 30. It is seldom that the range is as great as this, however. Although our position, then, gives us a range of temperature of from 110~ to 120~ in most years, yet we are not so far inland, away from all effects of the ocean winds, as to have continental climate of the extreme kind with very severe winters and very hot summers, as is the case with inland states such as Minnesota and the Dakotas where the range is probably from 10~ to 20~ greater than here. It is true that our nearness to the water frequently causes a damp, raw cold that may be more chilling than the dry cold of a much lower temperature in those interior states. Again, our height above the sea —altitude-is so slight that our average temperature, about forty-five degrees, is not lowered, nor is the rainfall increased as is true of some high places in the Rocky Mountains. There are no high mountains nearby to protect us from cold north winds in winter, as is Italy by the Alps Mountains, nor to take the moisture from the winds before they reach us, as in places just east of the Rocky Mountains in parts of Utah and Nevada. (1) See Iainfall Map, page 1G. Map No. 4. (2) Climatological Data. 1916. C LIM AT E. 15 But although, as we have just seen, our climate is not affected directly by any oceans or mountains, there is one fact regarding our position that does affect the general climate, especially the temperature, quite decidedly. That is our location in the Great Lakes region, on the shore of Saginaw Bay. We can see more clearly what this effect is if we compare our temperature in winter and summer with a few other places in almost the same latitude. Let us take Mount Pleasant in the interior of the Lower Peninsula; Ludington, which is a little north of us on the Michigan shore of Lake Michigan; and Sioux Falls in South Dakota, over 400 miles from Lake Michigan. (1) The figures in the following diagram are actual for all except Sioux Falls, which are merely estimates of what would perhaps be true under similar weather conditions. South1 \.innesota Wis-onsin Dakota e f// Luingto oux Falls leas y ^^^^G To~~~~ L ake ichigan Nebraska A Iowa ir Illinois /Michigan Sioux Falls. Ludington. Mt. Pleasant. Bay City. Jan. 11, 1917 (2) (-25~ ) (-1 ~ -14~ -4~ (3) June 30, 1917 ( 90 ) 741 80~ 81~ EFFECT OF THE GREAT LAKES Thus we see that places in the Great Lakes region are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than places like Sioux Falls that are located in the interior and away from the Great Lakes. We also see that Ludington, getting the full benefit of the Prevailing Westerly winds from off Lake Michigan, has its temperature affected by its location much greater than does either Bay City or Mount Pleasant. And while Bay City and Mount Pleasant have about the same summer temperatures, the latter usually has more severe temperatures in winter than Bay City. It would seem that our summer resorts along the bay shore were due more to the recreational opportunities of bathing and boating rather than to any decided difference in temperature from places in the state some distance inland. (1) See map. (2) Michigan Climatological Data for January and June, 1917. (3) The sign-before a number of degrees means below zero. 16 BAY COUNTY, PA-ST AND PRESENT. 'A ( DAD~~EQU ISL 22' N S A I A P l A A D D A M A lA C A S A1 M CN J LA A C~L A T I A C E t A l C D N I / A L[~ L x P ' AEr MA AC NGDHADA 1L N-fJ. i A ~ Gcl '0 JACY N A WA' H(J C9J A AMAD,)~ I A N~ M DAALLSDALE j L " IM 0A R DE AEFJAGE TE)4PEJRA~nTjFI I ~A 1 I T December 1916. 423' REL A A N D IAL M C M A A N 43' ANDA$~~~~~' T -FMONTMI N E- 'N OL S COD ~W A M N... W. I.R.. I.i.. K. E S C T i A V ER A EOL CLRETJ J GLAAT D W 4 R V 1 ~ 1 1 D Y e ar 1 9 1 6.AB LLA 'M DL c\ / ICAE8MAGA~~ft S ISL ILEELANADL\ T\M I ~ A ALPE N A' ANTRAM D. AM A 7 ANCYJ ' D A ALK K - t - F - M E A TA A! I ADAM W A ID A C A D N ADRAVE~~~~~~~~~~~~~o ADA NAIAD~~~~~ XADAD~~~~J4A o S ADA LAA~DSAAALAI CC.~(~jDLADW KDLD i~AIA id MADANj pErtD Fji~ A I M I T A L 1~~ [ C H ILLSA T I O NE l O N Ju esr1 17 C LIM ATE. 17 In the spring this effect of the lakes on temperature tends to keep the land near the water cool. This keeps vegetation from getting too early a start, making it less liable to damage from frosts. In the fall, cold weather is delayed by warm lake winds, giving crops a better chance to ripen before severe frosts come. Our location at the head of Saginaw Bay and at the mouth of the Saginaw River has an interesting effect on the level of the water. Very low water in the river and along the bay shore may result from a strong southwest wind. And in case of a very strong northeast wind, the water from Lake Huron is crowded into the bay and that of the bay into the river, so that the current may be up stream for a time, bringing the water along shore and in the river to a high stage. Recently such a storm caused a rise of from three to four feet near the mouth of the river, flooding the low lands and doing considerable damage to boats, cottages and other property along the bay shore and river front. REFERENCES. Michigan Geological Report on Bay County, 1905-W. F. Cooper. Pages 356-364. Michigan Geographies-See references for Chapter II. Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan-Fuller. Michigan Historical Publications, 1916. Tackabury's Atlas of Michigan-Walling. 1873. Climate-Winchell. Michigan Climatological Data-United States Weather Bureau, Grand Rapids. 18 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER IV. NATIVE LIFE-VEGETATION HE place of honor among the forms of native vegetation in the Saginaw Valley must certainly be given to our lost forests, and particularly to "Saginaw's tall, whispering pines." Before the white man took possession, there were immense stands of white pine over the greater part of Bay County. But we are situated on the border between the two i,_~ L:, -. Thgreat forest belts of the and Noynortheastern part of the spruce, c r hUnited States, with the and" numerous pine forests on the north and the hardwood forests on the south. This position of ours between the two belts, combined with the fact that there is a great variety of soils in the county, gave us many other native forest trees besides the white pine. There are about eighty varieties of trees native to Michigan, and it is safe to say that a large majority of these were to be found in the Saginaw Valley in the early days. There were the white Saginaw's Tall, Whispering Pines. and Norway pine, the fir, spruce, cedar, hard and soft maple, oak, hickory, tamarack, birch, elm and numerous other kinds of both the cone bearing evergreen trees, and the deciduous trees that shed their leaves each fall. Tamarack and cedar were to be found in the swampy places; the oak and other hardwood on the heavy clay soil, and the pine in the lighter sandy soil. But while this was true as a rule, these different varieties were often found growing close together. For instance, it is said that on the west side of the river near Midland street, before 1864, there was a beautiful grove of oaks, interspersed with pines. The oak trees resembled in size and appearance those of "oak openings," with less shade than in the usual oak forests and with plenty of open space NATIVE LIFE-VEGETATION. 19 for the growth of beautiful shrubs and flowers. Such "oak openings" were more common in the southern part of the state. This particular grove of oak and pine presented a delightful scene and a very desirable site for dwellings. According to accounts of explorers, fur traders and early settlers there were many kinds of wild fruits growing in the Saginaw Valley. Captain Carver, (1) traveling through the Great Lakes region in 1766, just after the English gained control, found the grape, mulberry, crab apple, plum, and cherry. These, together with blackberries, black and red raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, and huckleberries were found by the early settlers in abundance (2.) Today we find little to indicate the former presence of these great forests. A few oak, maple, elm, and others remain to help make Bay City noted for its shade trees, and the farmers have their wood lots with some of the less valuable trees left standing. There are not even extensive "woods" now, in any of the townships, from which timber of any particular value can be taken. Of course in the dense forests were to be found innumerable wild flowers, nut bearing shrubs, other bushes of many varieties, vines, ferns and mosses (3.) Most of the flowers are to be found now to some extent in the parts of the county that are still wooded, and we enjoy gathering such as the Jack-in-the-pulpit, honeysuckle, trillium and many others, on our spring trips to the woods. But many, such as the sweet-scented, hiding, trailing arbutus, have practically disappeared from the county. This is also true of the nut-bearing shrubs as the hazlenut, and the berries have mostly given place to the cultivated varieties, though the wild kinds are stiill found iin great quantities in the more northern counties. But do not think that the entire county was covered with the forests. There were low areas, particularly near the bay and along the river, extending up toward Saginaw, that were "wet prairie" lands, marshes and swamps. Here were to be found tall prairie and swamp grass, and wild flowers that love the open fields-such as the wild sunflower, the black-eyed Susan, the goldenrod, blueflag, and wild rose. Here also were the reeds, rushes, cat-tails and wild rice. The list of native vegetables includes maize or Indian corn, potatoes, turnips, beans, squash, pumpkins and melons (4.) The potatoes must have been very plentiful iin the northern part of the county, for (1) Carver's Travels, 502. (2) VII. 254-256. (3) Captain Carver's Travels, 505-521. (4) Carver 522, also II. 487. 20 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. the name Pinconning, or O-pin-a-kan-ning, meant "a place to get wild potatoes (1.) The Indian corn had been unknown in Europe, and in Carver's Travels, a very interesting book now 136 years old, we find it described for the benefit of those who have never seen it, as follows: "Maize or Indian corn grows from six to ten feet high, on a stalk full of joints, which is stiff and solid, and when green, abounding with a sweet juice. The leaves are like those of the reed, about two feet in length, and three or four inches broad. The flowers, which are produced at some distance from the fruit on the same plant, grow like the ears of oats, and are sometimes white, yellow, or of a purple colour. The seeds are as large as peas, and like them quite naked and smooth, but of a roundish surface, rather compressed. One spike generally consists of about six hundred grains, which are placed closely together in rows to the number of eight or ten, and sometimes twelve." (2) Most of the vegetables named were cultivated by the Indians previous to any white influence. REFERENCES. Michigan Geography-Woods. Pages 64-74. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. See list under Vegetation in the Appendix. Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768-by J. Carver. Published 1781. Sage Library. Memoirs of a Half Century-Bela Hubbard. Page 73, also pages 369, 415. Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan-Fuller. Page 44. CHAPTER V.-NATIVE LIFE-ANIMALS ENSE forests, open woods, prairies, swamps, marshes, forest streams, the broad river, bayous, and the bay-what a wonderful home this offered for animal life! Probably no place in Michigan was better able to support wild animals of all varieties belonging to the temperate belt of climate than the Saginaw Valley. The waters were teeming with fish and other animals. The whitefish and sturgeon, the trout, perch, sunfish, bass, pike, bullheads, suckers, and many other varieties were to be found in the river, streams and bay. Some preferred the deep, open water, others the deep pools along the banks of the rivers, and some made their home among the rushes and weeds. Of food there was an abundance-if (1) VII. 277. (2) Carver's Travels, 522. NATIVE LIFE-ANIMALS. 21 they were not fish-cannibals, eating other varieties of fish, as most of them were, then they found plenty of worms, insects and other low forms of life just as plentiful. Sherman Stevens, a pioneer of Flint, visited Saginaw Bay before any settlements were started at Bay City. He reached the bay after a very cold and tiresome trip on foot through the forests. After getting some much needed food from a squaw in an otherwise deserted Indian camp, he went to the shore to discover the cause of all the shouting and laughter that he could hear from the camp. He found the Indians fishing in a very odd way, and says that the following is true in all details: "The night before had been still and cold and had frozen the ice hard enough to bear for a mile. The water beneath it was but a foot or two in depth, with a white sand bottom; and men, women, and children were chasing fish in all directions. They frequently came in collision, knocking each other over, when they would up again and after the fish which, if followed sharply for a hundred yards or so, would give up, turn over on its back, and could then be taken out through a hole in the ice. Before noon the Indians had secured an immense pile-I think over a ton-including almost every variety of fish found in Lake Huron-sturgeon, salmon, trout, muskallonge, pike, pickerel, bass, etc. This style of fishing was to me a revelation, and I put on a pair of skates and tried my hand at it. I skated about for a few minutes when I espied a trout of at least twenty pounds, and took after him. I chased him less than five minutes, when he succumbed, turning on his back, and I landed him safe on the ice." (1) There were other animals besides the fish that lived in the water -the frog, the innocent mud turtle and the great snapping turtle, the muskrat and beaver. What a grand frog chorus there must have been on a spring evening in those days! Of these animals the beaver is probably the most interesting because of his strange habits. "They are very proficient in building dams of sticks, mud and small stones across small streams for the purpose of backing up water and making 'beaver ponds.' In the border of these ponds a conical lodge is usually constructed of sticks and mud. It is several feet high and about eight or ten feet across at the base. The entrance is usually under water, and a passageway leads to an interior chamber large enough to accommodate the pair and their well-grown young. Beavers live almost en(1) VII. 97, 98. Mr. Theodore Trombl' who has been engaged in fishing on the bay for fifty-six years, says he wouldn't have thought that a fish could be tired out so quickly, but he isn't sure of this. He says the story is certainly correct as to the quantity, kinds, and size of the fish, and also as to seeing them through the ice. 22 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. tirely on twigs and bark, and their gnawing powers are surprising." (1) There were reptiles in the swamps and forests-the rattlesnake, blacksnake, adder, gartersnake, watersnake, and many kinds of lizards. Most of them were harmless and timid, but some, especially the deadly rattlesnake, were greatly feared by the pioneer-the rattler in spite of the polite warning it always gave before attempting to strike. The worst pest that the early settlers had to deal with, however, was the mosquito. When we think of the trouble that insect causes us today in spite of our well-drained lands, we can imagine to some extent what it must have been like in those days of swamps and marshes. The lower part of the Saginaw Valley was given credit at that time for producing a particularly large and hungry variety, though in fact all Michigan was much the same in this respect. Wild fruit, berries, seeds, insects, and fish furnished a wonderful daily banquet for the bird life. There were the birds with beautiful plumage and sweet song, and there were birds with neither one. The woodpecker, meadowlark, native song sparrow, swallow, catbird, blackbird, gull, and many others familiar to us today were here, but in far greater numbers. Some that were common, very common, in those wild days have almost, or quite, disappeared with the disappearing forests and swamps. Among these are to be named the owl, partridge, wild turkey, wild goose, wild duck, wild pigeon, heron, and the several kinds of hawks. Great flocks of wild pigeons used to fairly darken the sun for hours at a time, while now that particular kind of pigeon is extinct. This passenger pigeon was about the size of the usual tame pigeon, was bluish in color, and had two long pointed tail feathers. One of the most puzzling questions to the pioneer is "how could they become extinct when they were here just a few years ago in such immense flocks?" Just as interesting as the animals of the water and air, and far more important in those early days, were the land animals of the forest and prairies. The buffalo, moose, and elk roamed along the shores of the Great Lakes and were undoubtedly occasionally to be found in the Saginaw Valley, though they are seldom mentioned by the early settlers. The bear, wolf, deer, fox, otter, wolverine, wildcat, and fisheralong with the muskrat and beaver mentioned with the water animals -were chief among those that attracted the attention of the settlers (1) National Geographic Magazine, November, 1916, p. 444.) NATIVE LIFE-ANIMALS. 23 -either because of their value for food or fur, or else on account of their troublesome natures. The black bear, usually timid and harmless, delighted in a variety of food, from ants and berries to honey and pigs. Much preferring to run away when a human being was encountered, yet he was a powerful beast and was dangerous when wounded or when forced to protect his cubs. His usual harmlessness is shown by an incident in the pioneer life of Mrs. Cornelia Moots. She was going out Midland Road in the direction of Willard to get her sister, who was a school teacher in that vicinity. While passing through a blackberry patch a large black bear walked leisurely out into the road ahead of her. The horse pricked up his ears, and the driver, who had nothing with which to protect herself, began to wonder what she should do if the bear started after them. But evidently Mr. Bruno enjoyed the sight of the horse and driver about as much as the young lady enjoyed the sight of him. At any rate he quickened his slow pace and disappeared into the woods. The next day a large bear, thought to have been the same one, was killed near the place where Mrs. Moots had seen him. The wolf was probably the most troublesome of all these wild animals. There were great numbers of them, and they could never be trusted. When hungry they would attack man, and they preyed on the pigs, sheep, and other domestic animals brought in by the settlers, and on the deer and other desirable wild animals. At the same time, their skins were of little value. It is no wonder that the government very early put a high price on the head of this mischief maker. The awful howling of the wolves was often heard at the very doors of the first Bay County settlers. MViader Tromble had crossed the river one day in winter to visit his neighbor, Mr. Compau, in Salzburg. Time passed so rapidly that it was dark before Mr. Tromble realized it. He started for home across the ice and at the Middleground a large pack of wolves began to follow him. They were very bold, and as he was without his gun, he had great difficulty in keeping them from attacking him. He shouted and flourished his cane, but even then he would probably have been torn to pieces by the snarling beasts had he not been aided very greatly by his two faithful Indian dogs that were themselves part wolf. He finally worked his way across the Middleground and to his home. When he went in to get his gun, the cowardly wolves quickly disappeared. The wolf is still to be found in parts of the Upper Peninsula, but there is not the slightest desire to preserve the life of this animal for the future, as is the case with the deer, bear and many others. 24 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. The deer was one of the most valuable of the wild animals, both to the Indians and the pioneers. F. W. Nelson, in the National Geographic Magazine for November, 1916, says: "The supreme importance of this deer to the early settlers of the Eastern States is made plain in all the literature covering the occupation of that region. Its flesh was one of the most reliable staples in the food supply, and not infrequently was the only resource against starvation. In addition, the tanned skins served for clothing and the sinews for thread. Many of the most striking and romantic characters in our early history appear clad in buckskin, from fringed hunting shirt to beaded moccasins." 9Wol Wolverine. Michigan has been nicknamed the "Wolverine State" because the wolverine was so plentiful within its borders. It gets its name from its wolfish habits, but it belongs to the weasel family. It is the largest of that family, being from two to three feet long. It is a "low, squat, heavy-bodied animal" and its sharp claws, powerful build, and its persistence and cunning, make it a dangerous enemy for much larger animals and even for man. "It frequently trails trappers along their trap lines, eating or destroying their catches and at times hiding their traps. A wolverine has often been known to expend a surprising amount of labor in apparently deliberate mischief, even carrying numerous articles away from camps and hiding them in different NATIVE LIFE-FIRST EVIDENCES OF HUMAN LIFE. 25 places." (1) Both because of these bad habits and on account of its handsome brown fur, the wolverine was driven out of this region very early, but it is still quite numerous in northern Canada and in Alaska. Another wolfish animal-not exactly wild, but nearly so, and native to this region-was the Indian dog. He was wolfish, both in looks and temper. He was very useful in the hunt, being willing to attack even the largest game, and was faithful to his master, though very troublesome in other ways on account of his fierce nature. (2) Almost all of these animals have entirely disappeared from our county, not only because they were hunted so much for furs and meat, but because their native home-the wooded streams and the forestshave been changed into drains and farm lands. REFERENCES. Carver's Travels, pages 441 to 494. Michigan Historical Collections. See list in Appendix under Animals. National Geographic Magazine, November, 1916. Memorials of a Half-Century —Bela Hubbard. Pages 263 to 369. Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan-Fuller. Pages 44 and 45. Michigan Geography —Wood. Chapter VI. CHAPTER VI. NATIVE LIFE FIRST EVIDENCES OF HUMAN LIFE z00qEHE early explorers, furtraders, and settlers have left us F T 7 written and fairly accurate records of the Indians that were here when they came to this region. They tell us of Indian L life-of their dealings with their own people and with the EmizE white people. This is all a part of the "history" of the Saginaw Valley. But the Indians living at the time of settlement-the Chippewas-told of a tribe of Indians that was driven out because of their troublesome nature, and either killed or driven westward-the Sauk Indians. The story of how this was done was handed down among the Indians from father to son. This is not real history, as it is hard to tell what part of the story is true and what has been added by the story-teller, especially when the stories of the same event contain statements that do not agree. Such an account is "legendary history." But human life existed in the Saginaw Valley long before the time of the Chippewas or even the Sauks. There is not even a legend (1) National Geographic Magazine, November, 1916. (2) Carver's Travels, p. 445. 26 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. of the life of these earliest people. We know of their existence through the study of what has been left of their tools, weapons and skeletons. This is called "archaeology" and it is by means of this study that we learn of the Mound Builders. These people lived in various parts of North America, from Mexico to Canada. It is thought that Michigan was on the edge of the region occupied by these primitive people. MOUND BUILDERS. Many mounds and ancient garden beds have been found throughout Michigan, several of which are, or were, within the limits of our county and city. The mounds were usually near the bank of a stream, were several rods long, and six or more feet high. Some of them covered two or three acres. They were often chosen by the settlers as desirable sites for locating their homes, as they were higher than the surrounding land, and near the water. Of course it was thought at first that they were natural hills —little did the pioneers dream that they were living above numerous interesting relics and gruesome skeletons left by ancient race. It was not until a well was dug, a cellar excavated, or a street or railroad was run through the mound, that its true nature was discovered. When that did happen, however, the fact that the hills were made by human beings instead of being natural was shown in several ways. Besides the things found in the mound, the soil was found to be in layers in just the opposite order from the layers of the surrounding land, and in digging through the mound the soil of the original surface was reached. It was then noticed that each mound had been scooped up from the side away from the river, leaving a pond or low area just back of it (1.) There were mounds at Twenty-fourth and at Twenty-second streets near the river, on the east side. On the west side there was one where the Michigan Central roundhouse was located, and the sand of the mound was used for railroad purposes. There was another discovered when Linn street was laid out by the village of Wenona, which was probably a little south of Midland street. And still another lay farther to the south between Midland street and Salzburg. This was used as an Indian camping ground long after settlements existed across the river from there. All these mounds contained skeletons, stone weapons, broken pottery, tools, and ornaments. Many of these prove the Mound Builders to have been different from the Indians of history or legend, and show that this earlier race was further advanced in civilization than (1) IV. 379-383. also Gansser, 74-78. F! B BC CF WH| A 'G l | a * | | II 0t M 171 Bay County Indian Relics.-From Collection of I. B. Richardson. A ---Stone knife. B, C, N and O-Skinning stones for separating the flesh from the hide. D-Rotary Arrow Head. E, F, G, HSpear Heads. I-Stone pipe. J and K-Pestle and mortar for mixing paints. IL-Game stone. M-Carved head, found in Kawkawlin River Mound. P-Ceremonial stone. Q-Tomahawk. R -Stone chisel. used in making a dug-out canoe. The log is burned on one side and the burned part is cut away with the chisel. BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. the Chippewas. Copper kettles and other copper implements were found in some of the mounds, showing that if these were the remains of the same race, they knew much about the use of copper. A silver canoe, well made, and tipped with gold, was found in the side of one mound, but this was probably given to an Indian of more recent times by some missionary or trader. The head carved in stone and shown in the picture of Bay County Indian relics was found in a mound near the mouth of the Kawkawlin river. It is a difficult piece of work well done, and is a very rare specimen, there being only three or four others like it in existence. REFERENCES. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. See list in Appendix under Mound Builders. Bay County History, 1883. Pages 32, 33. Bay County History and Biography-Gansser. Pages 74-79. Memorials of a Half-Century-Bela Hubbard. Pages 199-261. Riegel School. NATIVE LIFE ---LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE SAUK INDIANS. 29 CHAPTER VII. NATIVE LIFE- LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE SAUK INDIANS ONG after the disappearance of the Mound Builders from the United States the Saginaw Valley was inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians known as the Sauks. (1) They occupied the central part of the Lower Peninsula; the Potawatomies, the southern part, and the Chippewas and Ottawas, the northern part of the state. It is from the Chippewa name O-Sauk~ T ^ e-non, meaning "The Land of the c R I P P A d o- ^ Sauks," that the name of the river and bay was obtained by the first /explorers. (2) f I P p A It is probable, from the early reports, that the Sauks were living CRSy. I Ahere even when the first explorers visited the valley. (3) At any rate, the legend, of which there are several different accounts, says that 8 A v a IU \ they caused so much trouble that the other tribes finally united and drove them out of Michigan. P O T A w A T o X I a8 Whether this action resulted from general conditions, or whether it came as a result of an attack by the Sauks on the Chip/ ____ __^-^. ___f- pewas near Traverse Bay when they carried off an Indian and his squaw, making slaves of them-at any rate an alliance was made between the Chippewas, Ottawas, Potawatomies and others, and they attacked the Sauks from several directions at once. One army came down the shore of Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay to the mouth of the river. Here they divided, some remaining on the west side of the river and others crossing to the east side. At this point the stories differ again. One account says that the Sauks, having gone to Skull Island to celebrate their great victory, (1) The word Sauks was spelled by the early explorers and settlers in many different ways-Sauks. Saukies, Sacs, Saaks, etc. See Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Index Volume to Volumes XVI-XXX, p. 445. (2) The word Saginaw also had many different spellings before the present one was finally decided on. Some of these were: Sagina, Saguina, and Saguinant. (3) See III. 648. BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. were in ignorance of the presence of the enemy, and after a great feast and dance they went to sleep in supposed safety. In the meantime spies had learned about their condition from the captive squaw. Another account says battles were fought near the mouth of the river in which the Sauks were defeated. They retreated up the river and crossed over to Skull Island, considering it a secure position. But a cold night furnished the enemy with a bridge of ice. Whichever version is correct, it is evident from the many skulls that were found there a century or more later by the white settlerscausing them to name it Skull Island-that a great battle was fought there. All the legends agree that the battle was really a cruel massacre of the entrapped Sauks, and that few, if any, escaped the tomahawk, spear, and arrow of the enraged allies. (1.) Other battles occurred near Flint and at other points on the tributaries of the Saginaw between other branches of the Sauk tribe and armies of the allied nations coming from the direction of Detroit. Some accounts state that the Sauks were exterminated, others that twelve families were spared and were sent west to the Mississippi Valley, where they were placed under the care of the Sioux (Soo) Indians, an entirely different tribe. That the Sauk tribe did not become extinct, but was forced westward into northern Wisconsin near the Mississippi river, seems to be proven by the many references to them by the French and English. When they were exploring the Great Lakes region and had forts at various points, the Sauks along with other tribes, would go to them for supplies and presents. (2) They were strong enough to unite with the tribe called the Foxes and cause trouble for the white people. (3) (4) Knowing as we do from these later reports that there were many of the Sauks still living after the war between them and the allied Indians, we are not surprised to learn that occasionally a Sauk warrior was seen in the vicinity of his former hunting grounds. But the Chippewas, believing that all the Sauks had been disposed of, decided that they saw the spirits of the massacred Indians, and on such an (1) For the location of Skull Island, see map of Bay County. It was not in the Saginaw River, but in the mouth of Squaconning Creek which flows into the Saginaw just south of Bay City. Stone Island is a short distance north of it, and Calf Island south of it, up the river about half a mile. It was separated from the mainland on the west by a narrow and shallow channel which has since disappeared, making Skull Island a part of the mainland. Many stone weapons and other Indian remains have been found on the north end of Calf Island, leading some to believe that hard fighting also took place there. (2) XXIII. 493. (3) XIX. 397. (4) Some have confused the skeletons and other remains of the Sauks with those found in the mounds. The Sauk remains were found nearer the surface, on level places as well as in the mounds, and were of a different sort from the remains of the much earlier Mound Builders. NATIVE LIFE-LEGENDARY HISTORY OF THE SAUK INDIANS. 31 occasion they would flee in terror. This superstition spread and soon the Saginaw Valley was known as the Haunted Valley and was left quite deserted by all tribes. Occasionally some Indian who refused to live peaceably with his tribe, or one who had committed some serious crime, would escape, or be sent as punishment, to the Haunted Valley. These warriors no doubt found a grand Indian hunting ground waiting them-in fact, about the best hunting ground in the country. There were many salt springs near the head of the Saginaw river and along the most of its tributaries. The valley in time "was resorted to by the Chippewas, Potowatomies, Hurons, Ottawas, the Sacs of the Upper Peninsula, the Fox and Illinois tribes, for the salt which that region was known to produce." (1) Gradually the Indians overcame their worst fears of the spirits, and Indians from several tribes came to live in the valley. But the old superstition never really lost its hold on them. If their camps were ever robbed in some mysterious manner, if their traps were interfered with, or if they saw the remains of a Sauk campfire, they would immediately leave the neighborhood without investigating. They would declare that the "Manesous, or bad spirits in the form of Sauk warriors, were hovering around. So great was their dread that when-as was frequently the case-they became possessed with the idea that the Manesous were in their immediate vicinity, they would fly as if for their lives, abandoning everything-wigwams, fish, game and all their camp equipage, and no amount of ridicule from the whites could convince them of their folly. Some of the Indian bands whose country joined that of the Saginaws, played upon their weak superstition and derived profit from it by lurking around their villages or camps, frightening them into flight and then appropriating the property which they had abandoned." (2) REFERENCES. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. See list in Appendix under the Sauk Indians. Gansser —Pages 28, 29, 32-37. Bay County History, 1883-Pages 9-11. History, Commercial Advantages and Future Prospects of Bay City, 1875 -Henry S. Dow. Pages 1-3. Thomas and Galatia's Pioneer Directory of the Saginaw Valley, 1866 and 1867. Pages 33-38. Wah Sash Kah Moqua. Pages 82-89. (1) XXII. 245. (2) VIII. 249. 32 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. 0 0 Cf) 0 NATIVE LIFE-THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. 33 CHAPTER VIII. NATIVE LIFE. THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. o00e[HE majority of the Indians who remained and made their homes in the Saginaw Valley belonged to the Chippewa, also known as the Ojibway, tribe. Mingling as they did with several other tribes, their language and some of their customer] toms differed somewhat from the more northern Chippewa Indians, and they came to be known to the white people as the Saginaw Indians. They, like the Ottawas, Hurons, Potawatomies, Menominees and others, were of the Algonquin race, and although they frequently fought these other tribes, they would unite with them against a common enemy. The Saginaw Valley, probably because it could be reached easily from all directions, was often made the meeting place of councils of these various tribes. The last great tribal meeting was held as late as 1865, at Wenona Village, about three miles from the mouth of the river. This was, as we have seen in the preceding chapters, a very favorable place for the Indians. Fish and game were in abundance. There were many useful food plants-wild rice was very plentiful in the lowlands of the river valley, and potatoes grew in quantities in the Pinconning River valley. There were also plenty of nuts and fruits, and the maple trees, especially along the upper tributaries, furnished sap for sugar. "The forests furnished the birch for canoes and wigwams, and to secure the flint for arrow-points, spears or knives, the aborigines had but to paddle to the vicinity of Bay Port to find plenty. Material for axe, chisel or tomahawk was abundant on the gravelly bluffs of the Flint, the Cass and the Shiawassee rivers." (1) The network of small streams flowing into these tributaries and also into the Saginaw itself, uninterrupted for the most part by rapids, furnished a quick and easy means of travel and communication. The dense forests and impenetrable swamps gave the Indians a safe retreat from the enemy. As a result of these favorable conditions, the valley became one of the most thickly settled parts of the Great Lakes region. There were many villages on the Saginaw and its branches, and on other streams flowing into Saginaw Bay. Although the Indians would take surprisingly long trips for war or hunting purposes, their villages seem to have been quite permanently located. The largest villages were probably up the river where the several tributaries meet and (1) XXXIX. 253. 34 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. form the Saginaw River. There were camping grounds, and meeting places for war and for religious ceremonies in the lower part of the valley, but no villages were located here. Along the bay, however, near the mouths of the Kawkawlin, Saganing and Pinconning rivers there were permanent villages. The Chippewa is described as tall, athletic, copperhued, and picturesquely dressed. He has the superstitions common to the Indian race. His god or the Good Spirit is Gitchie Manitou the Mighty, and the Evil Spirit is Matchie Manitou. (1) The early settlers found him more honest and reliable than the average white man (2) though his character was changed by contact with the white people, and particularly by the white man's "fire-water." Under its influence he became very dangerous. Many writers have described the Saginaw Indians as quiet, peaceful, and very easy to get along with. This was probably true for the period of settlement, but before that time the Saginaw Indians were known as warlike, treacherous and very troublesome. (3) They were very brave and could withstand great suffering without the slightest show of pain. An incident in the life of the great and wellknown Chief O-ge-ma-ge-ga-to well illustrates this: "Once when two of the Chippewa Indians were fighting with knives and spears, O-gema-ga-to jumped between them and received a knife thrust in his side. He lay very weak for quite a few days and one day-some say simply to show how brave he was, and others that he was so advised by the Indian 'medicine man'-he took a knife and cut a slice off his liver which was protruding from the wound, put it on the fire and roasted it and ate it." (4) In matters of government, the Indians were quite democratic. The chief held his position because he was chosen by his people on account of being one of the bravest and wisest in the tribe. He did not even hold his position for life if he proved unworthy. The council held as late as 1865, mentioned in the first part of the chapter, was probably the one described in the following account, which at the same time gives some information regarding their election of chiefs: "From the viaduct to Joseph street, and between the river and Marquette street, the Indians camped. They came there to elect chiefs for each tribe. The white people were much alarmed, not knowing what they were there for. The women and children went over to the (1) Ridpath VIII. 509. (2) De Tocqueville, Memoirs I. 163, 167. (3) See Chapter IX. for details. (4) From an account by one of the pupils. NATIVE LIFE-THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. 35 other side of the river to sleep, and for a time picket guards guarded the city. There was a party, consisting of Joseph Tromble, of Bangor; Mader Tromble, of the south end, and Father Schutjes, of the Catholic Church, who went to see the chief and wanted to know why so many Indians were gathered there. They wanted to know if they were going to massacre the citizens. The chief said it was all a friendly meeting for the purpose of electing a chief for each tribe. After their business was over, they quietly disappeared." (1) The education that the Indian child received had to do mostly with the body and the character. The boy learned to shoot, trap, and swim at a surprisingly early age. He was taught to endure hardship without a murmur. He had to learn to make the canoe, bow, arrow, and other things needed for his future occupations. The girl learned to make mats, baskets, the rude Indian clothing, and to prepare the game and other food. They were all taught to have respect for their father and for old age. "Among their own, it was a great crime to steal or tell a lie, but to an enemy it was right to do so, for they must be injured whenever possible. * * * When a famous chief became too old to indulge in the chase, or to go on the war-path, he devoted his time to exhorting the youths of his tribe. In glowing phrases he would recount the great deeds of their tribe. Daily the children gathered about these aged chiefs among the tepees on the Saginaw, and DeTocqueville recites how they urged the young men to be brave and cunning in war, and to defend their hunting grounds against all encroachments." (2) In their manner of living, the Saginaw Indians had about the same customs as most other North American Indians. "The Indians of this part of the country built their homes of skins and long, slender poles. If an Indian wanted to build a home for himself, he would save all the skins he could get. Then he would go out into the forest and cut down three or four saplings. These were long slender trees which were used by all northern Indians. He then cut all the small branches and twigs from the poles and stood them up for a framework for his tent, fastening them with strips of leather or bark. He then covered them with the skins. He sometimes sewed designs on the side of the tent. Other Indians built their houses out of bark. They went into the forest and cut the bark off from several large trees and then built their home something like what we call a shanty. Many of them spread the bark on long poles in much the same way as the skins were used, forming a wigwam. These wigwams were small-most of (1) From an account by one of the pupils. (2) Gansser, 39. 36 B A Y COUNTY, T Y ST A N D P R E S E N T. ~,, ~p%:W r a -~~~... rd~ x,~ % ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~k~.*~~~~~~~~-.t fl=;0 —} 0 rt rsl 1~ id[ NATIVE LIFE-THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. 37 the work, such as cooking, cleaning fish and animals for food, grinding corn, and so forth, was done outside." (1) On the floor of the dwelling were rush mats made by the squaws. If the fire was made in the wigwam at any time, an opening was made near the top on the side opposite the direction from which the wind was blowing from which the smoke could escape. There were a few wooden or stone dishes, stone knives and skinning stones (2) for preparing game and fish for cooking, and the weapons were the usual bow and arrow, stone tomahawk and spear. Of course after coming in contact with the white people they were quick to make use of the white man's weapons and implements of iron and steel-such as the gun, knife, dagger, and axe. But the stone weapons, crude and dull as they seem to us, were wonderfully effective when in the grasp of a skillful and powerful Indian brave. The food of the Indian consisted of berries, nuts, potatoes and several other kinds of roots, corn, beans, squash, maple sugar, wild rice, and all kinds of fish and game. Herbs and roots of many varieties were also used, and with very good results, for medicine. As for clothing, the Indians cared much more for ornament than for real clothing. "The garb of the males, during warm weather, consisted simply of a skirt covering the loins, while their heads were adorned with feathers of various hues. When the weather was cold, they usually wrapped themselves in the skins. The robes of skins were made in the form of a blanket to enable the wearer to readily cast it aside if the necessity of the chase or war should render it burdensome." (3) They delighted in showy or unusual ornaments, such as beads made from shells, feathers, snake skins, porcupine quills, and bear's claws. Indian amusements, when separated from their occupations of hunting, fishing, and fighting, consisted chiefly in feats of daring, tests of skill and strength, and in various weird dances. (4) The flat, circular stones shown in the picture of relics were used in some sort of game. The occupations of the Indians may be listed as hunting, fishing, fighting, manufacturing and agriculture. They were particularly skillful in the hunt and had many useful methods for trapping and killing the various kinds of game. They would cut the beaver dam and then wait in perfect silence for the beaver to come out to find (4) Described in Gansser 42; When Michigan Was New 40. (2) See picture of Bay County Indian Relics, page 27. (8) Wah-Sash-Kah-Moqua 113. (4) Described in Gansser 42; When Michigan Was New 40. 38 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. out the cause of the trouble, when he would be easily captured. The bear was very desirable for the quantity of meat he would furnish, but they would not hunt him unless there were many Indians to help, for with their crude weapons they could not kill him instantly, and when wounded the bear was a very dangerous enemy. The circle hunt was used at certain times of the year for hunting on a sort of wholesale plan. A large number of Indians would form a circle over quite a large area and drive the game toward one place. Succeeding in this, they could then engage in a regular slaughter, rather than a hunt. By this method they frequently killed great quantities of game of many kinds in a very short time. Preparation for war included religious ceremonies, applying the carefully mixed war paints, and examination of the weapons to see that they were in the best of condition. The braves would travel long distances, endure all sorts of hardships, and run great risks in order to satisfy their desire for revenge on some enemy. In case they returned with many scalps, showing a successful battle, they would celebrate with a great feast and war dance and with the torture of any prisoners that had been taken. Manufacturing was engaged in by both the braves and the squaws in connection with their other occupations. The squaws made mats and baskets of reeds and rushes, wild hemp twine and fish nets, clothing from the skins, and meal from the corn. For the latter, a stone dish and round stone, similar in shape to the mortar and pestle shown in the picture of relics, or else a stone fitted into a hollowed stump, was used. The men made their various stone weapons. There was the bow, with its carefully chosen wood and strips of leather and as carefully fastened together; the arrow, which must be straight and of the proper length and weight, and tipped with a well-made stone head; there were also the spear, tomahawk, and war club, each of which required special skill and strength in the making. As Indian travel in this vicinity, when not on foot over Indian trails, was on the streams in canoes, the making of the canoes was an important manufacturing process. In this the Indian showed great ingenuity. The canoes were light, long, narrow, and pointed at both ends. They were made of birch bark, or by stretching skins over a frame. Some dug-outs, or hollowed logs, were used. These were burned on one side and then the stone chisel (1) was used to take off the burned part, after which the process was repeated. That the Indians engaged in agriculture on a surprisingly large (1) See picture of Indian relics. NATIVE LIFE —THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. 39 scale seems to be proven by the records of the early French and English. One hundred and thirty years before the first settlement was started in Bay County, ten boats came from the French fort at Michilimackinac-near the present Mackinaw-to the "Saguinan" region for food. (1) In 1779 the English Cbmmander of the same fort reported to his superior officer at Quebec, "I have sent to Saguina to endeavor to secure six hundred Bushels of Corn for the Indians without which our flour will run short by the fall of the year." (2) The squaw, who was usually little better than a slave, undoubtedly attended to most of the work in tilling the soil and caring for the harvest. She also had full care of the children. "The Indian people, the Chippewas especially, were very fond of their children. Before the babies could walk they were put in a basket and carried on their mothers' backs. The Indian baby was called a papoose. When the mother did not want to carry her baby she would take the basket off her back and stand it against the hut or a tree, and sometimes she would hang it on a bough of a tree. From this custom came the Mother Goose nursery song: "Rock-a-by baby, on the tree top, When the wind blows, The cradle will rock." "Indian babies seldom cry. All Indian children, as soon as they started to walk, were taught how to paddle a canoe, fish, and hunt. The child's parents were never afraid that their children were going to drown. "In the Chippewa tribe when an Indian boy or girl was twelve or thirteen years of age he chose his own name. The morning on which the child was to choose his name, instead of his usual breakfast, there was a bowl of charcoal. The child knew at once what this meant. He or she would go into the woods and fast until he went to sleep and whatever animal he dreamed of he was to take that animal's name, and this animal was to be his spirit." (3) The following account shows with unusual clearness the difference between the Chippewa Indians before and after they had dealings with the white people: "The mental as well as the physical Chippewa was high above the average American Indian. The outline of his face alone showed great (1) XXXIII. 270. (2) IX. 381; capitals and spellings are given as in the old letter from which this is quoted. See other references under Indians and Agriculture in the Appendix. (3) From an account by one of the pupils. 40 I BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. mental ability and sagacity. He was kind and trustworthy so long as he was honestly dealt with. He was kind to his family and morally he was much superior to his white brother. His laws were made not to be broken, and the punishment was death. He worshipped his manitou with true devotion. He would go off into the forest alone to his sanctuary, and I am sorry to say that his white brother seldom realized the fine qualities of this man of the forest. "Nature provided him with all of his wants. His wigwam was originally made of leather which had been tanned by his industrious squaw, and the inside was lined with the most expensive furs. His habits were quite sanitary as his little home was moved from place to place, so there were no such things as contagious diseases. His medicine man in reality used very little medicine and was in principle a mental healer. What few cases he had were speedily cured. "In their wars between tribes they fought to a finish, generally in hand to hand conflict-but they did not use bombs, U-boats or gas, and instead of wearing an Iron Cross they wore their opponent's scalp. Please remember I am speaking of nature's Indians. I do not refer to those the white man made and contaminated with whiskey, immorality and disease, but to a people who lived in harmony until they were robbed of their land, their homes and their means of sustenance, after having lived the life of free men. "In visiting an Indian wigwam his first salutation was 'Come in, brother, half I have is yours,' and this was no idle saying because he would share with you everything he had. But while he was intelligent and shrewd, he was no match for his dishonest white brother who held out his hand not in friendship but to grasp from his unsuspecting brother the beautiful forests, the lakes and rivers and productive lands all filled with game and fish which was the rightful inheritance of the Chippewa Indian."-Fremont J. Tromble. REFERENCES. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections-Indians. See list in Appendix. When Michigan Was New —Hollands. Wah Sash Kah Moqua. Chapters XVIII. XIX., and XX. Bay County History and Biography-Gansser, Chapter II. History of Bay County, 1883. Pages 9-14. Carver's Travels. NATIVE LIFE-THlE CHIPPEWA INDIANS. 4 41 Washington School. 42 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER IX. WHITE PEOPLE TAKE POSSESSION THE FRENCH PERIOD. FTER the discovery of America by Columbus, three important nations of Europe gained a foothold in America. The Spanish in the southern part cared little for settlement, but were looking for wealth, especially in the form of precious metals and stones. They made slaves of the Indians, using them to work their mines and plantations. In the central part of the eastern coast, the English had taken possession. Some of the English came to seek wealth or adventure, while others came to seek religious and political liberty. Those who came because they wanted liberty intended making this continent their permanent home, and they soon established themselves in villages or on farms. They remained near the coast for many years as the Appalachian Mountains, with their dense forests and rapid streams, made it hard to travel very far inland. In this part of America the Indians were gradually crowded westward as the land was taken up by the white people, for the English cared little for them either as slaves or as friends. To the north, in the St. Lawrence River Valley, the French took possession. They, as was the case with most of the nations at first,, ^'^^- > were looking for a passage through the new n^ _ Bay City in Fall of 1838-(Said to have been drawn in 1874.) Dwelling. Barn. Dwelling. S. S. Campbell's Building Warehouse. Log House. Leon Trombley's House. Ice House. Hotel. Built for Smoke House. Later, "The Globe." Wild Cat Bank. A correct picture of Lower Saginaw, at March 1, 1838, would represent a clearing extending from the present line of Third street, south to a point just beyond Center street, and from the river east to about the present line of Saginaw street. There were two or three log houses and the block house built by the Saginaw Bay Company, near the present corner of Fourth and Water streets, for a boarding house. The Globe Hotel building was in process of construction, and Cromwell Barney was at work upon it. SETTLEMENT-THE FIRST SETTLERS. 81 one of these pioneers were to become leaders in the life of Portsmouth and Lower Saginaw when development actually began. For the time being, Sidney S. Campbell kept the first hotel in the building erected for the purpose by Cromwell Barney and Nathan C. Case. Captain Benjamin F. Pierce opened the first store in Lower Saginaw in 1840, and Frederick Backus started another in 1842. By 1842 there were about fifty persons residing in Bay County, and there were but very few added to that number before 1848. (4) During these same early years the mouth of the Kawkawlin River had its first settler in the person of the interesting and much loved "Uncle" Harvey Williams, who lived there, hunting, trading, and fishing, accroding to the season, from 1844 until 1864. He, like Captain Marsac and the Trombles, was kind 'and generous to the Indians, who learned to have the greatest confidence in him. The government aided in the opening of the region to settlement by having the coast surveyed in 1833, at which time Captain Marsac acted as government hunter for the surveying party. (5) The government also aided in making the use of the river safe by the erection of a lighthouse at the mouth of the river. This was started by Mr. Stephen Wolverton in 1839. The first steamboat had entered the river three years before, and as Saginaw was the main center of trade for this part of the state, boats were coming here in ever-increasing numbers. REFERENCES. History of Bay County, 1883. History of Bay County, 1905-Maj. A. H. Gansser. Bay County from 1857 to 1876-George W. Hotchkiss. History and Commercial Advantages of Bay City-Henry S. Dow. Pioneer Directory of the Saginaw Valley for 1866 and 1867-Thomas & Galatian. Directory of Bay City, Portsmouth, Wenona and Bangor for 1868-9-W. H. DeLisle. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections ---See Reference List in Appendix. (4) Bay City Directory, 1868 and 1869, page 6. (5) I. 22. 82 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER XVI. SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THIS LOCATION. HE first settlers came to Bay County: as government agents to work with the Indians; as fur traders to establish stations here; as pioneer farmers or merchants; and as land speculators to get possession of cheap but valuable land. Of course some had more than one of these objects in mind at the same time. They came to this particular place rather than to some other-the government agent because many Indians lived in this vicinity; the trader because the furbearing animals were plentiful here, the SagCAPTAIN WILSON. Captain Wilson was born in New York. In his younger days he liked sailing and fishing. In 1837 he left his family for the season to engage in the fishing business in Thunder Bay, Lake Huron. When he was there he went to Saginaw for some sup-lot plies. He liked the land so well he and his family moved to Ray City. They arrived after a cold and tempestuous voyage, none too soon, as the river froze over the next night after their arrival and remained frozen all winter. He moved into a log house near what is now Thirty-second and Water streets. In the winter he spent the time in hunting and trapping, which were important occupations in those days. In the winter of 1842 and 1843 he superintended the building of the ship "Mary," and in the spring took command of it, making trips between Bay City and Detroit. In the fall of 1843 he went to Detroit for food and winter supplies for the Saginaw Valley. When he was coming back a storm arose and his ship was blown across Lake Huron and wrecked on the shore of Canada. For weeks the people looked for Captain Wilson and his crew, and finally all were given up as lost, but it was not so. The ship struck a rock and went to pieces, and the crew was washed ashore. Captain Wilson and his crew suffered terribly. They built a log house and a fire to keel) from freezing to death. They started to walk to Goderich, which was eighty miles away. In order to save themselves they each put on four or five pairs of stockings. When they reached Goderich they started for Detroit, where they had been a few weeks before. When they got there they started for the Saginaw Valley. You may be sure that the people were glad to see Captain Wilson and his crew come back. Captain Wilson died at his old homestead, leaving his wife and 14 children.-Kolb School. inaw Valley Indians were good hunters, and trips could be made by canoes in all directions; the farmer and land buyer because they believed the land near the mouth of the river would soon become the location of a settlement, or because they realized that there would soon be a great demand for the pine timber standing on the land. SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE. 83 WHERE THE SETTLERS CAME FROM. The government agents, such as Leon Tromble and Captain Marsac, were usually Frenchmen who had come from Detroit or Canada, and had previously engaged in trading with the Indians, and so could speak the Chippewa language fluently. The fur traders, including a long list of Trombles, were likewise from Detroit and vicinity or from Canada. The pioneer farmer, the merchant, and the land buyer were usually from the eastern part of the United States-a large proportion from New York. Albert Miller was from Vermont; Cromwell Barney from Massachusetts, and the following were some of those who came from New York: James McCormick, Mrs. Thomas Rogers, Capt. John S. Wilson, Sidney S. Campbell, Israel Catlin, and Captain B. F. Pierce. TRAVEL. The New England and New York settlers in almost every case had come to Michigan by the Erie Canal route. With their belongings on the long, flat canal boat they made their way slowly across New York to Buffalo, frequently walking along shore to relieve the tiresome journey. At Buffalo their goods were transferred to a boat bound for Detroit. Often there was difficulty in getting passage on a Detroit boat on account of the great numbers of people who were going west at that time. Then followed the trip over Lake Erie on the steamboat -the boat crowded and the weather often very stormy. If the travelers had planned definitely on Lower Saginaw as their destination-Lower Saginaw being used at that time to refer to both Portsmouth and Lower Saginaw, and in fact to all the region near the mouth of the river-they probably came by boat the rest of the way. But often they had no definite plans. They would get temporary quarters at Detroit, and the husband, perhaps with an older son, would make the trip into the interior of the state, with a horse or on foot, to decide on a location for their future home. When they had decided on Lower Saginaw, the family was moved either by boat or over land. Many of our early settlers from the eastern states had lived in some other part of southern Michigan or in Ohio or Indiana before coming here, land this is also true of the settlers who came in the early years of the real development of Bay County, beginning with 1848. Mrs. Geo. P. Cobb (Laura Munger) was one of these. "Speaking of early times," Mrs. Cobb said, "my father moved to Lower Saginaw, now Bay City, in 1854. He came from Elkhart, Indiana, by way of Toledo, where he took a steamer for Detroit and in the same way came to Bay City. It was a rough trip as I can remember, because in the storm I was rolled out of my berth." (1) (1) Bay City Times, September 8, 1915. 84 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Arnold, who in 1915 were awarded the Semi-centennial Silver Loving Cup on account of having lived together in Bay City longer than any other couple, also came by boat from Detroit. This was likewise true of Mrs. F. Coman who, a very young child by the name of Helen Barclay, spent the trip entertaining a severe case of the measles. Mrs. Cornelia Moots (Cornelia Chilson), who came here about 1847 when there were still only a very few houses in Lower Saginaw, was one of those who reached here from an inland town. She describes the difficulties of the journey as follows: "Following the suit of a JOSEPH TROMBLE. Mr. Tromble was one of the very first settlers who located permanently in Lower Saginaw, where he remained until his death, April 21, 1882. He was born in 1809 in what was then the little hamlet of Detroit, and as school advantages were meager, his education was self-acquired. went out among the Indians as a trader, soon acquiring a knowledge of the Indian language and also gaining the confidence of the white men. Mr. Tromble first came to Saginaw Valley in 1828. He was in the empnloy of the American Fur Co., buying and trading in furs through northern Michigan, making his journeys on foot Some_ - ofthrough the wilderness with the furs packed on his back. He bought some land in what is now Bay City, and in July, 1835, settled upon the place. In 1847 Mr. Tromble purchased a tract comprising 2,000 acres of land in Bangor Township, a portion of which is now the First and Second Wards of West Bay City. He had the first store in what is now NWNest Bay City. He platted the village of Bangor, which he named after the township. It later received the name of Banks from the post office established there. Subsequently he laid out Joseph Tromble's second addition to Bangor or West Bay City — Whittier School. trader, we built a large ark or raft and poled our way down to the Saginaw river (from Flushing) on the crest of a spring flood water and floated to Bay City, then a nameless refuge consisting of five buildings located where Wenonah Park now is. This was our only means of getting here because there was no road through from Flushing. I recall the trip here vividly, as in a very narrow place in the Flint river a large burning tree fell behind our raft and would probably have ended us and our trip had it fallen a moment sooner." Some of the pioneers, such as James Fraser, spent much of their time on horseback. Others, such as Michael Daily and Joseph Tromble, were noted for long distance walking. Still others, of whom Father Schutjes, who came here in 1852, was one, preferred paddling the canoe. Joseph Tromble was noted for his endurance as a runner, SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE. 85 and the following incident shows that he well deserved such fame: "Joseph Tromble and James Fraser (2) took a fancy for the same piece of land at the same time, neither knowing that the other wanted the land. At noon Joseph Tromble learned that Mr. Fraser was to start for Flint from Saginaw to purchase the said land, which was on the west side of the river. On the next morning, early, Tromble, being then at Portsmouth, collected his gold and started in his canoe, and rapidly sped his way to Flint, expecting to overtake Fraser on the road, who was to start on horseback, but found nothing of him. Arriving at Flint on a good smart run, he entered his land, took dinner and started on his return to the Saginaws. On his way back he met Mr. Fraser, who was greatly astonished to meet him going toward Saginaw, and suggested that he (Tromble) had bought certain land, when Tromble showed his certificate of purchase. Fraser, seeing there was no use in going further, returned. Tromble kept company a while, but finding that the rider was too slow even with his horse, left him and arrived at Saginaw City at a store owned by one named McDonald, where he had left his canoe. Tromble told his story about his getting the start of Fraser, but McDonald disbelieved him even after seeing his certificate, and bet a gallon of wine that Tromble had not been to Flint that day. Now, the mail-carrier was on his way from Flint to Saginaw on horseback, and Tromble met him before arriving at Flint, and then overtook and passed him on his way back. So they waited for a few minutes for the mail-carrier, who verified Tromble's statement. Tromble treated out his gallon and took his canoe for home, arriving there before 10 o'clock at night of the same day." The dense forest and the frequent swamp, especially between here and Saginaw, made it difficult to construct a wagon road, so such improvements were very slow in being made. Meanwhile travel and transportation had to be by water, or else by Indian trail with the goods carried on the back. DANGERS AND HARDSHIPS. The dangers, hardships, and disagreeable things in the pioneer life made very interesting reading, but few of us would care to go through the trying experiences ourselves. This was a wild region and there were many dangers. The wild animals, especially the wolves, were a constant menace. The rattlesnakes were numerous and deadly. DeTocqueville tells of his hunting trip between here and Saginaw, on the prairies, as follows: "As we were returning across the prairie we remarked that our Canadian guide followed a narrow path, and looked very carefully where he (2) Theodore Tromble, son of Joseph Tromble, and F. J. Tromble, son of Mader Tromble, both insist that it was James Fraser instead of Fitzhugh, as the usual account has it.) 86 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. placed his feet. 'Why are you so cautious?' I said; 'are you afraid of the damp?' 'No,' he replied, 'but when I walk in the prairie I have. acquired the habit of always looking at my feet lest I should tread on a rattlesnake.' I exclaimed with a start, 'Are there any rattlesnakes here?' 'Oh, yes, indeed!' answered my American Norman with perfect indifference, 'the place is full of them.' I found fault with him for not telling us sooner; he declared that as we were well shod, and the rattlesnake never bites above the heel, he did not think we ran any great danger. I asked him if the bite of the rattlesnake were mortal; he replied, 'Always in less than twenty-four hours, unless recourse be had to the Indians. They know of a remedy which, given in time, saves the patient.' However that might be, during the rest of the way we imitated our guide, and looked, as he did, at our feet." (3) The pioneers, when cutting prairie hay, or when passing through the prairie, would wind their legs to the knees with the long prairie grass twisted into ropes, to protect themselves from the rattlesnakes. Then there was the dreadful mosquito, probably many times more fatal than the rattler, though this was not realized at the time. Let usagain get a picture of conditions from DeTocqueville: "We should probably have repaired our strength by a sound sleep if we coud have got rid of the myriads of mosquitoes that filled the house; but this was impossible. These insects are the curse of the American wilderness. They render a long stay unendurable. I never felt torments such as those which I suffered from them during the whole of this expedition, and especially at Saginaw. In the day they prevented us from drawing, or writing, or sitting still for an instant; in the night thousands of them buzzed around us, settling on every spot on our bodies that was uncovered. Awakened by the irritation of the bite, we hid our heads under the sheets; their sting went through." (4) "As we walked we were enveloped in a cloud of these insects, and had to fight our way. Woe betide the loiterer; he is abandoned to a merciless enemy. I remember being forced to load my gun running, it was so painful to stand still for an instant." (5) There are innumerable pioneer stories of the mosquito plague, and almost always they include an account of the "fever and ague," a malarial disease that came to most pioneers. It was thought to be caused by fumes or gases from the swamps or from freshly plowed land, but we know nov, that it is caused by a germ carried by the mosquito. The following 1 from the experiences of a Scotch family in the Saginaw Valley about 18q.q: "Edward had been taken with the fever and ague before the family arrived. The blackbirds had commenced their depredations on the corn; the children were detailed to watch (3) Memoirs and Remains of DeTocqueville, Vol. I., page 197. (4) Memoirs I., 185. (5) Memoirs I., 197. SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE. 87 the field, where the mosquitoes preyed upon them so that their beautiful ruddy complexions were soon blotched and their faces swollen from the bites of the poisonous insects; and before the mosquitoes and blackbirds had ceased their ravages, the family, coming from the pure air of Scotland, and not being prepared for a residence in the miasmatic regions of the Saginaw marshes, were attacked one after another by the enemy of the pioneer, the fever and ague. It seemed that the more robust the person was when attacked, the harder would be the paroxyms in the cold state. My mother took one of the young ladies to her home to care for her during her illness. It was so severe that, when the 'shakes' came on, the whole house would rattle, when the patient would say in a weak voice, 'Oh, I am just done out; I I canna shak ony mair;' then another paroxysm would come on that would cause her to make the whole house shake. It is strange that a person can suffer so much during the paroxysms of ague and fever and yet feel comparatively well in an hour or two afterwards. Every member of the family had a turn; but when the cold weather came they all recovered." (6) It seems that never once did the people think to connect their tormentor, the mosquito, which was bred in these wet spots, with the disease that was causing them so much trouble. To make the situation still more trying and dangerous, there was no doctor for nearly 20 years after the first settler erected his log cabin within the limits of Bay County. From 1837 until about 1850, Mrs. Thomas Rogers, though not a practicing physician, had to act as doctor and nurse for all the families in this vicinity. She was the daughter of an:tve~^ ~ eminent physician, and before coming west had studied medicine under her... I y ' father and had assisted him in his work. "At all hours of the day or night, when called upon, you would,, i;99'find her at the bedside of the sick and.(?J"~ S^^Jdying. Through storm or snow, rain or shine, it made no difference to her. Sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot through.,he woods, she felt it to be her duty, and like an angel of MRS. THOMAS ROGERS. mercy, she did it, and would have continued to do so, but as settlers began to come in, doctors came. She still visited the sick of a few old settlers, for they would have none other but her. There was scarcely a birth for twenty years but what (G) VII. 245. 88 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. she was present. In that dreadful year of the cholera (1852), which swept off so many of the inhabitants, including her husband, she was at the bedside of the sick and dying, administering assistance and comfort without money and without price." (7) The Indians, too, made use of her skill and ability as a doctor. They would come to her for relief from an aching tooth, and after the tooth had been pulled, the Indian who had received the benefit, as a "thank you" would be outside and jump high into the air, at the same time uttering a regular war whoop. The pioneers also had to face danger from the Indians, for while they were usually very friendly and harmless, yet they were, as we have learned, dangerous when under the influence of strong drink. An incident in the life of Mrs. Rogers shows this fact clearly: One day an Indian who had been drinking came to her house while her husband was away to work, some miles from home. She fastened the door. He demanded admittance and told her if she did not open the door he would break it down. He went to the wood pile, got the axe and began breaking in the door. She went out the rear door and chased the Indian away with an iron rake. (8) THE PIONEER HOME. The first home of the real pioneer was invariably the log hut, put up in a hurry in order to get a shelter over the family and their few possessions. The ends of the logs were cut to fit together, and the chinks between the logs were filled in with mud, clay, or wedges of wood. Later a more carefully built log house was erected to be followed still later by the frame house. As stoves were expensive, these pioneer homes usually had the large open fireplace at one end of the living room. Much food-fruit, grain and vegetables-was produced in the small clearing, and meat was obtained by hunting. As other provisions for the valley had to be brought from Detroit, they were expensive. Sugar was high in price and honey was in demand as a substitute. There was often a scarcity of food, especially while navigation was closed by winter. At any time of the year, if some particular item of food had given out, it might be necessary to paddle to Saginaw to get some more. Flour of any kind was scarce, and it was hard for the settlers to get their wheat and corn ground into flour or meal. The experiences of the McCormick family in this matter were quite the same as those of many other pioneers: "Our first year's crop was excellent. The only drawback we had was in converting our grain into flour. A grist mill had been built at the Thread, one and a half miles south of Flint. (This was while the McCormicks lived up the river.) We had to take (7) 1883 History of Bay County, page 28.) (8) For a different account of this incident, see Gansser, Bay County History, page 90. SETTLEMENT-PIONEER LIFE. 89 THE McCORMICKS. -,^ ~The McCormicks lived in Albany, New ~.:~~: -^York. They decided to go west. They went on a flat boat down the ~ -_IW81^ Erie Canal to Buffalo. Here they took a?R.' ' ^% steamer for Detroit. Mr. McCormick had s;s ~ to pay $50.00 for passage to Detroit for his wife and children and household furnishings. When they arrived at Detroit they rented a few rooms in a house and they cut ~; Ihad to eat off of a chest, for they did not bring any furniture. Mr. McCormick spent his time looking for a farm outside of Detroit. They _l ';<,:Bl. were obliged to leave their horse in care of an Indian. They started out on foot. When they reached the Flint river they stopped a few days for rest in a neighbor's home. The man told him to buy a farm on the Thread River near by. So Mr. McCormick ])ought a farm for $125. He built a log cal)in on it for his family, and he sent his WM. R. McCORMICK. son and another boy by the name of Albert Miller back to Detroit to bring the family. They went to Grand Blanc and got the horse and wagon, then went on to Detroit for the family. Mrs. McCormick and children now started out for their new home. There was a road as far as Royal Oak and then an Indian trail. They walked during the day and slept at night under the stars. Mr. McCormick met the family half way between Detroit and Thread River, and his older sons went ahead to clear the way for the horse and wagon. That night they reached the Thread River six miles from the place where Mr. McMcCormick built his cabin. The next day they went on the new farm and here they settled for some time. About the first fall Mr. McCormick went to Saginaw with another man in a canoe for some pork for his family during the winter. While he was there he saw some fndian fields which the Indian had left because the grubworms ate their corn, and they thought the Great Spirit was angry with them, so they left the fields. Mr. McCormick, after seeing these fields, thought it a good place for a farm. After looking over the land he went back to his home on the Thread River. He told his wife about these Indian fields and they decided to buy the land. Some time later Mr. McCormick and his family moved down to the Indian fields. They had sold their other farm for $600. Mr. McCormick intended to buy this farm, but the Indians said he could rent the land for 25 bushels of corn and 25 bushels of potatoes per year. So the deal was made. That night they had only a fire in the open. This made Mrs. McCormick feel very sad, and she said she never thought she would have no shelter over the heads of her children. But the next day Mr. McCormick and his sons built a small hut until they made a better log cabin. The McCormicks lived so comfortably that travelers coming from Flint to Bay City would stop all night and rest at McMormicks Sometimes they had to make a bed on the floor, which held from 10 to 15 persons; they called this a field bed. After a few years Mr. McCormick gave up his Indian fields and went in to the lumber industry. He bought an interest in a lumber mill. James J. McCormick was the first man to send lumber out of Saginaw River. He sold it to a man in Detroit, and got $8.00 per thousand for it. He did not make much money out of it, but he kept on with the business. A few years later in the year 1846 Mr. McCormick died. After his death his wife continued staying at the old homestead. A few years later she gave up the old homestead and went and lived with her children. Mr. and Mrs. McCormick were buried in Pineridge Cemetery and a monument was erected over their graves saying they were among the early pioneers.-Garfield School. = - - 90 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. our grain in a canoe up the river some thirty-five miles, and then get it down to the mill and back to the river and then come down the river home. It usually took us four days to go to mill and back, camping out every night, and the hardest kind of work at that. This work always fell on my brother James and myself, for though a boy, I could steer the canoe and my brother would tow it over the rapids with a rope. Our feet used to get very sore walking in the water so much. When winter came on it was impossible to go to mill, as there was no road, so in the winter evenings we all took turns pounding the corn in a mortar-made in the end of a log, sawed about three feet long with a hole in one end to pound corn in, similar to what the Indians used in those days. In 1835 my father went back to Albany, New York, and when he returned he brought a mill, something like an old-fashioned coffee mill, but five times as large; the hopper would hold about a peck, and had a handle on each side. This was a great thing in those days, for with it we could grind a bushel of corn in an hour. We now threw away the old mortar and stopped going to mill, as we had a mill of our own. This year we had two neighbors, and they used to come in the evenings to grind their corn at our mill, which was worth its weight in gold to that little settlement." (9) There was genuine neighborliness and hospitality among these noble pioneers, and families helped each other in every way possible, as was the case in the use of the McCormick hand mill. They would SIDNEY S. CAMPBELL. Mr. Campbell was born at Paris, Omeida..,...;. County, New York in 1804. In 1830 he..... ^:~:: ~came to Michigan and settled at Pontiac,.:.;.~ e'i. >:whence he removed to Cass River Ridge in the Spring of 1836. Here he laid out a.^:ltown and called it Bridgeport. Bridgeport Of:iDl,,. A -...... was blighted by the hard times of 1837 and.ii:: i "Land near the river bank for new mills was hard to find."-A view looking west from the Water Works. The tall, narrow buildings enclose the derricks over the salt wells. EARLY DEVELOPMENT-LUMBERING. 99 time. It was later (1841) purchased by James and James J. McCormick, who shipped the first lumber from the Saginaw River to other ports. This mill was the only one in operation in Bay County until after the business conditions had become improved. In 1844, James Fraser and Cromwell Barney, with the assistance of Israel Catlin, began the erection of the second mill, the first one operated by water-power and located at Kawkawlin. (1) The first mill in Lower Saginaw, and the second steam mill in the county, was started the next year (1845) by Hopkins, Pomeroy, and Fraser on Water street just south of Center avenue. The next one was erected by Catlin and Fraser in 1847, on Water street between Eighth and Ninth streets. From this time on the erection of mills was rapid, and by 1857 there were fourteen mills in Bay County. This development continued for many years, and by 1880 suitable land near the river bank for new mills was hard to find. Each new mill attempted to out-do all previous attempts at record capacity in cutting lumber, so that every year saw larger and better mills. During this period we find such familiar names as Bradley, Eddy, Jennison, Gates, Fay, Avery, Miller, Hargrave, Lewis, Smith, WVatrous, Shearer, Dolsen, McEwan and others forming the names of firms operating the saw mills. In 1864 H. W. Sage and John McGraw erected the mammoth saw-mill, later known as the Sage mill, south of Midland street on the west side of the river. This was one of the largest mills in the world at the time, and had an immense output of lumber. A writer in 1868 describes it as follows: "It is one of the sights of the valley; the very head of the mill family; a monster of the woods, with more sets of teeth than a wholesale dentist, and with an appetite for forests which no statistic purveyor can satisfy, and which puts all calculations astray. It commenced operations in May of 1865 and cut during that season 9,048,000 feet. In 1866 it cut 20,225,000. The capacity for one season is really 40,000,000 feet." (2) In the banner year of 1888, enough lumber, over 4,000,000,000 feet, was cut in the mills along the Saginaw River to make a sidewalk of twoinch planks, four feet wide, that would reach entirely around the earth almost four times. (3) Bay City and the Saginaw Valley became known throughout the United States, and even in Europe, on account of their rapid development and the quantity and quality of the lumber produced. Of course this immense increase in lumber manufacturing called (1) A water power mill was built on the Pine River as early as 1835. Pine River was for a long time in Bay County, but is now in Arenac County. (2) Directory of Bay City, Portsmouth, Wenona and Bangor, 1868-9, page 264. (3) For lumber statistics, see Appendix. 100 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. i... EARLY DEVELOPMENT-LUMBERING. 101 an ever-increasing number of laborers of all kinds, including the farmer, merchants, professional men, and investors, to Bay City and the surrounding country, and stimulated every sort of business activity. There was unbounded confidence in the brilliant future prospects of the place. The idea that the timber in this region would in a few years be used up was laughed at as ridiculous. But by 1880 the mills were bringing logs from an ever-increasing distance back from The Big Wheels Used in Hauling Logs. The team in the distance is bringing the logs to the roadway. Here they are placed with one end off the ground on a cross piece. The wheels are driven over the logs, a chain is passed under them, fastening them to the wheels. The block holding the wheels is knocked out, and the load is ready to be dragged to the railroad. the river. They no longer depended on the streams, but built railroad spurs in all directions into the forests. By 1890 the timber from this vicinity was almost all gone. Logs were now brought in immense rafts by the large lake tugs from northern Michigan and from Canada. THE LUMBER WOODS. To get the lumber from the forests, camps were set up in the woods, with a foreman in charge of a large group of strong, hearty laborers-experts in the various kinds of work that was to be done. 102 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. S. 0. Fisher's Camp, at Pinconning, about 1882. -1 The Lumber Camp. EARLY DEVELOPMENT-LUMBERING. 103 Among these were the blacksmith and the "handy man" who made the drays, canthook handles, etc. There were rudely constructed log huts and sheds for a variety of purposes, including a mess room for the men, their bunk room, a tool house, horse shed, and blacksmith shop. Before the coming of the railroad and while the timber was still plentiful, the camps were invarably near a stream. Men would come to the lumber camps from the mills nearby and from the farms in the The Lumber Woods. Notice the Yoke of Oxen. southern part of the state. Going to the "lumber woods" was an annual occurrence in farm life, as it gave the farmer the chance to make use of slack time. The timber was taken from the forests during the winter for two reasons. By sprinkling, icy roads could be made by means of which the logs could be easily drawn to the bank of the stream, and then in the spring during flood water, the logs could be floated down stream to the mills that were located at Bay City, where the lumber could later be shipped to market. It was very difficult work to get the great masses of logs to float down stream even during high water, and there were many exciting 1 04 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CZI Q2 bfJ cz EARLY DEVELOPMENT-LUMBERING. 105 times when one log would get caught in such a way as to cause the rest to pile up in an awful mass. This was called a "jam," and the most expert "lumber-jacks" were needed to find the log that was causing the trouble and to loosen it so as to relieve the jam. This kind of life, both in the woods and on the logs coming down stream, was very dangerous, and the newspapers of those logging days had many serious accidents to report. THE SAW MILLS. The busy season of the mills was after the spring floods had brought the logs to them. The amount of lumber cut during a season was often limited on account of the water being so low in the spring that fewer logs than usual could be floated to the mills. '' ' 'w 1! '. An Early Saw Mill. Showing the incline and endless chain by means of which the logs were taken from the river to the saw. The logs, each of which had been stamped with the initials of the owner, were sorted and collected in booms-that is, in a large space along the river bank near the mill, that had been enclosed with large logs fastened together with chains. As the logs were needed, they were brought to the incline, where an endless chain caught the log, carried it into the mill, and presented it to the saw for cutting. The rapid increase in the amount of lumber produced here each year was due more to improvements in handling the logs and in the kinds of saws and other machinery used than to the increase in the number and size of the mills. The first saws used here were: the circular-from three to five feet in diameter; the muley-upright and fastened at the ends; and the upright saws fastened at the ends in a 106 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. frame. These were rather slow in operation and were so thick that from one-fourth to nearly one-half of the log was wasted in saw-dust. When a saw one-fourth of an inch thick was used, for every four boards one inch thick that were cut one board was cut up into sawdust. Later the gang saw, with as many as twenty-four saws fastened in an upright frame, was used. This frame, as in the case of the single upright saw, was moved up and down rapidly by machinery, cutting the log into many boards at one operation. This increased the amount of lumber that could be cut by a mill in a given time, although these The Kneeland-Bigelow Saw Mill. It is one of the few here today. saws still cut only one-half of the time-that is, on the down stroke. Thinner saws made a great saving, as there was much less saw-dust. It is said that the Sage mill (1865) was the first mill in the valley to use the gang saw. Still later the endless band saw, about ten inches wide, thirty feet in circumference, and only one-sixteenth of an inch thick, arranged on pulleys like a belt, was used. This cut continuously, with the log moving rapidly back and forth on a carriage and so was a wonderful improvement, although the circular and gang saws were still necessary for certain purposes. It is said that Wheeler's shipyard was the first to use the band saw in Bay County, and soon after the Standard Hoop Company also made use of it. EARLY DEVELOPMENT-LUMBERING. 107 To make the lumber, great slabs had to be cut off the sides of the logs. There were also the poor pieces which would not be used for lumber in those days. These slabs and cull lumber were cut up into by-products such as slab-wood for the stove, shingles, lath, barrel staves, and barrel heading. As the output of lumber increased, the production of these by-products increased by the million. REFERENCES. Bay County History-Gansser. Bay County History-1883. Saginaw Valley Directory for 1866 and 1867. History of Bay County-1876. Hotchkiss and Dow. Directory of Bay City, etc.-1868-1869. Industries of the Bay Cities-Marquis & Co.-1889. Bay City Tribune, November, 1887. Corbin School. 108 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER XVIII. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT-SALT. E HAVE seen that the Indians of Michigan used to travel long distances in order to get salt from the springs along the tributaries of the Saginaw River. (1) Later, the settlers found and made use of these "salt licks" or "deer licks," as the springs were often called from the fact that the animals would search out the springs in order to lick up the precious salt that was to be found where the water came out of the ground. In 1837 the first state geologist, Dr. Houghton, examined the part of the state where salt was to be found (2) anrd insisted that it was in such quantity and quality that it would pay to start salt wells. In fact, in 1838 the state gave $3,000 to carry on the work, and Dr. Houghton began to drill a well on the Tittabawassee River. This had to be given up, however, as the location was too far in the wilderness at that time to get the needed supplies, repairs to the machinery, and men to carry on the work. It was shortly after this well was abandoned by the state that the lumber industry began its remarkable development. Men were putting their money into something that was certain to bring large profits, and this salt was entirely neglected for the next twenty years. Even then nothing would have been done, it is claimed, if the state legislature, as a result of the efforts of men from Bay City, Saginaw, and Grand Rapids, among whom were James Birney and Albert Miller, had not provided in 1859 for a bounty of 10 cents per bushel. Confident of this help from the state, men were willing to invest money in the undertaking, for with such a bounty there would be little risk of losing, even if the salt was not found to be very plentiful. The law was repealed in 1861, so that very little help was actually received from the state. But in the meantime the East Saginaw Salt Manufacturing Company had been organized, had drilled a well in the lower part of East Saginaw, and by February 7th, 1860, had been able to make the following report: "We are happy now to assure you that Saginaw possesses salt water, second in strength and purity, and we believe in quantity, to none in the United States." (3) It is interesting to note that the above report was made on February 7, and that on March 13, 1860, the first salt company in Bay County was organized, followed a few days later by a second company. We can well (1) Page 31. (2) III. 19. (3) Pioneer Directory of the Saginaw Valley, 1866 and 1867, page 44. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. believe that the report of the Saginaw company had had an effect "like an electric shock." Several of our leading pioneers were interested in this new industry. The first of these Bay County corporations, The Portsmouth Salt Company, with its well in the south end of the present east side. was organized by James J. McCormick, Appleton Stevens, B. F. Beckwith, A. D. Braddock, Albert Miller, C. E. Jennison, W. Daglish, Martin Watrous, and Wm. R. McCormick; and the second, with its well on the site of the present Michigan Pipe Works and called the Bay City Salt Company, was controlled by James Fraser, D. H. Fitzhugh, H. M. Fitzhugh, and Curtis Munger. "The two were purposely sunk far apart, as there were many people who believed that the supply of brine would soon be exhausted." (4) It was soon found that the salt could be made in connection with the saw mills. Conducted as a. business by itself, the expenses were so great and the profit so small that it would take only a small drop in the selling price of salt to make the business a failure. But by using the waste sawdust, a product of the saw mills that was hard to dispose of, the brine could be heated and the salt obtained by evaporation, at a reasonable cost. Soon the improved machinery in the sawmills reduced the amount of sawdust so that most of it could be burned in heating the boilers of the mill, and then the exhaust steam was used for heating the brine. Other conditions besides cheap fuel helped to reduce the cost of salt manufacturing here. The brine was pumped direct from the earth. It has not been necessary, as in some places, to pour water into a bed of salt, allow it to dissolve the salt, then pump it out and proceed with evaporation. The cost of shipping was made less by the manufacture of the barrels required for that purpose out of waste materials from the mills. METHODS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT. At first, the salt in Bay County was removed from the brine by the "kettle" system. One company would have about 60 kettles arranged in two rows in a space about 100 feet long. These kettles were about four feet across. When the water had boiled till the kettle was nearly dry, the salt was taken out and packed for shipment. About one bushel of salt was obtained from each kettle. It is said that this method was in use for about ten years. Then the kettles were replaced with pans. These were from 12 to 16 feet wide and about 25 feet long. Fires were kept burning under the pans all day and two men raked the salt out as it settled. The (4) Bay County History-1883, page 53. BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. pans were still used after the fires were replaced with pipes heated by exhaust steam. They were also used in the "sun" system of evaporation. For this purpose the pans were arranged with roofs over them. In sunny weather they could be moved on rollers from under the roofs (or the roofs from over the pans) and the heat of the sun would help to remove the water from the brine. In case of rain the pans could be easily put under cover. There were whole fields of pans in this system, and such fields would yield two "crops" of salt each year. The salt obtained in this way was very coarse. It is said that as a result of these early salt blocks, which were out in the open air, the farmers lost many of their cows. The cows "would go to the salt block and drink the bittern water, which would poison them. The people had to give their cattle plenty of salt so they would not go to the salt blocks for it." The present method, employed at the Bigelow-Cooper plant, is as follows: The salt brine is pumped from a depth of about 860 feet, by means of a derrick, through a pipe which is about five inches in diameter, encased in a larger pipe. The brine is carried in pipes to large concrete tanks about eight feet high, fifteen feet wide and thirty-five feet long. These "settling tanks" are out in the open, allowing some of the water to evaporate from the brine while the salt settles and is treated with a preparation of lime. The brine flows into the settling tanks at the top, and is later drawn out at the bottom. It next passes through the "pre-heating tanks," which are under cover and are heated by means of pipes filled with exhaust steam from the engines of the hardwood flooring mill. This steam has already been used in the dry kiln. The temperature of the brine in the settling tanks varies from forty to sixty degrees, according to the season of the year. In the pre-heating tanks the temperature is raised to about 150~. This pre-heating is not really necessary, but saves time in the next process. From the pre-heating tanks the brine is carried by pipes to the "grainer," another series of tanks where the temperature of the brine is raised to from 170~ to 190~, the best being about 180~. The vapor in this part of the salt block is very dense, showing that the water is evaporating rapidly. But it is necessary to take out only a part of the water. While the brine is in these tanks the pure salt settles to the bottom. Machines called "rakers" then scrape the salt to the edge of the tank, where it drops into the "conveyors" or troughs, leaving the other chemicals, which are always present in the brine pumped out of the wells, in a solution called "bittern water." This is passed through I Bigelow-Cooper Salt Block. Storage and Shipping Buildings. Salt WJell and Derrick The Three Settling Tanks. "Grainer" Building. Pre-heating Building. 112 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. the "bittern water tanks," where it is re-heated. More salt, this time of a poorer grade, but suitable for certain uses, such as packing ice cream, is raked out. The bittern water is emptied into tank cars and is shipped to chemical factories where bromide, calcium chloride, and other chemicals are taken from it to be used in the manufacture of baking soda, washing soda, and other products. It is said that the Dow Chemical Company at Midland pumps brine from a depth of about 2,200 feet, and without making salt, proceeds to the manufacture of chemical materials. The pure salt that is raked into the conveyors is carried by machinery to the stock or storage room, where it is dropped from above out of openings in the conveyors into large cone-shaped piles onto the floor. By this time the salt is practically dry and is loaded by means of wheelbarrows into the freight cars that stand alongside of the building. If the salt is not to be shipped in bulk in this way, it is packed into barrels, 280 pounds to the barrel. The salt that is made by this grainer process is coarse, but is of a very high grade. Unlike that made from rock salt, it does not cake hard in the barrels. The Bigelow-Cooper salt block produces on an average of from 200 to 250 barrels of salt per day. SHIP BUILDING. A third industry which gave Bay City fame throughout the country, and which, on account of the many laborers employed, helped in the rapid development of the lower Saginaw valley, was that of shipbuilding. Here were to be found the oak, pine, tamarack, and other varieties of timber needed in making different parts of a boat. Such materials could not only be obtained at a very reasonable price, but the quality was of the best, and when large timber was needed for certain purposes, it was right at hand. Moreover, the deep but protected harbor of the river mouth was a convenient place for the boats to remain during the winter and receive needed repairs, and it was broad enough for the launching of new ships. Small boats were built in this vicinity long before the valley was settled. Fishing boats were built here as early as 1849. The first large boats were the "Essex" and the "Bay City,"'built by H. D. Braddock & Company in 1857 and 1858. But the real beginning of ship building as one of our important industries was in 1864, three years after the beginning of the salt industry, when Wm. Crosthwaite INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 113 114 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. opened his shipyard in Banks. He was followed in 1865 by John A. Weed, and a short time later by George Carpenter. In 1873, James Davidson began building ships where his dry dock is now located, and the year 1879 saw the beginning of the Wheeler shipyard. The Davidson and Wheeler yards were soon building some of the largest and best boats on the lakes. One yard alone employed, at times, as many as 1,400 men. With the coming of the steel boats on the Great Lakes, the Wheeler shipyard was transformed. It began making steel boats about 1889, and was soon building some of the largest steel boats used in lake commerce. The launching of each of these immense freight boats Launching the Ship. furnished a wonderful sight, and was counted a great event throughout the city. Some of them were as long as two of our city blocks and could carry as much wheat or lumber in one load as 300 or more freight cars. FISHING. Fishing was a fourth industry that helped carry the fame of this region to all parts of the state and to cities far beyond the boundaries of Michigan. In some places the county was known for its fish before it had gained fame as a lumber region. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 115 The pioneers had found unlimited supplies of fish of many kinds and sizes, and i many of them did more fishing than hunting or farming. Many fish that are scarce now were very plentiful in those early days. Bela Hubbard, a t Detroit pioneer, visited Saginaw Bay at an early date while on a geological expedition in 1837, and had an interesting fi s h i n g experience. "Sport of an unusual kind awaited us. In the waves that broke among the boulders along the shore, the sturgeon were gamboling. So intent were they upon their play, and so ignorant of man's superior cunning, that, springing in among them, after a vigorous tussle we threw one ashore with no other aid than our hands. It stocked our larder for several days with its variety of meat - fish, fowl, and Albany beef." (5) The first fish exported in quantities from the valley were salted. In 1857 the fish formed a good share of the exports of the region, and in 1860, $50,000 worth of fish Sturgeon Caught in Saginaw Bay, 6~ ft. long; weight, 161 lbs. were caught. With the development of the lumber and salt industries, fishing became still more important because, as in the case of salt, the cheap barrels obtained as a by-product from the saw mill, helped lower the cost. In addition to this, the salt industry furnished cheap salt for packing purposes. (5) III. 199.-The sturgeon stay near the rocks at spawning time. An experienced fisherman says that the meat of the sturgeon under the fin at the head is much like beef, while the cheeks, weighing about one pound each, are a little lighter in color. This probably explains Mr. Hubbard's reference to the three kinds of meat. Also see Nah Sash Kah Moqua, page 137. 116 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. In 1864 "Uncle" Harvey Williams decided that it was possible to ship "fresh" instead of "salted" fish from Bay City. There would be a greater demand for fresh fish, and they would bring greater profits. The plan was practical, and was soon proved a success. During the winter the fish were caught and frozen. They were then packed in barrels between layers of ice, and shipped to Detroit, Cleve| land, Cincinnati, and even to New York. From some of these I cities they were reshipped farther to the south. The fisheries or "freezers" were located near the mouth of the river where the fish could be taken from the boats, sorted, and frozen ready for shipment. When the weather was not cold enough for freezing, the fish were frozen and salt with the ice. Mending the Nets. packed, as is ice cream, by using The increase in the amount of fish exported each year was very rapid, and was made still greater by the coming of the railroads, which made rapid shipments in all directions possible. In 1882 (6) it was reported that there were at least from 400 to 500 men engaged in fishing that spring, and that they used as many as 450 nets and from 75 to 100 boats. As many as forty, fifty, and even sixty tons of fish were obtained daily during April, an actual record of 60 tons being made on April 7. (7) The fishing grounds and the kind of fish that were caught varied with the season. Pickerel came to the bay about April 1 to spawn, while the white fish were plentiful in the fall. The best fishing grounds in the early eighties were along the east and west shores of the bay, about twenty miles each side of the mouth of the Saginaw River. The fish were also plentiful in the rivers flowing into Saginaw Bay. Most of the fishermen lived in Bangor (Banks), where they (6) See Bay City Tribune for April 23, 1882. (7) See Fishing Statistics in Appendix. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 117 were within easy reach of the mouth of the river and the bay. They were strong men who had great skill in handling nets and boats, and their courage and daring were constantly put to the test in the many dangers and hardships they had to pass through as a result of wind and snow storms and serious accidents while far from shore. The fish were not always plentiful, and in a backward season, such as occurred in 1884, which was the worst year out of six for catching fish (8), many became poverty-stricken and the families suffered from hunger and cold. METHODS USED. At first huge row boats, about thirty feet long, were used along the shore, several strong men furnishing the power at the oars. These were replaced with sail boats (fishing smacks), and still later the steam launch was introduced. There was much fishing with hook and line, but the fisherman who made their living at the work used nets. The seine was a sort of a fence made of netting that was used near the shore. It was kept in an upright position by the use of lead sinkers attached along one edge and cedar corks or floats along the other edge. The seine was placed in the water some distance from the shore and, with whatever fish got in its way, was slowly pulled ashore, by winding a long rope on a windlass or capstan. Men turned the windlass or capstan for small seines, but horses were used for the large ones. "Just west of the D. & M. bridge there used to be a seine grounds owned by Mrs. Tromble. Another was above South Bay City at a place that used to be called the 'devil's elbow.' Another seine ground was at the mouth of the Saginaw River on the east side, known in the early days as the Harvey Williams grounds. Harvey Williams also had a seine ground where the Casino now stands in Wenona Beach. His residence was at the mouth of the Kawkawlin River." (9) Other nets, such as the "trap net," were used farther from shore and were fastened to stakes. (10) For cat-fish a "night-line" was used frequently. This was a long horizontal line, with hooks lowered from it at regular intervals, which was left out during the night. In the winter there was good fishing out on the bay through holes in the ice by means of nets or with spears. In good seasons there have been from 500 to 2,000 men fishing on the bay in this manner. (8) Bay City Tribune, January, 1884. (9) From an account by one of the pupils. (10) Some of the boys can probably describe the "trap," "gill," and other nets used. 118 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. They would have a little fishing shanty, together with supplies for a number of days hauled out on a sled. The river and bay woulld be dotted with these shanties, for they were not grouped together in villages as some accounts relate, but were scattered over many miles and in all directions. It is said that a few seasons there were enough men fishing on the bay to induce someone to start a supply center or store out on the ice to which the men could go for food and fishing materials, and occasionally someone who wanted to get a share of the profits without actually fishing, would set up a little saloon where the shanties were especially numerous. That was the nearest there came to being the village of "Iceburg," according to several of the pioneers. The desire of the fishermen to catch all they could before the ice broke away from shore in the spring frequently got them into serious trouble. Scarcely a spring would pass without some of the more venturesome being caught on floating masses of ice and carried far from shore. A sudden thaw accompanied by an off-shore wind would detach the ice before they could reach shore. This would result in much suffering from cold and lack of food, and sometimes there even was loss of life. There have been as many as forty or more men lost on the bay in this manner, at which times there was great anxiety among the families and friends in the city. REFERENCES. See references for Chapter XVII. Also see old newspaper files and directories in the libraries. CHAPTER XIX. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTGENERAL MANUFACTURING AND AGRICULTURE. MANUFACTURING. O rapid was the development of these four great industrieslumbering, salt manufacturing, shipbuilding, and fishingthat the population of Bay County increased from 3,164 in 1860 to 56,412 in 1890 (1)-eighteen times as many people as there were but thirty years before. The amount of money invested in the fishing industry was very small when compared with that invested in lumbering. Salt manufacturing could hardly have been successful by itself, and shipbuilding used the products of the lumber camps and saw-mills as its raw material. So it is clear that practically the entire development of the region for about forty years centered around lumbering. (1) Gansser 115. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 119 The people were satisfied at first to cut the logs up into rough boards and ship this lumber to other places to be made into the finished product. The editors of the newspapers and probably many other people frequently called the attention of the city to the lack of wisdom in allowing this condition to continue. Gradually other industries were started and many of these made use of the logs or materials cut from the logs. Planing mills were soon started to finish the lumber and to prepare it for use for both exterior and interior building punposes. The manufacture of distinct wooden products, aside from the byproducts made from the slabs and cull lumber, began with the establishment of the Bay City Woodenware Works in 1868 by Mr. George Hood in Portsmouth. Bousfield & Company bought the factory in 1875, and it became the largest woodenware factory of its kind in the world, holding that position for many years. The products of the factory included pails and tubs of all kinds. There were the wash tubs that were universally used before the invention of the galvanized iron tubs. The wooden tubs were strong, and were very durable if not allowed to dry out. As a dry tub would shrink and fall apart, it often became the duty of the small boy in the family to see that the tubs did not lack water during the intervals between washings. Other products were wooden churns, water pails, tobacco pails, pails for shipping candy in the wholesale trade, butter and lard pails and tubs, and many others for special uses. These were produced at the rate of 20,000 per day when the factory was at its best, and the pails were sold to packing concerns all over the country. Then, packed with goods of various kinds, they were shipped all over the world. After being emptied of their contents they were used in the homes in these distant places. The next year after the woodenware factory was started, 1869, saw the establishment of another factory that was destined to bring fame to Bay City. This was the Northwestern Gas and Water Pipe Company for the manufacture of wooden pipes from logs. In 1881 it came under the control of H. B. Smith, and the name was changed to the Michigan Pipe Company. "Michigan" pipes were invented for use in city water systems, in mines, in irrigation projects, in factories such as tanneries, distilleries, and chemical plants where iron pipes would be affected by the chemicals, and for gas. The wooden pipes are cheaper than iron, they withstand great pressure, they are lighter to handle, and if not exposed to the weather they will last for many years. "The thirty-inch wood pipe line supplying Bay City with water and extending from Oak Grove to the water works pumping station, 120 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. Boring Solid Pipe. For a number of years the Michigan Pipe Conipally made the pliles from the solid logs. These were bored with hollow augers so that the center piece could be used for still smaller pipes. In this way three or four pipes were obtained from one large log. Now, the lilpes are made of selected, thoroughly seasoned white l)ine and tamarack staves. Showing Method of Banding Pipe. The above picture shows three operations in the manufacture of "Michigan" water pipe. 1. Taking the selected staves from the planer. 2. Placing them into the temporary form previous to banding. 3. Banding the pipe. The tension is so great on the pipe as to almost imbed the steel into the wood, thus absolutely protecting the under side of the band. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 121 One of the Large Coating Machines. The plilpe is taken to the coating rolls, where the outside surface is covered with a thick layer of hot liquid asl)haltum, rolled in sawdust on a sawdust talle, illaced back on the coating rolls to receive another layer of aslphaltum and rolled again in sawdust. This ol)eration gives the l)ilpe a double imperishable coating. The l)ilpe is then trimmed on the ends and cooled on rollers revolving in a liath of cold water, after which it is ready for shipment. has been in use for some forty-five years and is still do ng good work." The Michigan Pipe Company has sold its pipes all over the country and even in distant foreign countries. Many other factories making wooden products were started. These included a number of wagon and carriage factories, an oar factory, and hoop factories. The many saw mills of the valley created an ever-increasing demand for boilers and machinery, and for material for their repair when damaged. As a result the iron and steel manufacturing industry got an early start, though for many years it was on a rather small scale. In the directory of 1866, John McDowell, who was the owner of a foundry that had been established in 1856 by John Burden, advertised himself as the "manufacturer of steam engines of all kinds, salt and potash kettles, mill gearing of every description, plows, and all kinds of brass and iron castings." By 1876 there were five machine shops and several boiler factories. These included the Industrial Works, which had been started in 1873; the MacKinnon boiler factory 122 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. -at that time the largest boiler factory in the city, and the only one using steam-the Smalley Brothers machine shop, and others on both sides of the river. In 1867 the first grist mill was established at the corner of First and Water streets by J. N. McDonald & Company. "It has two run of stones-equal to a capacity of 20 barrels per day." (2) AGRICULTURE. "In the early days little had been done in agriculture in this region. One reason was that men preferred to work in the saw-mills rather than clear the land for farms, which was much harder work and would not bring them money for a long time. Land that did not have to be cleared was so low and swampy that it had to be drained before good farms could be made." (3) Some of the early pioneers started small farms. Sidney S. Campbell raised grain at a very early date, and James G. Birney brought a herd of thoroughbred cattle to the county during his residence here. But in spite of these early beginnings, a number of years later, in 1855, there were only twenty-one farms in the limits of Bay County. (4) But interest in farming must have been increasing, for it is claimed that two years later, when the county was organized, there were fiftyseven farms. The difficulties confronting the early farmer did not end with the clearing of the land or with its drainage. There was a serious lack of roads, making it very difficult to get their produce to any market whatever. And they had actually to fight for what they raised for their own use, for the blackbirds were determined to get far more than their fair share of the crop. "Blackbirds were so plentiful at an early day in the Saginaw Valley that the farmers had to build scaffolds in their cornfields where the children would have to sit and hallo at the birds to keep them from destroying the crops. Mr. Ephraim S. Williams had a fine, large single-barreled duck gun which he loaded with mustard seed shot and commenced firing from the store door (in Saginaw) as the other parties drove the birds from the oats. Mr. Williams fired ten shots and his brother, B. O. Williams, one shot, making eleven in all. After each shot the boys and all hands would pick up the dead and wounded and put them in a pile at the store. They gathered as the result of the eleven shots, 545 birds, and for days after, in the road and at the edge of the river, there were hundreds that had crawl(2) Bay City Directory for 1868-1869, page 213. (3) From an account by one of the pupils. (4) Bay County History, 1876, page 24. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. 123 ed to the river for drink and died there. You may think this a good many birds, nevertheless it is strictly true." (5) Mr. McCormick also tells of the bounty the state paid for dead blackbirds in order to help rid the farmers of the pest. He says the boys used to take their birds to one justice in particular, because after paying them the bounty of two cents per head, he would throw the heads into his back yard. Of course some of the boys would manage to get them again and resell them. Beginning with the organization of the county in 1857, the growth of agriculture must have been steady, though perhaps somewhat slow. By 1866 it had developed far enough to make possible the Bay County Agricultural Society, which, under the direction of General B. F. Partridge, as president, and W. H. Fennel, as secretary, established a county fair grounds in the southern part of the city next to the residence of J. J. McCormick, and conducted annual fairs. (6) In 1876 the number of farms was claimed to be 2,600 in Bay County-this included all of the present Arenac County-and the two grist mills operating here at that date, one in Bay City and one in Wenona, had for two years been receiving most of their grain from the county, with some left over for export. (7) Before that time it is related that "Tuscola and Huron counties yield a good deal of the wheat now ground here." (8) In 1879 Bay County was awarded the prize at the Michigan State Fair for the best fruit and vegetables in northern Michigan, although at about that same time the Saginaw Courier Herald said that Bay City was so surrounded by swamps that when lumber was all gone the city would become an insignificant village. (9) The fact was that men who had formerly been blind to the great possibilities of the county as a farming region, now began to realize how rich and valuable the soil was. Many left the work in the sawmills for at least part of the year to take up land and clear it for farming. According to Judge Albert Miller, a homestead could be made to pay for itself in about fifteen years. Outsiders also began to be attracted to this garden spot, and many foreigners settled on Bay County farms. REFERENCES. See references for Chapters XVII. and XVIII. (5) III. 604. Wimn. It. McCorm-ick. (6) Directory of Bay City for 1868-1869, page 66. (7) History of Bay County, 1876, page 64. (8) Directory for 1868-1869, page 213. (9) Bay City Tribune, February 27, 1884. 124 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER XX INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTTRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. RIVER NAVIGATION. ATER transportation developed hand in hand with the lumbering industry. In fact, the two were inseparable. Before the lumbering boom in the Saginaw Valley, the arrival of a boat was of such importance that it was heralded by the American Fur Company's agent by firing a small cannon. (1) It was 1850 before there was a weekly boat, the "Columbia," connecting the Saginaw river towns with Detroit. But by 1854 the river was reported to be fairly alive; with boats, and the number 'e- "h increased steadily until well into the seventies. There were the small row boats of the residents, the ferry boats,. m a.s sail boats for fishing, tug boats for aiding larger craft and for pulling the great rafts of logs, then there were the The Boutell Fleet freighters and barges that were ever increasing in size, and finally there were the well-equipped passenger steamers. The river traffic was much greater than was indicated by the records in the customs office of boats that had entered and cleared the port. This river traffic is shown by accounts given of the boats passing through Third street bridge. In the single month of July, 1868, there passed through the bridge the following: EAST SAGINATAW AND:3AY CITY LINE. Steamers. ---— 326 Tugs..........1694 Sailing vessels.. 442 K>~, MABarges ------— 217 Total.............. 2689, an average of 86 per.day, or more than three an hour, day and THlE 'I ) SPLEN'I,II1 ILOW jI't)\ STI.: A Eit T1lE Nsr AND11 SPIL.;NI) D UIT'IA.A: ('AMIN SrFFAXME[E EVENING STAR, L. G. MASON, night. (2) It is hard to realize Passenger Service on Saginaw River (3) the immense amount (1) Directory of 1866-Bay City Division, page 5. (2) Directory of Bay City, 1868-9, page 75. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. 125 of wood products that were carried out of the river during the best days of the lumbering industry, but we can get a slight idea of it from the number of boats entering and clearing the port. The customs office report for 1883 shows that there were 459 propellers and 961 barges that entered, and 481 propellers and 1,114 barges that cleared the port-an average of twelve for every day of the season of navigation. The season usually lasted from the first part of April until the first week in December, or about 250 days. (4) At this same time there was regular passenger connection with all the important lake ports, and also with towns on the bay shore and up the river. There were four propellers connecting Bay City each week with Cleveland, two for freight and two for passengers. There was such competition that the round trip, including board, could be made for less than $5.00. In 1882 there were three steamers for AlSaginaw River-1882. Looking South from Third Street Bridge. pena and all points along the west shore between Bay City and Thunder Bay; three plying between Bay City and Port Austin on the east shore, distributing supplies to the towns along the shore; and boats started for Saginaw every two hours. (5) At this same time there were thirty-five tugs on the river towing the barges and transferring the logs. The United States government aided by making improvements in the river and by protecting the entrance to the harbor. Careful surveys had been made before the settlement of Bay County began. The (3) The "Evening Stiar" and "L. G. Mason" made regular trips, running alternate witl eacli other during the season of 1866. between East Saginaw and Bay City, touching at intermediate landings, for passengers and freight, and connecting with trains on the Flint and Pere Marquette Raillway, at East Saginaw. From an advertisement in the Saginaw Valley Directory for 1866-7, page 58. (4) Bay City Tribune, February 27, 1884. See also the lumbering statistics in the Appendix. (5) Chamber of Comnmerce Bulletin for 1882, page 6. 126 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. erection of the first lighthouse was begun by Stephen Wolverton in 1839; the first dredging of the channel was in 1867, when the sand-bar that obstructed the entrance to the river was cut through; in 1876 the breakwater just outside of the river was built as a protection for the entrance to the river in time of storm; in 1884 and 1885 the channel was dredged so that the largest lake boats could enter; and about 1887 the old lighthouse was replaced by a new one, the range light was erected, and the gas buoy placed at the entrance to the channel as a further aid to the many boats entering and leaving the river. Until 1905 the old lighthouse was used as a residence by the lighthouse keeper, but then it was torn down and is now marked by a flower garden. CROSSING THE RIVER. It is said that there is no great gain without some loss. Great as was the value of the river in the development of Bay City, it proved to be a hindrance when people wanted to get across. At first the settlers all lived near the river bank and had boats of their own, so they could cross whenever they desired. Soon, however, people built their homes farther from the river and so did not have boats of their own. There must be some means for crossing the river. For a long time John Hayes operated a skiff ferry, rowing people across from Third street for a charge of five cents each way. Even then many people crossed in their own boats, and school children living on the west side rowed across the river each morning and back at night in order to attend the school in Lower Saginaw. Sometimes the trip had to be made in very stormy weather, when the big waves threatened to swamp the boat. After the Drake mill was built, and Bangor and Salzburg had grown in importance, a rope ferry was used at Third street, and flat boat and sail boat ferries took people to Bangor and Salzburg and later to Essexville. The rope ferry was a long flatboat with ends which could be let down at the shore, making a sort of gang-plank or platform over which people and even horses could pass. A large scow was in use part of the time which was large enough to carry four teams. These stood along the side, next to the railing, while the people occupied the cabin that extended the length of the boat in the center. A wheel was fastened in a stanchion at each end of the boat and over these passed the rope that extended from bank to bank. It took two men to operate the large ferry. Sticks with notches in them were hooked over the rope, so that the ferrymen could give a good pull and immediately get a new hold on the rope by sliding the stick along. If a number of men were on the ferry, they frequently got extra sticks and helped furnish the power for moving the boat, sending it over in TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. 127 record time. Rich Angell is said to have been the operator of the first rope ferry, while Benjamin Trudell was probably the best known of the ferrymen on the Bangor route. With the erection of the Sage mill on the west side, the ferry became far too slow to accommodate the great numbers who wished to cross the river. A steam ferry was used for two years until a stock company could erect a bridge, which was done in 1865. This bridge, a wooden structure, was the first across the lower part of the Saginaw river. Third street was the natural place for it, as the corner of Third and Water streets was the center of the business section of Bay City at that time. In 1876 the wooden bridge was replaced by a steel one. While this was being done, a pontoon foot bridge was built by Zagelmeyer Brothers from each bank to the channel of the river, and a rope ferry was used to carry the passengers across the gap. The old wooden bridge was used to connect Twenty-third street and Salzburg avenue. Steam ferries had replaced the slower boats connecting Third street with Salzburg, Banks and Essexville. A boat left for those places every half hour. This was continued until the street car service was extended, making the ferries unnecessary. In 1883, Bay County purchased the Third street bridge from the stock company. Until that date it was a toll bridge. A charge of three cents was made for crossing, and this was doubled for a twohorse rig. The Twenty-third street bridge remained a toll bridge until 1886. The necessity of having a bridge at Third street is shown by the money paid in tolls. For the one year of 1867, just two years after it went into use, the tolls amounted to $10,000. It was with the building of the bridge that the tooting of the boat whistles, from the shrillest to the deepest sounds, mingled with the energetic puffing of the tug boats, became, next to the perpetual buzz of the saw mills, the most characteristic sound in Bay County. The call for an open bridge was four long blasts, and these signals could be heard for miles, and at all hours of the day. The smallest boy in town could tell when a boat was coming up the river, and from the sound of the whistle he could usually tell what kind of a boat it wasperhaps even give its name. COUNTY ROADS. Some of the first roads that were built were along the sand ridges where the wagons would escape the bogs and swamps (such were the old State Road, leading north through Kawkawlin and Pinconning and on into Arenac County, and "Ridge Road," which extends from the end 128 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. of Columbus avenue eastward past the cemeteries), others were dirt roads with long stretches of the rough corduroy road through the swampy places. Bay County is very level, and it must be remembered that there was very little drainage at that time. It is said that up to 1860 and even later, Bay County, including the land within the present city, was a veritable mud-hole. It was either deep sand or deeper mud. Travel with horse and wagon or other vehicle was at best difficult, and during the spring or other wet periods the roads were practically impassable. This lack of usable roads was not limited to Bay County, and the state legislature made provision for assisting private companies in building good roads. In 1859, General B. F. Partridge, who was interested in farming in Bay County, organized a company with such men as James Fraser and William McEwan, and the Tuscola plank road, the first improved road in Bay County, was started. In 1860 it was completed to Blumfield Junction-a distance of about twelve mileswhere the route to Saginaw left the Tuscola road. Being the main road to Saginaw, and as it was built seven years before any railroad reached Bay City, this was an important route of travel. People had to pay toll for the use of the road, the amount of toll depending on the number of horses and on the number of miles over which the road was traveled. The old toll gate through which the people from this end had to pass was located where the Tuscola road joins with Trumbull street. The first plank road on the west side of the river was Midland road. Mr. Chilson insisted that it should be built directly west from Midland street on a quarter instead of on the usual half section line. He foresaw that the main route of travel west to Midland from Wenona would be along that line. He surveyed the road, and by 1886 ten and one-half miles of it had been completed. Soon there were several plank roads leading for short distances into the country, and in 1875 a third main road was being planked, the Kawkawlin. (6) The important farms of the time were located along these plank roads, as they made it so much easier to get the produce to market in the city. The roads also helped communication and travel between the towns near the mouth of the river and those located farther inland. In 1865 there was a daily stage between Bay City and East Saginaw by way of Tuscola road and Blumfield Junction. At this same time, during the close of navigation in the winter months, a stage left Bay City every morning over the sandy State road for Alpena, calling at the intermediate places on the way. (7) (6) Bay County Directory, 1875, D)ow. page 72. (7) Directory of Bay City, 1868-9, pages 15 and 78. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. 129 The present system of macadamized (stone) roads was planned in 1882 (8), when the county borrowed $100,000 for the purpose by selling bonds. Work was actually started the next year, and by 1887 there were twenty-five miles of these excellent roads reaching in all directions from the city into the rich farm lands. (9) This plan for better roads, started thirty-five years ago, is still being followed, several miles of the road having been built during the past summer, while several more miles have been graded preparatory to putting in the stone. A new road bed of concrete, that is smoother and intended to be more permanent than the stone road, is now being tested on the Kawkawlin road. CITY STREETS. The city streets that were used the most were first improved by the use of planks, which were so plentiful and cheap in those years. Washington avenue, Columbus avenue and other main streets were at one time planked. The first street to be paved was Water, the main street at the time, from Third to Sixth. Pine was so plentiful that it was natural that it should be used for the first pavement. This was the Nicholson system. "It was made of tarred pine blocks, cut square. These were laid upon two thicknesses of tarred boards, with a stringer between each tier of blocks. The crevices were filled with gravel and the whole surface covered with tar." (10) Evidently this did not prove satisfactory, for the only other pavement laid in this way was the west end of Center, laid about the same time, 1867. The next experiment was on Center street, completing it as far out as Johnson. Irregular pine blocks were used, making what was called the McGonegal pavement. There is no record of any other street being paved in this way. The next system tried was the Wyckoff patent, which, with some important changes, was used until wood pavements were discarded. By 1876 the city had paved Third from Water to Johnson street, and a few blocks in the business section, with this patent pavement. They were made from cedar blocks cut right from Center Avenue in 1875. the logs after the bark had been removed. These blocks Notice that tllere is no car track. An old style of all sizes were laid on planks gas street lamp is just visible in tile lower left hand corner. and were filled in and covered (8) Chamber of Comme(rce Bulletin, 1882. (9) Bay City Tribune. Special ]Edition, November, 1887. page 18. (10) Bay City Tribune, Special IEdition. November, 1887, page 18. 130 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. with tar and gravel. The blocks were cut in the city at some side-track or switch, as the logs were taken from the train, and were hauled directly to the place where the paving was being done. After some experimenting it was found best to discontinue the use of tar altogether. In the later pavements the gutters, for a width of six or eight feet, were paved with cobblestones. By 1887 there were eleven miles of these wooden pavements in addition to miles of planked streets. These improvements were necessary in Bay City on account of the level surface, which made drainage rather slow and mud very deep in wet weather. But when the improvements were made, our streets and the country roads as well were remarkably good. The very level condition which had made them impassable at times before they were improved, was now a decided advantage, for much heavier loads can be hauled on them than can be hauled in hilly places. The general plan of having the streets run at right angles to each other-in north and south, and east and west directions-has also proved valuable, since it is much easier to locate places in the city, to number the streets with a definite system, and to extend the streets as additions to the city are made. Almost all of the streets had board walks, there being thirty miles of them in 1881. These walks, like the pavements, show the influence of the lumber industry. Great two-inch planks, a foot wide and ten or twelve feet long-planks that would be far too valuable for such use today-were used until lumber became more scarce and expensive. These were gradually replaced with walks made of narrower boards laid crosswise. Today almost the very last of these have disappeared, the permanent cement walks having taken their places. In like manner brick, asphalt and other hard pavements have almost entirely replaced the cedar block pavements. Lincoln avenue is the most recent example of this change, while the blocks still remain in Adams street south of McKinley avenue. Although the wooden walks were valuable, probably a necessity, in their time, they were also the cause of much trouble. The boards would in time warp, work loose, and unexpectedly fly up when someone stepped on one of the loose ends. This was liable to trip and injure someone else who happened to be passing. Other serious injuries were sustained by persons stepping through holes that had worn in the walks. As a result, the city has had many damage suits and has had to pay out large sums of money as damages to those injured. (11) (11) For facts regarding the pavements and sidewalks, see Bay City Tribune, November, 1887, page, 18; Bay City Tribune, 1875; Dow, page 31; and Board of Cominerce Bulletin for 1882, page 4. TRANSPORTATION AND COIMMUNICATION. RAILROADS. The great event in the history of transportation in Bay County was the coming of the railroads. Strangely enough this center of population had to depend on the water routes for practicallly all transportation for Tlii:jat &i 3:',e..ta<. j -,^., thirty years after the ___ fi r s t villages were Civil War period, Bay ^ 3 7 t l X City was cut off from - / A the rest of the country. The lakes were Advertisement Used in 1866 (12) closed to boats by "King Winter," a n d travel through the swamps to Saginaw in winter was very difficult. But when the railroad did finally reach this growing lumbering community, it came on both sides of the river at the same time. In January, 1867, the first train on the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw railroad, now the Michigan Central, came from Jackson. This gave the new town on the west side of the river, Wenona, connections with Chicago and all places in that direction. H. W. Sage and C. C. Fitzhugh were instrumental in getting the line extended from Saginaw. The first train into what was then Bay City, the northern part of the east side, was from East Saginaw over the Flint & Pere Marquette, which connected Bay County with Detroit and places to the south and east. As in the case of many other important enterprises that were begun in the sixties, the original group of pioneers aided in bringing this improvement. The acoming of the railroads to the mouth of the river was delayed on account of the swamps. It was uncertain whether a railroad through the swamp could be made a success. The most difficult one of the two to build was the Flint & Pere Marquette. A. S. Munger was given charge of the engineering and construction work and solved the problem by dredging a canal along the route, throwing the clay subsoil into an embankment. "It was triumph of engineering skill, being built for some way on a swamp, and yet as firmly as any of Mc (12) Saginaw Valley Directory for 1866-7, page 61. 3 ::~~:~;,: -,.*, f;L~I-: 1. Ib-Y ~5?r; -Lylll e ""lr-~ r~l~irPt u ~:-' '~ "~J ~~i 7 rs;ii I;iS~i(L: LI 'j ~`r r a iijl ril s. *E I`~b VI 0, t: cl n3 a; 4' B Street Car Barns on Cass Avenue-Built in 1882. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. 133 Adam's (macadam) highways." (13) At the banquet celebrating the completion of the important project, Mr. Munger was presented with a $350 gold watch and chain to show that his skillful efforts were appreciated. (14) The Michigan Central in 1871 bought the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw road and soon planned to extend its lines into other parts of this productive region of pine and agricultural lands. In 1873 it gave our city direct connection with Detroit by a road to Vassar on the east side of the river. In this same year it built its railroad bridge in order to connect the Detroit and the Jackson roads, and it also began extending its line northward to Mackinaw. This was completed in 1876. There had long been plans for building a road to Midland. In fact, the road bed had been graded part of the way and then was abandoned. (15) The Michigan Central completed this project in 1888. The coming of the railroads marked a change in the commerce of Bay City. Now, the lumber and salt were distributed by rail throughout inland Michigan to the west and south, while before that they were limited by being forced to follow the water routes alone. "As an instance of the benefit of the railroads, it is remarkable that the opening of the two railroads leading into the city has given such an impulse to the fish trade, that at present (1869) it is absolutely impossible to predict the result. Fish depots are opening in every city in the state through which these roads pass." (16) Besides being an aid in distributing our products, they also enabled supplies from the interior to be brought in much more cheaply than before. And now it was becoming necessary to bring logs to the saw mills by rail. The timber along the streams was soon cut and each year the lumbermen had to go farther inland. For this purpose short spurs or branches of the railroads were soon built in all directions in Bay County and in other counties to the north and west. THE STREET RAILWAY. The existence of two important centers of population, Bay City and Portsmouth, on the same side of the river and but two miles apart, gave this city an early start in street railway transportation. There were men living in each of these villages whose places of business were in the other village. There were mills along the river bank between the two places, and the workmen needed some means of trans(13) Bay City Directory for 1868-9, page 70. (14) Bay County History, Ganssor, page 234. (15) Bay City Tribune, November, 1887. (16) Bay City Directory for 1868-9, page 41. BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. portation to and from their work, especially in bad weather. The road was completed in 1865. James Fraser, William McEwan, George Campbell, and N. B. Bradley were directors in the company that built and operated the road. The road proved to be a great improvement, for this car line, two and three-eighths miles long, had horse cars leaving each end of the line "every half hour, from 6:30 a. m. until 10 p. m. Fare only seven cents." (17) In 1874 the line was extended north to the mills nearest the mouth of the river, about to the waterworks, a distance of nearly two miles from Third street. It was also extended south to the McGraw mill. The line was now used during the night by a little dummy steam engine for transferring lumber and other freight for the many mills located near it on the river bank. The work of transferring people in parts of the city not on the car line was done by bus lines. There was one such line between Bay City and Wenona, and also one connecting Bay City and Portsmouth along Washington, Bowery (Garfield), and Broadway streets. In 1885 the horse car line was extended to Essexville, and the next year a double track was laid out Center avenue to Trumbull street. This was a few years later extended out to the Michigan Central railroad crossing. Also in 1886 the Water street line to Portsmouth was abandoned to the railroads, the horse cars going south, as now, along the route of the former bus line just mentioned. No horse cars were used on the west side of the river. The barns for the care of the horses and cars were first located at the north end of the Bay City-Portsmouth line at Third street, but later, in 1882, one of the largest car barns in the state was erected back of the Astor House in Portsmouth. When the Essexville-Center avenue line was started in 1886, a large barn was erected at Center and Trumbull streets. At each end of the car lines there was a large turntable. The car was driven onto this. Then the horse would turn the car around, ready for the return trip. Before the turntable was used, the driver had to unhitch his horse and drive it around to the other end of the car. ELECTRIC LINES. The first electric line in the county was in West Bay City (1887) and was the result of the efforts of S. O. Fisher. The line extended to Patterson avenue in Banks, but it was not allowed to cross the Third street bridge, so the cars were operated by electricity to the bridge and then were drawn across the river by horses, connecting with the Bay (17) Directory of Bay City for 1868-9, page 74. TRANSPORTATION AND COIMMUNICATION. City line. Soon, however, Bay City followed the example of her neighbor and instituted the electric system, and the two lines were connected over the river. In 1895 the first interurban line connecting Bay City and Saginaw was completed. Like the railroads, there was considerable difficulty in building the roadbed through the swamps. The importance of interurban lines lies in the fact that the trip from one city to the other can be made at almost any hour of the day, with the possibility of returning promptly when business is transacted. In this way a great deal of valuable time is saved. In addition to this, the interurban furnishes transportation for many employees along its route that cannot be given by the steam road. COMMUNICATION-POSTAL SERVICE. The postal system of the United States forms one of the most important means of communication, but its development in a given region depends largely on improvements in roads, streets and railroads. The first post office established in Bay County was at Portsmouth. Judge Albert Miller was the first postmaster, receiving his commission on condition that mail be carried between Bay City and Saginaw at least once a week. The money paid for sending mail from here to other places was used to pay the postmaster for his services. Judge Miller did not remain in Portsmouth at that time, and the office was discontinued the next year and was not re-established until 1857. An office was opened at Lower Saginaw, or "Hampton," as it was called, in 1846, and Thomas Rogers was made its first postmaster. In regard to this office it was said: "The mail was carried by a pedestrian who started for Saginaw when the postage collected amounted to a day's work; he returned the same day-bringing along the written accumulations at the other end. He sometimes went in a canoe and sometimes he didn't. The postage to that city was twentyfive cents. A letter took ten days to get to Detroit in this way, and an answer might be looked for in three weeks." (18) Here again we find the low swampy land between here and Saginaw proving a serious obstacle, and in stormy weather in winter the mail carrier had many a trip in which he suffered from exposure and encountered many dangers. "Jesse M. Miller and C. D. Fisher used to start on horseback for Saginaw when the ice was not strong enough to bear them in safety, and after going a short distance to a squatter's cabin, would be obliged to leave their ponies and proceed on foot, wading sometimes to their knees in the half frozen marsh. A dog-train used to make the trip (18) Bay City Directory for 1868-9, page 9. 136 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. from here to Mackinaw once a month, traveling on the ice. A halfbreed had three gaily decorated dogs hitched to a sleigh, in which were loaded the mail bags. This train was operated up to 1859 or 1860." (19) 1A~l. 1B':iTU' t, ai Ji 0CHjt -/1 The Post Office. The postoffice was first located on Center street. There were a number of other places used for that purpose before it was finally given a home in the new government building in December, 1893, at a cost of $200,000. This furnished the office with room in which it could expand with the increasing business of the city. Free delivery in Bay City, another indication of real progress, was allowed by the government in 1881, when the streets were numbered and other preparations made for the service. The first delivery was made December 1, 1882. Rural free delivery, a wonderful and much needed help to the farmer, was begun by the government in 1900. The rapid growth of the county, from 1865 on, is indicated by the fact that postoffices were established in the various villages between that date and 1872. In 1865, Banks and Wenona were given offices; in 1868, Salzburg and Kawkawlin; and in 1872, Essexville and Pinconning. (19) Bay City Tribune, November, 1887. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. 137 TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE. The other chief means of communication today are the telegraph and telephone. The Western Union Telegraph connected Bay City with the rest of the world in 1863, at a time when other means of communication were slow and uncertain, and with it came that other great private aid to commerce, the express company. The telephone exchange was opened here in 1879. This made necessary a complete change in local trade and business methods. REFERENCES. See references for Chapter XVII. Files of old newspapers in the libraries. Chamber of Commerce Bulletin for 1882. History of the Great Lakes, two volumes. MP -—, -~ 11, -.' I -!" 101 M M -— ". c- -- I-...-~ A: - e -~~~~~~~~~ C3 00 00 00 _-4 t 3 n r _^ wzi Lewis Manufacturing Company, with offices and mills in l3ay City, Michigan, manufacture the famous Lewis Built Homes, which are shipped all over the world complete and ready to erect. 1. Only finest materials taken out of forests to be used in Lewis-Built Homes. 2. The factory way of cutting lumber to measure. 3. View showing interior of sash and door factory. 4. Showing how all inside woodwork is sanded to give perfect finish. 5. Complete material loaded and ready to ship direct to customer. 6. The completed Lewis-Built Home built at a notable saving of time and money. PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 139 CHAPTER XXI. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT-PERIOD OF TRANSITION. URING the thirty years from 1860 to 1890, Bay City and the neighboring towns were decidedly "booming" towns. The population of Bay County increased by great leaps. Its first census was taken in 1860, showing that there were 3,164 people. In 1870 there were 15,900; in 1880, 38,081; and by 1890, in spite of the loss of Arenac County, which was taken from Bay County during that decade, there were 56,412 people. (1) During this same time, the prosperity of the city depended in large measure on the lumbering industry. If logs were scarce in a given season, business was rather dull; if logs were plentiful, business was bright and active. It is not surprising then that this "boom" had an end. Logs became scarce. They had to be brought by rail and water from everincreasing distances, and this increased the cost of operating the mills. It finally became necessary to go to northern Michigan and to Georgian Bay in Canada for logs. The large lake tugs now brought the logs across the lake in immense rafts. But about 1894 the Canadian government placed an export tax on all logs shipped from Canada. (2) This made the cost of the Canadian logs so great that they could not be brought here to be manufactured into lumber by our saw mills. The lumber manufacturers either had to dismantle their mills here and move them to Canada, or else depend entirely on northern Michigan for logs. Many of the saw mill owners chose the first plan and moved their mills to Georgian Bay. Some of the factories that were closely allied to the lumbering industry also moved away. The manufacture of salt declined rapidly. It was particularly dependent on the saw mills during this period because of the fact that the selling price of salt, which in 1861 had been $1.40 per barrel, was now only half that, while the cost had remained at about 60c per barrel. (3) The building of wooden ships was declining. There was not only a lack of material in this region, but the steel boats were replacing the wooden ones. Steel boats could be built in other places to better advantage, and so in 1905 the American Shipyard was dismantled, throwing a great many men out of work. Even fishing was not so profitable as it had been, because the fish had been taken from the neighboring waters in too great numbers. The great sturgeon, for instance, is seldom caught now. (1) Gansser, page 114. (2) Gansser, page 193. (3) Gansser. p)ages 222 and 223. 140 BAY -COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. 7:,P:;2 72 —:!~: -:i:.!:: ~....?;E.~ -....?:: II!i'... 7... t_ j... —..~.. W. H. Nickless Box Factory. This decline in these industries is continuing today. The great woodenware factory, at one time the largest in the world, has found it increasingly difficult to get the raw material for the pails and tubs and has decided to close its doors. The saw mills that remain and are still cutting millions of feet of lumber from the logs each year, can count the years to the time when they will have to stop their work. It is not strange that the city did not grow in population between 1890 and 1900. The surprising thing is that the setback to this region was not fatal, as it has been in many places. In 1890 the population of Bay County was 56,412 and in 1900 it was 62,312. The slight increase shown was in the country districts, for in Bay City during those ten years the census takers found an actual loss of 211. Laborers had gone with the mills or had gone elsewhere to seek work. But our location and natural advantages, combined with the start we already had in other industries, were too important to allow the place to remain very long at a standstill. In the past thirty years Bay City has changed from a booming city or community dependent on a single great industry for its prosperity and growth, to a city of greatly varied industries, but with a steady and healthy growth. Many of the factories that had started making finished products from the lumber have continued their work. There are a number of mills planing the rough lumber and manufacturing house finishing material, as they were before the change. The Michigan Pipe Works imports material for its staves from Canada and still does a business of about half a million dollars a year. Lumber for many other mills is brought by the boat load from Canada and the northern ports of the Great Lakes. PERIO) OF TRANSITION. 1.41. (4). Men who had been engaged in the saw mill industry turned to this other branch of the work-making the lumber into finished products. Here was machinery for use with wood, and here was labor that was familiar with that machinery and also with the handling of lumber of all kinds and quality. In addition to manufacturing boxes, window frames, shingles, sashes, siding, veneer, etc., there are now several factories for making hardwood flooring-the largest one in the world being that of the W. D. Young Company in Salzburg. Houses, complete in every detail, with every piece marked ready for erection, are made by firms doing an immense business. Boats, excellent though small, are still built here, and the large ones are brought here for extensive repairs in the Davidson Dry Dock. Furniture and automobile bodies are some of the most recent additions to the list. The iron and steel industry has developed into large proportions. It is led by the Industrial Works, and includes the manufacture of boilers, gasoline engines, go-carts, electrical machinery, powerful cranes and many other products. Many of our factories use farm products. Beans are cleaned for use;, vegetables and fruits are canned; grains a re ground into flour; peanuts are roasted and salted, or are made into peanut butter; chicory is made into a.. substitute for coffee, and the sugar Sugar Factory and Beet Field. b e e t, undergoing probably the greatest change of any, is made into sugar, molasses, cattle feed and alcohol. The Michigan Sugar Company erected its factory in Essexville in 1898. It was the first in Michigan. The farm animals furnish milk and cream for the creameries and meat for the packing company. Mineral materials are used in great quantities by the chemical factories, salt works, and powder factory. There are still other kinds of manufacturing that are rather hard to group, they are so varied. (4) During tlth season of navigation the daily paper reports the arrival of these boats giving their cargoes and the ports from which they have come. 142 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. IT.Ms...... - I.1 *' I`E PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 143 Fire Room-North American Chemical Co. (8) (6) General View ---Efficiency Firing IMetlods.-No. 1-Criane lunloading coal into bin at No. 2. No. 3 is incline up which tlhe coal is carried on a belt (or con\veyor. No. I -Fire room. No. 5 —Trestle over which cars of ashes run to No. 6 where thl e ash:es are dropped into a bin and from that into the wagon whlich carries tl1em to the road. There is no handling- of coal or ashes by hand slhovels from the tile thle coal is mined until the ashes from that coal are used to improve a roadway. (7) Engine Room (upper right hand corner. )-No. 1 is tlle turbline engine wlich receives the steam from the boilers and owing to the high )ressure of the steam, rotates 3600 times pl(r minute. The engine shaft extends through and is coupled to the Turbo Generator (No. 2) shaft, causing it to make the same number of revolutions. This generates electricity of alternating current. This alt(er1nating current is transmitted (or carried) by colper cables to the rotary converters (Nos. 3 and 4.) These converters change the current from alternating to a direct current-that is the current flows out of these last two machines in a continuous streanm in one direction, not alternating first in one direction and then reversing to the opleosite direction as in the case of the Turbo Generator. (8) Fire Room. No. 1. Chutes down wiich the coal is dropped from the conveyor which is overhead. No. 9. Automatic coal stoker which pushes tle coal under (not on top of) the fire. The gases and smoke are more completely burned by the "underfeed" metlhod. The ashes drop through the grates into a bin from which they are dumped into the ash car mentioned in the description of the general view. Nos. 2 and 3 are steam meters, measuring the steam leaving the boilers. Nos. 4 and 5 are pressure gauges. No. 6 measures the furnace gas (C02). Nos. 7 and 8 are draft gauges regulating the pressure of air under the boilers and the chimney draft. 144 1 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. "....I'4 I soe )Pa " * - '~;:.;::::::;-s::~~:~;ri I ii:"p I:; i4&"Yi : aa..,, 1 _ I " I Bay City Dry Dock (5) PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 145 Unloading Sugar Beets. Fish are still packed in ice for shipment to eastern and southern points. Cement building blocks of extra good quality are made. Coal is turned into gas and coke. The textile industry is represented in the knitting mills, which are very large and are soon to be made much larger. Even the bay water is distilled and bottled for drinking purposes, or is made into artificial ice. Those conditions which had to do with the rapid development of Bay County from 1850 to 1890 have little to do with our present development, except as their influence has held over. The timber has disappeared, and our location near the mouth of the river is of little importance now, for the river is not used as it was in the early days. What are the influences leading to our present healthy growth as a manufacturing center? There are several: 1. Excellent transportation facilities.-These had largely developed before the decline of lumbering. We have rail connections (5) The particulars of the Bay City Dry Dock, briefly stated, are as follows: Length, 400 ft.: extrtme weidth at gate. top. 60 ft.; bottom. 55 ft. The width of the dock from copling to coping is 95 ft. The depth of water over sill is 14 ft. to 15 ft. 10 in., according to the depth of w'ater in the river. With the water at a depth of 14 ft. the dock contains,.5:39.100 g'allons of water. When the gate is closed the water is removed by two centrifugal lpumnps tliat have a capacity of 22,000 gallons of water each per minute and it takes us a little, less than two hours to pump out the dock. The,lock is filled b1y openingi ftur lar-'e gate v-alves. and it requires about one and onehalf hours to Ilood tlh d(ock. These gate valves are situated in the gate which is known as a pontoon gate-it floats like a boat. It also has valves by which water is admitted to the gate so that it can settle and come to place as desired. The centrifugal pump)s are operated by means -of a clutch, so that either one or both of the pumps can be operated at the same time. These get their power from a Corliss engine, which has 275 indicated lhorse power. We also have a drainage or suction pump which will remove 275 gallons eof water per minute. this for drainage purposes only and to save running the big pumps to re, mo've a small amount of water. Our dry dock is busy all of the timet repairing and rebuilding ships. With the dry dock of course we have complete sawl mills. planing Im.ills an, other appliances for the economical repairing andl r(ebuildi1ng of loats. JAMES E. DAVIDSON. I 146 BAY COUNTY, PAST A ND PRESENT. 4,: PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 147 T. F. Marston's Jersey Cattle. with cities and towns in all directions, and the other means of transportation and communication, the beginnings of which we have seen in chapter XX, have continued to develop. Belt lines-the Pere Marquette and Michigan Central railroads-extend from the south end of the city to Essexville, furnishing excellent sites for factories; and there is now an electric line through to Detroit. 2. Labor.-The workmen skilled in handling wood materials have remained to use their skill in work somewhat similar to what they used to do. "The stock of early settlers from the beet regions of Europe-Germany and Holland-have helped make beet raising a success." 3. Capital.-Although perhaps a large proportion of the fortunes made here from the lumber industry were taken from this region with the moving of the saw mills, still much has been retained and invested in the newer enterprises. There is great liberality among the business men and manufacturers of today in helping to finance new enterprises of real worth. 4. Raw Materials.-The transportation facilities, both water and rail, enable our factories to get raw materials from all parts of the country. This is true for the woodworking industries, the factories using iron, steel, copper and other metals, and for others, such as the knitting mills, peanut butter factories, and others. But we must look to the development of agriculture to discover the source of raw materials of many of our factories. These materials are mostly perishable and must be used near the source. Without our wonderful farming lands, many of the factories would have to locate elsewhere in order to get the materials with which to work. 1 4 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. 4d C-) -4 — P-~ 4-D 0 -4 — C) 0; — w, 1-Z PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 1.49 5. Food Supply.-So many people are gathered into a small area for manufacturing purposes that the food supply for them is essential. Here again we find Bay County particularly adapted to this purpose, for the favorable climate, rich, varied soil, and level surface make market gardening and truck farming, with a great variety of food products, very profitable. 6. Market.-We have an excellent home market for our various manufactured products. The Saginaw valley has an ever-increasing population; the rural population is more dense than in most other parts of the state either to the north or south. But our factories are not limited in their markets to the local region. The market for products made here, machinery, flooring, houses, underwear, sugar, chicory and many others, is the nation, and in some cases the world. 7. Power.-The sources of power often have much to do with the location of factories. When lumbering was at its best there was no problem of power, for the mills furnished more sawdust and other waste materials that could be used for fuel than they knew what to do with. With the decline of lumbering, however, the problem became important. Coal was needed now, and so attention was turned to the great bed of coal that, as was long known through drilling wells for salt, underlies this part of the state. In 1894, Alex and Frank Zagelmeyer, in a company with others, sunk the shaft of the Monitor mine, the first in Bay County, and made a success of coal mining. Soon many other mines were started, and today they furnish the necessary fuel for great numbers of our factories in addition to shipping coal to other parts of the state. The coal is not so good in fuel value-that is, in heat units per pound-as coal from Ohio and other coal regions, but it is mined cheaply enough to be able to compete successfully with them. Woodworking mills still use their waste material to create power, but many of them have to use coal as well, and some find it more profitable to sell the wood and sawdust for other purposes and buy coal for their own use. Another important source of power today is the electricity that is transformed from the water power at the AuSable river dams, and is transmitted here cheaply over cables stretched on high steel towers. It would cost much more to ship enough coal that distance that would produce the same amount of power. Of course all these elements that help make Bay City important in manufacturing depend partly on each other for their own importance. The production of sugar is a good example. Farmers will produce this raw material, because men have invested capital in factories. They are aided in this production by transportation facilities, including good roads, and railroads. They find a supply of labor for beet weed 15 0 150 BAY COUNTY, PAkST A.ND B SiK 0 (12 C4-) H I 0 0 0 PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 151 HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER GENERATED ON THE AU SABLE. I - Fi-ie ChIanne1l Dalni Te Lod Dan Along the course of this st ream, I t h r o u g h losco county, there are three huge dams together with large generating plants w here electrical current is generated twenty-four 1 ('ook Ae' hours daily lby the. Consumers' Power Company. Seventeen thousand kilo- i wats, representing twentyseven thousand horse power, are generated at 2500 volts. This is then passed through transformers and "stepped up" to 140,000 volts. In this form the curr ent can be transmitted over a radius of two hund red miles. On reaching a distributing point, the voltage is reduced Transnit to 2300 volts for use. To give an idea of the wide extent to which the losco county-AuSable river product is put, one needs but list the towns which are served, and they are as follows: Oscoda, East Tawas,., T Tawas City, Alabaster, Bay Cits, Midland, Auburn, Kawkawlin, Essexville, Freeland, Saginaw, Z i w a ukee, Carrolton, Clio, Mt. Morris, Fenton, Owosso, Saint John, suburUnt. ba n communities, coal mines in the Saginaw Valley, and the street railway systems in Flint, Saginaw, Bay City. the Inter-, Urban lines connecting and a portion of the D e t r o i t United Railway lines operating out of Flint. T h e s e cities and towns represent a population of 250,000 people to whom electrical current is available at very nominal ng Tower prices. Another feature worthy of note is that the farmers along the lines of transmission are able to secure the current with which they can operate their separators, churns, silo fillers, l)umps, etc. I ti ing among the women and children of many foreign families living in the city. They in turn help supply labor for the factories, as the campaign is in the late fall and early winter when the young men can leave the farm for a few weeks. And men would not have been willing to invest capital in the factories if this were not such a favorable place, in climate and soil, for raising sugar beets, or if labor and fuel, food for the laborers, and transportation for the beets were too expensive. REFERENCES. Gansser-History of Bay County, 1905. 152 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. W. D. Young & Co., Iard Birdseye view taken by means of box kites which held the camera 600 feet )bove the road and railroad is due to the manner in which the picture was taken —l ey ai iA 1. Office. 2. Flooring Mills. 3. Warehouse No. 1. 4. Warehouse No. 2. 5. Warehouse No. 3. 6f. Warehouse No. 4. 7. W;Iar.lihoius4 No. 5. 12. AWood Yard N o.1 S. EInd-D)ried Whiite MAIaple S1hed. 13. III umIler Yard.N 9. mWood Yard No. 1. 14. Wood Yard No. 10. WIood Yard No. 2.15. Log Skid-way. 11. Lum1r Yard No). 2. 16. Dry Kiln No. 5. 1. PERIOD OF TRANSITION. Co., ardwood Flooring. feet bove the plant. The shutter was operated by electricity. The curved effect of en- ey are actually straight. There is now a new office building. No 17. ry Kin N. 4r.. 2. 1lrv Killns Nos. 1 2 and 3. 11i- 1 18. 8Wood and Sawdust Conveyor. 23t. Stables (25 horses.) I No. 19. )Double lBand Saw Mill. 24. Refuse House. \way 2 2. 2 Boilor 2li s2. ile. B' l',lacksmith Slol).,o.5. '~t 21. Engine H-ouse. 2 6. 1-aily Log Train from Woods. i 154 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PR SENT. Zagelmeyer Cast Stone Block and Machinery Company. Chicory Factory. BAY CITY AS A COMMERCIAL CENTER. 155 CHAPTER XXII. INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT. BAY CITY AS A COMMERCIAL CENTER. OMMERCE, including trade, or the buying and selling of goods, and transportation and communication used in such buying and selling, is an industry that must exist in connection with all manufacturing on a large scale. Power and raw materials must be purchased and brought to the factory and the manufactured products must be marketed. As was indicated in the preceding chapter under the topics, "Markets" and "Raw Materials," Bay County has its share of this sort of commerce. In every center of population there must be what might be termed "local" commerce. Merchandise of all kinds, hardware, furniture, jewelry, medicines, clothing, house furnishings, feed, and many other things are obtained by the wholesale and retail merchants and are sold and delivered to the people. The farmers conduct market gardens in which they produce vegetables, poultry, fruits, and other food supplies. These are brought to the city on the market wagon or the farmer's automobile truck and are sold to the wholesale stores, or to the grocers and the public at the city market, on Saginaw street, between Second and Third streets. Then they buy from the city stores the things they need for their own homes. BAY CITY, THE GATEWAY TO NORTHEASTERN MICHIGAN. The commerce of many cities is limited to this local commerce and to that connected with manufacturing. But Bay City is so located as to have a still greater work as a "distributing center." On a small scale, our location is similar to that of Chicago. Land routes from east to west must pass south of Lake Michigan, through Chicago, and those from south to north in Michigan must pass around Saginaw Bay through Bay City. This also is the most northern of the larger Michigan cities in the eastern part of the state. There are many villages in northeastern Michigan that look to us to supply the many needs of their citizens and the neighboring farmers. Goods are brought here from large wholesale concerns in such cities as Chicago, Detroit, and even from New York and other eastern cities. Our wholesale merchants, of whom there are said to be more than in any other city in Michigan north of Detroit, include the wholesale grocers, the fruit and vegetable commission merchants, wholesale hardware dealers, tobacco dealers, millers, bakers and others. These sell their products to the retail stores in the small towns in northeastern Michigan and the "Thumb" district. Many firms have their traveling salesmen who 156 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. BAY CITY AS A COMMERCIAL CENTER. 15, F'~ _ I 158 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. visit these merchants at regular intervals, showing them the samples of their merchandise, and taking their orders for goods. The Detroit, Bay City & Western railroad makes possible this trade with the "Thumb" district, while the Detroit & Mackinac and the Michigan Central connect with the many towns to the north of us, both along the lake shore and in the interior. They deliver the goods to the merchants, who in turn retail them out to the people of the towns and the surrounding country. In return, the farmers market their farm products-fruit, vegetables, grain, butter, eggs, cattle, and sheep-in Bay City wholesale stores, canning factories, grist mills and the meat packing company. Bay City is also the port of entry and distributing point of all central and northeastern Michigan for the Canadian lumber. Millions of feet of lumber are brought by boat every year, not only for our big mills, but for use in the inland cities. Some cities gain their importance almost entirely from the business they get as a commercial distributing center for the surrounding territory. Bay City is fortunate in having advantages, both as a manufacturing center and as a distributing center. L. — - K_ zP This automobile and exhibit is used to advertise the Agricultural resources of Northeastern Michigan. It is sent out by the Northeastern Michigan Development Bureau, an organization for advertising and supplying reliable information in regard to sixteen counties of Northeastern Michigan. Over 180 square feet of exhibit are shown when the cases are opened. The cases may remain open for display even when the machine is in motion as in parades. This automobile and exhibit is used to advertise the Aglicllltllla1 resou1rces of Northeastern Michigan. It is sent ouit hy the N'ortheaster n Michigan Devehollmeuit B~ureaui, an organization for advertising andl sizl}lyinillg relialet)1 information in regardl to sixteen couinties of Northeastern Michigan. Over 180 square feet of exhilbit are shown whell the (,ases are oldened. 'T'hc? cPases nmay remain open for display even when the mac.hine is in nmotion as in Iparades. 160 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER XXIII. THE PEOPLE OF BAY COUNTY. F THE native inhabitants of Bay County, the Chippewa Indians, there are very few left. Some live in the northern part of the county near the bay shore, most of whom are in very poor circumstances. The majority moved away to reservations at an early date, and the others suffered from smallpox, tuberculosis and other diseases to such an extent that but few have survived. (1) Until about 1857 most of the settlers of Bay County were people who had been born in America. There were those of French descent from Canada and southern Michigan, and those of English descent who came from southern Michigan or from the northeastern part of the United States. (2) The French settled in groups in the various villages, especially in Banks, where they engaged in the fishing industry, and in the northern part of the city on the east side of the river. A large number of New Englanders settled in Portsmouth and Lower Saginaw and engaged in business or manufacturing, or they made the beginnings in agriculture. Wenona was started in the early sixties and grew so rapidly as to make a great demand for laborers. These came from many sources, and the population was mixed from the start. There was one group of actual foreigners who came to Bay County before the steady foreign immigration started. German immigrants located in Frankenlust township as early as 1848, and this fact attracted many others of the same nationality to that vicinity, including the village of Salzburg and Monitor township, in later years. It is an interesting fact that the year 1848, in which Rev. Philip Sievers, the Lutheran minister, and his followers came to America, there was a great revolution in Germany and in other parts of Europe in which the people were struggling to get some share in their government. In all probability these settlers came here to escape the evils of that government in which the people had no part, and which was causing so much trouble even then. Since that time many other nationalities have been represented in the immigration into all parts of Bay County. Germans and Hollanders settled in Hampton township about 1857. (3) Beginning about 1872, many Polish and Jews have come from Russia and Germany to escape the cruel persecution and the bad living conditions resulting from the evils of wrong government. In later years people came from Sweden, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and other European countries. (1) "Wah-Sash-Kah-Moqua"' contains an interesting account of life among the Saganing Indians from 1863 to 1897. On pages 131-140 Dr. Thomas R. Palmer tells of an epidemic of smallpox among these Indians. (2) See page 83. (3) Bay County History, Gansser, pages 139-141. THE PEOPLE OF BAY COUNTY. 161 DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION. There was a strong tendency for these people to locate in the city and county in groups. Those speaking the same language and having the same religion and customs naturally wanted to be together. This is seen in the townships as well as in the city. The people of each nationality have their own peculiar characteristics, and each group adds valuable elements to our life. Some had been farmers, others laborers, and still others merchants. The majority of each would seek employment in their particular line, so that the county has had plenty of material to aid in the development of all the occupations. The great majority of the people live in the southern part of the county. This is explained by the fact that the Saginaw river offered such a favorable location for towns, and was surrounded by fertile fields for the production of food supplies for the people in the towns. Besides this, it was long believed that the land in the northern part of the county, from which the pines had been cut, had soil that was poor and sandy-useless for agriculture. This land was even called by the unfavorable name of "pine barrens." There are more sand ridges than in the southern part of the county, it is true, but most of the soil is rich loam, and there is much better drainage than along the Saginaw river and the southern shore of the bay. Today these "pine barrens" are being occupied for farms and stock raising, and it has been suggested that some parts could be reforested with profit. There are nearly 5,000 people to the square mile in Bay City, and only 50 per square mile in the rest of the county. LOYAL AMERICANS. The sincere and loyal character of our population in the period of the Civil War, when the country was fighting for the Union, is shown by the enlistments. "The children of 1842 were the young men of 1861 to 1865, and the noble precept and example of James G. Birney, the outcast from his native heath, the self-denying pioneer, were rewarded by their devoted service in times that tried men's souls. The records of the office of the Adjutant General of Michigan show that Bay County, during those four years, sent about 511 soldiers forth to the battle (4) of whom eighty-five died in service, while many more, from wounds and sickness, gave up their young lives after being mustered out, but before peace came to bless our land. When we find that the federal census of 1860 gave Bay County a population of 3,164 men, women and children, (5517 in 1864 or 1865) we can readily appreciate the sacrifices of men and money made by this community, that our nation might live one and indivisible." (5) (4) See Michigan in the War, page 66. (5) History of Bay County, Gansser, page 348. 162 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. The response to the call of our country in the Spanish-American war was also prompt and enthusiastic. And today Bay County again shows its patriotism, not only by furnishing its full share or more in volunteers for active service, but also by responding to appeals for money and for other aid in a way that is exceeded by few places of equal population in the country. The new view that in a republic every citizen, not just those who are willing to volunteer, must share in the necessary dangers and sacrifices demanded in such a war, is accepted by the great majority in Bay County as a patriotic duty. LIVING CONDITIONS. There has been a steady development in the living conditions in Bay County, keeping pace with the changes made possible by modern inventions and discoveries. These improvements are, most of them, such that the laborer and farmer, as well as others, can make use of them and can have a modern home regardless of its size and location. The early conditions have been described to some extent already, and the change from those days seem remarkable. We smile now at the fact that cows were allowed to roam at large through the city streets, causing those who desired lawns and gardens to erect fences as a protection from the cattle. Then came the state law, planned it is said, by John L. Stoddard-after the city's mayor vetoed a similar rule passed by the Common Council-forbidding the pasturing of cattle in the streets of cities of over 10,000 population. A city pound was then established on Grant street, between Sixth and McKinley, and later at Tenth and Johnson streets, to which the stray cows were driven. The owner could obtain his property by paying a fine, which included its board and lodging while in the pound. Gradually it has been possible to rid the city of the unsightly fences. The kerosene lamp, introduced in the settlement by the Cottrells as a great improvement in the method of lighting, has long since been replaced for general use by gas and electricity. The first gas company erected its plant and laid pipes in 1868, at a time when houses were being built at the rate of from 400 to 500 a year, and electricity was introduced in 1882. Other conveniences, now greatly improved, were introduced quite early. For protection from fire, first arrangements were made about 1859. City water was provided in 1872, and a library in 1870. The first newspaper, the Bay City Press, was published as a weekly in 1856 for but a few weeks. It was edited by James Birney. (6) A more lasting start was made by the "Press," which was first published in 1859. Since then the city has been supplied with news by one and most of the time by two or more papers. The first cemetery was established about 1840 in a sand ridge in (6) James Birney was the son of James G. Birney, and was for years one of our best known citizens. He was state senator, 1858-1860; Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, 1860; Judge of the Circuit Court in this district for the next four years; editor of the Bay City Chronicle, 1871 to 1876, and United States Minister to the Netherlands in 1876. THE PEOPLE OF BAY COUNTY. 163 the block bounded by Washington, Saginaw, Eleventh and Twelfth streets. It was abandoned after the Pine Ridge cemetery was established by James Birney. Many skeletons have been found there during the building operations in recent years. It is difficult to find out who was the first regular doctor in Bay County as reports differ, but it is clear that after 1857 the county was well supplied. But hospital arrangements were lacking during most of our history. Until the establishment of the Mercy Hospital in 1900 it was necessary to rely on Saginaw hospitals for such service. The "floating population" of Bay County in the lumbering days was very large. Men stopped here on their way to and from the lumber woods. Men without families came to work in the mills during the rush season. During the winter there were a great number of sailors staying here, waiting for the opening of navigation in the spring. Business men with interests in this part of the state and homes elsewhere had to be provided with lodging, and traveling salesmen have long made this their headquarters while visiting towns in northeastern Michigan. For such people, hotels were established early in our history. The first frame house of the Tromble's became the River House, and later the Center House. In a later period the Astor House of Portsmouth was well known. In Lower Saginaw the home of Sidney S. Campbell was first used as a hotel, and was later enlarged by Rouech, 1862, and named the Globe Hotel. The Wolverton House was established at Third and Water streets, the very center of the town, by J. S. Barclay in 1852. It was named after the first keeper of the lighthouse at the mouth of the river, and for many years considered one of the best hotels in this part of the state. The Fraser Hotel, erected by James Fraser, at Center and Water streets, was a wonderful improvement of 1865 and 1866. It was destroyed by fire on Christmas day, 1906, but was soon replaced by the present Wenonah Hotel (19 0 8) which ranks high among the -; -. hotels of the state on '- - i; account of its beauty, - its pleasant location:^ i: near Wenonah Park:. being at the same time in the heart of the business section, and for its excellent service. Churches: A f t e r the religious services Wenonah Hotel. 164 B A Y COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. 1 Y. M. C. A. Building. held in pioneer days by James G. Birney, churches of many denominations were established one after another. Meetings would be held in Birney Hall, in the school house, or in the church building of some other denomination. The church services would be irregular, but the Sunday schools, directed often by a group of the ladies, held sessions somewhere every Sunday. As the church organization grew stronger, arrangements were made for a church building. The first church building erected for the purpose in the county, however, was not in the villages, but was near the banks of the Kawkawlin river at the Indian Mission. This building was erected in 1847 under the direction of Reverend Brown, a Methodist missionary for the Indians in that section. (7) The first churches in Bay City were all built on Washington street, between Second and Tenth streets. (8) This peculiar fact is explained by a provision made by the original Saginaw Bay Company in making its plat of Lower Saginaw. It set aside two lots in each of a certain number of blocks on Washington street to be donated to church societies for buildings that must be erected under conditions approved by the directors of the company. One of these buildings, that of the Presbyterian church, is still in use as the Odd Fellows Hall, across from the City Hall. Later, as the city grew, Washington became a business street, and the churches sold their property there and built new and better buildings on their present sites. Other Organizations: The Young Men's Christian Association was organized and reorganized several times before the present (7) History of Bay County, Gansser. pages 142 and 272. (8) See Appendix for the names and location of each. THE PEOPLE OF BAY COUNTY. 165 active association succeeded in erecting the modern and useful building that it now occupies. The first organization was in 1868, and rooms were rented in the Averill block on Center avenue. This died from lack of interest. A new society was formed in 1885, and a building at the corner of Center and Washington avenues was occupied until the purchase of a building on Adams, between Center and Sixth. In a social and charitable way the ladies of Bay County made an early start. The newspapers of the sixties give accounts of their activities, such as holding a grand May Day celebration in Birney Hall. In 1886 they established the Old Ladies' Home, and cared for the children in the same place until a building could be erected. The Young Women's Christian Association was organized in 1891, and up to the time that its new building was occupied in February, 1916, it had had five or six different temporary quarters. Now it is able to accomplish much good that was impossible without such a home. Today there are a number of other women's organizations, the real object of each being to improve living conditions of the city in every possible way. The Civic League, in which all of the women of the city are interested, is doing wonderful work by means of its many departments, and it is increasing its activities each year. At present it has the following departments: Visiting Nurse and Free Dispensary, which carries on a variety of work, including that of a sewing circle, children's Christmas cheer, anti-tuberculosis, and milk fund; Social Service, which attends to the collecting and distributing of food and clothing; the City Beautiful; Mothers' Club; Sanitary; and Junior departments. Recreation: There have been wonderful opportunities for recreation and sport of all kinds /, from the earliest years in the " 4 settlement on account of the location near the river and bay. Men used to come here on their vacations from the southern;... part of the state for hunting and 7 I fishing trips. Summer resorts have long been popular along the bay shore, offering excellent bathing, boating, fishing, and other pleasures. There were organizations to assist the people 166 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. to get full benefit of opportunities for pleasure, at a very early date. In 1867 there were a Rifle Club, Nautical Club, and a Baseball Club. Ready for the Contest. The Winner. Men accustomed to handling logs often used to engage in water sports, such as log rolling contests, in which each of two men, balancing on a log, would strive to cause the other to lose his balance and fall into the river. For many years boat races were held. There were contests between sailboats of all classes. Later, power boats were made here and some of the fastest launches of the country, such as the "Secret," have raced on the river. The winter has afforded ice skating and boating on the river. There were skating rinks and toboggan slides. From twenty-five to THE PEOPLE OF BAY COUNTY. 167 thirty years ago tobogganning was very popular. Long flat coasters were used, and slides were built out Center avenue. These were thirty or forty feet high, and produced a slide about two blocks long. A fee was charged for the use of the toboggans the same as for the skating rinks. Parks: The Saginaw Bay Company, when platting their village of Lower Saginaw, had made provision for permanent parks. These are located at First and Washington, Ninth and Madison, and Center and Jefferson streets. Later a much larger one, known as Carrol Park, was donated to the city by C. C. Fitzhugh. There is also a park on Broadway avenue, but until recently no parks were provided on the west side of the river. A block has now been purchased for such a park at the corner of Midland and Williams streets. One of the best sites for a park would be on the river bank, but no provision was made for one until 1908, when money was borrowed for the purchase and improvement of the beautiful Wenonah park. Several business blocks were torn down, the river bank was built up with material dredged from the river, and today it is a delightful spot near the center of our main business district. Business Activities: The business activities of Bay City have kept pace with the industrial development. The first stores started by the Trombles and Captain Pierce were followed by numberless others, so that today the retail stores of the city rank with the best in this Camping Along the Bay Shore. 168 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. part of the state. Most of the very old firms have gone out of business, but there are a number that date back to the fifties and sixties. Among the oldest is the Jennison Hardware Co. C. E. Jennison, whose father had an interest in the "Governor Marcy," the steamboat that came up the river in July, 1836, started business about 1850. The bakery of Frederick Arnold, at Fifth and Saginaw streets, was established in 1856. In the directory for 1866 and 1867 are found the names of C. R. Hawley and S. V. Wilkin. Banks: The first banking institution-the Bay Bank-was established in the village in the year 1863. This was reorganized the next year into the First National Bank. It was followed in 1869 by the State Bank and the Bay City Bank. The Bank of Wenona, which later became the Lumberman's State Bank, was organized in 1872, and the Second National Bank in 1874. The present healthy condition of our business and industries is shown by the remarkable increase in deposits each year, while the total resources of all of the banks runs far into the millions-$19,011,278.45 in November, 1917, an increase of about $7,500,000 in one year. An organization of the business and professional men who are alive to the needs of the city is needed for any growing community. The first organization of this kind in the county was started in 1865. It had "Keep Moving" for its motto. (9) But it evidently failed to keep moving, for it is recorded (9) that a Chamber of Commerce was organized February 1, 1882, and that it accomplished much for the booming town. But by 1884 this, too had "gone to sleep." (10) This sort of history probably repeated itself several times. Today, however, and for a number of years past, Bay City has had a very active, well organized, and efficient group of business and professional men. (9) Directory for 1S68-1869, page 15. (10) Bay City Tribune, January 27, 1884. GOVERNMENT-HISTORY OF ITS ORGANIZATION. 169 Along the Bay Shore. This "Bay City Board of Commerce" works continually for the improvement and development of the city and of this section of the state. It takes the lead in many matters of civic importance as well as in affairs of business. In addition to this there are some active and helpful sectional organizations of the business and professional men. REFERENCES. See references for Chapter XVII. and XVIII. CHAPTER XXIV. GOVERNMENT-HISTORY OF ITS ORGANIZATION. FTER Saginaw, Midland and Arenac counties were formed in 1831, the area now included in Bay County was under the Saginaw county government, for Midland county was not organized for several years, and Arenac was destined to disappear before it had any organization. When Miller and Fraser platted their villages in 1836 and 1837, this was all a part of Saginaw township in Saginaw county. But as people occupied and developed the land here there was need for more organization. In 1843 the township of Hampton, still in Saginaw County, was organized "and included the Lower Saginaw region, and territory north as far as Mackinaw. The name 'Hampton' was chosen by James G. Birney, that being the name of the county seat in New York from which his wife had come. The first election was held at the Globe Hotel, (1) (1) It was not called the Globe Hotel then, but was just Sidney Campbell's residence, which also served as a hotel.) 170 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. April 1, 1843. This was an important meeting-a supervisor had to be elected. Party spirit evidently ran high, for the contest was a close one. There were thirteen votes cast, of which Sidney S. Campbell received seven, and James G. Birney six; and Mr. Campbell was declared duly elected to attend meetings of the county board (of supervisors) at Saginaw, and paddle his own canoe both ways. The expenses of the township for the first year were about $60.00." (2) "Wm. R. McCormick's hat was the ballot box in the election, and it was a standing joke in the settlement that he wore a hat large enough to hold all the ballots cast between here and Mackinaw." (3) After the actual organization of Midland county, January 1, 1851, part of the west side of the river was included in its boundaries, and so a new township, that of Williams, was organized in 1855. By this time there were so many people living near the mouth of the river that about one-third of the cases in the Saginaw circuit court were from this section of Saginaw county. All interested in the trial of such cases had to travel to Saginaw, perhaps many times. It was very inconvenient on account of the difficulties and the slow rate of traveling, and expensive because people frequently had to stay in Saginaw several days for the trial of a case. It is evident why the people in Portsmouth and Lower Saginaw desired a separate county to be organized that should include the settlements at the mouth of the river, and it is equally evident why the Saginaw merchants as well as the politicians, did not desire such a separation from their county. As the new county would also take land from Midland county, it too was opposed to the change. The state legislature has the power of forming new counties, so J. S. Barclay, who lived at Third and Water streets in Lower Saginaw and was one of the representatives from Saginaw county in the legislature, introduced a bill in 1855 for the organization of Bay County. Judge Miller and Daniel Burns went to Lansing to help convince the legislature of the need of having a new county, but the bill was defeated through the efforts of the men from Saginaw and Midland. In 1857 James Birney, Henry Raymond, B. F. Partridge and others went to Lansing for the same purpose. The bill passed this time, but provided for a vote by the people. All of the voters in the three counties, Saginaw, Midland, and Arenac, voted, and the proposition was hopelessly defeated. But C. H. Freeman, a lawyer from Lower Saginaw who had drawn up the bill, insisted that the bill as passed by the legislature meant that only those people of the three counties who lived (2) History of Bay County, 1883, page 22. (3) Bay County History, Gansser, page 100. GOVERNMENT-HISTORY OF ITS ORGANIZATION. 171 within the boundaries of the proposed new county should vote on the proposition-not all the others, too. According to Freeman, since the vote in the proposed county was 204 to 14 in favor of organizing the county, the proposition had passed. So the officers of the two townships, Hampton and Williams, called for a county election to be held the first Monday in June, 1857. The offices filled at this election were: Sheriff, clerk, treasurer, register of deeds, judge of probate, prosecuting attorney, circuit court commissioner, surveyor, and coroner. These officers proceeded to transact business for Bay County, but Saginaw County claimed that there was no such thing as Bay County in existence. Here was a dispute which only the courts could decide. The question was carried to the Michigan Supreme Court, and in May, 1858, as a result of the work and persistence of Mr. Freeman, when many of the best lawyers in the state believed that he was wrong, the court decided that he was right in his claim, and that Bay County had been lawfully organized. "The next morning after the decision was made, the news was receved here by the Detroit boat, that being the most reliable and shortest route we had. 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 (from the village blacksmith shop) 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 prosperity 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, burning down, and rebuilding in more substantial style." (4) This new county included all of Arenac County and all of the present Bay County except the township of Frankenlust. Up to this date there were no village officers, but all the work of government was done by the township officers. Now, however, there were so many people living in the villages that many improvements were necessary that were not needed by the rest of the township. In order to provide the proper officers to attend to these matters, and to allow money to be raised in the village for village purposes, the former Lower Saginaw, whose name had been changed to Bay City in 1857, was incorporated as a village in February, 1859. This included in its boundaries, both of the former villages on the east side of the river. An election was held in Birney Hall on Water street, and Curtis Munger was chosen the first president of the village of Bay City. Other offices filled by the election were: Recorder, treasurer, and six (4) General B. F. Partridge, in The History of Bay County, 1876, page 22. 172 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. trustees, who made up the village council. The first council meeting was held over the store of Jennison Brothers at the foot of Fifth street on May 6, 1859, at whicl appointments were made to the offices of village marshal, street commissioner, and three assessors. "Among the first acts of the village trustees, was the ordering of sidewalks on Washington street from First to Tenth street, and the opening of Jefferson and Madison streets, north of Center street." By 1865 people were moving to Bay City in great numbers, and it was felt that the village government could not do enough for the settlement, so the northern part, omitting Portsmouth this time, was incorporated as a city. In this way it was able to get a special charter from N. B. BRADLEY. Nathan B. Bradley, the first mayor of; Bay City, was born in Massachusetts. on May 28, 1831. In 1835 the family moved to Ohio where Nathan attended the common schools. After finishing his schooling, trade of a custom clothier. He came to Lower Saginaw in 1858, and in the follow-s i to; - ing year assumed the management of what i was then called the Frost and Bradley Mill. He gradually invested money in many enterprises here. He was interested in the salt and lumber industries, in the First National Bank, and in the first street railway. In 1865, when Bay City was incorporated as a city, Mr. Bradley was chosen its first mayor. In the fall of 1866 he was elected to the state senate, and in 1872 and 1874 he was elected to congress. \hile in congress he secured appropriations for dredging the channel of the Saginaw River. -History of Bay County, Gansser, page 371. the state by which it was governed entirely separate from the township, and at the same time had several supervisors of its own to represent the city in the county affairs. The charter gave the city many special rights which were not possible under the village organization. The city was divided at first into three wards. N. B. Bradley, one of our most loved and respected citizens, as well as one who was very active in helping to build up the city in every way, was elected mayor on the first Monday in April, 1865, and with him were elected men to fill the offices of recorder and treasurer. Two aldermen were chosen from each ward to form the city council. For many years the city recorder acted as police justice, deciding what should be done with those who disobeyed city ordinances. The new council appointed a street commissioner, city attorney, city marshal, and city surveyor. Im GOVERNMENT —HISTORY OF ITS ORGANIZATION. 173 provements, such as pavements, graded streets, sewers, water works, and fire department, date a few of them from the beginning of the village organization, but most of them from the incorporation of the city. At the time Bay City was incorporated as a village, in 1859, there was little on the opposite side of the river, between Salzburg and Banks, except the mill of the three Drake brothers that had been built in 1851, and a very few scattered houses and cabins. These included a boarding house near the mill, the residence of Captain Benjamin F. -.... CAPTAIN BENJAMIN F. PIERCE... ' Captain Benjamin F. Pierce was born in f/ /.:j L i' 1814 in Jefferson County, New York. He;i'NB ~ All '.came to Lower Saginaw in 183%, and in ~/,S F^-; t8^ a 1846 he built the second warehouse in the ~/ 7^iv ^"' '^ A ~ place. It stood on the bank of the river near Third and Water streets, where Cap-:,: tain Pierce engaged in general trade. In - 1858 he removed to the west side. From this time on he engaged in fishing, farming, and real estate. Few of the early l ioneers were better known. "Up the shore a man who doesn't know Uncle Ben I^ -~lo ' 1: Pierce is looked upon with feelings of min-?;^~ ' gled suspicion and pity."-Bay County History, 1883. Pierce, and the cabin of John Hays, the ferryman. These were north of Midland street. But with the erection of the Sage and McGraw mill south of Midland in 1864, the village of Lake City was platted, reaching from Wenona street to the river, and from Midland to a line 300 feet south of John street. The name was changed to Wenona when it was found that there was already a "Lake City" in Michigan. So rapid was the growth of this new town that it was ready for incorporation as a village in 1866, and a special village charter was granted by the legislature in 1867. "The village has scarcely a history apart from the mill. Like Topsy, in the song, it was raised-if not on corn, certainly on the sand which is there-and its growth has been quite as astonishing. It has no oldest inhabitant, no old buildings, not an old association, nor an old land-mark. Famed as the Saginaw valley is for raising cities, Wenona is yet a marvel to the eyes of the Saginawians; not even a Sage could have foretold that in the short space of four years a promising city would arise, containing twelve hundred inhabitants, and all the conveniences of city life." (5) (5) Directory of 1868-1869, page 264. 174 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. Other changes in the county government occurred rapidly with the development of the lumbering industry. Banks, Essexville-platted in 1867 by Ransom P. Essex and incorporated in 1883-Pinconning and Kawkawlin were incorporated as people settled in sufficient numbers to need village officers. Auburn, unlike the others, did not grow up as a saw-mill town, but was from the start an agricultural community with the usual general store, blacksmith shop, churches, saloon and postoffice. The two original townships of Hampton and Williams were divided again and again as population in the county continued to increase. (6) The settlers in Frankenlust township, Saginaw county, carried on most of their trade and other business with the villages in Bay County, so in 1881 that township was transferred to Bay County. By that time the people in the northern part of Bay County were quite numerous, and as Standish was more easily reached by them than Bay City, the old County of Arenac was revived in 1883, taking its present area from Bay County. In 1873 Portsmouth was reunited with Bay City, and in 1877 the villages on the west side of the river were united to form the city of West Bay City. Several attempts were made to unite both sides of the river into one city, the first as early as 1871. Other attempts were made in 1875 and 1890, but they all failed until 1905. Even then the opponents, especially on the west side of the river, almost succeeded in preventing the union. In 1903 the people voted to unite, and a charter was drawn up and accepted by the legislature. But before it went into effect the opponents hurried a "repeal" bill through the legislature. This caused great indignation, and a committee of business men from both sides of the river, including W. D. Young, H. E. Buck, S. O. Fisher, Frank Handy, and many others, went to Lansing in favor of the "Greater Bay City." Both sides presented their arguments to Governor Warner and he decided to veto the repeal bill, allowing consolidation to stand. The first election for the united city was held April 3, 1905, when Gustaves Hine was elected mayor. The most recent efforts toward improving city government have been directed toward the adoption of a new charter which would place the government in the hands of a few commissioners elected from the city at large, instead of in a large council of aldermen chosen by wards as at present. Each of these commissioners would be responsible for one particular department, such as Public Health, Public Safety, and Finance. Salaries, sufficient to interest capable men and to enable them to give all of their time to the efficient management of the city (6) See Appendix for list. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 175 affairs, would be provided. Provision would be made for the people to "recall" unworthy officials. They could require certain questions to be considered whether the commissioners desired it or not-this is called the "Initiative." And they could also compel the commissioners to allow the people to vote on certain proposed laws to see if such laws were really desired by the city-a plan called the "Referendum." Such a charter would give the people a more direct voice in the management of city affairs. It is felt by many that the present plan divides the responsibility for good government between too many, so that no one person can be blamed for wrong conditions. It is also claimed that men elected from the city as a whole have more interest in the welfare of the whole city than men elected to represent a single ward. Cities that have adopted the "commission form of government" have, provided the voters have kept up their interest, found it more efficient and less costly. Many of these cities have gone still further and have adopted the "manager plan" under which the commissioners serving for little or no pay, choose a general manager for the city. They place in full charge of city business one man capable of directing all of the work. They pay him for expert service, and require him to get satisfactory results. This is the method of efficient organization used by the directors of a large company, such as a bank, a factory, or a large store. Two attempts to adopt a new charter have been defeated recently, but there is still a persistent demand for an improvement over our present system of city government. REFERENCES. See references for chapters XVII and XVIII. CHAPTER XXV. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. [ze] ]LL WORK that is done for the benefit of the whole city must A be done either by the city itself, or by private companies. Such companies are called "public service corporations," and must get a charter from the city government telling them [sOzi] what they can do, what they must do, and what they shall not do. The charter also states what charges may be made for the services given the people. A general rule in this respect is that they must give "good service for which they shall receive no more than a reasonable profit." Such corporations often furnish a city with street car service, gas, electricity, water, telephone service, or attend to other things, such as the disposal of garbage, that are necessary to the welfare of the whole city. 176 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. But Bay City has for years engaged in business for itself, a "department" of the city government taking charge of a certain kind of service. Committees, many of them with the mayor as chairman, and made up of several aldermen, have general direction of the work of departments. The detailed work, however, is carried on by the various employees in the department. They are under the direction of a "chief" or "superintendent" who is chosen by the council or by the committee of the council having general direction of its work, unless the charter provides for his selection in some other way. Many of the improvements that have been made in the city in the past have been due to the efforts of men in these departments of our government. We have learned of some of these changes, such as street pavements, in preceding chapters. The activities of the government in some other respects in the years since Bay City received its charter will help us to understand how important is all of this work, and we will also see how many entirely different kinds of governmental activity there are. Electric Light: The Gas Company, organized in 1868, furnished light for the city streets'until 1882, when an electric light company was formed and the city adopted electric street lighting, purchasing the power from the private company. This was the first city in Michigan to use the electric street lights. In 1887, just thirty years ago, the city bought the electric light plant and has operated it successfully, even at a profit, since that time. At first, besides the regular street lights, towers, made of gas pipe and capped by several powerful lamps, were used. There were five of these towers in different parts of the east side in 1889, but they were later discarded. They probably failed to give as good light as the lower lamps on account of the many shade trees for which Bay City has long been noted and they were much more expensive. Four of the towers were 125 feet high, and the central tower at the corner of Center and Jefferson streets was 220 feet high-the highest in the United States. It had six lights of 4,000 candle power each. This tower collapsed in a storm without causing any damage to persons or to property, and it occurred at a time when the electric light department was wondering how they were to get the monster down. West Bay City did not have municipal lighting, but was lighted by a private company. Our present city plant has been improved and is furnishing electricity for the "White Way" systems in the business sections as well as for the regular street lights. Electricity is also furnished by the city to the people for light and power purposes at reasonable rates. (1) (1) The Industries of the Bay Cities, 1889. Also the Bay City Tribune, November, 1887. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 177 Sewers: Although the building of sewers began in 1866 and 1867, when James Shearer built a private one to his new block, and the city built one a mile long on Center avenue, there was not much done until about 1880. The first sewers were of wood, built in the shape of a box, which gave them the name of "box sewers." Later, brick and tile were used. Since 1880 the sewers have been extended each year until at the present time there are 160 miles of them. The sewerage system of the west side was started in 1888. Waterworks: The waterworks systems of the east and west sides of the i river are separate. The east side plant was erected in 1872 under the direction i;! of Superintendent E. L. Dunbar, who continued in that position for forty-four years, having resigned only last year. A large wooden pipe brings the water from the bay from a point four miles east of the city at Oak Grove. At first the wooden pipes were used throughout the city, and as late as 1887 there were twenty-four miles of them in use and only four of iron. Today most of the wooden pipe has been replaced with iron. The West Bay City plant was erected in 1881, the waterworks being situated on the bay shore a short distance north of the mouth of the Kaw- E. L. DUNBAR. kawlin river. It was stated in 1875 in regard to the east side plant that "this will give tunlimited supply of absolutely pure water from the broad bay, a source which can never be contaminated." (2) Today one of the problems of most importance for the protection of the health of the city is that of supplying the city with pure water. So much sewage and other waste material, such as chemicals from some of their factories, is deposited into the river from the many rapidlygrowing up-river cities, that the water of the bay has ceased to be pure, even when obtained from the west side plant. Fortunately, however, there is a supply of water that is found to be uniformly pure according to tests made regularly by the local and state health departments; that has just enough mineral in it to make it pleasing to the taste; and that is apparently inexhaustible. This supply is in the underlying rock layers and is obtained by drilling deep wells. The (2) History of the Commercial Advantages of Bay City, 1875. Dow. 178 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. city is already dotted with such wells. One is at every school house, and when citizens in a given locality wish to unite and sink a well for common use, the city pays part of the expense and the contractor guarantees usable water. It is also probable that the city in the near future will either erect a large filtration plant, as has been done successfully by many other cities in a similar position, or else will unite with Saginaw in a plan to get the supply from a safe distance from any source of waste material. Police Department: Another need of the rapidly growing community was that of protection from the law-breaker. This was what might be called a frontier town. To the north was wilderness, and to the south it was for some time but very thinly settled. The men who worked in the lumber woods and made their headquarters here when out of employment, were strong, hearty, and had many admirable qualities. But there was a roughness about many of them that was developed by the sort of life they led on the frontier. Quarrels were frequent, and serious fights were common occurrences. In addition to this, despicable characters took up their abode here because they could have a better chance to carry on their particular sort of dishonest occupation in a place that was growing so rapidly. The sale of intoxicating liquors made conditions still worse. Saloons were very numerous, and they defied the law as much as possible. Even during the years when prohibition was supposed to be in effect in Michigan, the saloons were wide open and drunkenness was common. Men who would work well while sober, would, as soon as they received their wages, come to the city, leaving the lumber camp short handed, and spend days in drunken revelry. Idle "lumberjacks," and sailors who were wintering here, were made as dangerous to the peace and safety of the public as were the Indians before them by this same "fire water." These conditions encouraged other forms of evil, especially that of gambling. The newspapers of the eighties call attention to the amount of gambling done even by young men of the best families-all under the shadow of the saloon. The conditions are shown by the report of the chief of the police department in the annual report of March, 1887. There were 156 saloons, or one for every 180 persons living in the city, counting the men, women and children. Out of a total of 737 arrests, 559, or about 75%, were directly chargeable to the liquor traffic. About one-third of the saloon keepers in the city were arrested during the year. To handle these and other problems in upholding the law, a good police department was needed. That the conditions existed, was not GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 179 the fault of the police, but they made the work of the police department very necessary and particularly difficult. Early accounts show that the department was hindered in its work by politics. Men could be dropped from the police force through the influence of some politician or councilman, appointments could be obtained in the same manner, and a change of the party in control of the city might cause a complete change in the police force. But many years ago the department was put on a civil service basis. Since then men have had to pass an examination in order to get on the force, and they are secure in their position so long as satisfactory service is given. "N. N. Murphy began at the bottom of the ladder as patrolman in 1877, when a desperate class of men made Bay City their rendezvous. He served the city faithfully and the occasions were often when he displayed his courage and shrewdness as an officer." He was made chief in 1881, and held the position for thirty-two years. He retired in 1912, but in order to still have the use of his experience and skill in dealing with criminals, the city has made him Chief of Detectives. The Michigan Pipe Works on Fire. 180 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. Fire Department: The presence of so much wood materials of all kinds-much of it sawdust, chips, and dry slabs-made fires very frequent. The wooden saw mills and the lumber piles caused the fires to spread with great rapidity and made them very difficult to stop when once started. Fires in the business section also caused considerable damage. The first fire of much size occurred in 1863. It began at Center and Saginaw streets and spread to Seventh on the south, and west to the river. In 1865 another fire on the opposite side of Center burned the block between Center, Saginaw, Fifth and Water streets, with the single exception of Arnold's bakery and residence. These two disasters showed the necessity of having fire limits, and after the second one, the erection of frame buildings in the business section of the city was forbidden. In 1871 there was a serious fire in Portsmouth, and in 1878 the worst fire in the city up to that time wiped out about four solid blocks. This began at the foot of Eleventh street and was carried toward the northeast by a southwest gale. It destroyed a great deal of lumber, and many houses located between Water and Washington streets from Eighth to Eleventh streets. There was a loss of about $180,000, which was very great considering the size of Bay City at that time. (3) In 1881 a serious fire occurred in West Bay City between Lynn and Walnut streets on Midland, causing a loss of about $90,000. The worst fire in the history of the city occurred in the south end, July 25, 1892, "which wiped out all the mills, stores, and homes from the river to Jennison street, and from Twenty-eighth to Thirty-second streets." The following account is made up of extracts from the Bay City Tribune: "The most disastrous fire that ever visited Bay City broke out at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon in the lumber piles south of Miller & Turner's mill, at the foot of Thirty-first street, and raged for five hours almost unchecked. The wind was blowing a gale from the southwest and under its influence the fire went through the dry frame structures like a whirlwind. "For blocks around people began moving their household goods to places of safety, using drays, buggies, wheelbarrows and hand carts. Calls for help were sent by Chief Harding to other places and soon the entire West Bay City fire department, two hose carts and a steamer (3) For accounts of these fires, see Bay County History, 1883, pages 100 to 103. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 181 from Saginaw, and a company and apparatus from Flint, were on the scene and gave very valuable aid. But there was no such thing as stopping the conflagration. The very air seemed to be burning. The streams of water turned into steam before they struck the buildings. Huge clouds of dust raised by the gale took fire as they dashed along the streets. It seemed as if a hundred cyclones had let loose and were carrying the flames onward, upward, and everywhere. "Some idea of the terrible heat may be gained from the fact that for hundreds of feet the center had been burned out of the paving blocks, leaving only a thin outside covering. Rails in the street railway tracks had been warped and twisted out of shape for several blocks." Jesse M. Miller, a member of the Board of Education, was burned to death while trying to save his property. Property losses, including 4,000 feet of fire hose, amounted to a million dollars or more. When the fire was conquered after the wind had gone down with the sun, over thirty blocks, including about 350 buildings, had been burned. About 300 families were homeless, and there was much suffering in spite of the prompt relief measures that were begun the same night by the Common Council and citizens in general. "Bay City's first fire company was organized in 1859. Its engine 'Try Us,' a small tub e~ of a machine, was bought with money raised by popular subscription." (Leather hose for use with the hand engine was borrowed, and a triangle alarm was obtained. Until about 1876 "Try Us"1859. the firemen were volunteers.) "In 1861 a hand engine called the Tiger was purchased and later sold to the village of Sebewaing. Then $1,000 was raised by bonding the city for the purchase of another hand engine and a hose cart. The name of the engine was 'Red Rover,' and its home was in a wooden structure on Saginaw street. H. M. Bradley was the city's first chief engineer. He was appointed in 1861. At the fire of 1863 the Red Rover company attempted to pass the flames above Sixth street. The engine was being pulled by a line of about sixty men, and those ahead in rushing forward got into more heat than they could stand. They suddenly turned to the west, and the result was that the engine and hose tumbled over the bank and were allowed to burn where they lay. This left the city without any protection whatever." In those times, 182 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. if the fire was some distance away, the first horse that came along was hitched to the engine and was made to pull it to the fire. "Fires were of so often an occurrence that the council issued bonds to the extent of $6,000 to procure more apparatus, and a sufficient amount was ordered to be spent in a steam fire engine which, however, was not done for several years. Five hundred dollars were also appropriated at that time to repair or rebuild the 'Red Rover.' " Neptune Company-1866. Picture Taken at Center and Washington. "In 1866 (probably as a result of the second big fire, which occurred in the preceding fall) the steamer Neptune was bought at a cost of $6,000, and about 1873 Portsmouth and Wenona purchased steam engines. When the waterworks were installed, the engines were not needed, and were replaced with hose carts. Electric fire alarm boxes were installed in 1876, which was a great improvement. The chief engineer was then paid but $300 a year for his services. T. K. Harding, who had been on the force most of the time since about 1867, became chief in 1883. The affairs of the department under the management of Chief Harding have been most satisfactory to all, and to him is largely due the reputation the Bay City Fire Department has won for itself outside, that of being one of the ablest and most efficient in the country. GOVERNMENT —SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 183 Chief T. K. Harding. "An old fireman tells of the following incident: 'I remember when Chief Harding was on the steep roof of a burning building at Water and First streets and began slipping toward the edge into the flames. Harvey Watkins threw him an axe, and Harding drove it into the roof just in time to save himself. As it was, his boots were burned off him and his escape from death was a miracle.' He is recognized as an authority on fire appliances among the fire chiefs of the big cities of this country. "The manner in which Chief Harding handled the big fires that have occurred here since his reign, and the sudden way in which he 184 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. stopped others that might have developed into disastrous conflagrations, stands out as evidence of his ability. The chief is popular with his men as well as with the general public, and he has never been known to ask a fireman under him to venture where he would not go himself." (4) It is said that Chief Harding invented his own method of fighting fires in the lumber yards. He would nail boards close together against the sides of the piles to prevent the flames from getting a start in the openings, and then he would keep the lumber drenched with water. He remained chief until his death in 1912. The city was fortunate in having three such faithful and efficient men in charge of important departments as E. L. Dunbar, N. N. Murphy, and T. K. Harding. Today the city has an excellent fire equipment of the most modern automobile fire trucks. The time saved by these machines in reaching a fire often prevents what might otherwise be a disaster. Bay City's Modern Fire Apparatus. Public Libraries: The state law has long provided that certain fines in the local courts shall be paid to the school district for use as a library fund. In 1874 this fund in Bay City, amounting to nearly $3,000, was employed to start a public library. A private library association that had been started in 1869, on account of this action of the Board of Education, donated their books to the public library. As a (4) Quotations are from the Bay City Times, March 19, 1899. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 185 result of a law passed by the state legislature in 1878, the library is governed by what is called a Library Board chosen by the Board of Education. At first the library was on the second floor of the Averill block on Center avenue. Later it was located on Washington, between to the rear of the opera house, where it remained until rooms were provided in the new City Hall about 1895. A library fund similar to that used in founding the east side library, was used to start a public library in the village of Wenona, and in that same year of 1874. But ten years later West Bay City Center and Sixth streets, and then it was moved to Sixth and Adams, received an invaluable gift from the founder of Wenona, Mr. H. W. Sage. The gift consisted of the site and building of the present Sage Library, together with the furniture and $10,000 worth of books. It is one of the few gifts that Bay City has received, and is one the value of which will continue to grow with the passing years. Public Education: Before Bay City was incorporated, the schools were organized as district schools under the state system, as are the schools of Essexville, Pinconning and the other villages today. The first district was organized in 1842 with Sidney S. Campbell, Thomas Rogers, and Cromwell Barney forming the board of directors. Schools were opened in both Portsmouth and Lower Saginaw in the next year-the Portsmouth school in - a house that was later used as a resi- First School in Lower Saginaw, dence by Judge Albert Miller at 1844. Fremont and Water streets, and the Lower Saginaw school in a private house at Twelfth and Water streets. Miss Clark was teacher in the Lower Saginaw school and David Smith in that of Portsmouth. There were about six or eight pupils in each. In 1844 a new district was formed, including the land near the river on both sides, and extending south to Twenty-second street. A schoolhouse, the first building erected for school purposes in the county, was built at First and Washington streets at a cost of $200. Miss A. E. Robinson was the first teacher. (5) She was paid $1.50 per week and was furnished her board and room by the "boarding round" method by which each family with children in the school fur 186 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. nished her with food and a bed for a given length of time each term. The school building was used for public meetings of all kinds, and later, when discarded for school use, it was used for a boarding house by the Pitts and Company's mill. In country districts t he fi rst school building was usually the inexpensive log school house, but these have all disappeared, and today the district schools of Bay County include some of the best in Michigan. Our districts in most of the county are so populated that they have The last Log School in Bay County, District No. 4, in m o r e children of Mount Forest Township. It was discarded school age than is about ten years ago. the average for the state. The Primary School Fund of the state is paid to districts on the basis of the number of children of school age, and is used for teachers' salaries. This is such a help that the salaries of teachers in our country schools average higher than those of teachers in many other parts of the state. This help, combined with the fact that our farms are very valuable, make it possible to furnish the well built schools with the best of equipment. Many have modern ventilating and heating plants, inside toilets, and play rooms in the basement. Some have separate rooms for their libraries, and a number have two or more school rooms to accommodate the large enrollment. Other improvements to be found in our newer district schools are: Slate blackboards; seats and desks that can be adjusted to the size of each pupil; windows arranged on a single side of the room and equipped with light colored shades adjustable from the top and bottom, thus protecting the eyes of our children from the evils of cross lights and shadows and from the direct glare of the sun, and yet allowing plenty of light to enter the room; and auditoriums large enough for district meetings and school entertainments. The supervision of Bay County schools has, for the past fourteen years, been done in an energetic and efficient manner by School Commissioner J. B. Laing. (5) Saginaw Valley Directory for 1866 to 1867, page 58. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 187 For years the management of the schools of Bay City was in the hands of a board of education chosen by the common council of the city. (6) Such a plan is claimed to encourage politicians to try to use the school system for their own personal benefit, and so the Board of Education has long been separate from the rest of the city government, except that its funds are raised by taxation through the regular city officers, and the Board of Estimates must approve the budget of the Board of Education. When Bay City was incorporated in 1865, it was growing so rapidly that it was very difficult to provide buildings for all of the children. The school on Adams street, now the Salvation Army barracks, had been erected in 1854 and was still in use. In fact, it was used for many years after that. It was called the Central School, and the children of our pioneers had much of their early education in this building, under P. S. Heisordt as principal. Many of our citizens today were among those children. The directory of 1866 lists two schools, the one just mentioned and another at 510 South Saginaw street (numbering from First street.) Two years later there were four schools, one for each ward, with about 1400 children of school age, and the new high school building, now the venerable Farragut, Farragut School-High School of 1868. (6) History of the Commercial Advantages of Bay City, 1875, Dow, page 25. 188 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. was in process of erection by George Campbell, who erected many of our present buildings, at a cost of $3,000. "Erected at so early a period in the history of the city, it will mark the progress of the cause of education in this state, and the importance attached to it." (7) The only unfavorable thing mentioned in regard to the school was that it was too far out toward the country. In 1867 Bay City was made a Union School District, and a Board of Education was chosen. Peter S. Heisordt, who had been principal since 1862, became superintendent in 1868. D. C. Schoville became superintendent April 1, 1869, when the new high school was opened for use. He immediately began to institute the graded system in the schools, which was the same plan that is in use today, four years for each department, the primary, grammar, and high school. (8) By 1882 a new high school was erected and the old one became one of the grade schools. In West Bay City the first school was built on Litchfield street on a site presented by Captain B. F. Pierce. Later, on the present site of Wm. H. Tomlinson's store at Williams and Midland streets, a frame building was used for school purposes until the present...... Western High School, 1868. Western High School was erected as a Union School as a result of the efforts of J. A. McKnight. It was opened January 27, 1868, with A. L. Cumming as superintendent. After the erection of the Sage Library in 1883 the high school held its sessions there, while the superintendent's office was on the third floor of the library building for many years. For many years the high schools of Bay City were among the few in the country to have a single session, but it has been found best to adopt the more common two session plan. Manual training was given (7) Directory for 1868-1869, page 59. (8) Since this time there have been but four superintendents-S. W. Merrill, J. A. Stewart, E. E. Ferguson and F. A. Gause. GOVERNMENT-SOME OF ITS ACTIVITIES. 189 t Bay City's "New High School"-1883. in our high school at a time when few schools in the country had such a course. The training school was begun in 1877 and for thirty-five years the great majority of the teachers in our schools were chosen from its graduates. The development of the state system of well equipped normal schools made it unwise to continue the local training school. For years school buildings were erected at very frequent intervals, either to start a new school district, or to replace a school building that had outlived its usefulness. For the past ten years, however, this building program has been discontinued (9), although the steady increase in the number of school pupils (10) and the changes demanded by new standards in education, make the present equipment insufficient and far out of date. The Eastern High School is overcrowded in spite of the many additions; Western High School after fifty years of service, is overcrowded, poorly equipped, and unsafe; and many of the schools have had to make use of space in the basements and in near-by houses to accommodate all of the children. Not a school in Bay City has more than one or two of the improvements mentioned in connection with the new rural schools of the county. A plan for borrowing money to erect a new central high school was defeated in 1916, (9) The Woodside school, the newest building on the east side, was occupied in 1906, and the McKinley, the newest in the city, in 1908. (10) The average attendance in 1917 is about 10% greater than in 1908. 190 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. but the Board of Education has a building program planned now which, if adopted by the people, will give the city in the course of ten years a school plant that will meet present-day demands in every detail. In the meantime every effort is being made to make the schools as efficient as possible in the buildings and with the equipment we have. Among the most recent improvements are: the reorganization of the Board of Education along the best business lines; the introduction of medical inspection; the opening of several rooms where pupils who, through no fault of their own, have fallen three years or more below the proper grade, may receive special training that is suited to their individual needs; and the establishment of an efficiency department which tests the actual results of the teaching being done in the grade schools. A bright future for Bay City seems assured. The location, with its many advantages, is already determined. Further progress must depend in large measure on the progressive attitude of the people. The energetic Board of Commerce is encouraging the development of the various industries. The Board of Education is planning for a modern school equipment. Improvements in the city government seem certain of adoption before very long. In short, there has been wonderful progress made in the past, and plans are being advanced which will extend this progress into the future and make Bay City continue to be a very desirable place in which to live. "NOW, ALL TOGETHER." APPENDIX. 191 REFERENCES TO THE MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. Throughout the book, references are made to these books merely by giving the volume and page-VI-350; XX-701, etc. SAGINAW-ORIGIN AND MEANING OF NAME. VI. 350. XX. 701. XXXVIII. 452. VEGETATION. III. 189-201. Geological Expedition, 1837. VI. 113. Wild rice and the Indians. VII. 254.-258 Fruit. 312. At Lower Saginaw, 1860. XXIX. 204. Introduction of the sugar beet. XXXII. 354-360. The Early Flora and Fauna of Michigan. XXXIX. 253. See also under Indians: Agriculture. ANIMALS. I. 403-406. In Wayne County and Michigan. III. 192, In Saginaw Valley; 195, 197, wild duck: 199, gulls and sturgeon; 604, blackbirds. V. 300, Mosquitoes. VII. 97, 98, 237, Fish; 245, mosquitoes, blackbirds; 395, bears; 253, beaver. VIII. 253, Beaver-habits. XXIX. 665, Birds nesting in the open. XXXII. 236. Early Animals, by Beal; 354-360. The Early Flora and Fauna of Michigan (358-360, animals, is good.) INDIANS -MOUNDS AND MOUND BUILDERS. II. 21. Ancient Garden Beds in Michigan. 40. Mound Builders in Michigan. III. 41. Mound Builders of Michigan and the United States. 202. Mound Builders in Michigan. IV. 379. Mounds in the Saginaw Valley. XXVII. 334. XXXI. 238-252. Antiquities of Michigan-Mounds, etc. XXXII. 16. Mound Builders;; 275, Mounds in Shiawassee County. XXXIX. 251-260. Saginaw County Aborigines, especially 254. INDIANS-SAUKS. III. 648. Champlain visited Sacs near Saginaw Bay. VII. 136. Cultivated corn. VIII. 248-250. Valley Haunted by Sauks. XIII. 376. Battle of Skull Island. XVI. 713. Sauks forced west to Mississippi River. 727. Sauks-Home in Wisconsin. 292. Received notice of close of war of 1812. XXIII. 97. Sauks of Mississippi region forced into the war of 1812 by the English. XXVIII. Sauks-By H. I. Smith, of Saginaw. XXXIV. 68. Sauks-Location, meaning of name, character. XXXV. 363. Sauks mentioned in article on Flint. XXXVIII. 452. Origin of name Saginaw. XXXIX. 255. 192 BA Y COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. INDIANS-SAGINAW VALLEY. II. 462. Village at mouth of river. IV. 376-379, Neh-way-go. VII. 96. Village on Bay Shore; 132-139, Ne-war-go; 141, 142, O-ge-ma-ke-ke-to. VIII. 248-250. Superstitions; 253, Legend of Beaver's tail; 255. O-ke-ma-ke-ke-to and his liver. X. 134. Legends of Indian History in Saginaw Valley. 147. Chippewas in Saginaw Valley, 1822. XXXIII. 436. 498, Provisions sent Saginaw Indians from Detroit, 1708. Aid French against English, 1711. XXXVI. 357, Hull sends flag to the Indians on the Saguina. 597, Saginaw Indians destitute after the war of 1812. XXXIX. 251-260. Saginaw County Aborigines. Also see items on Pioneer Life; History Sketches, etc. Troublesome: II. 462. Chief Kis-Kaw-Kaw (Sac by birth), village at mouth of riverWhiting, 1823. VIII. 244-248. Indians most dangerous, 1828. 274, 286, 310, 313, 329, 351, Saginaw Indians in Pontiac's Conspiracy, 1 763. X. 148. Under British influence in War of 1812. XI. 483. Sagana Indians noted among British for misbehavior. Murder of Englishmen from Detroit. (Letter written, 1786.) XIII. 337. "The whole country was afraid of the Saginaw Indians" about 1 827. 503. Witherell's Reminiscences, 1853. Account of capture of Archie McMillan by Saginaw Indians at Detroit, 1814, and his rescue by General Cass and Captain Knaggs. XV. 245. Saginaw Indians and the English in War of 1812. 251. English use Indians against Americans, 1812. XVI. 335, 292. Notice of Peace of 1815 sent to Sagana Indians. 346, 348, 349. Sagana Indians called English Indians, 1815. XVII. 447. Pontiac's Conspiracy. XIX. 248. Indians of Sagena return prisoners they had taken, 1764. 256. Trouble with Sagena Bay Indians, 1764. 300, 301. Saguinagh Indians murder Englishmen at instigation of French, 1773. XXXIII. 586. Indians must not expect any missionary will go and live among them at Saguina, 1717. XXXVIII. 582-584. Saginaw Indians cause trouble near Port Huron in 1826. Treaties. II. 85. Captain Marsac interpreter at Treaty of Saginaw, 1819. III. 432. Treaty of 1819. Jacob Smith's Reservation at Flint. VII. 262. Treaty of Saginaw-E. S. Williams. VIII. 2. Treaty of 1819. XIII. 337, 353. John Riley-Reservations. XXVI. 274-297. Cession of Indian Lands to the ITUited States by Treaties. Ex. Gov. Felch; 283, 1819; 286, 1837. 517-534, Treaty of Saginaw-W. L. T Weber. XXVIII. 106. Treaties of 1819 and 1837. XXXVI. 430. Letter of Gov. Cass concerning provisions in Treaty of 1819. XXXVII. 262. Treaty of Saginaw-Provisions about -payments and reservations. XXXVIII. 547. By G. N. Fuller. XXXIX. 257. Treaty of 1819. Reservations. Agriculture. II. 487. Indian agriculture. VII. 254-258. Possible origin of fruit trees. IX. 362. Corn from Indians of Saginaw Valley, 1780. 420. Price of the corn purchased. 381. A. S. DePeyster sent to Saguina for 600 bushels of corn from the Indians, 1779. APPENDIX. 193 XVII. 448. Cultivation of corn in valley, 1779. XXXIII. 270. Ten boats from Michilimackinac look for food at Saguinan, 1706. XXXVI. 454. Saginaw Indians taught farming. Missions. IV. 29-32. 382. Missionaries and Indians, 1850. XXII. 244-246. Early French Missions on the Saginaw-Fred Carlisle. XXXIII. 586. Indians must not expect missionary at Saguina, 1717. Miscellaneous Indian references. V. 495. Old Mother Rodd. VII. 277. Meaning of Indian Names. X. 484, 496, 579-581, 632. Presents for the Indians. Detroit and Michilimackinac, 1781 and 1782. XXIX. 697. Michigan Indians. XXXII. 313-327. Indian (Ojibway or Chippeway) stories and legends. 392. Legend of Indian Summer. FURS AND FUR TRADING. II. 487. Fur trading with the Indians of Saginaw. III. 58, 193, 316, 603. American Fur Company and the Sloop Savage. V. 140. 1Fur trading on the Saginaw River, 1819. VI. 343,. American Fur Conmpany. VII. 239. American Ftur Comipany, station at Saginaw. VIII. 244. Trading in 1 828. 245. Furs obtained. 25.'3. Furl trading tril from Saginaw to Thunder Bay. 258. Quantity and price of furs. XI. 461-465). Fur Trading in Michigan in 1785. XVII. 448. Furs. XXX. 1 74. Indians and fur tIradlinig post at Saginaw. XXXVII.,09-311. Goods used in trade with the Indians. 1 33-2'07. Letters of the Fur Trade, written in 1833. SAGINAW VALLEY ANI) BAY MENTIONED AND VISITED IN EARLY TIMES. Unfavorable reports. II. 400. Morse's Geogral)hy about 1830. 460. I-ealth Conditions in Saginaw Valley reported bad. IV. 117. Health. VI. 108. Tradition of Central Michigan-Inmpenetrable Swamp. IX. 102. Saginaw Bay "a gulf of terror" in early days. X. 61. Surveyors' report, 1815. Michigan all swamps. XIII. 3. Morse's Goegralhy. XVITI. 660, 661. Surveyor's Report, 1815. XXXVI. 430. ILand between Fort Gratiot (near Port Huron) and the Saginaw Bay, that is the "Thumb," said by Gov. Cass to be worthless. Region mentioned or visited. III. 648. Champlain visited Sacs near Saginaw Bay, 1611-1612. VI. 350. Baye de Saguina-DeLisle's map, 1703. llaye Saguinan ---DeLisle's map, 1718. Coxe called it Sakinam. VIII. 461. Amsterdam to Saginaw, 1757. IX. 578. A Mr. Fisher wintered here in 1780. XIV. 651-668. Early French Occupation of Michigan-D. L. Crossman. 655. Champlaine visited Saginaw River Indians, 1611. XVII. 446. French visited valley in 1771. Stone found-inscription. 448. Two boats built here, 1787 and 1788. 449. Mr. Fisher wintered here, 1780. XXII. 244-246. 1540. Jacques Cartier knew of Lower Peninsula as the Saginaw Region. 1611. Champlaine described the safe harbor afforded by Saginaw River-shown correctly on map. 1686-French artisans sent to Saginaw Region. Jesuit Engelrau instructed to establish missions throughout the Saginaw Region "which he did." 194 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. XXX. 72-85. Saginaw Bay called Gulf of Saguina in Geography and Geology of Lake Huron in 1823. PIONEER LIFE. See items under History Sketches. I. 109. 429-431. Early schools-Wayne County. 453. Early school incidents-Detroit. Examinations. 461. Punishment. III. 602. James Fraser's loss. V. 296. Raisings and Bees among the Early Settlers —Battle Creek. 300. The Old Pioneers' Foes-Fever, Ague, Rash, Mosquitoes. 547. Early Schools of Detroit, 1816-1819. 339. Pioneer Life —Fling. (Good.) VII. 96. Fishing through the ice. 345. Fever and ague, mosquitoes, blackbirds and corn. 249. The first wedding in Bay County. 275. Leon Trombley's potatoes. 308-314. In Lower Saginaw, 1837-1860. 388-394. Reminiscences of Judge Allert Miller, 1830-]832. Flint and Grand Blanc. Pioneer Cabin Described. 395. Hunting on Bad River. IX. 137. "Convivial habits of the pioneers of Saginaw." XIII. 369. Wintering Cattle on the ice near the mouth of the Quanicassee River. XIV. 179, 180. On Foot from Flint to Saginaw, 1844. 283-402. The Log School House Era-Calhoun County. XVIII. 7-10. Wintering Cattle in Saginaw Valley, 1835. XXII. 454. The Pioneer Schools of the state. XXIX. 616. Early log cabin. XXXII. 240. Pioneer Life in Southern Michigan. See items under Travel and Communication, and also under Fur Trading. TRAVEL- TRANSPORTATION- COM MUNICATION. II. 317, 318. Jackson, Lansihng and Saginaw Railroad. 470. Detroit to the Sagina River in 1 822. 473. Down the river to the bay in a canoe. IlI. 1 89-201. Geological Expedition, 1 837. 432. Road planned along Indian Trail fronm Detroit to Saginaw Bay, 1836. IV. 364. Travel in the Early T)ays of Michigan. 101. Dog train selmi-monthly between flay City and Mackinaw and the Soo. V. 140. Boat "Saginaw -uinter" sailed up river, October, 1819. VI. 1 77-1 78, 1 97. Communication with Alpena. VII. 54. Road planned 1)y IT. S. ---)etroit to Saginaw B1ay, 1827. 96. Tril) from Saginaw to the Bay. 229-232. From Vermont to l)etroit in 1 82:0. 2'32-23 6. North froml Detroit in 1 8)0. 22'7. Schooner Savage aground, '1 8I2. 2'2. W inter travel from interior to bay for fish. 271. Detroit to Saginaw Valley, 1 8'2. 308. Not even bridle path to Saginaw. 311. Indian trail along river. 312. Highway along Indian trail to Saginaw, 1860. VIII. 2. Erie Canal and migration. 243. First steam boat on Saginaw River, 1836. Gov. Marcy. 248. Schooner Savage plies between Saginaw and Detroit. 251. To Saginaw Bay on skates for trade about 1830. 253. By canoe from Saginaw to Thunder Blay. XII. 5. The Sloop Sagina. From Fort Erie to Detroit, Michilimackinac and St. Mary Falls, built at Saginaw Bay in 1787. Esperance, 1788. 6, their cargoes listed. APPENDIX. 195 XIII. 335, Gen. Cass to Saginaw by boat, 1819. 361. The first steamboat on Saginaw River, 1836. XVII. 448. Two boats built here, 1787 and 1788. XXXI. 180. Erie Canal and Michigan Immigration. HISTORY SKETCHES. I. 14. Address of Judge Albert Miller. 62. Relics from Bay City. 110. Bay City in 1876-B. F. Partridge. II. 85. Captain Marsac. 460. Saginaw Country-Pioneer Incidents. 88. Military Occupation of Saginaw Valley-Dr. J. L. Whiting. III. 194. Lower Saginaw in 1837. 199. Portsmouth and Lower Saginaw in 1837. 316-338. Bay County History-Gen. B. F. Partridge. IV. 13-22. Salt in the Saginaw Valley. 176. Judge Albert Miller. 177-197. Presbyterian Church at Bay City. 359-364. Address of Judge Albert Miller. 364-373. Sketch by Wm. R. McCormick. VI. 62. A History of the Press of Michigan, 1875. pp. 68, 69-Bay County Press. 343. American Fur Company. VII. 142. Captain Joseph F. Marsac. 228-305. The Saginaw Valley-Judge Miller; E. S. Williams; Detroit Gazette; and Wim. R. McCormick. 308-,19. The Trinity Parish, Bay City. 319-,344. Dedication of Sage Library, January 16, 1884. 578. Tuscola County-Judge Miller. VIII. 2. Michigan before 1824. Erie Canal and Immigration. X. 126. Albert Miller and Uncle Harvey \Villiams mentioned. XIII. 351-383. Incidents in Early History of the Saginaw Valley-Miller. (good.) XIV. 179, 1 80. Fourth mill on the Saginaw River-1844. 495-510. Rivers of the Saginaw Valley 60 years ago-Miller (poen ) (good.) XVII. 224. Archie McMillan. 248, 249, 252, 255, 269. James (. liriney in Michigan. 313. Early migration from New England to Michigan. 440-446. Saginaw Valley fifty-two years ago (from 1889.) 446-449. Saginaw One Hundred Years Ago (from 1889.) XVII. 25-29. Portsmouth. 433-445. Residents of Blay County in 1 847. 68;2, 684, 692. Notes 9, 25, 110 and 441. XXI. 244. Village of \\enona llatted by Andrew Huggins. XXII. 226-235. Distinguished members of the Bay County Bar-A. C. Maxwell. 455. iMr. and Mlrs. Leon Trombley. 457. Sixty-two years ago —ay City Tribune, 1893. -159. Saginaw County and River. 461-463. Recollections of a Pioneer. 466-470. The New First Presbyterian Church, Bay City, 1891. Reminiscences. XXVIII. 105. Captain Joseph Marsac —. A. Marsac. 481-501. Brief History of Saginaw County. XXXV. 137. Great Lawyers of Saginaw Valley about 1867. 360. Description of Flint in 1838. XXXVIII. 539-579. Introduction to Settlement of Southern MichiganG. N. Fuller. 196 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION AND BOUNDARIES. I. 99. Bay County Legislative acts. 99. Arenac. 102-109. Struggle for county organization. 99. Arenac, including part of Bay County. 273. Midland County, including part of Bay County. 304. Oakland County, including Bay County (except reservations), for governmental purposes. 313, 314. Saginaw County, including southern part of Bay County. 314. Political Organization of Saginaw County. VII. First election in Bay County. VIII. 541, 496. Part of Wayne County, 1803. Indiana Territory organized by Gen. Wm. H. Harrison. Northwest Territory, 1787. XIV. 56. Hampton Township, 1843. XVIII. Early survey in Bay County. XXI. 286. Survey of Saginaw River, by J. H. Forster, 1856. XXII. 460. Formation of Bay County. XXVII. 346-390. The southern and western boundaries of Michigan. XXIX. 612. Part of Indiana Territory. 1800. 613. Michigan Territory. 1805. Organization of counties. XXX. 1-27. Boundaries of Michigan. XXXVI. 01. Divisions of Michigan Territory in 1805. 119. Northern part of Bay County in district of Michilimackinac. 120. Southern part of county in district of Huron. XXXVIII. 472. Organization of Bay County. MAPS. XXIV. 383. Malp of Upper Canada and Michigan, 1792-Saginaw Bay and River. 617. Map of land between York and Lake Huron alout 1793. Shows Saginaw River, Bay and AuSable River. XXVI. 275. Map of cessions by Indian treaties. XXVII. 347, 348. Maps showing Michigan boundaries, 1800, 1805, 1816, 1834. 374. Mitchell's map, 1755. XXX. 1-27. Michigan Boundaries. XXXV. 550, 551. John Mitchell's mal of 1 755. XXXVI. 52. Mitchell's map, complete. MEMORIAL REPORTS ON DEATH OF PIONEERS. III. 339. Mrs. Joseph Trombley. V. 224. Captain Joseph F. Marsac, 1880. 226. Mrs. Dr. Rogers. 227. Mrs. Marsac, 1881. John McEwan. VI. 211. Joseph Trombley, 1883. VII. 280. Blenjamin Cushway, 1881. 287-291. Harvey Williams. 344. W. L. Fay. XI. 22. XIII. 117. Mrs. Medor Trombley, 1887. James B3irney, 1888. XIV. 56. Sydney S. Campbell, 1887. 56-61. Memorials. 61. Harry Raymond. XVII. 29. 217-225. James Knaggs. XVIII. 108-111. Curtis Munger, 109. 147. E. S. Williams of Flint. XXII. 42. George Lord. XXVI. 2, 21. Judge Albert Miller. Wm. R. McCormick. 27. Harry Holmes. 29-30. Wim. R. McCormick. 32. George B. F. Partridge. 205. Judge Miller. 208-214. Judge Miller. 214-218. Isaac Marston. XXXII. 580. XXXIII. 723. XXXIV. 755. Mrs. Albert Miller. APPENDIX. 197 MISCELLANEOUS. III. 70. Climate of the Great Lakes-Hubbard. 198. Lumber and the lumber market. XXXV. Page xiii. Articles in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections suitable for use in schools. 155. Michigan, My Michigan. NOTES, STATISTICS, ETC. CHAPTER I. Bay County-Latitude, 43~ 28-44~ N.; longitude, 83~ 45'-84~ 15' W. Bay City- " 33~ 36' N. " 83~ 54' W. The area of Bay County does not seem to be exactly known. It is given in various places as follows: United States Census. --- — -------------—....-. --- —...- 437 square miles. Public Domain Commission of Michigan --- —....-........... ---- 444.72 square miles. Silas Farm er -..... --- — ---... --- --—. ---.. --- —------------. --- —-- - 444.89 square miles. Michigan Census, 1894 4...-...-....-....... --- —. ----—.. 446.59 square miles. Michigan Geological Survey by Cooper, east of river 86.11 square miles. River and middleground. --- —------------—. --- —--------- 3.96 square miles. West of river.-..... —...........-................... — 360.22 450.29 square miles. The last is probably correct. The area of Bay City is at present given as 11.05 square miles. 198 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. CHAPTER II.-GEOLOGICAL COLUMN of the North American Chemical Company Well, South Bay City. Section 5, T. 13 N., R. 5 E. 585 feet above sea level. From Geological Surztey of Michigan, Annual Report of 1905, Bay County, Plate II. (First column of figures shows depth divided into spaces of 100 feet each. Second column shows depth of each layer. Third column shows total depth to the bottom of that particular layer.) 15-15-Sand. 35-50-Clay with thin seams of sand. 10- 60-Sand. 10-70-Hardpan. Began December 100 30-100-Sand. _ 30, 1898. 38-138 —Shale. 200 2-140 —Quicksand; probably fissure. 138-278-Sandstone. 300 17-295 --- lue shale. 10-305-Sandy shale. 15-320-Blue shale. 5-325-Sandy shale. 400 35-360-Blue shale. 60-420-Shale. 10-430 —Fire clay. 30-460 —Blue shale. 10-470-Fire clay. 10-480 —Shale. 500 10-490-Red shale. 50-540 —Sandstone. 600 20-560-Brown dolomiitoe. 60-610 —Silicious dolomite. 10- 620-Sandstone. 5-625-Dolomite. 25-650-Gray shale. 10-660-Dolomite. 700 35-695-Gray shale. _ 25-720-Sandy dolomite. 10-730-Green shale. 10-740-Gray shale. 10-750 ---20-770 —Gray shale. 10-780-Limestone. 800 10-790 —Gypsu..___ 900 30-820 —Gray Limestone. __ ___ Usual temperature of brines 60.4~ 1000 150-970-Gray sandstone; salt water. February 2, 1899.. APPENDIX. 199 1100 100-1070-Red sandstone. I 30-1100-Blue shale. 20-1120-Red shale. 20-1140-Red sandstone. 45-1185-Blue shale. 5-1190-R-ed shale. 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 At 1304 ft. Temperature 65~ - At 1793 ft. Temperature 71~ 1800 560-1750 —Blue shale. 1900 100-1850-Dark blue shale. __ __ 70-1920-B-lue Slale. 20-1 940-Red shale. 10-1950 —IBlue shale. 2000 10-1960-Sandy shale. 2100 100-2060-Blue Shale. 40-2100-Black shale. 2200 40-2110-Gray sandrock. 130-2270-White sandrock; strong brine flowing over surface. 2300 20-2290-Blue shale.. 200 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. 14-2304 —Black shale; oily;gas. 2400 6-2310 —Eock salt. 2500 2600 2700 2800 2900 3000 225-2535-Black shale. 15-2550-Brown shale. 30-2580 —Black shale, oil and gas. 60-2610-Black shale. 10-2620-Sandy limestone. 10-2630-Sandstone. 60-2690-Bl3ue shale. 10-2700 —Limestone. 27-2727-Blue shale. 9-2736-Limestone. 44-2780-Sandstone. 30-2810-Sandy limestone. 50-2860-Brown sandy limestone. 45-2905-Gray sandy limestone. 35-2940-Pepper sandy limestone. June 30, 1899 July 21, 1899 IRol)pe broke. December 1, 1899. At 2931 ft. Temnperature 90.1~ 31001 180-3120-Blue shale. 3200 40-3160-Gray shaly limestone. 50-3210-Blue shale. 3300 60-3270 —Black shale. 3400_ _ 3500 238-3508-Gray limestone. At 3455 ft. Temperature 97~F January 18, 1900. APPENDIX. 201 (CHAPTER VII. LEGENDS OF THE TATTLE OF SKULL ISLAND TWO ACCOUNTS. I. The Sauks were always at war with their neighbors, the Chippewas on the north, and the Pottawatomies on the south, and also with other nations in Canada, until a council was called, made up of the Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Menominees, Ottawas and six nations of New York. At an appropriate time they all met at the island of Mackinaw, where they fitted out a large army. They started in bark canoes, and came down the west shore of Lake Huron. They then stole down the west coast of Saginaw Bay by night and lay hidden during the day. Here they landed part of their army, while the rest crossed the bay and landed to the east of the mouth of the Saginaw River, in the night. In the morning both armies started up the river, one on each side, so as to attack both villages at once. The army on the west side attacked the main village first, by surprise, and massacred nearly all. The balance retreated across the river to another village. At this time that part of the army that had landed on the east side of the river came up and a desperate battle was fought near the site of the residence of W. R. McCormick, that being the highest land and where they had tried to fortify themselves. Here they were again defeated.. They then crossed the river and retreated to Scull Island, which is the next island above what is now called Stone Island. Here they considered themselves safe, as their enemies had no canoes. But the next night after their retreat to the island, the ice froze thick enough for the allies to cross, which they did, when another massacre took place. They were all killed but twelve families. II. The Sauks were dreaded 1b less warlike yet equally brave foes, the Chiplpewas, Ottawas, and their allies. They frequently went northward and fought the Chippewas and Ottawas. They also fought the tribes south of them and those east across the lake in Canada. Finally they went north to do terrible battle against the Chilpplewas. It was a very great defeat for the Chipplewas, but it served to rouse them to acts of the most gallant daring. The Sauks offered the greatest indignity knlown in Indian warfare. They captured and brought south as lprisoners a Chilppewa Indian and his squaw. This was a defiance to the Clill)pewa tribe. Immediately after the battle, the Sauks started leisurely on their retuin to the Saginaw Valley. The Chippewas, with their allies, organized a (poxwerfull force of not less than 3,000 warriors, and in canoes came by way of the Straits of.lMacklmnaw down the shore to near such a point as they expected the Sauks would reaich the Saginaw Bay. This was not far from the Pine River. The Chipplewnas reconnoitered their position and followed them steadily for several days until the Sallls had passed up the Saginaw river from its mouth to Skull Island. 'Ihe Chiplpewas were halted at the mouth of Squaconning creek. The head chief was satisfied that Skull Island was to be made the scene of a great banquet or feast in honor of the victory the Sauks had achieved. This he had decided should therefore le the time and place of a terrible conflict. First of all he desired to ascertain the exact location and surroundings of the Sauks' callling grounds. To gain this information required the most trustworthy and daring spies. The chief called for volunteers from his powerful braves. Of the number who came forward he selected three and sent them by night with instructions to penetrate the very camp of the Sauks. One of the scouts while lying near the camp of the Sauks, spying out their positions, saw the Chippewa squaw approaching while on her way to bring water-she being required to do the service of a slave. The scout spoke to her in the language of her tribe, and induced her to come so near that they could converse. He learned that on the following night there was to be a great feast, and gave her instructions, which might save her life and that of her husband. The scout told her at the approach of daylight when feasting and drinking had all ended and the calmp was in deep sleep, the Chippewas would suddenly and quietly enter the camp and commence a dreadful massacre. To save their lives, the Chippewa and 202 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. his squaw were directed to lie on their faces and when kicked and struck to endure it all, without raising their heads or showing any signs of life. Having gained the desired information, the scouts returned speedily and made their report. When revelry was at its height in the canmp of the Sauks, theChippewas landed on the south side of the island. A few returned to the opposite side with the canoes, so as to prevent the escape of any Sauks. On the morning after the banquet, the Chilppewas quietly attacked the Sauks who wereall asleep except the prisoners, and the terrible massacre commenced. Tradition says that not one of the Sauks escaped death. CHAPTER VIII. Correction: Note (1) at the bottom of page 37 should read: "From an account by one of the pupils." Note: The elm bark wigwam described in this account was more common in this locality than that made by skins mentioned by Major Gansser. The bark strips were fastened by cat-tails, and brush-to a depth of ten or twelve inches, -was banked around the outside. CHIPPEWA LEGENDS. THE LEGEND OF "THE WHITE OWL" OR "THE LONE TREE." Many, many years ago, before white men put foot in the valley, Chief Kewahkewon ruled his people with love and kindness. He had been a great warrior in his day, but he was now old and he felt that he must soon die. Hewished to see his tribe in council once more, so he gathered his people about him and said: "My children, I am about to die. The Great Spirit has called me and I must obey the summons Already the tomahawk is raised to sever the last cord that binds me to my children. A guide stands patiently waiting to take me to the Happy Hunting Ground. "You weep, my children, but dry your tears, for though I leave you now, my spirit bird will forever remain with you. I will whisper to you in the evening breeze, and when morning comes you will know that I have been with you through the night. "But the Good Spirit beckons and I must hasten. Let my body be laid in a quiet place with my face toward the sun, my tomahawk and my pipe at my side. Do not fear that the wild beasts will disturb my rest, for the Great Spirit will watch over me. Meet me in the Hunting Ground, my children, and now farewell." And the old chief slept the sleep that knows no wakening. They buried him in a quiet spot by the river, with his face toward the rising sun. His remains were never disturbed by the wild beasts, for it seems that the Great Spirit had indeed set a watch over his grave. Time passed and a tree grew from his grave. It was a beautiful white ash and it spread its branches over the chief's last resting place. Soon after, a white owl, believed to be the spirit of Kewahkewon, made its home in the tree. The Indians said that when the tree fell and the owl was killed, misfortune would come and they would be scattered. One year a flood covered the valley and left the tree's roots bare and rotted. The owl, however, continued to nake its home in the tree until James J. McCormick shot it while hunting. Soon after this the tree fell during a wind-storm. True to the old saying, the tribe scattered -an epidemic of smallpox killed many of them and most of the others sought other hunting grounds. II. THE INDIAN MAIDEN AND HER LOVER-Told by Frances Tromble. About the year 1869, Mr. John McGraw, a lumberman from Utica, N. Y., bought from Mador Tromble, my grandfather, and from others, about 500 acres of land south of the Bullock road. He built a large sawmill where the present North American Chemical buildings stand. The balance of the land he made into a large farm, now known as the Curtis farm. He built a large barn in a small cluster of large forest trees on the land. At that time there was a large number of Indians living on an Indian reservation on Cheboyganing creek. They had to pass this barn on an Indian trail, and many times after dark, especially when APPENDIX. 20":} the wind blew hard, they would hear strange noises coming from the barn and also see large white objects in the air. This frightened them so much that they used to go miles out of their way so as not to pass this barn during the night. There was a legend among the Indians that a beautiful Indian maiden and her lover had been killed in these woods l)y a renegade Indian of another tribe many centuries before. The white objects seen in the air and the noises were said to be from the spirits of the departed lovers. My grandfather had heard this legend and story from the Indians for many years, and he decided to investigate it. So one dark, windy night he went to the barn and concealed himself in a clumpl of bushes. All at once he heard strange noises, but saw no white objects. Remaining concealed for a few moments longer he saw three or four large white objects fluttering in the air around the eaves of the barn, and the strange noises seemed to come from the same place. As one of the large trees grew close to the barn, in fact one of the large limbs reached over to the barn, he climbed up into the branches of the tree and went onto the roof of the barn. It was then that he discovered that when the wind blew, the limb rubbed against the barn and made the strange noises, and the white objects seen in the air were nothing but large white owls that had their nests in the eaves of the barn. So the legend of the spirits of the Indian lovers was only a myth after all. CHAPTER IX. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF EARLY EVENTS. (See page 44.) 1540 Cartier knew of Saginaw region. 1611 Champlain explored valley and bay. 1634 Jean Nicolet explored the shore of Saginaw Bay. 1668 Pere Marquette said to have visited Saginaw Indians. 1679 LaSalle, in the Griffin, driven into the bay by a storm. 1686 French artizans and missionaries sent here. 1703 Map of region by DeLisle. 1706 Ten boats from Michilimackinac came here for food. 1 708 Provisions sent to Saginaw Indians from Detroit. 1711 Saginaw Indians aided French against the English. 1717 Missionaries for Saginaw Indians refused. 171 8 Map of region by DeLisle. 1755 Map of region by John Mitchell. 1757 Trip undertaken from Amsterdam to Saginaw river. 1763 Treaty of Paris-English gained possession of this region. Pontiac's Conspiracy-Saginaw Indians took part in Siege of Detroit. 1766 Captain Carver's Travels-he visited the Saginaw region. 1779 The English sent here for 600 bushels of corn. 1783 Treaty of Paris-Americans gained title to Michigan. Old Northwest Fur Company organized and began trading here. 1787-8 Two sail boats built on the shore of Saginaw Bay. Ordinance of 1 787. 1792 Louis and Gassette Tromible traded wih the Indians here. 1796 Americans gained actual control over Michigan. I 805 Michigan Territory. 1 811 American Fur Comnpany began trading in this region. 1812-15 War of 1812 ---Elglish in possession again for a time. Saginaw Indians aided the English. 1815 Government surveyors' false reports. 1 81 6 Louis Campau at Saginaw. Stephen V. R. Riley and Jacob Graveradt traded here alout this timeexact dates of their coming not given. 1 818 First steamboat on the Great Lakes. 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. 1821 United States troops stationed at Saginaw. 1823 Troops withdrawn on account of fever. 1825 Completion of the Erie Canal. 1829 Joseph Tromble visited this part of the valley, looking for land. 1831 Leon Tromble built log cabin at Fourth and Water streets. Masho built log cabin on site of Woodenware Works. DeTocqueville visited Saginaw Valley. Saginaw County organized. 204 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. 1833 Coast Survey made by United States-J. F. Marsac in party. 1834 John B. Trudell built cabin on east side of river. Benjamin Cushway, government blacksmith, built cabin and shop on west side of the river near Salzburg avenue. 1835 Joseph and Mader Tromble purchased first land in what is now Bay County and built trading store. 1836 lFirst frame house here built at Twenty-fourth and Water streets by the Trombles. Judge Allbert Miller platted Village of Portsmouth. 1837 James Fraser platted Village of Lower Saginaw. Michigan a state. CHAPTER XVII. Correction, page 99: The statement that 4,000,000,000 feet of timber were cut in the mills on the Saginaw river is evidently incorrect, as will be seen from the figures below. They would apply to the whole State, however, for that year. It is difficult to get statistics for lumbering that are certain to be correct; different sources give entirely different figures. Some refer to the mills in Bay City, some to those in the lower part of the valley, and others to all mills on the Saginaw river, while still others refer to the State. Some accounts change abruptly from one group of mills to another without making the change clear. The following statistics for the mills located on the Saginaw river were taken from the Bay City Tribune: 1851.....-.............. 92,000,000 1 855 -- -..... -..-...-.......- - 1 00,000,000 1860.....-. — ---—....... —... 125,000,000 1865 -...-.......... —........ 250,639,000 1870 -.. —7 —........-.............. 576,726,000 1875 -.. —..-.-.........-.8.....- 586,558,000 1880 -... —. —...83...4...0.00.... 8 73,047,000 1882..-..-..-............... 1,014,274,000 1885............................ 71 7,799,000 1888 8..8 —......-.... -... 880,659,000 1889... --- —--—....... 851,623,000 1890 -.......... ---.-.. 815,054,000 1891.. — ---................. — 758,610,000 Production of 32 Bay County mills for the season ending May 1, 1887: Pine lumber. ---............................. 399,457,458 feet. Hardwood lumber ------— 3,95,000 feet. Shingles -.-... ------- - - —.................... 71,800,000 Shingles-71,800,000 Lath - --...-.................... 53,656,550 Staves ------ -.................................... 1 6,23,7,950 Heading......-. —.-.................... 638,000 CHAPTER XVIII. SALT. Year. Bushels Produced Cost of Selling Price. in Bay County. Manufacture. 1860 —.... $1.40 $.60 $.80 1867 60,000 1.75-2.00.60.80 8 salt works. Wood, $1.50 per cord. 1870.-...... 1.32.60.80 1875.......... 1.10.60.80 1 880.....75.60.80 1884 55,455.85.60.80 1887 891,462.70.60.80 32 companies, 34 steam blocks, and 500 solar covers. 191 8 ---- 1.50.50 exclusive of cost of barrel. This cost is determined by charging to the salt department a fair amount of the expense of operating the entire Bigelow & Cooper plant. FISH. 1850-About 50 barrels per week were shipped from this vicinity. 1 864-75 tons, at $100 were shipped to Detroit and other points. 1867-45,000 barrels were shipped; about 400 men employed. 1884-The catch was light-the worst in six years. APPENDIX. 205 CHAPTER XXII. MARKET QUOTATIONS. February, 1884 February, 1917 June, 1917 Wheat, per bu.... --- —--- 95c-$1.00 $1.70 $2.90 Corn, per bu.. --- —-—.. 62c-65c 95c-$1.00 $1.50 Oats, per bu. --- —---------— 41c 58c 74c Beans, per bu-. --- —-—.. $2.25 $6.50 $9.00 Flour, per bbl.. --- —--—.$5.00-5.75 $8.80-9.80 $14.50-15. Dressed hogs, per 11b. 9-c 14'c 15c-18c Veal, per lb... --- —-—.9c-9c 15c- 15-c 13c-14c Lamb, per lb1. --- —- 8 3/8c 17c-18c 17c-18c Lard, per lb. 1.0 --- —--— 1 O c Butter, per lb..... --- — 18c-21c 35c-39c 34c-42c Cheese, per lb. - 1...... —.1 4c 24c 23c Eggs, per doz. -. --- —---—.40c 45c 33c Sugar, per lb.. --- —-----—. 8 c Potatoes, per bu. -—....-. 55c-60c $3.25 $3.25 Prices for February 15, 1917, and.lay 22, 1917, show after the United States entered the war. Many of the prices i are fixed by the government. CHAPTER XXIII. IOCATION OF THE CHURCHES IN 1868. January, 1918 $2.08 78c $5.62. 50 19 c-20c 15c-16c 1 8c-20c 42c-46c 22c-24c 35c-46c 8ic in N. Y. $1.30 plrices 1)efore and in the last column Year Erected Fifth...... ----.1 849 Third --------— 1 850 I Eighth....-. 1855 Sixth --—.. --- —1 859 renth -—. ----1 861 enter -. ----1 863 Ninth.-. --- —.1867 Church. MIethodist Episcolpal Catholic ------------ German Lutheran -- Episcopal --- —---- Preslb terian -----—. — Balptist. --- —--------- Universalist --- —-------- Location. \Washington, between Fourth and \\ashington, letween Second and.Washington, between Seventh anc W\'ashington, l)etween Center and.'ashington, between Ninth and 1 Washington, between Fifth and C W\\ashington, between Eighth and Yea r. I S 1 ) 1 864 1870 1 8 7-t 1 8 80 1890 1 9 0 4 1 900 1904 1910 1915 13xa Co(unt 3, 1: 4 1 5,900 2 4,83 8, 081 51,265 56,412 61,0 4 62,378 63,448 6;8,2:38 POPITLATION STATISTICS. 13ay City. West Blay City. Essexville. 8 1 0. — -—....- —. --- — 1,5 85 (Slai, clmpor) 3,359.- -......-. 7,064..-.. 13,676 --------- ----—.')20, 693 6, 97 -. —9 29,415 9,492 1,356 27,8'9 12,981 1,545 3(0, 042 12,340 1,737 27,628 13,119 1,639 2,644 12,997 1,469 45,1 66 Included in Bay City. 1,477 47,494 Estimated by the II. S. Census 1ureau. CHAPTER XXIV. ORGANIZATION OR 'ERECTION" OF THE TOWNSHIPS. Hampton..-..... - ---------—. ----—. 1843 Williams -... --- —-—.... ----------—. 1855 Portsmouth -----------------—........ 1859 Bangor.. ---................-................... —.... 1859 Beaver --—..... --- —-----—....-.. 1867 Kawkawlin ---------—.16.......- -. - -------- - 1868 Monitor ---—.. ---.. --- —-------—...- - -: 1869 Merritt -l87.-...... --- —--—... ----... 1871 Pinconning ---.. —.......-..-...... — 1873 Fraser -------------------------—... --- 1875 Frankenlust ------.-...... —................- 1881 Garfield ------......-.................... —.- 1886 Gibson -----.-.........- - - - - - --—.- - 1888 Mount Forest -..- - ------—.. -... —.. --- 1890 206 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. INDEX Namnes of Persons Will be Found Under the Headings: Persons Mentioned; Explorers; and Pioneers. A Agriculture: County fairs, 123; development, 122, 123; Indian, 73; pioneer, 89, 91; raw materials for manufacturing, 147. Ague, 86, 87, 195. Altitude of Bay County, 5, 8, 9, 14. American Fur Company, 50, 84, 124, 194. American period, 58-72. Animals, 20-25, 37, 38, 192. Annual rainfall, 16. Areas, 198. Arenac County, 6, 7, 59, 139, 169, 170, 171, 174, 197. Arnold's bakery, 168, 180. AuSable river dams, 149, 151. Average temperature maps, 16. B Banking institutions, 168. Bathing, 15, 165. Bay City: Incorporated, 172; shape, 3. Bay County Agricultural Society, 123. Bay County: Location, 1; map, 8, 9; organization, 169-171, 197; shape, 2; size, 2, 3. Bayous, 7. Beaches, ancient, 6. Bears, 22, 38; trap, 55. Beaver: Habits, 21, 192; trap, 37; value of skins, 55. ed( rock, 3. Belt lines, 147. B';erries, 19, 22. Bligelow-Cool)er salt l)lock, 110, 111. Birds, 22. Birney Hall, 164,:165, 17-1. lllackl)irds, 122. loiiard of Commerce, 169..loating, 1.5, 166. Booun(lary changes in Michigan Territory, 58 Blounties: Blacklirds, 1 23; salt, 108; wolves, 23. 1ousfield & Colmpany, 119. Bridges, 127. Business men'es orgaiiizations, 168. Bus lines, 1 34. C Canlladian logs, 139 lumber, 140, 158. Caloes,: 3, 38. Carroll Park, 1.67. Cass City, 2. Cass river, 33, 61. Cedar block l)aveiments, 129. Cemeteries, 1 62, 163. Chamber of Commerce, 168. Charter of Bay City, 172. Chicory, 154. Cholera epidemic, 1852-88. Chronological table of early events, 204, 205. Churches, 163, 164 location, 206. Circle hunt, 38. Civic League, 165. Civil service, 179. Civil war, 161. Climate, 12-17; effect of Great Lakes, 15, 198; maps, 16. Coal: How formed, 4; mining, 149, 150. Coastline, 5. Columbia, weekly steamer to Detroit, 124. Commerce changed by railroads, 133. Commnercial center, 155-1.59. Commission government for cities, 174. Communication, 135, 195. Concrete roads, 129. Continental climate, 14. Contour lines, 8, 9. Corduroy roads, 127. Corn, Indian, 20; cultivated by Indians, 39, 47. Council, Indian, 62-64. County fair, 123. County roads, 127. Coureurs de bois, 42. Crime, early, 178. Crosthwaite shipyard, 1 12. Cyclonic storms, 12, 13. I) D)avidson's shipyard, 113, 114; dry dock, 141, 144, 145. l)eadfall trap, 55. D)eer, value, 24. D)ensity of population, 16 1..)etiroit, 47,.50, 58; village established, 44. I)islri luti g ceilter, 155-158. l)istributionl ( o l)olpulation, 1 61. I)istrirt schiools of lBay County, 1.86, 187. l)ivisions of citv a1(dl conlllty, 3. D)ivisioils of a sectiomi of la(nd, mIal), 9. D)oc(tors in lBay Colnty, 1 63. l)(ngs, Indianl, 23, 25. l)og train to Mackkinaw, 135. D)rainage, Bay (County, 7; northern l)art, 16 1. Drains, 7, 10, 11. I)rake Brotthers' Inill, 1 73. Dredge cuts, 7; illustration, 10. 1)redging river channel, 126. I)ugout canoe, 38. E Effect of Great Lakes on climate, 15, 17. Electric lights, 1.76. I N D E X Electric car lines, 134; mal, 8, 9. Electric power, 149, 151. English in control, 39, 42, 44, 46-48, 50. English settlements, 47. Erie Canal, 71, 83, 195, 196. Estuaries, 5. Evergreen trees, 18. Explorers: 42-48, 194; Cartier, Jacques, 43, 194; Carver, Captain J., 19, 20; Champlain, 43, 46, 194; Houghton, Doctor, 108; LaSalle, 43; Marquette, Father, 43; Jean Nicolet, 43. F Farnis, 123. r arragut school-first Jhigh school, 187. Ferries; 126, 127. Fever among lpioneers, 69, 86, 87, 195. Fire department, 180(-184. Fires, destructive, 180, 181. "'Fire water,"::4. Firing, efficient methods, 143. Firs.t-In Bay County or vicinity: Ilank, 168; business mlen's organization, 1 68; cemnetery, 162; census in Bay Coulty, 1:39: churches, 164; city water, 162: coal mine, 149, 150 city c(ounil m eeting, 1 72: election, 169, 1 97 electric line, 1 34; fire chief, 1 81 fire engine, 181; fire )protection,l 162 ' rname house, 75, gas, 162; hotel, 81S iiico(rporated village, 1 1; interurhan, 1 35 la(nd patent, 7(5; liblrary 162; limlber shiltpe(d, 89: mail delivery, 136; 1!0,' 1'i of I Iay City, 172: inewspal)er, 1(;2: palved street, 129: l)ost office. 1 5 raillroad 1 1 rural mail routes, 12 6; schools, 76, 185. 186; sittler 7, 7: sewers, 1 7; stoalllloat, 70: stealn sawi nill, 78. 8,9, 97; store il (coty, 75: stoire iln lower Saginw, 81, 1 1: street cars, 1I '-; stireet lights, 17 6: teachers, 185,, 1 86; t'leegra)lh, 137; teleplhone, 1 37; to nshill, 1 69: village 1president, 171. Fish. 20, 21, 1 95. Fish industry, 11 5,-1 I 9. 145; aide(l 1)y coniiig of' railroads, 1 3. Ilint river, 33. Flood pllain, 5. Floods, 11, 17. Flora and 'Fauna of Michigan, 192. Flowers, wild, 1 9. Food supl)lly, 149. Foreign p)olpulation, 160. Forests, 1 8, 3, 73. Free mail delivery, 136. Freight transfer, 134. Frei)ch control, '9, 42-44, 46, 50; attitude toward Indians, 42; lack of i)erinanent settlements, 43, 44; ex ploration, 43; missionaries, 43, 44, 50; population, 160. Frosts, 12, 17. Fruits cultivated by Indians, 44, 192; wild, 19. Furs: How packed, 55; invoice of goods for trade, 52; kinds, 56; value, 56. Fur traders, 42, 47, 50-56, 84, 93, 194; from Detroit, 83; nationality, 50; pack described, 52; perils, 55; travel, 51, 52. Fur trading bees, 55. Fur companies, 50. Fur trading posts, 50; fur trapping, 55. G (as introduced, 162, 176. Gateway to Northeastern Michigan, 155. General facts, 1. Geological column, 1 99-201. Geology, 3, 4, 195. German settlers, 160. Glacial drift, 4. Glacial lake Saginaw, 4, 5, 6, 13. Glacial moraine, 6. Glaciers, 4, 11. Government: Activities in city, 1 75-190. Education, 185-1 90. Electric light departnent, 176. Fire department, 180-1 84. I,ibraries, 184, 185. Police del)artmlent, 178. \Vaterworks, 177. Aid 81. Building, 1 36. H-istory of its orgallization, 169-175; referlences, 197. City cliharter granted, 172. (Coullty oi IHay formed, 170, 171. Colunties formed, 1831-59. (lreater 1ay Citty, 1 4. Northwest Territory, 58. State of Michigan, 59. 'Ierritory of MTichigani,,59, 67. T' ownships, 169, 170, 206. \illage of Bay City, 171. llndi(in, election of chief, 34. Pullllic service corlorations, 175. Reformns pr oposed for city. C(onnlmission plan, 174. Initiative, referendunl alnd recall, 1 75. Manager p)lan, 175. "Governoir Marcy" steamer, 70(, 168. (rapes. 1 9. (Ireat Ilakes: Formation,:5; effect on climate, 15, 17. Greenville treaty, 61, 67. Griffin, first bloat on lakes, 43. Growing season, 12, 14, 17. H Harbor, 5. Hardwood flooring, 141, 152. 208 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. Hardwood forests, 18. Haunted valley, 31. Health conditions, 11, 69, 194. Highest points in city and county, 6. High schools: First, 187; Eastern, 189; Western, 188, 189. History, its meaning, 25; references, 196. Horse cars, 134. Hospitals, 163. Hotels, 75, 163, 169. House building industry, 138. House finishing materials, 140. Hunting: Indians, 31, 37, 38; pioneers, 55, 91. I Immigration, 71, 73, 160, 196. Indian: Agriculture, 20, 193; corn, 20: council, 62, 63; dogs, 23, 25; "fire water,' '4, 54; fishing, 21 half-breeds, 51: hunting grounds, 31; legends, 192, 19-, 202-204; mission, 164, 194; names, 194; references, 192- 194; relics, 26, 28, 20: illustration of rlelics, 27; reserves, 9, 65; salt obtained, 108; suplerstitions, 31, 192, -193; treaties, 61-65,;7, 68, 193; treatment by whites, 4'2; weal)ons, 27,:.", 35, 8,8. Indians: Chippewas, 25, 29, 31, 160, 193; legends, 193, 201), 204; life' escr i bed, 33 -40, 20. Mounl builders, 26, 28, 30. 0-ge-ma-ge'ga-to, 34, 64, 193. Owosson, 46. Pontiac's Conspiracy, 46, 47, 19". References, 192-194. Sagilaws,, 33, 44, 193 assist Pontiac, 46; warlike, 47, 48, 61, 193. Sauks (Sac, etc.) 25, 29, 30, 31, 4), 192, 202, 203. Treatment by whites, 42. Triles ii Aichigan, 29, 31, 3), 194. Industrial development, 94-159; agriculture, 122, 1 23; (com nic at ion 1,5-1:7; fishing, 114-118; methods, 11 7; lumbering, 94-1 07; 1 llumler woods, 101-105;sawmills, 105-107; manufacturing, general, 118 1 22; iron and steel, 141; mining, 149; salt, 108-112; shipbuilding, 112 -114; transition period, 1 9-1 54; transl)ortation, 12 4-1 35. Industrial works, 121, 141, 146. Initiative, referendum and recall, 175. Intemperance, 178. Interurban, 135. J Jay's treaty, 47 Jersey cattle, 147. Jesuit missionaries, 42. Jokes, pioneer, 92. K Kawkawlin river, 5, 7, 28, 33, 81, 99. Kawkawlin road, 129. Kiskawko, 64. Knitting mills, 145, 157. L Labor, 141, 147. Lake City, 173. Iake Huron, 2, 14. Lake Saginaw, 4, 13. Land animals, 22. Land speculation, 77, 78. Latitude, 198; comparative, 1, 2. Legendary history, 25. Legend of: Indian Maiden and Her Lover, 203; the Lone Tree, 203; Sauks, 29, 30, 202; the White Owl, 203. Length of day, 12. Iibraries, 184, 185.,ighthouse, 81, 126. I,iving conditions, 162.,ocation, city and county, 1; early churches, 163, 164, 206. Log rolling contests, 166. Logs brought by rail, 13; lby raft, 1 '9. Longitude, 198; coil)arative, 1. 2. Lower Saginlaw — See Villages. loyal Anlericans, 161.,Ludingtonl, 15. lllumber distrilbuting ceiter, 158. Lumber idustlry, 19:, 20 5; I)y-pro()dlicts, 1); (le lille, 139; (leveloplltent, 94-107; iirst car go shi l)led, 89. Illu bler frl()oi (':C ilia, 1 40.,nlumber statisticss, 205.,llulei)rt wood(s land campl), 101-1 0). M McG(onegal plaveenliel, 129. McG(raw mill, 13 4. Mackinaw mail servie, 1 5, 195. MacKillnol loller v actory, 121. Mail, lionee, 97, 135, 195. Alanesous, 31. 'laniufactluling, 1 1 1 -1 22; advaintages, 1 45-149; houses, 1 8;: iron and steel, 141; new\ iindustries, 1 8-1 45. M\alps, refelreices, 1 97. Maplle sugar, 33. MAarket lquotations, 206. Markets for 1lay City l)rodlicts, 149. Market, city, 155, 156. Marshes, 1 9. Massacre of Sauiks, 29, 202. Medical inslpection of schools, 190). Medicine mani, 34. Memorial reports, 197. Mercy l-osl)ital, 163. Meridian of Bay City, 1. Michigan a state, 1837-59, 65. Michigan Pipe Works, 109, 119, 140. Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, 192-198. Michigan Territory, 58, 61, 67. Michilimackinac, 39, 44, 47, 50. Middleground, 23. Midland, 2. Midland County, 59, 169, 170, 197. Migration to Michigan, 58, 196. Missionaries, 43, 44. INDE X 209 Mission, Indian, 164, 194. Mitchell's nmap, 175'5-44, 197. Moraine, 6, 11. Morse's Geography, 68, 194. Mosquitoes, 22, 86, 87, 192. Mound builders, 26, 30, 192. Mount Pleasant, 2, 15. Muck soil, 11. Muskrat skins, 93. N Native life, 18-40, 160. Neh-way-go, 1 93. Neaniquam Bay, 5. Neptune fire engine and company, 182. New England settlers in county, 160. Nicholson palvements, 129. North American Chemical Company. 142, 143, 199. Northeastern Michigan, 1 55; map, 158. Northeastern Mlichigan Develolpment Bureau, 159. Northwest Territory, 58, 197. 0 Oakland County, 59, 197. Oak openings, 18 Oceanic clinate, 14. Ohio river route westward, 58. Old Ladies' Home, 165. Ordinance of 1787 —58, 62. Organization of townshil)s; dates, 206. O-Sauk-e-non, 29. Owl; legends, 203. Oxen, 91. P Panic of 1837-76, 78, 90, 94, 97. "Paper villages," 77, 78, 90. Parallel of Bay City, 2. Parks, 78, 167. Passenger steamers, 124, 125. Patriotism, 161. Paved streets, 129. People of Bay County, 1 60-169; sources, 1 60. Persons mentioned: Astor, John Jacol), 50; 1uck, H. E., 174; Campbell, Alajor, 46; Cass, Captain, 62; Clark, George Rogers, 67; Clinton, Governor, 71; Davidson, Jas. E., 145; DeTocqueville, 35, 69, 70, 73, 85, 86; Engelrau, Jesuit missionary, 43, 194; Ferguson, E. E., 188; Fisher, Mr., wintered here, 194; Gause, F. A., 188; Handy, Frank, 174; Harrison, William Henry, 67; Hine, Gustaves, 174: Hubbard, Bela, 115; Jennison Brothers, 172; Laing, J. B., 187; McMillan, Archibald, 48, 193, 196; Marston, T. F., 147; Mason, Governor Stevens T., 76, 78; Merrill, S. W., 188; Nickless, W. H., 140; Pitcher, Dr. Zina, 69; Richardson, I. B., 27; Smalley Brothers, 122; Smith, H. B., 119; Stewart, J. A., 188; Stoddard, John L., 162; Tom linson, Wim. H., 188; Watkins, Harvey, 183; Wayne, "Mad Anthony," 61, 67; 'heeler, 106, 114; Whiting, Dr. J. L., 69; Young, W. D., 141, 174; Zagelmeyer, Alex and Frank, 127, 149. Physical features, 3. Pigeon, p)assenger, 22. Pinconning river, 7, 34. "Pine barrens," 191. Pine forests, 18. Pine Ridge cemetery, 163. Pioneer: Agriculture, 89, 91, 123; ague, 86, 87; churches, 164, 206; dangers, 85; election, 169; ferries, 126; fever, 69, 86, 87, 195; flour, 88, 90, 91; hardships, 85; home descriled, 88; hospitality, 90, 91; hotels, 1 63; jokes, 92; life described 82-93, 162, 195; mail service, 97; 135; recreation, 91, 1 66, 1 67; religious services, 91; schools, 76, 185, 186, 195; stories, 21, 23, 48, 54, 55, 75, 77, 82,.84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 97, 115, 122, 135; travel, 83, 84, 89, 90, 95, 97, 128. Pioneers: Angell, Rich, 127; AArnold, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick, 84; Avery, 99; Backus, Frederick, 81; Barclay, -lelen, 84; B3arclay, J. S., 163; 170; Blarney, Cromwell, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 95, 97, 99, 185; Beckwith, 13. F., 109; llirney, James, 162, 163, 170; 13irney, James G., 78, 79, 91, 122, 164, 169, 170, 196, portrait and sketch, 92;Braddock, A. D.,, 109; Braddock, H. D., 112; Bradley, 99; Bradley, H. M., first chief, 181; Bradley, N. B., 134; first mayor, portrait and sketch, 172; Brown, Reverend, missionary to Indians, 164; Burden, John, 121; Burns, Daniel, 170: Campbell, George, 134; 188; Camlpbell, Mrs. S. S. 91; Campbell, Sidney S., 79, 81, 83, 90, 122, 163, 169, 185, portrait and sketch, 90; Carpenter, George, 114; Case, Nathan C., 81; Cass, General Lewis, 48, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 193, 196; Catlin, Israel, 83, 89; Chilson, Cornelia, 84; Chilson, Mr., 128; Clark, Miss, first teacher in Lower Saginaw, 185; Cobb, Mrs. Geo. P., 83; Coman, Mrs. F., 84; Comnpau, Louis, 51, 62; Compau, Mr., in Salzburg, 23; Cottrell, 162; Crosthwaite,, Wim., i12; Cumming, A. L,. 188; Cushway, Benjamin, 74, 76; Daglish, W., 109; Daily, Michael, 54, 84; Davidson, James, 114; Derr, Fred, 91; Dolsen, 99; Dunbar, E. L., 177, 184; Drake Brothers, 173; Eddy, 99; Essex, Ransom P., 174; Fay, 99; Fennel, W. H., 123; Fisher, C. D., 135; Fisher, S. 0., 102, 134, 167; Fitzhugh, C. C., 131, 167; Fitzhugh, Dr. 21 0 1 AY COU NTY, PA S AND PRE S E NT. D. H., 78, 109; Fitzhugh, H. M., 109; Fraser, James, 76, 77, 78, 84, 85, 99, 109, 128, 134, 163, 169, 195, portrait and sketch, 71: Freeman, C. H., 170; Gates, 99; Graveradt, Jacob, 51; Hall, B. K., 78, 95; Harding, T. K., 180, 182, 184, plortrait, 1 83; Hargrave, 99; Hart, J. B., 92. 93; Hawley, C. R., 168; Hayes, John, 126, 175; Heisordt, Peter S., 187, 188; H-ood, George, 119; Hopkins, 99; Jennison, 99; Jennison, C. E., 109, 168; Knaggs, Captain Whittemore, 48, 63, 193; Lasby, George, trader, 52; Lewis, 99; Lord, George, 92, 93; McCormick family, sketch, 89; McCormick, James, 79, 83, 89, 99, MIcCormick, James J., 99, 109; MIcCormick, W'illiam R., 89, 90, 109, 123, 170, 196, portrait, 89; McI)onald, 85; Mcl)onald, J. N., 122; McDowell, 121; McEwan, Win., 99, 128, 134;McGraw, John, 99, 173; McKnight, J. A., 188; Marsac, Captain Joseph Francois, 62, 63, 79, 81, 83, 193, 196; Masho, 51; Miller, Jesse M., 135, 181; Miller, Judlge Albert, 76, 77, 789,9, 83, 89, 95, 109, 123, 135, 169, 170, 185, 195, 196, portrait and sketch, 76; Moots, Mrs. Cornelia. 23', 84; Munger, A. S., 131, 18|5; MIunger, Curtis, 109, 171; Munger, Laura, 83; Murphy, N. N., 179, 184; Partridge, General B. F., 123, 128, 170, 196; Pierce, Captain Benj. F., 79, 81, 83, 167, 188, portrait and sketch, 173; Pomeroy, 99; Raymond, Col. Henry S., 170; Riley, John, 48, 193; Riley, Stephen. V. R., 51, 64; Robinson, Miss A. E., 186; Rogers, Mrs. Thomas, 83, 87, 88; portrait, 87; Rogers, Thomas, 79. 83, 135, 185; Sage, H. W., 99, 131, 185; Schoville, D. C., 188; Schutjes, Father, 35, 84; Shearer, 99; Shearer, James, 177;Sievers, Rev. Philip, 160; Smith, 99; Smith, David, 185; Smith, Jacob, 64, 193; Stevens, Appleton, 109; Stevens, Sherman, 21; Tromble, 167, 195, 196; Tromble, F. J., 40; Tromble, Gassette, 51; Tromble, Joseph, 35, 51, 54, 74, 75, 79, 84, 85, 91, portrait and sketch, 84; Tromble, Leon, 73, 74, 83, 91; Tromble, Louis, 51, 54; Tromble, Mader, 23, 35, 54, 55, 74, 75, 79, homestead 79, portrait and sketch, 74; Tromble, Mrs., 117; Tromble, Theodore, 21; Trudell, Benj., 127; Trudell, John B., 74, 76; Ward, David, 104; Watrous, 99; Watrous, Martin, 109; Weed, John A., 114; Wilkin, S. V., 168; Williams, B. O., 122; Williams, Ephraim S., 122; Williams, "Uncle" Harvey, 81, 116, 117, 196; Wilson, Captain J. S., 79, 83, portrait and sketch, 82; Wolver ton, Stephen, 81, 126. Plank roads, 128. Plank streets, 129. Police department, 178. Population: Density, 161; distribution, 161; sources, 160; statistics, 139, 140, 206. Portsmouth-See Villages. Portsmouth Salt Conpany, 109. Portsmouth united with Bay City, 174. Postal service, 135, 136. Post offices, 135. Potatoes, 19, 33, 73. Potato river, 7. "Pound" for cattle, 161. Power, present sources, 149. Prairies, 19. 'Press," first newspaper, 162. Primary school fund, 186. Public education, 185. Q Quanicassee river, 7, 195. R Railroads, 131-133; map, 8, 9; Detroit & Mackinac, 158; Detroit, Bay City and Western, 158; Flint and Pere Marquette, 131; Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw, 131, 133, 195; Michigan Central, 131, 133, 158. Rainfall, 12, 13, 14; maps, 16. Range of temperature, 14. Rattlesnakkes, 22, 85. Raw materials, 147. Reasons for location, 82. Recreation, 15, 165; pioneer, 91. Red Rover fire engine, 181. Reference lists, 12, 17, 20, 25, 28, 31, 40, 44, 56, 59, 65, 72, 81, 107, 118, 123, 137, 192-198. Relics, Indian, 27, 28, 30. Religious services, pioneer, 91. Reports, false and misleading, 68. Reserves: John Riley, 65, 73, 78; Indian, 65, 1 93; map, 9. Rice, wild, 19, 33, 192. River navigation, 75, 124-127. Roads, 127-129. Rock formation, 3. Rope ferry, 1 26. Rural free delivery, 136. S Saganing creek, 7, 34. Sage Library, 185, 188, 196. Sage mill, 99, 100, 106, 173. Saginaw bay, effect of winds ffrom, 14, 17; gulf of terror, 68. Saginaw Bay Company, 77, 78, 92. Saginaw County, 169, 170, 197; organized 59, 197. Saginaw Indians, 33, 34, 35, 44, 46, 47, 48, 68, 193. Saginaw Lake, ancient, 4, 6. Saginaw, origin and spelling of name, 29, 192. Saginaw river, origin, 5; size,7. INDEX 211 Saginaw township, 169. Saginaw Treaty, 1819-61-65, 68. Saginaw Valley, see special headings. Saginaw-See Villages. Saloons, 178. Salt formation, a; in Saginaw Valley, 196; manufacture, 108-112; decline, 139; obtained by Indians of region, 31; statistics, 205. Sand dunes, 6. Sand ridges, 5, 6, 11, 161. Sault Ste. Marie, 43 Saws, 105, 106 Sawmills, 105-107; first in Bay County, 78, 95. School buildings, 189. Schools, 185- 190, 195; first in valley, 76. Section divisions, map, 9. Settlement, 72, 73-93. Sewers, 11, 177. Shade trees, 176. Shape, Bay County, 2: lay City, 3. Shiawassee river, 33. Shipbuilding, 47, 112-114, 194, 196; decline, 139. Shores, ancient, 6, 11. Shrubs, 19. Sidewalks, plank. 130. Size of Bay County, comparative, 2. Skull Island: Location, 30; massacre, 29,, 30, 202. Snow storms, 13. Soil, 11; influence on vegetation, 18; in northern part of county, 161. Soft rock in Michigan, 3. Sources of population, 160. South Bay City, fire, 180..Spanish in North America, 42. Speculation in land, 77, 78. Stage routes, 128. Standard Hoop Company, 106. Steamboats on Saginaw river, 70, 75, 81, 124-127, 195, 196. Steam ferry, 127. Steam sawmill, 78, 95, 99. Stone age implements, 27. Stone roads, 129; map, 8, 9. Storms, 12, 13. Street railway, 133-135. Streets, 129. Sturgeon, 115. Sugar beet industry, 141, 145, 192. Summer resorts, 15, 165. Superstitions of Indians, 31, 192. Supreme Court of Michigan, 171. Surface, 5, 130. Surveyors, 68, 81, 194, 197. Swamps, 5, 7, 11, 18, 19,, 33, 68, 131, 135, 194; drained, 7. T Telegraph and telephone, 137. Temperature, 13, 14, 15,,17; map, 16. "Thumb" of Michigan, 2, 69,, 155, 158. Tide on lakes, none, 5. "Tiger" fire engine, 181. Tobico Bay, 5. Toboggan slides, 166, 167. Toll bridge, 127. Toll gate, 128. Towers, electric, 176. Townships, 174, 206; Bangor, 5; Frankenlust, 160, 171, 174; Fraser, 6; Gibson, 6, 7; Hampton, 169, 171, 197; Merritt, 6; Monitor, 59; Mount Forest, 6, 7; Pinconning, 6, 7, 20; Saginaw, 169; Williams, 59, 170, 171. Training school, 189. Transfer system for freight, 134. Transportation, 124-135, 195; advantages today, 145; bus lines, 134; city streets, 129; county roads, 127; crossing the river, 126; electric, 134; railroads, 131; river navigation, 124; street railways, 133-135. Trapping, 55. Travel, early, 7, 71, 83- 85, 90, 195; Indians, 33; winter, 131. Treaties: Detroit, 1807-61; Greenville, 1795-61, 67; Indian, 61, 64; Jay's 47; Paris, 47; Saginaw, 1819-61-65, 68, 193. Tributaries of Saginaw river, 7, 33. "Try Us" fire engine, 181. Tuscola plank road, 128. U Union school district, 188. Union school, west side, 188. U. S. soldiers at Saginaw, 69. U. S. surveys, 125. V. Varied soil, 11. Vegetables, 19, 20. Vegetation, 17, 18-20, 192. Villages: Auburn, 174; Banks (Bangor), 84, 174; Detroit founded, 44; Essexville, 174; incorporation, 171; Indian, 33, 34; Kawkawlin, 174; Lower Saginaw, 54, 62, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 94, 196; Pinconning, 174; Portsmouth, 77, 78, 79, 81, 83, 174, 196; Saginaw, 69, 70, 73, 74; Salzburg, 7, 26; Wenona, 7, 26, 33, 173, 196. W "Walk-in-the-Water"-first steamboat on Great Lakes, 70. War of 1812-47, 67, 193. Washington and the Indians, 61. Water level, 17. WVater supply, 177. Wayne County, 59. Wells, deep, 177. Wenona-See Villages. Wenonah Park, 163, 167. West Bay City, 174. Westerly winds, 12, 15. Wheeler's shipyard, 106, 114. White Feather creek, 7. White owl legends, 203. 212 BAY COUNTY, PAST AND PRESENT. White pine, 18. Wholesale distribution, 155. Wigwam, 35, 203. "Wild Cat" bank, 80. Wild flowers, 19; fruits, 19; vegetables, 19, 20. Winds, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17; effect on water level, 17. Wolverine, habits, 24. Wolves, 23. Wooden pipes, 119. Woodenware works, 51, 119, 140. Wyckoff pavement, 129. Y Y. M. C. A. 164, 165. Y. W. C. A., 165. Young, W. D., hardwood flooring plant, 152. Bay County Corn I I I I I - -02 - - I~d - 3m O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~