i '" ~-\i (\ . ' '-\ R--.f:\) '\,\' ~ ~--...A.-"--.A.. \\ . ~

t5'"e.;w;r &l :&& ...,., .~,.t z·:::::::::iil Lynnet Johnson 1038 LindellA"" . J Fetoslrey, Ml 49770

PEOPLE PLACES . HAPPENINGS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN BY WILLIAM H. OHLE

A warm thank you to the Little Traverse Bay Sea Serpent for permission to use his portrait" on the front cover. For well over a centnry his riant self has been sighted from time to time playing out on the Bay. He is a good natured mascot, who never hurt a fly.

'As it appeared in the May 14, 1895 issue ofthe Petoskey Independent Democrat. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS "PEOPLE, PLACES AND HAPPENINGS" is a collection of articles that have appeared overthe past two decades in "The Graphic" , a tabloid published by the Petoskey News-Review for the enjoyment of vacationers_

The author extends his thanks to that fme newspaper for permission to reprint them in book form.

Photographs in this volume come from many sources. The cover portrait of the Petoskey Sea-Serpent was drawn by some unknown local artist almost a century ago. The drawing of a voyageur canoe on page 1 is reprinted from The Graphic for Sept 17,1992; the photo oflames Strang on page 5 is reprinted from The TraverseRegion, H.R. Page & Co, Chicago 1904; the Indian River Stagecoach on page lOis a reproduction of a John Kilborn photo that was printed in the The Graphic, June 24,1982; the John Askin's volumes picnrred on page 14 appear courtesy The Petoskey PublicLibrary. The photo ofH. O. Rose is copiedfromNorthernMichigan, by B.F. Bowen & Co, Chicago, 1905; the photos of the New Arlington Hotel and its ashes on page 23 and 26 respectively, appear courtesy of the Little Traverse Historical Society; the Passenger Pigeon's likeness on page 28 was borrowed from the same source; Madame La Framboise's house on page 32 and the early photo of the Grand Hotel, both are copied from Mackinac Island, It's History in Picture, by Eugene Petersen, Superintendent ofthe Park Commission, published by the Commission in 1973; The photo of a Charlevoix City plat map is reproduced from The 1901 Plat Book ofCharlevoix County, Michigan; the picture of Ephraim Shay at the throttle of his "Hemlock Central" engine on page 48 appears courtesy of the Little Traverse Historical Society; the photos of the Horton Bay Store on page 51 and the old Horton Bay Methodist Church on page 85 are from How It Was in Horton Bay, by William H. Ohle, Horton Bay, 1989. The photo of Mark Twain is reproduced from the frontispiece photo in Mark Twain's West, editied by Walter Blair for the Lakeside Press, R.R. Donnelly & Sons Company, Chicago, 1983; the ice pick on page 59 is owned by Mr. & Mrs. Dick Dixon of Boyne City; the Petoskey R.R. Station photo on page 62 appears courtesy The Little Traverse Historical Society collection; the photo of John Redpath, page 68 is reproduced from Opening and Closing With Prayer, the Centennial account of the First Presbyterian Church of Boyne City, compiled by William H. Oble 1983; the photo of Edger Conkling's portrait on page 73 appears courtesy of Ken Teysen of Mackinaw City; the picture of Father Charlevoix on page 75 first appeared in the Traverse Region, H.R. Page & Co., Chicago, 1904; Henry Schoolcraft's likeness on page 79, is from "Hiawatha" by Charles S. and Stellanova Osborne, The Jaques Cattell Press, Lancaster, Pa, 1944; Amelia Earhart's favorite picture is from "The Sound ofWings", by Mary S. Lovell, St. Martins Press, New York, 1989; the picture ofSilas Overpack's Big Wheels on page 92 appears in Pictorial HistoryofMichigan, TheEarly Years, by WilliamB. EerdmansPublishing Company, 1967.

Publi,shed by the Author, at 05081 Lake Street, Horton Bay, Boyne City, Michigan 49712 FOREWORD Northern Michigan is truly a unique area. Besides being the home of many rematkable people in its short recorded history, and the famous sea­ serpent; its wetland area is host to a big-foot creature, heatd but not seen, and first reported by Henry Schoolcraft a centnry ago as "The Windigo". Natives of this beautiful land know about such local fauna, of course, but spend little time confiding in visitors, being too busy making your stay enjoyable and scratching out a living during our short growing season. So, come spend a few hours with an eighty-year·old fudgie who has pored over many a curious volume oflocallore to dig out a few truths and a few fictions about people,places and superstitions to season your Os" programs - sunset-watching, swimming, sailing, sunning and skiing in this great patch of Michigan.

II INDEX Page Acknowlegements ...... i

Forward ...... ii Rapid Transit Michigan Style ...... 1 James J. Strang, King of the Beaver Island Mormons ...... 5 Stagecoach ...... ,...... 10 John Askin of Mackinac !4 Mr. Hiram Rose, Father of Petoskey...... 18 -/Petoskey's Arlington Hotel ...... 23

Ectopistes Migratorius 28

Two Madames of Mackinac 32 "Please excuse Mistakes" ...... 35 The Grand Hotel 38 Ephaim Shay, Self·Made Inventor Friend of Harbor Springs Kids 48 The Rescue of Horton Bay ...... 51 Tom Sawyer Visits Petoskey 54 lceAIa Mode 58 When The Railroad Came To Town ...... 62 A Servant of God 68 Metropolitan Mackinac City 71 Keshkanko The Beautiful 75 The Song of Hiawatha ...... 78

Flying Lady 81 Horton Bay Wedding Bells 84 Michigan's Oldest living Thing? 89

iii Voyageurs en route to Mackinac

RAPID TRANSIT MICHIGAN STYLE!

The only way for people to come to northern Michigan in the old days - the very old days - was by canoe.

Not only were there no trains or autos to help travelers, usually curious Frenchmen or British in search of the fabled "northwest passage" to the Orient, but all were so mortally afraid of the Iroquois who lived in present western New York State and northern Ohio that they shunned the Lake Erie region like the plague. The stayed so far away from the Iroquois that Lake Erie wasn't even discovered until the other Great Lakes were familiar territory.

Under the circumstances, to get to the Mackinac region and the Sault and Lake Superior country, the best way was to paddle endless miles up the conveniently situated Ottawa River for hundreds of miles, then portage south via the Mattawa and French Rivers, and follow the north shore of Lake Huron west to Mackinac, the fIrst civilized outpost. One could then keep going, up the St. Mary's River to the Sault and across Lake Superior and still farther, using the Canadian river systems. A certain group of men made their living doing that, yearafteryear, in search offurs. The fur trade was dominatedflrst by the French, then the English and later by the Americans, but all three were in on the act from the late 1600's to the early 19th century.

1 ---~.,------~

No matter which country was at the top of the heap, the mode of travel There were 36 portages to negotiate between Montreal and Mackinac. stayed the same. The folks who did the hard work -the paddling -were the From Mackinac to Lake Winnepeg there were 36 more! voyageurs. They were almost all French-Canadian with sometimes more The nature of the job established a few basics for voyager candidates: than a splash of Indian blood. - They had to be short because leg-room was limited in a canoe. A more hairy-chested vocation could hardiy be imagined, and, as Dr_ -They had to be very strong, especially from the waist up, in order Grace Lee Nute, long afront-rank authority on the subject, put it: "It is time to endure the rigors of paddling 15 to 18 hours a day for weeks to write the history of the voyageur. His canoe has long since vanished on end. from northern waters; his red cap is seen no more, a bright spot against - They had to have a good singing voice_ the blue of Lake Superior and a thousand streams. His sprightly French Canoes carried from 6 to 14 men. They normally traveled in groups of 3 conversation punctuated with gestures, his elaborate courtesy, his to 30 canoes. incurable romanticism, his songs, his superstitions are gone... but, in certain old books and unpublished manuscripts, he still lives ... "The En route they sang in their native French of their canoes, their lives, their voyageur was a standard part of the scene at Mackinac. He contributed at loves, their church - in jingles and lofty poems, with bawdy variations. least as much to the opening of his frontier as the American cowboy. He was "in" for almost two hundred years_ His role in the fur-trading world Water distances were measured in "pipes", which varied in time and was to supply raw power for the beaver-men, theJohnJacob Astor straw­ distance according to the difficulty of the particular stretch of water they bosses and other "company" men. happened to be traveling. These were brief respites, signalled by the leader forthe express purpose ofa few minutes "time out" for resting and Once upon a time, before the voyageurs, the Indians had hand-delivered smoking a clay pipeful of tobacco. furs from the far north to Montreal and Quebec, but fear of the Iroquois slowed this activity to a crawl. When the leader called" AIIumez" (free translation: "the smoking lamp is lighted"), paddles were shipped, tired shoulders laid back on thwarts or French traders recognized the problem and decided to go into the field for baggage, "sacs a feu" opened, pipes fliled and lighted. Jokes were traded beaver, otter, mink and bear pelts. for ten minutes, or so, then back to paddling until the next pipe, perhaps an hour along the way. The competitive aspect of travel into the wild interior of the country appealed to the traders and their hired paddlers alike. It became an annual The birch canoe was the standard vehicle. The really big ones, called race to the frontier. Paddling big canoes loaded with trade-goods against Montreal canoes, were forty feet long and were built especially for use on the current was the hardest kind ofiabor, but the challenge was always the Great Lakes and large rivers like the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa and there. Whoever got to the indians in their own backyard first, was likely required a crew of fourteen. They weighed up to 300 pounds and could to come away with the pick of the winter's trapping. carry five tons. Lighter "north canoes" had a capaCity of about 3,000 pounds and were manned by eight men. All canoes had a bowsman The voyageurs belonged to a class, as distinct in dress and tradition as forward, a steersman in the rear and six or more middlemen, the latter lumberjacks and saIlors. Voyageurs were "legends in their own time", sharing seats, two by two. looked up to by men and little boys, envied for their swaggering, carefree Paddles and canoes were gaily ornamented, and there was a piece of existence, a rough, tough, happy fraternity_ oilcloth for use as a sail in congenial weather, plus a large sponge for bailing. They wore red shirts, a red woolen cap, deerskin leggings held up with a piece of rope around the middle, and deerskin moccasins. They sported A line, some sixty yards long, was used for "cordelling" (towing) canoes a blue capote (cape),a clay pipe and a gaudy sash with agaybeadedpo uch over shallow rapids. This method was employed whenever practicable to hanging from it. avoid the task of unloading and carrying on backs, the freight and food They were numbered in the thousands, and quite a bit is known about and the canoe, over a portage. them since licenses were required_ For example, in 1777, a total of2,431 "new" licenses were issued. The length of a given portage was rated in "poses". A pose was the name for each leg ofa carrying place. Ifthe portage was along one, as much gear Assuming that at least as many "hivernants" (winterers), had stayed in the as possible would be toted part way, then dropped as the crew returned high country instead of returning to the cities that year, there were at least for another load. This process continued until all baggage and the canoe 5,000 voyageurs in action. were piled at the resting place. The process was repeated until canoes, bag and baggage had all been delivered to the launching place. Some "stations" were a good two thousand miles from Montreal, and a heavy share of the voyageurs' job involved portaging canoes and loads For portaging heavy loads, a forehead harness called a "Portage Collar", a from a few feet to a mile or more, over almost impossible terrain. strap about three inches wide, helped balance the load of perhaps three hundred pounds so it could more readily be piggy-backed along the trail.

2 ~ Two meals a day were eaten, breakfast and tbe evening meal. A typical ration was a quart of peas (or lyed com), and two or tbree ounces of grease, pork or bacon. Dried buffalo meat, called "pemmican" was standard fare in the far northwest. JAMES J. STRANG Preparation of meals was simple. A tin kettle holding eight to ten quarts KING of water was heated over a fire and tbe Pe;lS or com were added. Just before cooking was finished several biscuits were tossed in. of the Occasionally wild game, bird eggs or fish supplemented tbe diet, along BEAVER ISLAND witb the highly regarded beaver-tail, which was so desirable it was MORMONS approved for eating even during Lent.

At tbe end of the journey, and occasionally at stop-overs like Mackinac Have you yet heard of James Island, the Sault or Grand Portage, voyageurs had ample time to relax -and Jesse Strang, tlle only person sometimes get in trouble. ever to be crowned king in the United States of America? Carnival was the order of the day - and night. If not, pull up your easy chair Not all voyageurs stayed at tbeirdestination all winter. Some would return and tune in to a short, strange to Montreal or Quebec, then more often than not, join another group lesson in your country's bound upstream. The voyageur life-style got into the blood! history that doesn't get much play in America's schools. Grace Nute quotes one of them, long past 70 years of age, who perhaps spoke forthe whole wild breed: "I could carry, paddle, walk and sing with It all happened thirty or so any man I ever saw. I have been 24 years a canoe-man and 41 years in miles west of where you are service" _ "No portage was ever too long for me. Fifty songs could I sing. James Jesse Strang - at the height of his career. sitting, if you are in Petoskey, I have saved tbe lives of ten voyageurs, have had twelve wives and six or thirty-two miles, NNW, if running dogs. Were I young again I should spend my life the whole way you are in Charlevoix. In over". "There is no life so happy as a voyageur's life". summer you can enjoy a ride on a regularly scheduled ferry-boat from Charlevoix, daily, to King Strang's ex-kingdom if you are so inclined. The border lakes between Canada and tbe United States saw twice every season large numbers of staid company partners (bourgeois), coming or At tbe time our story begins, one-hundred and fifty years ago, James going on their journeys_ These men wore feather plumes in their caps for Strang, a native New Yorker, was a resident of the village of Voree, tbey had been baptized Nor'westers on their first trip across the "Height Wisconsin, near Burlington in western Racine County. of land" - the watershed. A born leader and possessor of strong intellect, Strang had recently This baptism was never omitted when "pork-eaters", as the inexperienced become acquainted with the MOffi1on religion during the waning days of voyageurs were called, passed tbat way. It consisted of being sprinkled by Joseph Smitb, head-man of the main MOffi1on group, then living in a cedar bow dipped in water... after tbe ceremony, of course, the new Nauvoo, Illinois, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. Nor'westerwas expected to treat all hands to high wine ... Sounds just like college fraternity high-jinks, doesn't it? Perhaps "hooked" is a better word, as Strang bent tireless effort to become a recognized leader in the Mormon movement, recruiting lieutenants and Sad to relate, mosquitoes and black flies were at least as prevalent then as proselyting new converts all over soutbern Wisconsin. now! To Strang's great disappointment, on tbe untimelydeatb of Smith, he was unsuccessful in his effort to be named head of all tbe Mormons. As everyone knows Brigham Young won tbat honor, and soon led the main MOffi1on flock in their long trek west to the Great Salt Lake region of Utah. Bowed but undaunted, Strang continued to build his MOffi1on splinter group around Voree. In a search for a place where he could nourish his flockin relative privacy, Strang learned oftbe availability for homesteading of tbe Beaver Islands in Lake Michigan, a few miles north of Grand Traverse Bay.

4 5 He immediately saw the possibilities of setting up a wonderfully isolated "As for his official position on Beaver Island, and entitlement to administer settlement populated exclusively by his followers. Before long he had justice to his Mormons, Strang settled any question abruptly", according moved many of them - and himself - to Big Beaver Island. to D. C. Leach, pioneer local historian, in his volume The Traverse Region. "lnJuly, 1850 the government of the (Beaver Island Mormon) church was The prospects for a livelihood forthe little colony were good. The waters thoroughly reorganized by the union of church and state, and the abounded with fish, and the island was covered with a lush growth of formation of a kingdom, with Strang as King. Insubordination was not hardwood, idealforrefuelingthesteadilyincreasingnumberofsteamships tolerated for a moment, but promptly and vigorously punished. His plying the Great Lakes between Chicago and Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland followers believed obedience to his commands was a duty, asserting that and Buffalo. For Strang at last, this was the place! Strang's was the only valid government on earth". Realizing that increasing numbers were an important key to success, If there seemed to be more than a touch of arrogance in James Strang's Strang began recruiting all through the eastern states. Through sheer behavior all along, his victory in the Detroit court brought it to full flower. salesmanship he persuaded hundreds of families to abandon their roots and move to his remote Paradise. Back in 1837 the fIrst reasonably accurate census of Michigan concluded that there were about 850 persons in Michigan living north of Saginaw Exact figures are slippery, but it is estimated that the Strangite Mormons Bay, including men, women and children, whites and Indians enumerated. numbered about 2,000 souls at the peak in the mid-1850's. By 1853 not much had occurred to change that picture except the arrival of the Mormons on Beaver Island, whose 165 eligible voters could and did Success in recruiting was a heady experience forthe young leader, but he sway elections! understood that a steady program ofimprovement was necessary to keep his people in line. In 1850 he purchased a printing press and started a Realizing that unique political power rested in his hands through the weekly newspaper, The Northern Islander, for the edification and votes of his "saints", Strang filed for a seat in the Michigan Legislature, enjoyment of his flock. News was not hard to come by. Visiting steamers winning easily. Anti-Mormons in Lansing tried to prevent him from taklng were the best source, and the papers provided a forum for the colony his seat, but he was overwhelmingly accepted by vote of the House development and control. membership. Fora brief time the newspaper appeared as a daily, but all that white space Soon he was recognized in press articles around the state as "eloquent", was too much for even Strang to fill, and he reverted to weekly frequency. "honorable", "the most talented debater in the house", according to Doyle Fitzpatrick, A Strang biographer. Before long outside authorities began to take notice that Strang was running his community according to his own rules, paying little attention The LansingJournal said: "he speaks with a force of reasoning, energy, to state or federal1aws in the process. and eloquence which leaves a most favorable opinion of his personal qualifications" . At the time, legal authoriry for the whole region was seated at Macklnac Island and Strang soon found himself in trouble with both the Sheriff of Before long, Strang went to work on his hidden agenda; the real reason Macklnaw County and IslandJustice of the Peace Charles O'Malley. he had sought election. He introduced the idea of an island county which would embrace the Beaver archipelago, including the Fox and Manitou The latter attained fame in some circles later on when, as a state legislator, Islands. He easily prevailed upon his colleagues to vote Manitou County he persuaded his colleagues to attach Irish names to a number of new into existence. He also insti-tuted a "dress code" for Island women. northern Michigan counties, Emmet, Antrim, Clare, Roscommon, for example, for which Henry Schoolcraft had suggested mellifluous Indian Manitou County remained on the state map for forty years, but distances names, but that is another story! Strang, who was haled into court at berween the islands and other factors made true organization impractical Macklnac for several court appearances before juries, talked himself out and the county was dissolved as a political entity in 1895. of trouble. His greatest court triumph was when he and a group of followers were ordered by President Filimore to appear in federal court One reason for its collapse was that only months stood between the time in Detroit to answer to charges oftrespass, counterfeiting and mishandling it was organized and the violent death of its founder, Strang. the mails. Strang's absences to attend to duties in Lansing led to klngly neglect of his The government sent the 163-foot Michigan, Uncle Sam's first iron-hulled island subjects. The Mormon flock was showing signs ofstrain and unrest. warship, to Beaver Island to transport Strang to Detroit. There followed It was evident "a major rebellion had arisen over the bloomer costume", a two week trial, in which Strang argued that his Mormons were victims says Roger VanNoord, in his book, King of Beaver Island. Ah, modesty! of persecution by "gentiles" from the mainland; the jury rerurned a verdict of "not guilty". It seems that at a church conference in July, 1855, Strang, ever tlle strict disciplinarian, had decreed that all Mormon women wear bloomers

6 7 instead of more conventional skirts. The new rule was based on a stricture and sired a dozen children, distinguished himselfas a legislator, published in Strang's Book of The Law of The Lord, requiring lady "saints" to dress a newspaper, wrote an authoritatlve book The Book of The Law of The in a manner "seeming and convenient". To Strang this meant that women Lord, and talked 2,000 people into transplanting their fives and hopes to of the colony were required to adopt full-length calico pantalets, covered an island in the middie ofLake Michigan, ruled them with an iron hand and by a matching straight-waisted dress reaching down to the knees. (it was made them like it! pointed out that his fIrst wife had worn this garb for fIve years). Thus lived and died a king at the height of his powers at age 53, a victim Alas, in spite of kingly pressure including public harassment in the one might say, ofhis own insistence thatpantaloons were more appropliate Islander for non-conformity, many wives rebelled. for lady COnverts than dresses of the day! An irate Islander, Thomas Bedford, used the incident as one more straw in a personal feud he had with the king over other matters. The sequence of events is murky, but Bedford was soon seized by Mormon authorities and publicly whipped for "lying and tale-bearing". Bedford immediately plotted to kill Strang. June 15, 1856, Uncle Sam's Michigan steamed into St.James Harbor. Next day Strang, in company with one of the ship's pilots, walked from his home to the pier to viSit the ship's skipper.

As the two men stepped onto the dock, Bedford and an accomplice, Alexander Wentworth, sneaked quietly behind them and fIred at Strang who fell to the deck, seriously wounded. Wentworth fIred again, hitting Strang in the face, then fled. Bedford and Wentworth were taken on the Michigan to Mackinac Island and delivered to the sheriff. Most Mackinac Islanders bore little love for the Mormons and none were surprised when Bedford and Wentworth were fIned $1.15 each, and released. Meanwhile, the Saints on Beaver Island were in a state of confusion. Gentiles from the mainland, happy to learn of Strang's fate, wasted no time organizing a raiding party to harass the Saints, and ran them off the island. Most of them fled to the Pine Lake and Emmet County hills, others scattered along the west coast of Michigan. With their leader dead, the Strangite movement completely disintegrated. Today debate concerning Strang's sincerity and integrity goes on. Was he a monumental scoundrel, manipulating people and local, state and even the federal authorities with dark intentions? Orwas he truly inspired in all his remarkable achievements? There are persons living in this area and others widely scattered, descendants of the Beaver Island Saints of one hundred and fItty years ago, who yet believe in King James. The Charlevoix and Petoskey libraries are well-stocked with information about Beaver Island history and its persuasive king. Before you ride the ferry from Charlevoix to visit the island and its one-of­ a-kind museum, the original Mormon print-shop, take time to read a bit more about a seJi-proclaimed monarch who had five wives at one time

R 9 Originally known as the "Great Sauk Trail", un-numbered generations of red men had trooped over it, single file, on missions ofpeace or war, until, with the passage of time they had beaten a narrow pathway deep in the soil. After the establishment of military garrisons at Detroit and Chicago, this pathway acquired importance to white men. Over it passed the earliest postmen in the Northwest, soldiers carrying mail and offIcial dispatches between the posts, "following it's sinuous windings that resembled a huge serpent, lazily pursuing its onward course". The trail was improved to a road ofsorts in 1833, and a stream of pioneers poured westward along it. To fulfill mail contracts, contractors kept making minimal improvements to insure that stages could get through. As time passed, ofcourse, similar roads were established in the northern part of the state.

"The stagecoach provided uncomfortable One of them was developed in 1853, sixteen years after publication of transporation for a lot of people_" Mitchell's map, when a contract was let by the government to A. Tracy Lay, pfthe flrm of Hannah & Lay in Traverse City, "to carry the mails from Manistee to Traverse City". Lay was to be paid $400 per year for providing STAGECOACH regular service. The aim v;.ras to improve the service provided by "old Joe Greensky" who for some time had toted a mail pouch on his back and later When Michigan became a state in 1837, the only white men's towns ofany on horseback the 62 miles between the towns. consequence were Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace and Mackinac (Island). One reason so few communities had been established above the flrst few tiers Lay hired a young pioneer by the name ofH.D. Campbell to be in direct of counties was that the interior part of the state was Virtually impassable charge of the improved service, and, in 1854 aPost OffIce was established except for a few Indian trails. in Traverse City to facilitate matters. !fyou couldn't get where you wanted to go bywater, you could hardly get In 1861 Campbell was appointed postmaster of Traverse City, then still a there at all. tiny lumbering town whose prinCipal contact with the outside world was in the summertime, by water. Campbell followed the procedure that had Help was on the way, thouSI1' A fme old map of Michigan published by proved successful in southern Michigan, he simply appropriated an old Augustus Mitchell in 1837, fifty years after the Northwest Ordinance had Indian Trail to Big Rapids. A one-way trip required two days, and it was been passed by Congress, lists, besides four scheduled steamboat routes, passable most of the time, even in winter. Road improvements soon three principal stage routes. They were: followed. From Detroit by (way of) Dearbomville, Ypsilanti, Fuller's, Saline, Clinton, Tecumsah,]onesville,Coldwater, Sturgis Prairie, By 1873, the expansion-minded Campbell boasted in his advertising that White Pigeon, Mottville, Edwardsburg, Niles, Lakeport, LaPorte, he was operating a line of u.s. Mail and Express stages "in every county and Michigan City to Chicago, IllinOis, 295 miles, three times a in Northwest Midligan". week. The Clam Lake (later, Cadillac), run left Traverse City every morning at From Detroit by (way of) Monguagon, Brownstown, Monroe, Bay 5:00 a.m. Passengers ate breakfast at an inn along the way at 6:30. The line Settlement, Toledo, Maumee, 0., and Perrysburg to Lower "never failed to connect with the GR&I (Grand Rapids and Indiana RR) Sandusky, 102 miles, three times a week. whose rails had just reached Clam River on the way to Petoskey, and Mackinaw City. Fare, Traverse City to Clam L'ke was $4. It included pick­ From Monroe by (way of) Atkinson, Raisinville, SummerfIeld, up at your Traverse City door. Kidzie's Grove, Blissfleld and Adrian to Tecumsah, 32 miles, twice a week. By the end of the mid-1870's Campbell's lines covered 3,300 miles weekly in eleven counties, delivering and picking up mail at post offices en route The longest of these routes, the one from Detroit to Chicago was known 420 times per week. by everyone simply as the Chicago Road. According to Milo Quaife, noted University of Michigan historian, the beginnings of that road "are lost in Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Campbell's northbound stage left the mists ofantiquity. Like most American routes, it waS originally marked Traverse City at 7:00 a.m. for Elk Rapids, Brownstown (Torch Lake) and out by native americans, if not, indeed by buffalo herds." Charlevoix, connecting atthelatterwith service to Bear River(petoskey),

10 1 1 little Traverse (Harbor Springs), Cheboygan, Mackinaw City and the And in the same issue, same column, another ad read, "Stageline, Petoskey Upper Peninsula. and Cheboygan, each day at 7:00 a.m., Sundays excepted, E.C. Beecher, Prop." One could leave Grand Rapids by stage at 10:00 a.m., stay overnight at Elk Rapids and arrive at Charlevoix the following day. With identical scheduling, the race for business must have been fierce. A squib in the Petoskey paper a few weeks later suggested as much: "One Maintenance of scheduled service required intricate arrangements, of the stage horses coming in on the Cheboygan run was taken sick and includiog regular stops three to five miles apatt for passenger comfort. died about one mile from here Tuesday, last". Frequent equipment breakdowns necessitated refuge availabilities that weren't too far apart, and for care and exchange of horses. Sometimes, On the eastern side of the state the earliest mail deliveries from Saginaw equipment seemed accident-prone. English writer, Harriett Martineau, to Sault Ste. Marie, via Cheboygan, were by dog-team. In 1874 Frank on a trip across Michigan commented in notes she later published: "As Sammons suggested mOving mail up the Cheboygan River, then into soon as we entered the woods (heading west from Detroit for Chicago), Indian River, Burt and Crooked Lakes, to connect with the GR&I, which the road became as bad as I suppose roads ever are. We had a breakdown, had reached Petoskey on the last day of 1873. and our gentlemen passengers helped make repairs." "We ladies walked on, gathering flowers and picking our way across the swampy corduroy Unfortunately for him the logistics and cost of constructing necessary road (cedar logs laid crosswise in swampy places to keep the horses and facilities prevented success forthis venture, but with the help of "swamp· coach from sinking into the morass)." "In less than an hour the stage took land" resources the famous Inland Route gradually materialized. It has us up. No more accidents before breakfast!" furnished diversion for resorters ever since. It was "too slow" for mail purposes. Instead of springs, which had not yet been invented, coaches were mounted on leather straps and had a rocking motion, in fact, were know No complete record of stage coach operation in the north has ever been as "Rockaways". The driver sat on a high seat in front. Under the seat was compiled but old newspaper clippings testify to the vigorous presence of a box for mail bags. Trunks were strapped on behind and a railing on top that business, even after railroads became established. For example: "The secured other luggage and sometimes extra passengers. Inside, the stage leaves Alba every Friday morning for South Arm and East]ordan near passengers sat on rows of seats facing each other. Lake Michigan, returning Saturday". According to "Sail and Rail", a charming book by Lawrence and Lucille "The "post office" that was first used in Kalkaska was a large elm tree on Wakefield of Traverse City, "Mail coaches were drawn by four to six the premises of]ames Greason. It was probably the largest tree in the city, horses normally, slower coaches occasionally by two. Speed was from measuring thirty·three feet around and hollow at the bottom. It stood on four to ten miles and hour depending on the condition of the road". the side of the road a little distance out of town. Those going to Kalkaska would carry mail for parties residing there, taking it up from where it had George Catlin in a 1948 Michigan History article said: "horses were been tucked away in the tree. Butnowwe have a post office and tri·weekiy frequently changed, and at each place of change there was a wayside inn mail". with both solid and liquid refreshments, and a large watering trough". "The ladies would get out and stretch their limbs (not "legs" in those days). The Boyne Citizen for January 6, 1888 reported: "Ed Newville, genial The men would enter the bar "to see a man" , and emerge with a suspicious proprietor of the Boyne City Livery Stable, who is ever alert to the needs breath but look refreshed, and the coach would dash away with the of the traveling public... had decided to run a stage line between Boyne cracking of the driver'S whip and sometimes the tooting of a hom kept City and Ironton, three trips weekly each way". Also, "regular stages are handy for the purpose". run between Boyne City and Boyne Falls by Messrs Hull and Mitchell, who have a splendid new stage made by D. C. Nettleton of Charlevoix. Frequently owners of livery stables would decide to compete in the stagecoach business. Fora brief time in the late 1880's there were twelve In 1884, the Frankfort editor reported, "The post office at Frankfort different lines running between Charlevoix and Petoskey. Seasoned received mail twice a week from Traverse City, but the postman got tired veterans like Traverse City's Campbeil made a point of encouraging of bothering with the office. For a time the mail was brought by private competition. In the]anuary 1st, 1872 issue ofThe Grand Traverse Herald enterprise from Benzonia to a post office set up inMcCallum's drug store". he taunted a newcomer in a big ad: "Come on brother Hutchinson, you are welcomed in this enterprise. Stage delivery of mail and passengers remained practical around here for There's lots of room with the music of hooting owls and the howling of years and it apparently was never beset by wild and woolly adventures wolves. I welcome competition!" such as those experienced "out west". No shootouts, no holdups, on the record, at least. An ad in the Emmet County Democrat for November 29, 1878, announced that "The Petoskey and Cheboygan stage will leave Rose House, Petoskey, Readers will be pleased to hear that H.D. Campbell, Traverse City's at 7:00 a.m., Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Will leave Cheboygan on enterprising first postmaster and large-scale stage operator, built the Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 7:00 a.m. For freight or passage apply to Dr. Original Park Place Hotel in the City, and that said hotel has recently been Little of Rose House, Petoskey. David Smith, prop." vastly and tastefully renovated for use by the traveling public.

12 11 JOHN ASKIN He warehoused com and grain that arrived on British ships, and provi· OF MACKINAC sioned all comers. Soon, he was appointed commissary to the Fort.

Some of the true tales that make up the According to David Armour of the Mackinac Island State Park staff, "The lore of the old NorthwestTerritoryare Welcome immediately began regular runs to Detroit, returning with really bizarre. Real·life stories abound grain, dried foodstuffs, furniture, chinaware, guns, ammunition and a in the history of the fur trade in the wide variety of trade goods for the Fort community". Michillimackinac area. Responding to all this success, Askin set about building several more Men like Parrick Sinclair, Jonathon vessels which further improved his comfortable status. Carver, Alexander Henry, Gurdon Hubbard and doctors Beaumont and lt occurred to Askin that there were profit possibilities in garden crops, Mitchell are all worthy of full·length since fresh vegetables were hard to come by in the rapidly growing Fort treatment in novels as powerful and community. He applied for and was granted title to some nearby farm land compelling as the Pulitzer Prize·win· to expand output from his small vegetable garden. ning Northwest Passage ofa few years ago. The site he chose was near a small lake within several miles of the Fort, today known as "French Farm Lake". The soil here was fairly fertile The resident archeologist for the compared to the sterile sand in the immediate viciniry of the Fort. Mackinac State Park Commission, Dr. Donald P. Heldman, has his own spe· Oddly, although the existence ofthis farm has been known for many years cial candidate for greatness from that The fascinating records of John Askin because Askin maintained a meticulous diary, its exact location had never exciting place and time· John Askin. an important Mackinac pioneer been pinned down. Then, in 1981, two young amateur histOrians, David Nixon and Kim Acker called on Donald Heldman, director of Archeology Although not nearly so well·known as some of his contemporaries, Askin for the Park Commission, and showed him some tantalizing artifacts they was an equally red·bloodedJack·of.many·trades who met the wilderness had uncovered just a couple of miles from the old Fort location. on its owvn ~enns and came out a winner. He ended up a man of wealth even by modem standards· for a while at least. Dr. Heldman immediately inspected the site and suspected that it might be the old Askin farm. Though short on time and manpower because of Born in Ireland around 1740, Askin migrated to the new world when the many on·going "digs" at the old Fort, on the Island, and at Mill Creek, barely out of his teens to fight for the British army in our French and Indian Dr. Heldman grew so convinced of the importance of the new find that War. He is known to have fought in the Battle of Ticonderoga, among in 1983 he prepared a comprehensive report on the farm, which sug· others. gested the broad scope ofAskin'slong·agoventure. Detailed investigation is still "on hold". Says Heldman: "To judge from the diary kept by Askin he Not long after that engagement he established himself at Albany, New quickiy began to work on these acres of suitable soil...his remarkable York, "in the Indian trade", when that city was a frontier town. document makes clear that he raised crops and maintained farm animals even before approval of his request forthe acreage". "No mention is made One ofhis partners in that venture was the famous Robert Rogers, but that of a farmhouse in the diary. It is possible that he continued to live on the relationship turned out so badly that it took Askin some time to get back Fort property, worked the farm, and returned to the Fort at the close of on his feet financially. any given day". Trying to pick up the pieces, he left Albany for Detroit and then old Fort The first entry in Askin's diary is dated mid·April, 1774. It describes the Mackinac (on the site of Mackinaw City today), where he arrived in 1764 reluctant coming of spring in the Straits area· not unlike today, when at age 25, a dozen years before the Declaration of Independence and April, May and even June seem sometimes to forget that winter is resulting Revolution. supposed to have given way to warm, sunny days! Although he arrived virtually stone broke, he was able to apply his Albany When Heldman first looked over the land that had given up the artifacts, business experience to such advantage that before long he was a rna jor there wasn't much to see except cut-over timberland. There were no supplier to Fort personnel and the parade of folks ceaselessly heading to building remains showing, or bits of fence or other traces of occupation. and from the Pays·en·haut· the far away fur· trading country· and Detroit and Montreal. But to his trained eye, "little plots ofground showed dark green with plant life, contrasting noticeably with the ground". It occurred to him to build his own vessel to transport freight. He had one built right there on the shore. The vessel, launched in 1775 was The As soon as it was practical he surveyed the surface and found sufficient Welcome. 14 15 ii" I

evidence oflong·ago ground·breaking to suggest it was truly Askin's fann. where potatoes were the year before". Nearly 575 colonial period artifacts turned up witbin a few weeks, as well as evidence that fann buildings had stood on the site in the 18th century. "Potatoes may be planted on stubble ground with dung". Heldman believes there is a strong possibility thatJohn Askin built a home on the site, too. "New ground twice plowed I think best for pease". It is interesting to reflect on Askin's diary. It reveals that he supplied peas, "Oates may be sowed in old turnip ground". potatoes, oats, onions, squash, beets, spinach, turnips, parsley, shallots, barley, melons and buckwheat to the garrison, not overlooking sales to "Aug. 29th· Planted in a whole about a foot deep in the comer of the passing canoeists, clergy and other visitors to the Fort. gardin potatoes with a few small stocks without any other manure". Askin went about crop raising like a pro. In fact he deserves to go down "Oct. 28th· Set three hills of potatoes near where the pease were next to in history as the flrst practicing scientific fanner in all of northern Mr. Bostwick's. One potato cutin three in whole next the corner. 2 whole Michigan, if not the entire Northwest Territory. potatoes in each of the others. The wholes about 4 inches deep with dung in them". He experimented with crop rotation and fertilizers long before Michigan Agricultural College, now Michigan State University, was set up as the These are oniya sample of the tips to better growing in Askin's 2·volume nation's flrst land·grant college, "speCially devoted to the business of diary, (a copy ofwhkh is in the Petoskey Public Library). During the busy education young men to be farmers". seasons he had the help of 2 "Panis" (pawnee Indian slaves). Askin had a facility for making friends, both wann and lasting, with His diary notes are fascinating, revealing a grasp of both plant cultivation important men of the time. These included the foremost merchants of and animal husbandry (even though his spelling is somewhat errant): Canada, such asJamesMcGill, IsaacTodd, noted merchant, and Alexander Henry, ali three very big in the fur trade of the time. "Apr. 7th· The second time we have pidgons (passenger Pigeons) this seasin. the flrst was four days ago. Some geesse flew past Friday". His special friend during his Mackinac period was Col. Arent Schuyler "Apr. 11th· Pidgon now plenty". dePeyster, who assumed command of the Fort at Mackinac in 1774 for a "Apr. 12th· The poor white sow had one pig". flve·year period that coincided with the Revolutionary War. This friend· "Apr. 13th· The black sow piged". Pidgons plenty". ship enabled Askin to establish a second trading post at Sault Ste. Marie. "Apr. 29th· Planted in a whole of about a foot deep to the right of the old garden gate six potato apples with potato stocks with Always inventive, he devised a way to transport his vessels along Portage them as dung from which all rOots were out. Planted same day Avenue at the Sao, around the Rapids, on railers, in order to service such near that 6 more potato apples with a little more dung for ports as Madeline Island in the Apostle Group, 300 miles west of the Sault. manure". The Soo canals came along much later on. "May 2nd· began to plow, a very hard frost this night". "May 4th· Continued plowing and setting potatoes". Unfortunately, when dePeysterwas detached from the Fort, Askin did not "May 6th· Sewed Oates and sett potatoes". get along well with his successor, Patrick Sinclair. In 1780 Askin moved "May 18th· Sewed squash and pumpkin seed at the farm". away with his wife and nine children. "May 23rd· Began to plant Indian corn". "July 19th· Began to cutt hay". He chose to resettle in DetrOit, but for some reason the magiC was gone. "Aug. 23rd . Repd some oates". He tried fanning, distilling and real estate but fell deeper and deeper in "Nov. 8th· Dug my potatoes at the farm". debt. "Nov. 30th· Took up my cabage out of my garden". "Feb. 24th· The ewes begun to lamb". Fortunately his old friends McGill and Todd, who were his principal "May 15th· A cow calfed at the fann in the woods. The weather creditors, balled him out by accepting Askin's substantial landholdings in so good grass about every place". settlement of his debts. REMARKS: ''Thro bracking when green, rotten hay or any such stuff, on land where In 1795, when Detroit passed from Great Britain to the United States, pease and buckwheat have been, plow in the month of September. Askin and wife Archange and his unmanied children moved to the Harrow in the spring and plant potatoes with ye plow without any more Canadian side ofthe Detroit River, opposite Belle Isle. dunging". Askin died in 1815, having lost almost everytbing but his integrity, which "When potatoes are dug up in the fall, clover seeds may be sowed". was widely acknowledged. At one point he had been elected one of the flve Original Trustees of the City of Detroit. "Oates, wheat, clover or turnips may be sowed in the spling on land

16 17 that it was a fme place to meet folks from far away, and to become sophisticated in a hurry in the mid· 1830's, when Rose was growing up. Whatever the influences in his young life, startIng with his mother of course, Rose early learned the fme art of being unselfish. He was a total believer in the notion that bread cast upon the waters will be rerurned ten. fold. He believed absolutely in the Golden RuIe, and practiced it to the advantage of everyone around him. He made friends easily and kept them for life.

Such a man deserves to be remembered for more than a half.century of contributions to Petoskey, but Rose seems to have been almost overlooked. The area of Rosedale between Petoskey and Bay View is named for him. So is little Rose Street. And, the year before he died, he was thanked, publicly, in a special ceremony in his own Grand Opera House. He rests today in the family plot just inside the gate of Greenwood Cemetery. But, no statue, no park, no building stands in his memory. Rose's exciting life was highlighted in a talk given by Allan McCune some years ago before the Uttle Traverse Historical SOCiety. Mr. McCune's grandfather and father were contemporaries, neighbors and friends of the Rose family. Hiram Obed Rose Aside from Mr. McCune's talk, only a few, mostly dry facts about Rose are to. be found in The Traverse Region, by H.R. Page Co., Chicago, 1884, available in the Petoskey Library, and The Biographical History of MR. HIRAM ROSE Northern Michigan by B.F. Bowen & Co., and some stories in early FATHER OF PETOSKEY Petoskey newspapers. From these sources we learn that Rose was apprenticed as a pre-teen to Petoskey kids who ar looking for a hero don't have to go very far. They a Coldwater printer who paid him room, board and time off to attend don't have to depend on Horatio Alger or Tom Swift, either, when they winter terms in school. At the end of four years he was foreman of the are looking for a role model. shop and had been paid in cash just $250 during the entire period. They need look no further than one of Petoskey's founding fathers, Mr. Small wonder that he soon "went west" to seek his fortune. He landed a Hiram O. Rose, a man who had tried almost every line of business one type·setting job on the St. Louis Globe Newspaper but his stint ended could dream up, and was successful in every one of them. He was suddenly when]enny Und, "The Swedish NightIngale" appeared on stage unbelievably lucky. in a local theater and Rose played hookey to hear her sing. When he settled down in Petoskey for his last 56 years he had been all over Fired and footloose, he embarked on a Mississippi riverboat for St. Paul. the lot in a varied and productive succession of careers. En route he fell in with two congenial fellow travelers who were heading for Iowa to take up homesteads. In his busy eighty years Rose was a farmer, a printer, a newspaper writer, a homesteader, a gold·miner, a cord·wood dealer, a dock owner, three The three young bachelors (Rose was then 19) took up adjoining properties, times a store·keeper, a fur·trader, a political figure, operator of an electric roomed together in a log cabin and set about improving the land. Rose light plant, a cement magnate, a real-estate operator, a ship owner, a became homesick aftera summer of hard work and returned to Coldwater, railroad builder, ran a waterworks, was an Indian interpreter, a Mason, arriving in the midst of feverish gossip about fortunes being made in the and a hotel owner. He was a patron of the arts: (he built the Petoskey California gold fields. Grand Opera House). In company with a childhood friend, Amos Fox, three years his senior, In the Horatio Alger tradition, Rose started with nothing. His father died who had participated in the 4ger gold rush, he left for CalifOrnia in 1851. when he was age 12 so he had to help with family finances while at the The two returned to Coldwater two years later with $5,000 each, a same time trying to scrape together a basic education. substantial amount of money in those days.

The Roses lived near Coldwater Michigan. Coldwater was on the old Rose intended to return to his homestead in Iowa, but mining was now Chicago Road between Detroit and Chicago, which was the only overland in his blood. News of the fabulous Calumet & Hecla copper strike in the route to the west through Michigan in those old days. Partly because of Keweenaw PeninsuIa turned his attention north. He shipped out of

18 19 Chicago with Lake Superior in mind, but due to various misadventures railroad service to Petoskey from the south would result in an influx of wound up in Northport on the tip of the peninsula that forms Grand people and Commercial opportunity. So, when the GR&I reached Petoskey Traverse Bay. it ended up smack in the middie of Rose's land. He was ready on all fronts. The year before he had loaded a scow with generai merchandise in He was so attracted to the heavily wooded countryside that he bought 800 Charlevoix and brought it to Petoskey, setting up a store in a small acres of timberland for $1,000, the region having been recently surveyed building at the mouth of the Bear River, near Chief Petoskey's home, and placed on the market. Soon he had built a dock and a small store. He another branch of the Fox, Rose & Buttars Company. employed seven men to cut cord-wood for sale to passing steamers. Soon he built a more commodious store at 212 E. Mitchell Street. He When his operation became profitable, in 1854, Rose sent for his friend brought his wife and daughters across the Bay from Little Traverse and for Amos Fox who joined him, and purchased a half interest in the business. a time the family lived in rooms above the store. Later they moved into an Their partnership continued through numerous enterprises for 28 years. imposing new house on present Arlington Avenue with a commanding Rose married Abigail Burbeck of Northport, September 15, 1856. view of the Bay, and the sunsets he loved.

In 1861 the thriving company of Fox & Rose opened a branch at Pine It is said that this house was a bribe to mollify Mrs. Rose who always let River, on the Michigan mainland (now Charlevoix). Pioneerresident]ohn it be known that her preference was for the relative comforts of southern Dixon persuaded them to come by giving them 18 acres of land adjacent Michigan. It was destroyed by fire in 1883, but was replaced by the to the Pine River mouth. handsome house still standing.

The partners built a dock for cord·wood operation, opened a general store If the word "father" implies first, Rose could well have claimed to be the and built Charlevoix's first hotel, The Fountain City House. In 1867 they father of Petoskey; his plat of the village was recorded at 8 a.m., August had the tug "Commodore Nutt" (named after a famous stage midget of the 17th, 1874, as usual, just a trace ahead of the others! day)·built for them in Buffalo, it plied the waters of Round and Pine Lakes for years. They also played a major role in the dredging of the Pine River With the plat recording, Mr. Rose's long identification with Petoskey Channel which allowed access to Round and Pine Lakes by large vessels progress really began. He put in the first Petoskey city dock, about where so that Charlevoix immediately became a major lake port. the present pier is located. He gave the land on which the Bay View railroad station was located. Bay View itself might never have become a In 1869 the firm hired Archibald Buttars, an experienced store clerk who reality, due to Indian treaty ownership complication, had not "Captain" had come to the area a few years before with Samuel Horton, the first Rose and]udge Pailthorp turned to and obtained pledges of $3,500 from permanent white settler in Horton Bay. (The hiring was living proof that local bUSinessmen toward purchase of the Bay View land for the GR&! Rose and Fox were good judges of men. Buttars became their partner and railroad. Rose long owned Lot 15, Block 20 on the Southwest corner of eventually a leading banker of Charlevoix. Later he was elected a state Encampment and Fairview Avenues, "catacorner" from the Bay View senator and president of the Michigan Senate. In 1885, he was elected Library. Lieutenant·Governor of Michigan.) Rose developed the Michigan Lime Company, built the first railway In the early '70's, Rose, by agreement, sold out some of the firm's holdings (wooden rails) to Bay View. Gravity pulled loads to Bay View, mules in Northport and moved to Traverse City with his family. In 1872 he and brought the cars back a local partner built the branch of the GR&I railroad from Walton]unction, near Cadillac, to Traverse City. When he returned, he moved to Little Rose was eJected the first president of Petoskey City. He initiated the first Traverse to open a store. water system, he built the first electric light plant, which he eventually sold to the city. Rose'sftrst acquaintance with Little Traverse dates back to 1856, when he dabbled in fur·trading, made trips to Cross Village to buy furs from the He so admired the handsome sunsets over the bay that he gambled Indians, and, incidentally, became fluent in the Ottawa language. On $60,000 that others would come a long way to see them, too. He built the these trips he sometimes stopped overnight at Andrew Porter's Mission gracious Arlington Hotel, almost, but not quite directly in front of his Farm just east of U.S. 31, near the present Inn On The Hill. home.

In 1862 Rose began acquiring land in the Petoskey area, including acreage When there was question about the Chicago and West Michigan railroad with water power potential on the Bear River. In 1868 he bought 200 extending eastto Petoskey from Charlevoix, he spoke up in an emergency acres of land including the limestone deposits below present day Pioneer meeting in 1891 and agreed to donate his waterfront, free, all along the Park and considerable land on the bluff above. Eventually he owned most Petoskey shoreline as right·of·way, and it was not long before Petoskey of the lake frontage from west of the Bear River to Kegomic. was enjoying service from this second railroad.

In 1874 it didn't require second sight for Rose to conclude that regular He was chairman of the first meeting to organize a Masonic Lodge unit in Petoskey, April 15,1876.

20 21 Perhaps the finest indication of Rose's character is the account of how he and rus original partner, Amos Fox, dissolved their partnership in 1883. Throughout their complex, 28-year business relationsrup there had been no written agreements. They invariably accepted each others word in all PETOSKEY'S ARLINGTON HOTEL transactions. So, now, when they decided the time had come to dissolve the relationsrup they simplified trungs by agreeing to Fox taking over all For almost precisely a trurd of a century before June 17, 1915, sununer the Charlevoix interests, Rose the Petoskey businesses. resorters arriving in Little Traverse Bay aboard the Manitou or Puritan or North· or South American steamsrups could see from far out Petoskey's Only one question remained· the disposition of more than 200 acres of most imposing landmark· The Arlington HoteL land in Northport (which neither man really wanted). Rose proposed cutting the cards· winner to take the land. Perched rugh on the limestone cliff, near the present Penn Plaza, the great wrute hotel served as a trademark for gracious hospitaliry in a day when Fox demurred, saying, I'll be hanged if I'll cut the cards, Hi, I always beat hotels were headquarters for everyones'wann-weather Petoskey vaca­ you at cards, and I won't have that land!" tion. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island has long been billed as the world's largest summer hotel, but the Arlington was built first in the early Anyway, it's a good story! 1880's, and, was a close second in size. In fact, as enlarged in 1888 it may have been, briefly, the largest·until the Grand added a new wing. And there you have Mr. Hiram Obed Rose, gentleman and self·taught scholar, father of Petoskey. Size aside, most Petoskey folks agreed modestly that the Arlington set the

Petoskey's The New Arlington Hotel pace in northern Michigan among sophisticated summer abodes. Hazel Reycraft Hoffman made herself an authoriry on the Arlington while preparing a paper on Petoskey's hotels that she presented at a Historical Sociery meeting a few years ago. She pointed out that when the GR&I railroad reached Petoskey the last day of 1873, everyone believed that success as a summer resort was just around the corner. ("Everyone", at that time, included all 125 residents of Petoskey and doubtless all 140 residents of Emmet Counry.)

Luckily, among those numbers were people like Mr. Rose and Mr. Forbes. Rose was already a leader in the village and the latter had just moved from Kalamazoo to Petoskey with his handle factory; both were men of vision

22 ), •.... -_.__ .•.. ------! ii';:I

and means. They backed the idea ofa showplace hotel with specific plans An elegant touch at the Arlington was the presence oforchestras number­ . and $60,000 . a large sum in those days. ing over twenry pieces that entertained daily. People came from far and wide to enjoy nightly entertainment. A concert chorus and minstrel show As Mrs. Hoffman described the Arlington: "It was constructed of wood, was organized and produced by the staff of waiters. four stories high, and had 150 rooms which could accommodate 300 gnests. An eminent hotel man namedJames R. Hayes, late manager of the Room-rates were, as might be expected, up-scale, ranging from $3 to Wayne Hotel in Detroit, the Bancroft in Saginaw and Sweet's Hotel in $3.50 per day, and $15 to $18 per week. Grand Rapids, was hired as manager". The Arlington boomed from the start. The Independent reported, on "It was truly elegant, boasting more services than even the larger dry August 11, 1885: hotels of today." "TheArlington has been obliged to secure three additional waitersfrom It quickly became the pride of Michigan. The Grand Rapids Eagle gave Detroit on account of the rush, making 22 waiters now employed". it a lavish review: Employment of colored waiters was a strategy carefully worked out by No better location could be found in the state upon which to build a manager Hayes. As a contemporary trade paper observed: hotel. The view is magnificent and the breezes invigorating. The sleeping rooms are all well·lighted and ventilated. Each bed isfurnished Pretty waiter-girls 'are in considerable demand for summer hotels. with double·decked spiral springs and a white·hair mattress, thepropri­ Pretty girls set offa dining-room beautifully, but as a rule they are such etorbelieving that a comfortable place to sleep is one of man's best poor waiters that their looks do notgo far. Hungry guests have very little friends! eyefor beauty. "Jimmy" Hayes ofthe Arlington Hotel in Petoskey, after thoroughly testing the pretty girl plan, has decided to abandon them On the ground or basement floor is a dance-hal~ 40 x 70 feet, two entirely and employ nothing but colored waiters... hotels are expected to billiard halls· onefor gentlemen containing three tables and the other supply first-class meals, butfor them to throw in a complete system of a private hall for the ladies with two tables of superior make and flirtation is passe '. pattern, the bar and barber shop, a thoroughly equipped steam laun­ dry, room for the help and the kitchen, with a twelve-footrange, pastry Manager Hayes spectacular success at the Arlington traced partly to a i ~ oven and every appurtenance that will add convenience for the chefs. warm personalirythat made him a faVOrite in Petoskey. Said the Reporter, 'Jimmy Hayes, to whose efficiency the Arlington owes so much of its On the flrst floor is the office for reception ofguests, ladies'parlor and populariry, will also have charge of the Sanford House, a popular resort reception room, beautifully furnished with velvet carpet, massive on the St. John's River in Florida during the winter months". mirrors, piano, etc. In 1890, though, an unexpected opportuniry was too much for Jimmy The dining room, which is on the third floor, is 40 x 70 feet, with a 16- Hayes to resist ... he took advantage ofan opportuniry to buy the financially foot ceiling; there is also a smallprivate dining apartment offthe main distressed Grand Hotel at mackinac, and so disappeared from the Petoskey room. 160 guests can be comfortably seated at one time. scene. Sad to relate, both Mr. Hayes and the Grand Hotel became victims of the Depression of 1893; the hotel survived after a series of adventures, The remainingfloors are given over to sleeping, bath and linen rooms. but Mr. Hayes drifted from the Michigan stage. These are ranged along each side ofspacious hallways. All are nicely carpeted andfurnished, with black walnut, cherry and ash suites with In 1897 Mr. Rose sold the Arlington to S.H. Peck, proprietor of the Plaza marble tops,purchasedfrom the Phoenix Furniture Company ofGrand Hotel in Rockledge, Florida. He, too, was imaginative. He enlarged the Rapids. Arlington by adding an extra story accommodating 36 new units and built a new front overlooking the Bay. The hotel was renamed "The New The house has electric bells in every room, and will be lighted with Arlington" . gasoline, a tank with a capacity of15 barrels having beensetin the solid rock in the rear ofthe hotel. A 12-footveranda extends around the hotel A public relations genius, Peck knew how to make friends locally. Just proper, making a delightful promenade. before the 1901 season he staged a gala event to which he invited everyone who was who in Petoskey. Reporting the glittering affair, the The Arlington has children's playrooms and special attendants for Daily Reporter noted: inside and outside play, plus a childrens' and nurses' dining room where they can eat at one-halfprice. "By eight o~clock the carriages began to arrive... the stream ofpeople kept up incessantly until nearly nine o'clock... About ten o'clock, Mr. The season at The Arlington opened June 25 and closed October 1. The andMrs. Peck leading, all marched through the long, broad corridor to late closing was to accommodate the many hay fever patients who came the dining room which had been cleared oftables and the GrandMarch north in Michigan to seek relief.

?L1 25 began. Never in Petoskey 's history has a ball had such a grand opening, might have been suspected) and spread before a fierce gale to allparts the ladies, all in beautiful evening gowns and the men ofall ages were ofthe structure. The dry wood, most ofit pine, burned like oil. Nothing representative ofPetoskey's best. " but smoldering ruins was left in an hour... the heat was terrible on the east side andfiremen could hardly stand to ftght the flames. Business 'The handsome little sons ofMr. and Mrs. Peck... and their pretty sister, and personal papers belonging to Mr. Peck were gotten out ofthe safe little Miss Peck... marched in the rear.» but they were the only things saved". 'The figure of the march was perfectly carried out while the music, Luckily there was no loss oflife. There were twelve people sleeping in the furnished by the Elgin Military Orchestra, was perfect in execution'~ building, part of Mr_ Peck's work-crew readying the hotel for the summer season. None of them heard the fire or smelled the smoke until the alarm ~~rof. Jewel deCommerce, a French dancing master, who has been souoded... engaged as Master ofCeremonies for the New Arlington for the season, managed the sequence of dances': There was talk of replacing the hotel, but the Petoskey city fathers, in a town built largely of white pine, no longer sanctioned frame hotels. The "The great supporting pillars in both the large parlor and the spacious cost of replacing the structure with brick was considered too high, and dining room were wound with bunting appropriate to the the property was sold to the city for the present park. In four hours day.. jardinieres ofpalms andferns contributed to the decoration. The Petoskey's all-time largest hotel had gone up in smoke. theme and the idea were modeled after a ball recently given in New York City. To Mr. Peck belongs the credit of introducing this sort of entertainment into northern Michigan ".

"The dancing ended at 12 o'clock, although the lobby did not empty until much later. Not an unpleasant thing occurred to mar the success of the evening". For thirty-three years things went well for the Arlington, and its contribu­ tion to the welfare of Petoskey was enonnous, but like many good things, it came to an unhappy end. Monday,June 19, 1915, the Petoskey Evening News reported: "The New Arlington Hotel burned Saturday. Fire broke out at 4:40 o'clock in an elevator shaft (note: not in the gasoline light fixtures as

Exit "The Arlington"

26 27 ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS numbers as to pass belief... their number has no equal among any orber fearbered tribe on the face of the earth". THE PASSENGER PIGEON Simon Pokagon, an Indian Chieffrom rbe Muskegon area who is recorded GONE AND ALMOST FORGOTTEN in history for playing a key role in the sale of rbe Chicago city area to rbe Americans for three cents an acre said, poetically: "I have stood by rbe grandest waterfall in America and regarded the descending torrents in wonder and astOnishment, yet never has my wonder and astonishment been so stirred as when a flock of these birds dropped, like meteors from heaven".

The mystery is how so numerous a species could have disappeared from rbe face of the earrb like rbe dinosaur and rbe Dodo bird! Some people suggest that they ate rbemselves out of the picture. Each one is estimated to have consumed about a half·pint offood per day· rbeywere especially fond of "mast", which consisted of beechnuts, acorns, etc. Pigeons seemed to sense where these would be abundant. For example, they congregated in immense numbers near Oden in 1878· the last great nesting in this area, northeast of Petoskey. This "roost" extended norrbfor twenty·eight miles, averaging three or four miles wide. The Passenger Pigeon - once the most numerous species in North America - now extinct. Having established this site as home·base, rbey flew far and wide each morning in search of food for themselves and rbeir progeny. A one·of·a·kind item of special interest to bird lovers may be found at rbe little Traverse Historical Museum on Petoskey's waterfront. "As soon as the flying flock espied a copious food supply", wrote one observer, "they would fly in an immense circle, reviewing the target area. It is a mounted passenger pigeon, a lonely reminder of a species once so During this revolution they exhibited a beautiful appearance as they numerous that its annual spring visits in enormous flocks literally dark· banked and changed direction in unison, now displaying a glistening ened the earrb as rbey approached their nesting area. sheet of azure, and anon, suddenly presenting a mass of deep, rich purple". The word numerous is not an exaggeration. Naturalists believe that there were at least six billion passenger pigeons prospering in rbe eastern half "When on the ground eating, they industriouslyrbrowup withered leaves of the United States in the early days· the most prolific example of bird· in quest of fallen nuts. The rear ranks are continuously rising, passing the life in North America before or since. It is estimated that rbey accounted main body and alighting in front in such rapid succession that the whole for a third of all rbe bird·life in this country. flock seems to be rolling and flying at rbe same time". They were a close relative of the common pigeons that today are always "The quantity of ground rbus swept is astonishing and so completely is it waddling and begging in barnyards and the downtown section of every deaned that the gleaner who might follow in rbeir rear would fmd his large ciry. labor completely lost".

Tales of rbe passenger pigeons'numbers and remarkable behavior were "While eating their avidity at times is so great that attempting to swallow frequently recorded in diaries of new world visitors in the 17th, 18th and a large beechnut or acorn they are seen gasping for a long time, as if in 19th centuries. Captain John Smirb and other colonists wrote in awe of agony of suffocation". their numbers and appreciation of them as a source of food. "'Then, as the sun goes down they take wing to their nesting place which The celebrated wildlife artist, James Audobon estimated that a flock he may be a hundred miles distant". once witnessed crossing the Ohio River in 1813 encompassed a parallelo· gram one mile wide and eighty miles long. Allowing two pigeons per With such eating habits, the passenger pigeon may indeed have gone a square yard he estimated that rbere were 1,150,136 individuals in the long way toward eating itself out of house and home. But an even bigger flock. factor in decimating the bird, sad to say, was the mindless brutality of man. Alexander Wilson commented: "These bir.ds associate in such prodigious The flock's invariable habit was to return nightly to rbe established

28 29 nesting area all through the mating season, raising their "squabs" that It didn't seem pOSSible, considering their vast numbers, that even such grew rapidly almost to adult proportions before they could fly. All this, of relentless harvesting could wipe out the breed completely, but in the last course, was readily apparent to settler and visiting hunters. decade of the last century they thinned out noticeably, and the final act came quite suddenly. Everyone, James Audobon included, thought the handsome birds would keep corning forever, but they were slain by the millions by methods that Apparently the gregarious little birds just couldn't cope in smallnumbers, were barbarous and thorough. Countless numbers were slaughtered in and the tribe gave up the ghost completely. The last known passenger the period follOwing the Civil War in the lush forests of Michigan and pigeon, "Martha", died in the Cincinnati zoo in 1914. other states when everyone had a rifle and knew how to use it. Fortunately a taxidermist somewhere along the line captured the colorful The slaughter was not only for local consumption, although they ap­ male on exhibit now at the Little Traverse museum. peared on many a pioneer table each spring. It is a rare specimen of the bird known to Longfellow - and Hiawatha - as As Ulysses P. Hedrick, an articulate pioneer of Emmet County, has "Omemee". recorded in his fascinating book 'The Land Of The Crooked Tree": Hedrick's fine book, written when he was a very old man, is available in "There was money to be made trapping pigeons by the barrel to supply the Petoskey Public Library. restaurants in cities around the Great Lakes. And thousands were shipped alive in cages to gun clubs which were popular in that day. The birds quickness in flight made them ideal targets for trap-shooting". (Today, clay pigeons stand in for the real thing). Hedrick describes a pigeon-hunt in which he participated as a small boy: "Our little party hurried into thewoods... the sun was now well up and the adult birds had long since departed for the day's foraging. Pigeon dung covered the ground, looking like a heavy fall of grayish snow". "Flowers and trees were dead as if flre had swept through the woods. I Large trees might as well have been girdled by the axe.. .it was as though a tornado had been followed by a ftte ...The ground was strewn with I bodies of baby pigeons, killed by accident in the great assemblage". I "The noise was so great that we could speak to one another only by shouting, COOing came to my ear like the cOming of a storm. The steady I noises were punctuated by the fall oflimbs overweighted by baby birds". "Most of the pigeon hunters were Indians, armed with axes, poles and bows. The men slashed down trees loaded with nests from which the j young were about to fly. As the young squales (or "squabs", Swedish for soft, flat body) fluttered from their cradles they were caught by women and children, decapitated, and tossed to swell the family heap". "Besides the Indians there were professional pigeon trappers who were using nets. We passed several nets that had been "struck", and we saw hundreds of glittering heads stretched upwards through the meshes of the net, the fluttering birds putting forth frantic efforts to escape. Two hairy Esaus, plastered with mud, blood and feathers stood in the ooze, red­ handed from the slaughter of the catch... " Hedrick's account of that single day in a single Michigan forest reflected what was going on all around the Midwest and East; in that year, 1878, 40,000 dozen of the birds were shipped from Petoskey alone, dead and alive, a tiny share of the total harvest.

30 ~1 On the other hand, there were instances of loyalry and lasting responsi­ TWO biliry to wife and offspring that merited and received approbation of all concerned, includlng especially, the ever-present bIackrobes who, as spiritual leaders were also tempora! realists. MADAMES ~ ;; , "' ...'. Energetic Madame LaFramboise (French, for raspberry), came from the Grand River region far south of the Straits and the challenging moment of OF her life came when her husband]oseph, in late Autumn, 1809, picked up the family and his tradlng gear and a keg or rwo of whiskey and took off as usual for the Grand River country on Michigan's west coast. MACKINAC Since his wife had grown up there as an inSider, he had an insider's edge in the Grand Haven, Grand Rapids area, and had built up a substantial trading relationship with local natives over the years. Most ofthe early literature that was produced in this This time, though, in a moment of colossal bad luck, a celebrating and part of the Northwest inebriated hunter shot and killed]oseph almost as soon as he arrived at his Territory centers around post. Mackinac Island and the fur trade of a couple of i Such a sudden tragedy might have shattered a person oflesser character, hundred years ago. And Madame Laframboise' house on Mackinac Island II but Madame laFramboise elected to stay on all winter, trading for furs in most of it delineated the II place of her husband. She was so successful that when she returned to \1 Mackinac Island she easily persuaded the American Fur Company man­ activities of the excessively red·blooded French, British, Indian and '; American males who worked, paddled, fought and drank their way agement to assign her permanently to Joseph's territory -the Grand River through the very romantic history of that day. And, often, into early ! Valley. Thereafter, for a dozen years she spent rugged winters in that graves. productive area. The books about the men who rolled up a vast fortune for] ohn]acob Astor From spring until fall she stayed at Mackinac, caring for her children. As I " would fill several shelves in your library. was the custom for families which could afford the luxury, she shipped the boys off to Montreal for formal schooling. The girls stayed with their After reading them all one could easily assume that harvesting furs was an mother, attending the Island school and becoming proficient in the lady· exclusively male occupation; that no woman could possibly cope with like arts of sewing, weaving and cooking. t' the wild animals, wild men, wild winters and wholesale discomfort of frontier living in that remote jurisdiction. Madame laFramboise's neighbor, Elizabeth Bertrand Mitcllell was the daughter of an Ottawa mother and a French fur-trader. She had grown up But the fact is that in the heyday of Mackinac Island there were instances in Arbre Croche (Cross Village), and at 15 had married Doctor David when the lady of the house had to step into the breadwinner role and Mitchell, surgeon's mate to the British Eighth Regiment, then attached to prove that she was more than equal to the aSSignment. the Mackinac Island Fort. According to David Armour of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission who is an authoriry on Island hiStory, Dr. More than once a lady showed that in addition to taking care of the house Mitchell, as the only medical man for miles around, was especially and raising bevies of children, she could take the musket off the wall and prominent in the stirring first days of British occupation. the traps from the woodshed and the trade·beads and axes and calico from the attic and paddle off into the wilderness for the fall and winter beaver He and Elizabeth, anticipating removal of the Fort from the mainland to harvest. the Island, had completed a new home by the time the regiment arrived. Then came the bad news: David's regiment was detached, transferred Madames laFramboise and Mitchell were rwo such ladies. They were also from Mackinac to Drummond Island. Rather than leave their new home, best friends, had parallel backgrounds, and were intensely proud of their David resigned from the service. native blood. Both prospered in their man's work-world. As luck would have it, things turned out well for David· for a time at least. Both had loyal husbands, which was modestly remarkable on that frontier. The new British Regiment, under Patrick Sinclair, needed a staff physiCian Often, in fur-trading days the relationship between men and women was and David was appointed. He also applied for and received permission to the common·law variery, ending abruptly when the soldier-husband at develop afann on the Island, and was given commissary status to augment the Fort was re-assigned, or the trader·husband left in the fall for his far· his income. offstationin the wilderness. Desertion was simply a fact ofiife, understood and accepted by everyone. Being busy with his practice, and becoming engaged in fur-trade activities on the side, Dr. Mitchell left development of the farm to his energetic 32 " young wife. Her green thumb and instinctive managerial talents led to success from the start. As migbt be guessed, her fluency in both French "PLEASE EXCUSE MISTAKES" and Ottawa languages, and her Indian relationships nearby, proved to be a big help to her husband. The Mitchells prospered greatly. In 1897, Surveyor E.K. Robinson, who surveyed certain lands in this area, included at the close of his field notes on a project the poignant plea, Their large home became a center ofIsland SOciety, and dinners, dances "please excuse mistakes!" and card parties filled their evening calendar. Life for a time was one happy day after another. It may be hard to believe, but Elizabeth found This, together with several case histories of unbelievable errors commit­ time and strength to bear twelve children! ted by early surveyors is charmingly recounted in a professional paper prepared a few years ago by Mary Feindt and her son Larry, of the Alas, this agreeable state of things could not go on forever. On the eve of Charlevoix Abstract and Engineeting Company. the War of 1812, Dr. Mitchell, a dyed·in·the·wool British loyalist, rejoined the British army, after twenty·five years of retirement. He moved to Mary, who is a precise person, quickly explains that work in the north Drummond Island, never to return, as the Americans took over. Elizabeth countty was not exactiy a bowl of cherries for pioneer surveyors. Mary is continued in reSidence, managing the family farm and looking after her an authority, having been elected and re·elected Charlevoix County husband's trading activitiesc She also spent hours persuading relatives and Surveyor for just under a half-centulY running, a record unmatched in friends to side with the British against the Americans. The unsuspecting Michigan. Americans were so pleased with her farming and trading activities that she was awarded a "stipend", and was presented with a deed to Round Island "This part of the state has a great deal of swampland", Mary says, "and opposite the Fott, on which a ligbthouse is situated today. slogging through muck greatly complicates the surveying job." Not surprisingly, Elizabeth's British leanings were eventually suspected by But even mucky conditions don't quite provide excuse for gross errors the Americans, ap.d when the news of the outbreak of the war arrived at I such as the massive overlap of sections 23 and 26 smack in the City of the Island, they prohibited her from associating with the Indians. Charlevoix, a srrip several hundred feet wide and about a mile long, north of Round Lake. Fearing arrest, she fled by nigbt in a canoe to visit her husband at I Drummond Island. She did not stay, but soon returned to Mackinac and A surveyor named Cathcart was the man in charge of the faux pas. It was resumed her farm and fur entetprises, and caring for her large family. mistakes of this sort that gave rise to the half·joke that many northern I survey lines were drawn in saloons instead of the field. Reviewing the saga of Dr. Mitchell, it is easy to identify and admire his ,j unswerving loyalty to the British cause. But the public's· and histoty's nod I Even today the positioning of those Charlevoix city section lines is hazy, must surely go to his capable lady who brigbtened her comer of the I and sometimes there is mass confusion as a result. complicated Mackinac frontier with fun and laughter and top·flight I business ability! I "It seems to work out peacefully, though", say Mary and her son, "During the years since the original survey the lines bounding the government 10," There is a wonderful postscript to this Stoty. I have been re·established by acquiescence". Madame laFramboise's prettiest daugbter, Josette, fell in love with an I Surveyor Cathcart, on October 22, 1841, certified in Writing that his notes American officer stationed at the Fort, named Benjamin Pierce. Theywere on this job were "in strict conformity to the laws of the United States". married in the summer of 1817 in an elaborate ceremony in the gracious home of Elizabeth Mitchell, with all members of the laFramboise family I Larry Feindt points out that this declaration was a legal requirement of the attending in full Indian regalia. i day, and while the idea of conformity seems sound, a succession of Surveyors·General, following the War of 1812, issued vastly differing Socially conscious Madame Mitchell always liked social recognition, and I instructions to field surveyors. took special pride in the fact that her husband and son had been formally accepted by Montreal society by being elected to the very proper and Errors aside, the swampy condition of this and other areas of Michigan exclusive Beaver Club which included only the most distinguished fur was grossly exaggerated in official circles and false assumptions based on traders of Canada. I false conclusions greatly delayed the coming of settlers to this part of the Northwest Territory. Madeline LaFrambOise, on the other hand was a bit more retiring than her friend, and never aspired to social status. Had she lived to see the day she I Michigan had been desiguated by Uncle Sam as an area where veterans of would have been astonished at the life·style of daughterJosette's in·laws. the Revolution and War of 1812 could homestead land on convenient For Captain Benjamin Pierce's brother, Franklln Pierce, in 1852 was terms, but the program fell through, largely because field notes of early elected the 14th President ofthe United States, address, 1600 Pennsylva· 1 surveyors repeated over and over, scary phrases that turned off potential nia Avenue, Washington, D.C.! settlers, "entered cedar swamp", "left cedar swamp", "entered marsh", I "left marsh". l j 34 • 35 ::",i

men like "P_H_ Gardner, Geo. Wiles and Ralph Teeter, chainmen, Richard Taylor, marker"_ It was the field crew's responsibIlity to describe features of the terrain as they went along. Accordingly, there are frequent notations such as: "Land rolling", "land first rate", "Brook outlet of lake, 10 links wide", "sugar", "beach", "fIr", "sugar 18 in. in diameter", "sugar, 24 in.", "quarter post in lake" , etc. John Burt entered an affidavit of special interest to fishermen, at the end of field notes made while surveying Beaver Island: "I, John Burt, Deputy Surveyor, do solemnly swear that in pursuance of the request of the Surveyor-General of the United States ... verbal instruc­ tions given to me sometime in the spring of 1845 to subdivide such fractional townships __ .lines which might be required for fishing purposes by the occupants thereof_ S_ John Burt, this 4th day of Feb. 1846". Incidentally, John Burt became acquainted with James Strang while on this asSignment, and commented that "he was a talented humbug".

Authors, writing of surveyors and errors committed by them are prone to add zip to theittitles: "One quarter-mile Missing" , and "Lost And Obliterated Comers", but mistakes, particularly in the old days, were not always their fault_ Early surveyors couldn't help it if "witness" trees and hardwood stakes, driven as markers, sometimes disappeared when territory was lumbered over... parricularly when unscrupulous timber barons were One influential person who took special notice of these soggy descrip­ none too eager to have boundaries limiting their harvest! tions ofvitgin Michigan land was Elwood Tiffin, Surveyor-General of the United States, for whom a town in Ohio is named. He wrote his chief in William Burt, flabbergasted at the wayward behavior of his magnetic Washington, November 30, 1815: compass needle while surveying in the Upper Peninsula, not only developed the Solar Compass that solved the problem, but discovered the "The surveyors who went to survey the military land in Michigan Territory invaluable iton deposits that caused the problem_ Before Michigan have been obliged to suspend theit operations until the country shall be statehood was conferred he was a member of the Territorial Legislature, sufficiently frozen to bear man and beasL_both were literally worn down where his accumulated knowledge of both Michigan peninsulas proved with extreme suffering and fatigue_ 1 annex a description of the country invaluable to the state lawmakers_ He was also an active supporter of the which I am informed all the surveyors concur in ___ believing that ex- building of the Soo Canals_ Burt Lake is named in his honor. soldiers should have lands fit for cultivation". John Mullett, once a tailor, and for whom Mullett Lake is named, has a "The whole of the two miIlion acres appropriated in the Territory of different distinction. A year before he came north in the line of duty, he Michigan are not worth the expense of surveying. There would not be led a survey crew around the junction of two streams in Southwestern more than one acre out of a hundred that would be worthy of cultiva­ Michigan. tion ... " His group came upon a group ofIndians engaged in tapping maple trees. Washington listened and the Act that would have meant occupation for The Indians took exception to the presence of the surveyors and vice vast acreage of Michigan Territory by veterans was repealed. Alternate versa. A skirmish ensued that resulted in a few bumps and bruises aU lands were offered in Illinois and Arkansas, which soon enabled both around. Today the village and the cereal City that it grew into are called those states to achieve statehood much earlier than Michigan. Thank you, "Battle Creek". Mr. Tiffin! One other small tidbit of surveyor lore: Larry Feindt volunteers that Because of all the delay that resulted, Michigan surveys were not com­ specialized profanity emerged from the Michigan swamps. An example is pleted until the mid-1840's. Field work was done primarily by William A. the immortal "What the Sam Hill!" Burt and his sons and John Mullett and C.W. Cathcart in this northern jurisdiction, assisted of course by their indispensable helpers, including

37 , I 36 THE GRAND HOTEL between the River and Halstead Street. He also soon owned a hotel and a packing·house and was agent for the Aetna Insurance Company. Hubbard lost most of his money in the Chicago fire of 1871 but still had one major asset. In 1855, driven by his affection for Mackinac Island, he had purchased 80 acres "private claim No.4" from the government, a few hundred yards west of and on the same bluff as "Private Claim No.5" on the Island tract map where stands today the Grand Hotel. After the losses he suffered in the fire, Hubbard decided to plat his Island I property and lease lots for summer cottages. At the time there was ample precedent. Bay View, Wequetonsing and Harbor Point were thriving. Petoskey's Arlington and Cushman hotels were dOing a brisk summer trade, and in Charlevoix the Belvedere and Chicago Clubs were growing rapidly. Northern Michigan was becoming the place to be during the summer. Several hotels were already operating on the Island. The Astor House had paying guests, but suffered from generations of wear and tear, having been built as a fur warehouse in 1818. The Island House dated from 1852, but had never been revamped. And the Mission House was a converted Mackinac Island is a magic place. The more often you go there the more I boarding school about 60 years old, with many small rooms. A few you want to return. It grows on you, and it has always been so. homeowners leased rooms, and that was about it. For over a hundred years the Grand Hotel has been part of the attraction, Hubbard had reason to believe that a cottage resort might prosper, and but the spell has always been a feature of the Island. It was there for a big part of his plan envisioned a spacious, modern hotel as its centerpiece. He bear of a man of whom you may never have heard, Gurdon Saltonstall immediately began construction of a small colony of cottages, which he Hubbard. It was he who first proposed a festive hotel on the Island, when named the "Wacheo Resort", the name apparently of Indian origin he was an old man of eighty years. although this has not been verified. Hubbard, born in 1802, traveled well over 2,000 miles before he was He found just the right man to help him develop his Island dream in C.W. thirty, to and from Mackinac Island, first from Montreal when he was Caskey, of Harbor Springs, a highiy regarded carpenter. Caskey had built sixteen, and over the next dozen years from southern Michigan and the many of the cottages in Bay View in its early period. He and Hubbard illinois countty· by canoe! developed a strong relationship, and by 1885, Mr. Caskey had finished eleven cottages, including two owned by Hubbard and three for himself. That was the hold Mackinac Island had on him. Of course, he worked for JohnJacob Astor all that time, and the Island was headquarters for Astor's In its July 14, 1885 issue, the Harbor Springs Independent reported: fur.trading business. But Hubbard went back and forth so frequently one has to believe that he made up excuses for Island junkets. "Mackinac Island never before saw such a boom as it is enjoying this season. Visitors are arriving in swanns and buildings are going up in all Hubbard had sorted furs for Astor on the Island while still in his teens directions." There was also a hint in the paper as to a coming attraction: during the palmy days of the furtrade. Then he was sent afield to deal with I "Mackinac Island needs a commodious hotel". Indian trappers on their home soil, down the Michigan coastline and in :\ illinois, while both were U.S. Territoty and Fort Dearborn was all there September 1, the paper reported the arrival in the Wacheo Resort of was to Chicago. George Stockbridge of Kalamazoo, an old friend of Hubbard's from the I latter's fur·trading days, whose brother was state legislator, FranCis B. He retired from the fur business before he was thirty· known to hundreds Stockbridge; E.F. Sweet, owner and operator of the well·known Sweet's ofIndians as "Pa·pa·ma·ta·be", (Swift Walker), and moved to the Chicago Hotel in Grand Rapids, and W.O. Hughart, Secretary of the GR&I RaIlroad area when it was a settlement of 14 houses around the mouth of the and C.W. Caskey. It is easy to believe that the conversation among this Chicago River. \ group may have turned to the subject of a fIrSt·class hotel for the convenience ofWacheo Resort members. As Chicago grew rapidly, he acquired great wealth in a surprisingly short time through his purchase ofthree·fourths ofa town block for $99 as soon Not long after, the Grand Rapids Herald lent weight to possibility when as it was platted, and with two other men, 80 acres along Chicago Avenue 1 it reported: I 38 I 'l0 "It is likely a stock company will The entrance of Plank onto the scene was the result of an effort to involve soon be organized between now a professional hotel man in the venture. They liked his suggestions from and next season with a capitol of the start. $ 200,000 or thereabouts for the erection of a magnificent summer "As a result of the meeting Plank's plan fora house costing $150,000 was hotel on Mackinac Island." adopted. It will be very large, architecturally ornate, handsomely fur­ nished. It will be well-lighted by electriCity, supplied with pure lake water The same guesses were in the gossip and all modem convenience for safety ... » stageinPetoskey, too. On September ! 8, the Northern Independent made I' "Mr. Plank is a man of large experience, proprietor of the great summer the rumors official: hotel on the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River. The plans were prepared by himself and though at first sight the building looks preposter­ "There is talk of a $200,000 hotel on ously long, on reflection the advantages of the novel shape are apparent .. .it Mackinac Island. Mr Hughart was on 1 will be located on the Stockbridge site". the Island last week, accompanied byan architect of Detroit, arranging Plank was given a Six-year lease and it was to be his responsibility to for a location for the proposed furnish the hotel. Sometiple after the big meeting he received an owner­ hotel." ship share in the hotel and it was decided to name the structure "Plank's Grand Hotel". F.B. Stockbridge, who turned out to Gordon Saltonstall Hubbard, be one of the prinCipals most Instigator of the Grand Hotel? February 22, 1887 the Harbor Springs Independent reported: certainly would have agreed with "C.W. Caskey (of Harbor Springs) has returned from Hubbard about the desirability of a Detroit...while in that city he closed a contract with the hotel, but mayalso have felt that the Wacheo location was a bit too remote proprietors of the Mackinac Hotel project for the erection from the village and its docks. In any case, he promptly purchased Private of that immense building. It must be completed by July 1, Claim #5, where the Grand was built, within easier reach of the town. and many other builders hesitated to bid on the job. If completed on time - and, knowing the "hustling" qualities Wbether or not Hubbard agreed with that location will never be known of the contractor we are sure it will be - it will be a big because, right at the time of decision he lost an eye as a result of an old feat. The nails and all the doors and windows etc., are injury from his fur-trading days and was forced to withdraw from all already purchased and the first installment oflumber stressful activity_ Within a year the other eye failed, and the tough pioneer and materials will be landed on the Island this week" . died in 1886, a few months before the Grand took shape. So, here it was, almost March and the enormous job had to be completed by July 1! F.B. Stockbridge's life-style changed radically at the same time, when he was elected a U.S. Senator. This, of course, removed him from the scene. Said the Petoskey Record, March 9, 1887: Meanwhile, his brother George left the Island to join the Belvedere Club "The architects are Messrs Mason and Wright of Detroit. in Charlevoix, where he was soon elected President of that Club, and Mackinac Island has long needed a first-class hotel, figured no further in the story of the Grand. there not being even a good second-class house on the Island. Backed by the powerful transportation partners, These personnel changes did not affect the widespread fever for a big Mr. Plank cannot fail to make it in every way a success ... " hotel; the Mackinac Island Hotel Company was organized, consisting of the Michigan Central and GR&I Railroad Companies and the Detroit & The Petoskey Record publisher was caught up in all the drama of the Cleveland Navigation Company. All three partners were of course vitally matter, and decided to visit the site late in May: interested in passenger service north. " ... naturally the first point to which we directed our steps was the mammoth new summer hotel now being In January 1887, the full particulars appeared in Detroit newspapers: constructed by Mr. Caskey, who, by the way, is after "The Free Press is now able to announce that (fhe Grand Hotel) will be next fall to be a permanent resident of Petoskey". erected .. jt will be open for business next summer. This was settled at a meeting in this city._.between H.B. Ledyard, President of the Michigan "The great building is situated west of the Fort about Central, David Carter, General Manager of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam a half-mile, and about the same distance from the Navigation Co. and J.P. Hughart of the GR&I. These gentlemen were village, and stands upon a natural terrace fronting on closeted for some time with John O. Plank of Coshocton, Ohio, an the Straits. The view from its grand portico is simply architect and engineer who devotes himself exclusively to hotel work.» magnificent, the eye sweeping down the whole length of the south passage to Cheboygan and

40 41 Lake Huron, westward through the Straits out into from project to project all day everyday, between his several hotel Lake Michigan, and eastward past Round Island and interests in DetrOit, Florida, Alabama and now, Petoskey. Bois Blanc through the west passage into the northern reaches of Lake Huron. There is no finer view in the Hayes arrived in Petoskey in 1882, willing and ready to run the then 150 United States than will be enjoyed by the guests of room Arlington, at the time as large if not larger than any other hotel in this superb resort". the area. The Arlington occupied a spectacular site where the tennis courts now are, a bit east of the present Perry hotel. "Hundreds of hammers were at work nailing together the parts of the structure, with its magnificent portico For the next eight summer seasons, Hayes played the Arlington, its guests supported by columns, 600 feet long and 25 feet wide 'I and the entire town of Petoskey like a personal orchestra. He loved the rising to the height of two floors. Far up in the air, seven aSSignment, and everyone loved Jimmy. full stories high, the framework of the roof is being covered by carpenters, while hundreds of others are Creative innovations came to him as naturally as breathing. An athlete finishing off the rooms below". v himself, he believed in keeping guests busy all the time. There were organized cycle trips (Jimmy was an accomplished cyclist), there were "Until one has seen the building, he can have but a faint well·organized boating, flshing and shopping expeditions. Bowling alleys idea of the work undertaken by Mr. Caskey, who assures were built in the hotel Qasement and there were three billiard rooms, two us that in spite of the delay caused by the railroads for gentlemen and one for ladies. failing to deliver material according to contract, he will have it ready for opening on schedule· July 1st". There were nightly dances, some formal and some informal, with name bands on hand with the music. "Mr. Caskey was a [me choice to construct the big hotel... he is so energetic .. .is a pushing contractor... ". Jimmy not only staged these evening dances, he participated in them, choosing dancing partners with care. Natural·bom wall·flowers and old Caskey was indeed a "pushing" contractor and an able one. As suggested ladies adored him because he made sure they had a good time. by the newspaper, he erected a handsome home for himself and his family at Bayand Division Streets in Petoskey, along with numerous other houses All of Hayes' innovations worked well, and the Arlington turned a and cottages in the area, notably all around Bay View. handsome proflt all during his tenure. He spent winters operating southern hotels at Montgomery, Alabama and Sanford and Indian River, Florida, and He also purchased the steamers "Lou Cummings" and "Van Raalte", and in 1887 put in the winter managing Sweet's Hotel in Grand Rapids where a fast new boat, "The Cyclone". he had earned his spurs in the hotel business years before. The Cummings was especially useful during the construction of the Grand And now we come to the reason for devoting so much attention to the to haul materials to the Island, and transport men to and from the project. head of the Petoskey Arlington in a story about the Mackinac Grand. The Cyclone performed taxi service fora long time between Petoskey and Harbor Springs and resorts in between. Many persons had feared the advent of the larger, new Grand would spell trouble for the Arlington, but the summer of '87 was a very good one for Pride was of course one big factor in Caskey's getting the Grand flnished the Arlington, Grand or no Grand. on time, but aside from that job, he needed to free himself on that date to assume his newly acquired responsibilities· the postal route to Sault Ste. The Petoskey Record reported, on September 21, 1887, near the end of Marie. A busy man! the summer season for both: "The Arlington will close a most successful season A key flgure in Grand Hotel early history was one James Reddington October 1st. Those people who thought that the Hayes. He had appeared in Petoskey when the Arlington Hotel opened, building of Plank's Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island highly recommended to owner H.O. Rose as the right man to manage 1 would damage the Arlington have been found to be Petoskey'S biggest and newest hotel. Rose, in fact, gave Hayes a one· very much mistaken... before the opening of next fourth interest in the Arlington to lure him from a successful career at the season the Arlington south wing will be extended flfty Wayne Hotel in DetrOit, but he rumed out to be worth every cent he was U' feet west, increasing the capacity of the dining area by paid. He was born to hotel management! that much and adding a large number of rooms to the house on the second and third floors ... other Clues to his remarkable talents are found in the three nicknames by which improvements are also planned." he was known: "GentleJeems", for his even temper and ability to remain unruffled when the going was rough, "Jinuny", because of his open, Fifty miles north, contrary to rosy expectations tllings had not gone well friendly marmer, and "The Comet" because hewasforeveron the deadrun for Plank's Grand Hotel in its maiden season. Infact, things were distinctly

42 43 rocky. After a gala opening featuring a guest list right out of the midwest will be a mighty big change. At rateS from $2 or $3, up social register, inciuding Potter Palmers, Marshall Fields, Armours, and to $4 or even $5 per day, Mr. Hayes will probably Swifts from the Chicago area, the Whitneys, Algers and Newberrys from fIll that house... and guests will stop complaining". Detroit, Mr. Adolphus Busch and family from the St. Louis and the C.W. Fairbanks from Indianapolis and many other famous families, lines at the By the spring of 1890 executives of the Grand Hotel Company had had registration desk quickly thinned out. enough red ink. They demanded change and change meant a replacement for Mr. Plank. On May 20, he sold out. His name was dropped from the After three lean years, thoroughly discouraged, Mr. Plank complained it was hotel name, and he left the Island in high dudgeon. not feasible to operate a 700 room hotel open only during the summer season. True to the Petoskey Record's rumor,Jimmy Hayes inunediatelytook over The transportation company owners of the Grand concluded that Plank's Plank's lease on the Grand, at the same time retaining his title of Manager arrogance and superior attitude were the basis of the troubles. Detroit of the Arlington, and his interest in Detroit's Wayne Hotel. His third newspapers added fuel to the flre: nickname "the comet" was now highly descriptive of his boundings from "People have talked freely of bad hotel management, one of these properties to another? with no time out! kick vigorously at the rates, and dining room service ... Plank should drop his room rates from As the head ofthe Grand, Hayes immediately applied all the techniques $6 and $9, and put an end to the collecting of belly that worked so well at the Arlington. He put in place his own management money by the waiters... the present arrangement team, stressed dawn to midnight "happenings" for guests. He reduced won't work!" rates $1 per room, added a September week to the season, improved service and food. On August 21, 1899, the editor of the Petoskey Record joined the chorus; fretting about the treatment of Grand hotel guests in particular and Island Perhaps his most important contribution was a calculated program of visitors in general. He has a special grudge against drivers of Island public relations with the little town on the Island. He realized that the sightseeing carriages: Island's historic attractions were the key to success of the hotel. "It is said that the general agent of the D & C Company is promoting an electric railway all around Good music, bicycling, dances, visiting lecturers (including Mark Twain), the Island to attract visitors. If he will also devise cheap tennis tournaments, field days for guests and employees were on the busy transit to all points of interest as well, thereby freeing calendar. He exploited the big porch and contrived entertainment and visitors from the extortion of Mackinac hackmen, he will music events on its broad reach. earn the gratitude of generations to come ... " Soonhe talked the owners into adding fIfty additional rooms, the handsome On July 31,the Record observed: east wing which balances the handsome hotel architecturally. "A visit to the Island last week confIrmed reports regarding slim attendance of resorters there... an off Hayes programs so improved town and guest relations that red flgures year as far as the Island is concerned... " magically turned black. The hotel made money all through the depression of1893. In Chicago, Detroit and other cities the Grand became "the" place "Our meal (at the Grand), "just a luncheon", sounds togo. amiable, innocent and fIlling eh? But, ye gods and little fIshes! What a depressed, haggard, pinched, Unfortunately, the bloom came offin 1897. Even the extra week added to emaCiated, consumptive expression your pocket the season for "Hayfeverites" failed to put the hotel in the black. The book assumes after "just luncheon" is over!" impatient owners refused to authorize further investments Hayes had recommended: Piqued, perhaps for the flrst time in his life, Hayes made "The moment that at last found us seated at a little it clear that he was dissatisfled. round table in the colossal dining room staring four flnger bowls in the face and feeling it Perhaps it was just timing coincidence, but just at this point the owner of would be real condescension if a waiter would unbend the well·known Planter's Hotel in St. Louis, Henry Weaver, offered to his dignity sufflciently to speak to us ... " lease the Grand, and the Grand's owners agreed! The situation had reached the explosive stage by September, and the Hayes left in late 1900 to take on a new hotel challenge at the Hot Springs Petoskey publisher took obvious pleasure in sharing a significant rumor Hotel in Arkansas, but his legacy set the elegant tone the Grand has with his readers: enjoyed ever since. His leaving was a sad chapter in the fInancial history "The people of Mackinac Island have it all flgured out of the hotel. After he left the hotel experienced flnancial ups and downs that Plank's Grand Hotel will be renamed next season that are almost beyond belief. and that Jimmy Hayes will be the new manager of it. If their belief is founded on anything substantial there Henry Weaver inherited, but could not maintain the momentum Hayes

44 45 had breathed into it. Unhappy, he threatened to leave the premises in the The sailing was anything but smooth thereafter, and the Grand waS forced lurch unless the owners gave him a half·interest in the Grand. They gave into receivership in that blackest of Octobers, 1931! in to his demand, but the hotel continued to languish financially. In 1910 It staggered along for two years under Stewart WoodfIll's direction, and the owners gave him the rest of the hotel, but Weaver still could not put then was placed on the auction block. .. and was bid in by W. Stewart the place on a paying basis, and he walked away from it, his one Woodfill! permanent improvement having been the hotel golf course. All through the thirties the going was touch and go. But under his inspired Next, several local residents purchased a minority interest in what leadership, with the aid of "due-bills", by which advertising was paid for seemed to be a monumental white elephant. The new group persuaded by credit slips purchased from publishers by guests at a discount, the hotel Frank Nagel, a well·known St. Louis attorney and long-time Island fan to staggered along. assume majority ownership. Gross income in 1934 was $184,000 (a 40% increase over the previous After adding 60 rooms to the establishment over a half-dozen year period, year.) Woodfill called the year 1938, the "year of the quiet". On July 11, the Nagel group eagerly accepted a purchase offer from]. Logan Ballad of 1939, there were just 11 registered guests, waited on by 400 employees! French Lick, Indiana, who had for some time operated a hotel and By comparison, 1940 was afairly"good" year. But then, in 1941, the hotel gambling operation there. lost $55,000.

To quote John McCabe, the grand Hotel'S centennial biographer: World War II, of courSe, brought on special problems of travel and ratiOning, but its ownerneverlost courage. And things picked up. By 1945 "This flighty entrepreneur made his incompetent predecessors look like the hotel was in the black, and has prospered ever since. clear-eyed, hard-headed men of business... " Mr. Woodfill died several years ago, but he had lived to see success that The Ballard regime was responsible for two innovations. They augmented he brought about. hotel income (and night life) by leasing a large area in the hotel to a profeSSional gambling group who paid $15,000 for their franchise, AND, Today The Grand Hotel is in the competent hands of Dan Musser, Mr. Ballard hired W. Stewart Woodfill, a young hoosier with prior eastern Woodfill's nephew, whose career with the hotel started in 1950. Soon he hotel experience as a desk clerk. was a Director; then Treasurer in 1958, and President in 1960. Woodfill quickly progressed in the pecking order of management, and Like Mr. Woodhill, he has boundless and endUring affection for his just as promptly began a long love affair with the Grand. favorite hotel, and just can't stop pouring profits back into the place. And it shows. From top to bottom, and from one end of that huge porch to the In 1920, when Woodfill was 24 years old, Ballard fired the last in a long other, it looks like the world's newest summer hotel, as well as the largest. series of ineffective managers and put Woodfill in charge. See to believe!

Not long after, Ballard died, and WoodfIll, acting on sheer courage and inspiration, offered the Ballard heirs $165,000 which would seem a remarkably slim price, except forthe fact that the hotel owed $500,000!

When the offer was accepted, Woodfill, of course, had to scrape up the up-front money.

He went to Chicago, and almost by chance, included the Lake Shore Bank and Trust Company, a relatively obscure institution at the time, as a prospective source for the necessary loan. He was granted time for a hearing by the bank's Board, one member ofwhich was].L. Kraft, founder of the famous Kraft Foods Company.

Young WoodfIll made an impassioned plea, using blown-up pictures of the hotel as exhibits. When he had finished there was silence in the boardroom fora few moments. Then Mr. Kraft launched into a sentimental reminiscence of his wedding trip -at the Grand! He closed by saying that as far as he was concerned, the loan was as good as made. The other directors promptly fell in line, and the deal was finalized.

46 47 EPHRAIM SHAY SELF-MADE INVENTOR relatively light-weight, gear-driven double-truck engine put in its appearance, and operators no longer had to wait for ice and snow to snake FRIEND OF HARBOR SPRINGS KIDS logs out of the woods. The Shay could operate on narrow-gauge, easily laid - and re-laid - ~;;-r,Li;'j :~_::;,t:>i hardwood rails; it could negotiate surprisingly sharp turns and pull substantial loads . ,,~ ;.-" t~""~' .,. "'-.-"~!"f" :~.it.c"; ill¥,;,,~, " .' iii~.~{ -:~~i'" "- We repeat that it is a mystery how Mr. Shay acquired the know-how to put •1,(." t,",,:, lI;lf! together his sophisticated invention. Born in Ohio in 1839, he was reared bya grandfather on aNewJersey dairy farm. Even though he had no formal schooling, he managed to hold down a job as a country schoolteacher for a short time. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the Union Army and participated in several battles, luckily without being injured, and was mustered out in 1864. Like many young veterans he seized opportunity in the burgeoning State of Michigan where both state and federal government were going all out to encourage immigration, He married, settled on farmland in Ionia County, and tried his hand at farming for four years. To supplement his income, he also operated a steam sawmill in a neighboring county. (perhaps his experiences with steam power on this job account for his "Ephraim Shay's" - "Hemlock Central interest in other steam applications later on.) If someone along the line develops a "Who Was Who" for Northwest In 1871 Shay moved to Cadillac to try his hand at running a store. The Michigan, it will have to include a slight, modest man whom you would GR&I Railroad was scheduled to arrive in Cadillac the following year and probably not have noticed if you had passed him on the street in Harbor the timing seemed ripe for an ambitious young vet. Soon, however, he Springs where he chose to retire a little avera hundred years ago. That was found that inside work was too confining and he sought a more active line 1888, before he was fifty years old. To look at him you would never have of work. This led to his hiring out to the Cobb & Mitchell lumbering firm. guessed he had revolutionized an industry and made a lot of money in the process. Working in the deep woods around Cadillac, he took notice of the dependence of his bosses on ice and snow to move logs by sleigh to the Always an unassuming person, Ephraim Shay shrugged off suggestions sawmill. He purchased a small locomotive and experimented with it in his that he was an inventor, maintaining that his contributions consisted of own small machine shop. He sought ways to keep wooden rails from modifying and adapting the ideas of others. This in spite of the fact that spreading and splitting beneath the weight of the engine, and ways to he had received glittering recognition at various industrial fairs around the improve wheel traction. World. As a matter offact he was still receiving them. Five years after he came to Harbor Springs, he was cited at the World's Columbian Exposition His experiments were conducted in the little community of Haring, just in Chicago in 1893. north of Cadillac, a future junction point for the GR&1 spur to Traverse City from the future mainline to Petoskey. Before long he developed a His achievements are especially noteworthy because he had little education. narrow-gauge working model, using double-trucks to distribute engine Perhaps the word genius is appropriate, and the only way to explain how weight. he was able to perform miracles in a sophisticated mechanical field without formal education. Yet it happened: his invention of the Shay Restive as always, he moved to burgeoning Boyne City where the White Locomotive changed a one-season industry into a year~round operation. Brothers and Guff VonPlaten were making things hum in this last big boom-town in the lower peninsula. Shay built a sawmill in the adjoining His brainchild was born in the Michigan northwoods as he worked for community of Bay Springs, now a suburb of Boyne, and proceeded to various timber barons, such as Cobbs & Mitchell in Cadillac, and the apply for patents on his locomotive. Whites in Boyne City where he was living at the time his patents were granted by Uncle Sam. As soon as the patents were granted, he made arrangements with the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, to produce his engine. It proved The engine was a direct result of his personal observation that harvesting popular from the outset and success came quickiy to inventor Shay. oflogs and their delivery to the sawmill was entirely seasonal. Better and As an unexpected bonus, the engine also proved effective in mines, faster and more adaptable means of transportation were needed than those colorful but inefficient giant wheels which had been invented by quarries, smelters and plantations all over the world. the celebrated Mr. Overpack of Manistee. Skid-roads and rollways had Mostwere built for narrow·gauge, light·weight applications, but individual been the custom since time immemorial - worldwide - until Shay's 48 49 w

ones were scaled for big jobs, such as the one weighing almost a third of THE RESCUE OF HORTON BAY a million pounds fcruse in the mountainous western Maryland coal fields. All told, more than 2700 Shays were built. Most of the once numerous little lumbering towns that dotted the northern Michigan countryside are no longer on the map. The big pines, At age forty-nine, Shay retired and moved to Harbor Sptings, and acquired elms, beeches, maples and ash trees that were their reason for being substantial timber holdings north of the village. He established the firm of established in the first place have been gone a century or more. E. Shay & Son, with his son Lette, described in the 1902 plat book of Emmet Countyas "proprietors ofHarborSptings Rai1roadand Waterworks"_ Around the Petoskey-Charlevoix area the quiet bedroom community of Horton Bay is one of the few sawmill towns remaining in more or less This is a blanket reference to two of the "retirement" activities of this original condition. Almost all the original houses and outbuildings still gifted gentleman. The first was the "Hemlock Central" Railroad, which stand, except for the watering trough, the old Methodist church, theloe Shay built to facilitate neighborhood lumbering operations. As a sideline, Shaw Hotel on the comer of High Street and the Horton Bay Road, and the largely for the fun of it, Shay transported numerous vacationers from in mill itself. and around Harbor Springs into the woods in the Stutsmanville area on sightseeing tours, quite often personally in the cab, operating the train. These latter structures long since collapsed or were removed along the way because of old-age and prolonged abandonment.

The waterworks reference in the plat book was a product of Ephraim ;,.,.'.~~~. Shay's fertile imagination. Almost from the moment he arrived in town, Shay concluded that demand for fresh water would soon exceed supply, even in a village that boasted a number ofnatural springs. To accommodate ~1 the rapidly growing population Shay built a town waterworks, and laid 1 twelve miles of water mains to appreciative subscribers. Eventually he sold the water operation to the city for $20,000. These two activities were only the beginning: - He also built and operated the first Harbor Springs Telephone Exchange. - He designed and built a one-cylinder truck. - He designed and built a hexagonal house, still standing, i.> next to the Blackbird Museum, no doubt the only building in Emmet County built with steel plates. Ii. "The Rescue of Horton Bay" I;!,; In spite of many predictions that it would never float, he built a forty-foot ';I'i" If you enjoy a step back in time a visit to Horton Bay can be rewarding, :I!I all-steel pleasure launch. When it ran, as planned, he named it the "Aha" as a joyous last laugh at doubting Thomases. For some time Lette used the especially if you are one of the many fans of Ernest Hemingway. The Aha to transport vacationers around Little Traverse Bay. author spent an inordinate amount of time in Horton Bay as a child, and !.:i: teenager, loafing and fishing while his family were summering in their [,ii The boat came to an untimely end when it foundered on unfriendly rocks cottage on Walloon Lake, four miles over the hills, when lumbering was on the beach near Cross Village. After forlorn years as a derelict, the Aha just about gone. was rescued and rehabbed. It is now on permanent exhibit at the Fort Recounting truths and myths about his local adventures has become, over Michillimackinac restoration at Mackinaw City, almost under the southern approach to the "Big Mac" bridge_ the years, a major local cottage industry. The centerpiece of the town then, and now, is the Horton Bay General Mr. Shay liked kids, and in his elaborate machine shop in the fall of1914, Store, which had been built and operated as tlle source for staples and he built 400 sleds as Christmas gifts to four hundred kids in Harbor. No sundriesforthefamilies ofmen who toiled atthe Stroud and Ohle sawmill, wonder the public elementary school is named in his honor! dawn to dusk, at the foot of Lake Street not many yards south ofthe store. It is the only store in town. There is a permanent Shay exhibit in the Little Traverse History Museum on the waterfront in Petoskey. In addition to being the only local source for groceries, hardware, coal oil, clothing, fishing gear, notions, candy, chewing and smoking tobacco, There is also a state history marker in Harbor Springs, half-way down the boots and shoes, buggy whips and horse collars, it served also as M-119 hill leading into town. In was dedicated on Labor Day, 1970. headquarters for information, idea exchange, and day-to-daysocial contact. For thirty years it was also an official United States Post Office. Mr. Shay died April 26, 1916, after a very full life. The store today looks pretty much as it always did, on the outside, painted NOTE: The only Shay locomotive in Michigan today, it is said, rests on white with a high false front. Inside, the mountains of food and staple permanent display in the public park in downtown CadiIlac. 50 51 items and the big pot-bellied stove, host to several captains' chairs in the families who "belonged", lazed away the summer days in that rustic old days have been replaced by refrigerated cases of pop and beer, a paradise again and again. It was a great place for kids! sandwich and coffee counter, a selection of T-shirts, some very good baked goods, and shelves of wine and hard liquor. The post office Soon, Aunty Beth's son Wesley married Kathryn Kennedy, Horton Bay's assignment was withdrawn four generations ago after thirty years of schoolmann, and the young couple set up housekeeping in the old Stroud faithful service to its country and neighborhood. house across the road from Pinehurst. The old structure has seen flfteen successive owners in its 120 years, and is now more than slightly spavined from bearing its own ungainly weight By the mid-rwenties, Kathryn and Wesley gradually took over for Aunty Beth, building both her resort trade and dinner-party businesses as Aunty all that time, but it looks back with feelings of pride. It is a designated Michigan centennial business, quite possibly the oldest continuous business decided to slow down. in Charlevoix Counry; its communiry is an official state historic Site, and, honor of honors, a year or so ago the store was named an Historic Place Kathryn was an even more successful hostess than her mother-in-law, and on the National Register! before long her new "waffle-shop" in the old Stroud house was busy almost every evening, and grew far more than locally famous. But the most important fact is that it, and the town, are still here. That circumstance didn't "just happen". Cherchez Les Femmes! Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Vollie Fox came into ownership ofthe venerable Horton Bay House across the Horton Bay Road from Kathryn's and next For a third of a century, after 1875, Horton Bay days were noisy with the to the Horton Bay store, the graceful building that had served for thirty­ screech of saws as the mill down on the shore of Pine Lake worked long five years as a boarding house and residence for lumberjacks who worked hours turning out lumber to ship to ports all around the great lakes. atthe sawmill in its busy days. Ilzzie and Vollie too, decided to go into the chicken-dinner business! They renamed the Horton Bay House The Red Unfortunately, the neighborhood - and the mill - ran out of trees in the Fox Inn, and, since Lizzie Fox was another talented cook, it too attracted early 1900's, leaving the town without visible means of support. sell-out crowds. Except for the presence ofthree remarkable women the town would have For a brief period before Aunty Beth retired for good, all three restaurants gone completely to seed in a hurry, and disappeared like a hundred others were operating full-blast almost every summer evening. for miles around. Where are Undine, Embo, Intermediate, Burgess, Carpenter, Inwood, Dwight, Maplewood and Phelps? All were once The automobile was just coming into its own and all manner of domestic towns within 15 miles of Horton Bay, and, like Horton Bay, boasted Post and foreign makes ftlled every available parking space in town to Offices. overflowing. Cunninghams, Rolls-Royces, Hispano-Suizas, Benzs, Pierce­ Arrows, Cadillacs and Packards were common. Special dining The intrepid lady who first decided Horton Bay shouid not perish was accommodations, seating perhaps six or eight chauffeurs were regularly Elizabeth Dilworth, known to everyone around as "Aunty Beth", wife of in use at all three restaurants. the town blackSmith, a gifted cook. It wasn't until the 1960's that the last of these three world-class dining Born in Horton Bay, she loved every inch of it and could not bear the rooms closed for good, bless them all three! thought ofleaving, though husband Jim's blacksmith shop was now idle a good part of the time. The pOint to be made is that when defeat and disaster threatened little Horton Bay, three gutsy ladies entered the scene and revitalized the She named the rambling family home "Pinehurst", and proclaimed it a town's economy. Every housewife and daughter around, most of them country restaurant where chicken dinners were available by advance related, had a job. reservation only - price, per person, $ .50. So, Horton Bay is still here, thanks to AuntyBeth Dilworth, Lizzie Fox and So far as I know, a tiny ad in the Boyne City newspaper announcing the Kathryn Dilworth, who all "got along" as friends all during their rivalry. start of her business was the only advertising placed or needed. Since Mrs. Dilworth had long had a reputation as a talented cook, it was not long until The Hemingway mystique that clings and grows in Horton Bay traces to her modest dwelling had to be expanded by the addition of a large Aunty Beth, too. An old softy, she couldn't resist young Ernie's pleas for kitchen/laundry room. And soon she was accepting reservations a free cot in the Pinehurst woodshed and leftover fried chicken, also free. throughout the week, every week. And this led to inquiries regarding family vacation accommodations in summer. Gloria Wyn and Melissa Creasey, current mavins and owners of the Horton Bay store can fill you in about Ernest, The Windigo (a swamp In 1910 the Dilworths built theirlarge summer cottage "Shrangri-Ia" next resident of Horton Bay), The Winter Olympics, the local Bridge Walk on door to their home and from then on housed summer visitors, many of LaborDay, and first and foremost, the almost annual Horton Bay 4th ofJuly whom brought their families year after year to Horton Bay. With the big Parade, now well on its way to national fame as the best attended village lumber dock on the lakeshore providing entertainment, the faithful few parade in the USA.

52 ~1 Twain was a natural performer. He spiced his lectures with nonsense, TOM SAWYER preposterous stories and wild exaggeration, and audiences loved it. One would never have guessed that the motivation for this whole tour was VISITS PETOSKEY Twain's desperate need for money. Sunday, July 20th, 1895, was a red­ Behind his light-hearted utterances on the stage, this funniest of men was letter day forthe people ofPetoskey_ newly stone-broke, doing what he had to do to pay off the debts that had Most everyone had been awaiting driven him to bankruptcy. eagerly the appearance in person of Mark Twain, author of Tom Sawyer, Perhaps he believed too much in people. Or maybe success came to him perhaps the most popular writer too easily. Doubtless a little more formal education would have helped. and humorist ofthe day_ And a little discipline when he was growing up.

Persons who have heard of his visit By any measurement, Mark Twain had led a carefree life as a youngster. here so long ago usually assume that Twain appeared in BayView, which Born in the village of Hannibal, Missouri, as Samuel Clemens, Twain early is not surprising since Bay View had developed a love affair with the Mississippi River, and a wanderlust that long been recognized as the cultural was never satisfied. . Seat of the north country, the place where all summer long there were His father died when he was twelve, and despite the valiant efforts of his presented a succession of famous mother and "Aunt Polly", he lived an unrestrained childhood which is people speaking on many subjects_ mirrored in his books. However, MarkTwain's appearance Mark Twain He served as apprentice in the newspaper office ofhis brother Orion who was not in that famous enclave. It Around the time of his published the Hannibal weekiy newspaper. Sam learned to hand-set type had been scheduled into Petoskey's visit to Petoskey and his natural curiosity let to wide reading_ At eighteen, Twain became GrandOperaHouseat416BayStreet, an itinerant reporter, working for newspapers in St. Louis, New York, across the way from today's Perry Hotel, by Major Pond, Twain's tour Philadelphia and then in Keokuk, Iowa, where Orion had become manager_ The visit here was sandwiched between two others at the Grand publisher ofthe local paper. Hotel on Mackinac Island,July 19th and 21st. The three sessions were part of twenty-six "one-night stands" across this countty and Canada, with an At twenty-one he departed for South America, but got only as far as around-the-world- tour to follow_ The author stayed overnight at the Cincinnati where he took a job reporting for a daily paper for a year. He Arlington Hotel after his Petoskey performance_ quit to take a river trip to New Orleans. En route he apprenticed as a river pilot, qualified for pilot's license; then spent two and a haifyears piloting Twain delighted a sellout crowd that attended his engagement here_ The big river boats. Petoskey Daily Reporter commented next day: An audience which packed the Grand Opera House In 1861 Orion was hired as secretary to the territorial governor ofNevada, from the orchestra railing to the top of the rear gallery and Mark signed on as Orion's secretary. The two brothers on one greeted Mark Twain when the curtain rose last night. occasion traveled to Nevada from St. Louis by boat and overland stage Every seat was sold and over a hundredfolding chairs (from whence came Twain's later book Roughing It). were set up in the aisles to accommodate those who wished to see America's greatest humorist, and even Soon tiring of inside work, Mark Twain gave in to wanderlust once more, then many were turned away_ It was the largest, most became a silver prospector in Nevada, then a newspaper writer in wild cultured and best audience ever seen in Petoskey, and wooly Virginia City, Nevada. Here he started to write in earnest, the receipts being $524_ assuming the nickname Mark Twain. This phrase he had often heard (Since the box seat price was $ LOO and gallery seats, $ .50, there must bellowed from the bow of river boats by deckhands assigned to continually have been at least seven hundred people on hand). plumb the depth in fathoms of the river, using a weighted line. "By the mark twain, CaP'n. .. by the MARK TWAIN!! (Meaning: a safe depth as The size ofthe audience at a special lecture in Bay View that same evening gauged by the second knot on the line, from the river bottom -a depth of is not a matter of record, but the program competing with Twain was a 12 feet. stereoptican lecture on "Babylonian Religion and Ideas: Their bearing on those of the Hebrews", delivered by one Dr_ Frank K_ Sanders_ He left Virginia City for San Francisco, where he wrote his classic The Celebrated jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and met author Bret In spite of being quite ill while on stage, Mark Twain had his Petoskey Harte. Soon he went on a freelance writing aSSignment to Hawaii; then left audience stomping for more, as he always did at the end of his down-to­ on another trip, this time around the world. earth platform appearances.

54 55 Much more travel and frequent changes in work plans followed ... until On one occasion Mr. Howard, manager of the Petoskey House, and the Twain met Olivia Langdon, whom he married in 1870. manager of the Cheboygan Opera House rented out their respective facilities for a home-and·home contest to determine once and for all Olivia (his beloved "Livy") domesticated her author-husband, and the which town's highly touted blacksmith was, in fact, the most adept at next twenty four years were the most productive in his career. During this replacing all four shoes on patient and amiable nags tethered on stage. period he published Tom Sawyer, The Prince And The Pauper, A Speed of course counted. Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court and Huckleberry Finn. The contest drew packed houses in both cities on their scheduled dates, Unfortunately, Mark Twain was far less capable as a businessman than he and there was spirited betting. Impartial judges were on hand to decide was as a writer. He met an inventor named Paige who had conceived but the outcomes, but prudently awarded victory to each of the contenders not yet perfected a type-setting machine. As a long·time newspaperman, in his own home town, so the contest ended in a draw. thoroughly familiar with the slow and tedious job of hand·setting type, Twain swallowed the implied promise of Paige's revolutionary invention, On another occasion Brigham Young's wife #7 was booked for a lecture hook, line and sinker. in Petoskey'S Opera House but did not appear on the scheduled date. No reason given. In spite of the fact that the Paige machine was in the inventor's·model state - for years -Twain invested every cent he could muster. Soon all his Early Petoskey resid~nts were proud and thankful that H.O. Rose, early savings and future royalties and all of Uvy's inheritance - plus money he town leader and benefactor had underwritten an Opera House for their borrowed from Orion and his friends were sunk in the effort to bring the enjoyment. Presumably Mark Twain was, too. Paige invention into production, but the contraption was too complicated to succeed. At the same time a Twain publishing venture also failed. Both projects, aided no doubt by the depression of 1893, flopped completely. At age 59 Mark Twain found himself $100,000 in debt, a vety large sum in those times. While he escaped creditors legally by declaring bankruptcy, Twain felt deeply obligated toward those who had trusted his judgement and entrusted money to his hands. Accordingly, he arranged through a friend, Major Pond, to set up the lecture tour that took him, Uvy and his daughter to MacKinac and Petoskey and a couple of dozen other centers. With the help of his share of the $524 realized in Petoskey, it is good to know that by 1898 Mark Twain was entirely free of debt. lf the thought of a Grand Opera House in pioneer Petoskey strikes you as slightly "hifalutin", consider what the frontier was like in the days before Television, Radio and the Movies. Pretty drab after dark! So, like every little town around, including Charlevoix, Mancelona, EastJordan, Boyne, Traverse City and all the others, Petoskey built an opera house because of public demand for professional entertainment -and -like most of the other towns, called it the Grand! A strange hodge-podge of amusement was provided by agents, usually in New York, who booked whole seasons of entertainment into little towns. "Acts", included such fare as comedians, musicians, melodramas, trained animals and occasional lecturers, like Mark Twain. New offerings were available on a once or twice a month schedule. In between these imported programs, local managers like Mr. Harwood of the Petoskey Grand Opera House would rent their halls for local group meetings, political rallies, etc., and sometimes stage boxing and wrestling tournaments.

56 57 In 1932, which older people will recall was a terrible business year all around, the company realized just $4,720 in ice sales, plus another $60 from the operation ofconvenience-type self-serve dispensers which were ICE ALA MODE the forerunners of today's cube dispensers. As a comparison, the Fora great manyyears, dating at least to your grandfather's time, there was fuel business enabled a company in St. Louis, Missouri named "The Polar Wave Ice and Coal the partners to gross, Company". Their confident slogan was, "We Have Come To Stay!" overall, about $85,000 that year. The company and its advertising man simply failed to anticipate the remarkable improvements that were on the horizon in heating and Charlie Heise always cooling in the average household. worked hard. He had to, and he had some good Who would have thought in the olden days that coal furnaces were on the things to say about the way out? Or that refrigerators would soon manufacture ice right in the ice business. "Even in kitchen? the thirties" , said Chuck, "whatever I earned with One of the familiar memories of summer tourists in Michigan until the ice was easier to come '30's was the presence in every lake city and town of a large, ungainly, by than the $ .50 a day I windowless hulk of a building close by the water, seemingly poised to fall was paid as a kid thin­ in. ning sugar beets on my hands and knees". This was the omnipresent ice-house, one of the prosperous businesses in town. From about the third week inJanuary to April men were out on the He went into the ice lake harvesting ice and hauling it to storage to be ready for summer business by accident. demand locally, and by fast railroad service, to supply hotels, restaurants and private homes throughout the midwest. "I bought a truck and went into the draying Some of the companies were really big. business. Then Ben Every home had an ice-pick in the old days. Yettawsuggestedwego "In the March of 1890", according to a newspaper item from Cleveland, into the ice business "The Knickerbod;er Ice Company was in the process of erecting eight together. Henry Widdifield had already been selling ice in Charlevoix for large ice-houses on the Petoskey waterfront, to be filled by spring with some years when we came along. He resented the appearance of new 500,000 tons of ice, providing work for at least 500 men". competitors". A feud went on fora while with nobody speaking, but then Ben and Charlie helped the Widdifield Company out when it ran short of At Ferry Beach, in Charlevoix, there was a short-lived sugar-beet process­ ice one season. ing factory building that had been abandoned by its overly-optimistic owners. It was 60 x 12 x 20 feet high and was just right for Charlie Heise "The ice thawed", punned Heise, "and Harry became one of our best and Ben Yettaw's Charlevoix Coal and Ice Company's ice-house. TIlis friends". company became number one in the local ice business through very hard work, but it proved not all that rewarding. Heise and Yettaw had two teams of horses and hired ten more teams when the ice harvest started. This was easy because a lot of farm animals are not "Fact is", said Charlie, who's memories of the ice and fuel business too busy in the winter. They also had a crew 007 men when production reached back to the early twenties when electric refrigerators were barely got gOing, usually in midJanuary. They had to work fast because the on the horizon, "there never was real money in the natural ice business. season lasted only about thirty days. (Sometimes it lasted until April in But everybody had to have ice, and supplying it in summer led to coal and Petoskey and other "big lake" places). wood business from satisfied customers". Working for $ .40 an hour, their crewmen put in an eight-hour day in the Even though it wasn't as rewarding as they had hoped, Charles and Ben bitter cold. They all brought their lunch and ate together in a small shed became the leaders in the business by giving it everything they had. built for the purpose. Heise's neat record books back up his statement that there wasn't much money in ice. Frequently the Lake would receive an overnight blanket of snOw. This called for the use of a horse-drawn scraper with the rider on a seat behind

58 59 it. When four or five acres of Pine Lake (the name of present Lake operator in the old days, and had a huge ice·house where Bellinger's is Charlevois before 1927) had been cleared, the cutting could proceed. now situated in Round Lake. The area of work was 100 yards off Ferry Beach, and big ice·plows with What to do? nine·foot blades would sometimes have to work over the same groove several times if the ice was really thick. Somebody suggested the possibility of Susan Lake, near Greensky Hill. Small lakes tend to freeze even when big lake ice-yield is stingy. Sure Ice grooves were cut parallel one way, then across, to free big oblongs of enough, it turned out there was ten-inch ice at the north end ofSusan. This ice. These were dragged out of the water and then taken ashore by sleigh. was quickly harvested and helped the firm fulfill its most pressing They were lifted by horse·power up into the ice·house on slanted double commitments. (Luckily, also, a heavy freeze in March enabled the firm to tracks, much as bales of hay are lifted into a barn. complete its winter requirements.) Later on Model T engines and electric motors replaced horses. It was That is the end of the saga of the Great Susan Lake Emergency Ice Harvest, found, too, that circular saws speeded up the process. except to report that the summer of 1935 brought fotth numerous complaints that bits of cattail and algae were cluttering up Charlevoix ice­ Charles and Ben setviced both The Inn and The Chicago Club private ice· box drains. All due to the fact that Susan Lake is quite shallow and full of houses each season. Ice for both was obtained just offshore from The "weeds". Chicago Club, where a special field was scraped and cut. Both these corporate customers required that the ice be tested each year. Some Harvesting ice is not without hazards. Charlie Heise was full of stories people were pollution conscious even in those early days. about major and minor calamities. Equipment sometimes dropped into the deep during operations. And it is no joke to fish men - or horses - out (In 1909, when Dr. John Reycraft was mayor of Petoskey, the city passed of ice-water at 20 below! At times the big saw blade would bite into a an ordinance making it a misdemeanor to harvest ice close to the mouth railtOad spike that had been tossed out on the ice by some kid. Sometimes of the Bear River, in fact, anywhere closer than one·half mile from shore. it was so cold ice-cakes would shatter when they bumped into each other. With all the factories upstream, contamination was a real concern.) Always something! "Club and hotel work took us oniy two or three days", Charlie said, "and Kids sometimes participated. Theywould get a dime apiece for Christmas we could clear about $50 apiece, which was mighty good money". Trees they delivered to the ice-field to be used as wind-breaks. Charlie's brother Bill was in the habit of pretending to find a dollar bill on a tree The best source of volume was the railroad. Both the Pere Marquette and some kid had just sold him for a dime. For laughs! the GR&I got their ice for parlor and dining cars under contract from a firm whose storage house was located near Petoskey's Old Brewery, just Folks in little communities around Pine Lake used to gang-up on local ice­ around the comer from Bay View. But Charles and Ben had a contract to harvests. In Hotton Bay, for example, all able-bodied males turned to and fill five or sis freight cars a day on a Siding next to the Pere Marquette kept at the job until the store and all private ice·houses were stuffed with freight station in Charlevois. This was rushed every day to towns "down a supply that would last all summer. below" and netted the suppliers $25 to $30 per car. Lots of it went into mixed drinks at "milking time" all summer long on the It required a lot of sawdust to insulate ice in storage, but this was never Dilworth porch, nice and cold but never tested except sip-by-sip by a problem in the lumbering era and for qUite a long time after the big trees summer people getting good and ready for Aunty Beth's and later, were gone. There had been sawmills all around Pine Lake and great piles Katherine's, fantastic cookery! of sawdust endured near every one of them. They were nothing but a nuisance and ice companies helped themselves. Ice was deemed ready for harvest when it was about twelve inches thick. Two blocks offoot thick ice eighteen inches square would fill the average icebox and keep food cold for several days, when the routeman would come by and fill it up again.

In 1933·34 what is known around here as an "open winter" occurred, meaning that cold weather held off so long it seemed that good "green" ice would never form. By mid·February, things looked pretty grim for everyone in the ice business. Charlie and Ben were of course concerned. They had built up substantial orders, including the fIlling of competitor Widdifield's and the Booth Fisheries ice·houses. The latter was a big

60 '" -.-~------1'1

Fromfragmentaryaccounts there were no schedules at the outset, and the train stopped running altogether in the winter. Petoskey, in 1874, was a community of 200 people, boasting of five stores, three hotels (The Cushman, Rose and Clifton Houses), two sawmills, a grist·mill and a single saloon. Things picked up quickly, though. In 1875 a twice·a·week summer schedule was adopted, both north and south, and there was a single train each day even in winter. The first suburban trains started operating in 1878, from Petoskey through BayViewto Crooked Lake. These used wooden rails topped with strips of steel for tracks. The cars were small, open at the sides and had wooden canopy·type tops. For the first three summers these were horse·drawn, but in 1880 a small engine was regularly used on the Harbor Springs route. By 1880, the GR&1 had extended service all the way to Mackinaw City. The original depot on Bay Street burned that year, and a new station was built in what is now Pennsylvania Plaza. The railroad began advertising itself in Chicago and Detroit as "The Fishing Line", a great appeaL The first passenger agent in Petoskey for the GR&I was M.F. Quaintance, Conunuting - Petoskey Style whose official position automatically bestowed an aura of importance, since the railroad soon became one of the largest employers in town. 125 ;! employees reported to him. Big business for a little town. Iiii' WHEN THE RAILROAD CAME TO TOWN Completion of the GR&! segment from Reed City to Petoskey stimulated the business climate all the way north, and all over the north. Soon a "State 'iil!! Road" was built from Cheboygan to Petoskey to accommodate a "feeder" ii ' It is too bad that O'Heruy or Mark Twain could not have seen and stage route. Service was soon available from Little Traverse (Harbor li'l! described Petoskey railroading sometime during the seventy·five years Springs) via Petoskey to Cheboygan, accommodating passengers and from the first train arrivalin the autumn of1874 until the great days of the \~i mail. i,i Pennsy "Northern Arrow" and the C&O "Resort Special". (Actually, Mark i" Twain did put in a Petoskey appearance, in 1895, but it was a hurried By 1905 the GR&! found it necessary, because there were 66 trains a day I",', twenty·four hour visit, and its focus was a speech at the old Opera House, though Bay View, to "double track" all the way to Harbor Springs, and six iii without benefit oflocal railroad lore, which was perhaps an unfortunate sets of tracks were needed at Bay Street to hanclle all the traffic. I~ oversight!) :i One could take the "dummy" train to or from Harbor or Bay Street on the Either author would have delighted in describing such an exciting and hour and half·hour anytime between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Passengers rode i1 action·packed period in this small town, and the hullabaloo caused by in one of two or three vestibule·type cars (with hard wooden seats) that presence of the iron horse. carried sixty persons each. The bright red cars took only 30 minutes to IIi,1 !i maltethat trip; fare was $ .25. Stations from Petoskey were Rosedale, Bay First came the GR&I, predecessorto the Pennsylvania with its big engines View, Reed Avenue, Edgewater, Menonequa Beach, Ramona Park, East 1'1 chugging their way smack across the present busy intersection at Mitchell Wequetonsing, Wequetonsing, West Wequetonsing and, of course, Har· 'I and Howard Streets, stopping street traffic to show who was boss, pulling bor Springs at the end of the line. slowly to a stop at tiny Bay Street station across from the old Elk's Club building. ' People are curious about the term "Dummy", which everyone called the ~ commuter facility and others like it throughout the midwest. One writer .f Unfortunately, unless there is a dusty personal chronicle in existence, no explains that the name derives from the practice in dairy regions of one recorded the excitement of the fIrst arrival, because it occurred disguising the engine in a box-like wooden covering in order to avoid before a newspaper was published in Petoskey. frightening cows grazing along the right·ot-way. In 1905 a summer commuter line was established that ran four times per day each way to Conway, Oden and Alanson, then back to Petoskey and 62 63 south to Clarion and Bear (Walloon) Lake. Starting that year, also, you As a postscript to the long-lines aspect of the C&WM, General Passenger could go to Kegomic at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour. Agent George DeHaven commented quaintly: "in addition... there will be established... the following local schedule... every day... seven times per One reason for all the stepped up service on the GR&I in Petoskey was the day, where never was train before". 1893 attival in town of the Chicago & West Michigan, which occurred in 1893. Its advent had been heralded in a news-paper story a couple years Executives of the GR&I quite narurally were slightly jealous of all the earlier in the Petoskey Record: attention showered on this new competitor and in the year 1902 pulled out all the stops to again take the lead in the never ending game of one­ "Capitalists interested in the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad ... have upmanship; they plarmed a new station-house for the GR&I in Petoskey. defmitely decided to extend the road to the Straits ... the road will be built No holds were barred. They commissioned the world-famous Chicago this season, at least to Petoskey." architect, Daniel Burnham, to design the structure which still stands, across from the Perry HoteL As was often the case, there were delays in execution, but a month later the Record ran a story headlined, "Railroad This Time Sure": Burnham, it may be recalled, was the designer of the long-range plan for Chicago's waterfront which has been closely followed since the tum of "While it has been known for some time past that the building of the the century. (WhlIe nothing much was made of this coup at the time in C&WM RR northward from Traverse City was a certainty, it was not Petoskey, it is just possible that architecrurai fans haven't really discovered known just when... but last Friday night at a meeting with the businessmen this gem in the wilderness, and that its time may yet come.) of Petoskey, officials stated that within 48 hours after they were granted a right of way from the West line of Emmet County to the corporate limits Local newspapers enjoyed playing big-brotherto the railroad people and of Bay View, together with grounds for a depot within the village, a force early on prodded their management into safety measures. For example: of men would set to work. .. " "What has become of the gates at the railroad crossing at Howard and The clincher was that Captain H.O. Rose, prominent businessman of Mitchell Streets the councilmen were demanding last winter? Agent Petoskey at that very meeting, donated the right of way along the whole Quaintance said at the time that the GR&I was going to put in electric of his waterfront property from Bay View to Bear Creek, together with alarm bells right away quick, but poor as that device is, it hasn't turned up. ample room for a station. Is the thing going to run along this way until somebody is killed?" No time was wasted, as the railroad men had promised. On June 1st the Beyond minor squabbles and incidents, however, the two railroads more Record cattied a story headlined "The New Depot": than lived up to the dreamers - and investors - hopes. They also became a warm part of Petoskey community life, as born out by friendly squibs in "Work began this week upon the new depot of the C& WM railroad on the the papers from time to time: waterfront. It will be 154 x 48 feet in size and when done will present a handsome specimen of Romanesque architecture. The central portion "The track of the C&WM between here and Charlevoix is said to be the will contain a generai waiting room 25 x 40 feet, and a ladies waiting best piece ofnewtrack ever laid in the state. It is as smooth as any old piece room, 16 x 28 feet, besides a baggage room, ticket and telegraph office of road ever laid, and the sixteen miles have been covered in 17 minutes". and toilet rooms. From the center wall will rise a large tower commanding a fine view of the Bay. On the second floor of this tower will be a large "The C&WM carried 1400 people to Charlevoix on the 4th ofJuly". room twenty-five feet in diameter with balconies on the waterfront side. The depot is to cost $6,000 and to be completed in 60 days." (!his is the "Trains began running to the foot of Bear (Walloon) Lake on Sunday. present Petoskey Historical Society Museum, whichfearures a fme railroad People can now go down in the afternoon, spend several hours on the lake exhibit.) and return in time for tea" .

An editorial in the same issue was prophetic: "Eddie Labadie, who has been telegraph messenger at the GR&I depot for nearly two years, meanwhile learning how to thump the key, has been "Our citizens do not even quite yet understand all this means to Petoskey. promoted and made operator at the Harbor Point office. Eddie is a steady the material advantages are very great.. .it means growth... an advance in and gentlemanly fellow, and will get on in Iife"_ values of real estate ... no material increase in summer business could be expected until facilities for transportation were increased... within the "The facilities afforded by the GR&I this season for quick trips to Bear Lake next three years volume of summer travel will double". are admirable, and there will be thousands who will spend a day on that beautiful stretch ofwater this season. Added to the local trains to Crooked Morning and afternoon "the great daylight scenic runs", with through Lake, Harbor Springs and Bay View, the railroad now has furnished us parlor cars to Detroit and Chicago, plus an overnight train, were for many unequalled service" . years a part of Petoskey action. A large poster-size time-table for the C&WM for 1910 is on exhibit as testimony to the busy life of Petoskey's second rail line. 64 65 "The annual excursion of the GR&I from all stations between Richmond, The railroads were almost equally influential in successful establishment Indiana, and Vicksburg, Michigan and Traverse Citywill be given September of many other summer havens around the north· Harbor Point, Roaring 8. Fare only $ 5. Tickets good to retum on all regular trains forten days after Brook, Wequetonsing and the shores of Pine and Walloon Lakes, at the that". (1200 people were aboard this particular special.) very least they made them more accessible to all who sought relief from city heat beating down on the midwest. "The morning excursion on the GR&I to Mackinac and the Soo took out 385 people". No one had any thought that this happy state ofaffairs would ever change. There is a delightful little book, printed in Petoskey in 1898, The Northern "The excursion brought in by the C&WM and the GR&I Wednesday and Michigan Handbook for Travelers, by J.G. Inglis, that describes the Thursday nlghts were large ones. The two together brought about 1200 natural beauties of this region. It is full of tips on how to enhance a people into Petoskey". vacation in the area by taking little side·trips by carriage, horseback, bicycle and on foot, which were the approved ways of getting around The Petoskey Independent in 1892 reported that a total of almost 13,000 once you were artived in the area. The book is available in local bookstores trains made trips to or from Kegomic from June 25 to September 30. and original copies turn up at house sales from time to time. It is worth reading as a guide to innocent pleasures in the days before the concrete It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of the two carriers to the highway! development of the city and area as a summer haven. There are hundreds of senlor citizens who recall with affection the scene of happy confusion The railroad bubble finally burst as the automobile moved into the scene that always occurred at the anival of trains at both stations all summer in the teens and twenties and thirties. long. The C&WM which had been acquired by the Pere Marquette and later by You'd hear them fIrst, announcing their coming from far down the track the C&O made a valiant effort to compete. Mr. Young, president of the and then they would come chugging into the station, the engine blowing latter road established the "Resort Special" as a sleeper service during the off steam as the engineer rang the bell next to the stack. summer. Sections left Detroit and Chicago Friday nlghts, arriving at northern stations in this vicinity early Saturday morning. Return service First off each car were the porters, one to a car, Swinging down to the left Petoskey at 7 p.m. Sunday nlghts, delivering its load of commuting platform with the iron step in their free hand, dusting off the hand·rail, at family heads in time for work Monday mornlng in the big cities. This was the ready to take the arm of each dismounting passenger. a great success, but could not, alone, suppon the railroad. There were mothers, dressed to the nines with white gloves and floppy Its competitor, the Pennsylvania, successor to the GR&I, said, in a story hats, and,in the really olden days, bustles and pleated skirts that barely in the Petoskey News·Review, April 20, 1950: cleared the ground. Often, a hat box was in hand. "Improved passenger equipment, including a wide range of Pullman There were fathers in double·breasted, pin·striped Palm Beach suits, accommodations, will feature this years' "Northern Arrow" .. .it will serve canes, two·toned sporty shoes and skimmer straw hats. north Michigan for more than four months during the coming summer season ... diesel powered, as it was last year, the Arrow will present for the And there were little girls in braids and white dresses with colorful sashes fIrst time a dinlng car especially forthe north Michigan service, decorated tied in a big bow at the back and patent·leather black shoes, and their with photo murals of that resort area... " brothers in long-sleeved white shirts, string ties and straw hats, some with a fishing rod clutched in hand. Alas, in September, a little over four months later, the Northern Arrow pulled out of Petoskey for the last time ... a sort of last gasp for passenger Quite often, trailing the family and running around the brick train· railroading. platform to see to trunks and suitcases would be the domestics and nannies, along for the summer season . . The old spirit of enterprise and innovation, which had included such elaborate ventures as the annual staging of a Hiawatha Pageant on little Adding to the confusion would be noisy hotel porters shouting the name Round Lake, north of Petoskey, and combination rail/boat round trips of their hotel, baggage·handlers, big iron·shod baggage wagons, draymen from Chicago and Detroit to Petoskey and Charlevoix could no longer be and spectators. later on in the summer the arrival scene was repeated in profItable. The railroads simply quit trying. reverse, a little quieter and sometimes with parting tears.

As most people know, Bay View was established as the result ofnegotiation between the GR&I, which originally owned the property, Methodist interests seeking a retreat, and the city of Petoskey, which led to the agreeable, more·than·century old relationship between the resort and Petoskey.

66 67 The GR&! railroad had pushed north to Clam Lake the previous winter. A rough building displayed a shingle with the legend: "Village of Clam Lake, A SERVANT OF GOD Mich. U.S. Post Office, John Mclain Postmaster". When historians recount the deeds There were also two log boarding houses for lumberjacks, one called The of memorable leaders in Michi­ Mason House, a blacksmith shop, a general store and two sawmills with gan'snorthcountrytheydon'tvery a combined capacity of 50,000 feet of lumber a day. often include the early church­ men who had such profound in­ The young minister was really starting from scratch in his flrst aSSignment. fluence on the daily life of Our There was no church building, no funds. And no congregation. So, on his pioneers. Yet the rough cut lum­ fust Sunday in town "he selected a pine stump in front of The Mason bering communities of long ago House as a pulpit and preached to the open air" , according to a centennial needed every bit of the help they booklet published in 1972 by the First Presbyterian Church of Cadillac. got from men of the cloth. On September 24, 1872, Mr. Redpath was ordained by the Presbytery and Men named Dougherty, Porter, formally directed to take up ministry in the northern counties in Michigan. Reverend John Redpath Ferry, Baraga, Greensky and Pioneer North-Country Minister By June the local paper reported that services were being held regularly Wycamp, to name a few, left their in a hall located on Cadillac's main street. mark on the northwestern por­ tion of the lower peninsula, and deserve far more attention than they Soon that hall was replaced by a large space over a butcher shop, but in receive. no time at all still more space was needed as the congregation continued to grow. The same goes for no-nonsense John Redpath, whose name sounds like a family among the hundreds of native Americans whose lives he touched Accommodations were found this time over McCarty's Saloon. As Rev. in a dozen towns for half a century up and down the old GR&I railroad. Redpath reported to the Presbytery: "The saloonkeeper cooperated by closing his business during services and shOOing all his customers to the ActuallyJohn Redpath was as Scottish as they come, in name, appearance, church above, but opened to accommodate them as they came down­ character - and Presbyterian persuasion. No man ever elected a tougher stairs after service." row to hoe than he, or became better known in this entire region. late in August, 1873, HI'st services were held in the basement of a new The family name - literally, Red Path, came from the color of the soil church building, which was completed the following year. A shiny new around the family home in Maxton Parish, Scotland, a countryside well­ edifice convenienced the parishioners no end, not to mention pastor known to poet Robert Bums. Redpath who set up bachelor quarters in the basement, luxuriating in the improvement over his cramped boardinghouse environment. His father died whenJohn was seventeen. His mother decided to move to the United States with her eight children, migrating to Richland, Kalamazoo Meanwhile the GR&! continued laying track northward to Petoskey. As County, Michigan. The family crossed the Atlantic in two groups; the ship soon as it arrived there Mr. Redpath became one of the first commuters, that carried John required flfty-one days for the trip, a crossing you can in order to serve a Petoskey congregation of about sixteen, the majority make today in just hours if you are in a hurry. Indians, who had been meeting, but without a minister, for several years. Having completed organization of the Clam Lake church, he considered John attended Kalamazoo College, then switched to Union TheologicaJ his task there completed, and requested a commission to build a church Seminary in New York, intending to become a missionary. in Petoskey. Upon graduation in 1871, he decided to follow in the footsteps ofintrepid The Presbytery complied and Redpath set some sort of record by raiSing David llvingston, whose fleld was East Africa, but found that the last boat $3,600 from various Michigan Presbyteries to start building The First of the season heading in that direction had already sailed. Presbyterian Church of Petoskey. It was built on a donated lot at Rose and Division Streets, and dedicated in August, 1876. Rather than delay his career, John followed faculty advice to minister to the spiritual needs of the red men and lumberjacks in the northern Mr. W.O. Hughart, President ofthe GR&! was on hand for that flrst service Michigan wilderness, just then on the threshold ofits fabulous lumbering (he having provided a railroad car for services during church construc­ era. tion.) With the blessing of the Presbytery of Grand Rapids which was just A year later the ever-restless John Redpath left Petoskey and spent some beginning to establish the Presbyterian presence in the northern reaches months working with the Presbyterian congregation at Big Rapids. of the lower peninsula, Redpath went to the newly established village of Clam Lake (now Cadillac), arriving in May, 1872. 68 69 His next stop was the mission field of Boyne Falls where he and his new ~ Please Read and CirCulate. -e.l: bride Sarah Upjohn Redpath took up residence and proceeded to estab­ METROPOLITAN llsh a local Presbyterian church.

During his unduly long residence in Boyne Falls, the compulsion to start MACKINAC still another church led him to Boyne City, six miles away. The result was a healthy congregation and soon a church building in that booming lumbering community too, in 1883. CITY "".. , ..... "''''''.''"' .. '' ... "".f''_~m''' ... ".,'',....."...,'''" .... \d''i.''.• ~~~":':'~~=.,'7 ;rj,':h':':."::;.'"..;;,~~.~ ... ~~~~ o:'! ~,:::,=.~. ",Z ~:'~:.~ ;o;~\".;"',,<'il:; ,!\.~~J:::'..:.~ .;"';,::!':'.l'~;~':~J,,;,.mQ."N-: ";~~7.:...1,';;.. ~ '" th, In the nineties, Redpath organized congregations and or built Presbyte­ Suen i. tb.'p,;'i•• or ~~;.;n"=',d.,,d p"'.. ie.l.b",....".of tb. n~''''''\ rian houses of worship in Elmira, East Jordan, Traverse City, Bay Shore, ,\,,,eo... rth. W.. ~~nd .f'b. Foin'''l'''''~ by .~"'''~ .;r"",,;, ;m"j.nori<, 200 Y"'''' ,i."" tn. roeo"'n"do,","i"~,""" "oJ "'0;;"'. end".\1 tho.]"",.. ," 01 between the would-be COl!l!EBCE, Not surprisingly, since these were alllumbeting communities, several of developer of Three Fires AGRICULTURE, them disappeared completely after the timber was gone. But the job of POinte, the City of lUNING, getting churches and groups started under horse-and-buggy conditions Petoskey and the several MANUFACTURING, forever established John Redpath as a tireless leader. townships involved LUI!BEBING. reminds us that big real FJSRERIEc'. estate thinking has been R. ROADS- F£~lllES,,&c. It is a pleasure to report that there is one more chapterto this story. As he 'Y1TH TB:V."E ADYAN'l'AO£S. approached the end of his career, Mr. Redpath and his wife chose part of the warp and woof Petoskey as their retirement community. Here, he concentrated his of northern Michigan for :g:~~:E;I:m~'W' ~!':f'T llIu"'l"'od

70 71 Among Strang's numerous accomplishments before his assassination in central city in the lake region, it would be in the immediate vicinity of the 1855, was theactheintroducedinthe Michigan legislature to organize the Straits of Mackinac. A city so located wouid have control ofthe mineral county of Emmet. Strang was indeed an idea man and a doer, and his trade, the fisheries, furs and lumber of the entire north. It might become original development of Beaver Island and a reasonably happy following the metropolis of a great commercial empire. It would be the Venice of ofaround 2,000 rates as a remarkable feat, whatever its evenrual outcome. the lakes. Such is the opinion of a disinterested and practical observer of the natural elements of the west, and of the point selected by shrewd A couple of years later, in 1857 an even more flamboyant project was Jesuit missionaries 200 years ago fortheir principal trading post and fort". launched by Cincinnatian Edgar Conkling when he set out to establish a giant metropolis at the Mackinaw City site at the top of Michigan's mitt. "There are concentrated at the Straits of Mackinac, in unprecedented combination and If his project had materialized, today's Harbor Springs, Petoskey, magnitude, all the elements of commerce, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Rogers City and all the Cross Villages, Horton agriculture, mining, manufacturing, lumber· Bays, Boyne Citys, etc., would now be mere suburbs of Mackinaw City. ing, fisheries, raIlroads, ferries, etc. With all And the latter would rival Detroit and Chicago as a giant metropolis. these advantages Mackinaw City must speed· ily become the great northern city ofthe union" . A real estate man and speculator, Conkling had visited the Straits around 1850. He learned that the old fort on the mainland had been considered . The w-riter called attention to the designated indefensible by the British who had moved the garrison, lock, stock and Park in the plat that embraced the grounds of barrel to Mackinac Island in the early 1780's. He learned that the U.S. the old fort, "sacred in the history of the federal government would be happy to sell the original fort location country, now in original condition, unequalled which had gone completely to seed. for beauty, location, scenery, soil, trees, etc., by any park in the country" . The promotional instincts in Conkling began to quiver. He immediately saw the property through rose·colored giasses, Sizing up the vast acreage "The Park, with suitable lots and blocks for as having great potential as a center for agriculture, commerce, fisheries, county and city buildings, market houses, manufacturing and, importantly, for transportation, since Chicago and schools, etc., will be duly appropriated to Detroit were booming and steam power was enhancing water access these uses, and lots for churches and institu· between the two, via the Straits of Mackinac. tions of learning and charity wiil be freely donated (to lot purchasers)". Conkling organized The Mackinaw City Company to buy up the prop' erty. For about $18,000 the company became sole owner of several All sorts of advantages would accrue from the astute planning of the hundreds of acres, with Conkling controlling nine·sixteenths of the promoters... by avoiding the errors of older cities ... and forever free from corporate stock. Further purchases came to a halt in 1855 because the taxation required for the public good... territory was closed to acquisition by whites under a new treaty with the Indians. However, the net effect of this act was to guarantee Conkling an " ... a large portion of the company's income from sales (will be used) to "exclusive" on the property already purchased; and the Mackinaw City provide for public wants, such as erection of docks ... establishment of Company was ready to "go". ferries ... "

July 13, 1857 Conkling and Asbury Searle, also of Cincinnati, were "Building materials of great variety and abundance are at hand. Lumber designated trustees and authorized to layout a plat for a sizeable City. can be had for the mere cost of preparation... limestone and sand are readily available right on the spot". By September 24, a property survey was complete, subdividing the area into 2500 lots, with streets 80 feet, and avenues 100 to 150 feet wide. All It was pointed out that Congress had already made land·grants sufficient sidewalks were 15 feet ,wide, interrupted only by shade trees. A plat to complete twO railroads to the Straits. provision allowed railroads having their terminals in Mackinaw City the privilege oflaying a single track in the center of certain streets and double Needless to say, Edgar Conkling and his fellow investors were delighted tracks in the center of each avenue. to have their faith reinforced by their talented writer and could hardly wait to present his "independent" appraisal to capitalists, businessmen The following month, the Company's promotional writer who had made and others looking for investment. It was all in black and white in the his living promoting railroads, came out with a 50·page prospectus for the brochure. proposed city, a copy of which is in the Petoskey Public Library. In their deed of dedication to the public, the trustees assured potential It was full of purple prose extolling the future city, much ofit supplied by investors who might be concerned about possible incursions by the Messrs Conkling and Searle. Its tone is set on the front cover: British, (since the War of 1812 had wound down only 40 years before): " .. .it is part of the plan to donate grounds necessary for such fortification "If one were to point out on the map of North America, a site fora great as the wants of the country and commerce may require ... " 72 73 Three separate harbors were in the plan for the city, affording safe anchorage and "the soil of this place consists of sandy loam with sand and gravel underneath, offering a cheap and satisfactory base for streets and avenues without the expense of paving." Now came the most generous promise of all: ,. .._ ... KESHKANKO ~ "Notwithstanding the superior features of this place over hundreds of THE others in the west, where lots have been readily disposed offor $ 10, $20, BEAUTIFUL even $50 a foot, the trustees, to give impetus to the growth of Mackinaw City... propose to all who will immediately improve their property by the erection of mills, hotels, dwellings, manufacturing and printing establishments, docks, etc., to donate the lots necessaryforsuch purposes; location, choice of the parties themselves". It is appropriate that the city of "and, to those who desire to profit by the inevitable advance of the Charlevoixisnamedfora tourist, property (in value) contiguous to their own improvements, the trustee since the handsome little resort will sell lots on long time, if desired, atthe unprecedented low price of $5 town has grown to depend on per foot, front! Title is unquestionable having been derived directly from summervisitors forits livelihood. the United States government". Apparently no one knows who As an added incentlve to purchase, the readers of the brochure were first suggested his name for the reminded that the 1857 lake level was 1·1/2 feet below normal. "On Father Charlevoix after whom county, but it waS bestowed receding, this will increase the depth of all water lots" . Charlevoix the Beautiful was named when the state legislature in a . rare fit of good taste in 1843 There follow many more pages of commentary similar to the above, with denoted it Charlevoix County as unimpeachable authority cited for even the most extravagant promises. a replacement for the pedestrian name originally assigned· Keshkanko. (Keshkanko the Beautiful?) "The close proximity to rich Upper Peninsula copper deposits is observed, as is the healthfuiness of the region. Cholera is unknown in Mackinaw Most folks agree that the change was a big improvement even though the annals, for example, while two cholera epidemics have visited Chicago in original Indian one had been suggested by Henry Schoolcraft. It became the past two orthreeyears, due to its very low position and muddy streets fully official when enough settlers had congregated and the county was which expose inhabitants to that disease which arises from damps. The offiCially organized in 1869. It also proved to be contagious. high, well·drained land on which Mackinaw City is to be Situated, by contrast, is exceptionally healthy." The name Charlevoix wore so well that the village at the mouth of the Pine River also adopted it as a mellifluous replacement for its Original plain jane Apparently Edgar Conkling never lost faith in his dream for a grand title, Pine River. metropoliS, but in spite of wide distribution ofthe promotional piece, lots did not sell. Later on the town name became, offiCially, Charlevoix The Beautiful, when noted citizen, architect and Chamber ofCommerce enthUSiast, Earl From 1857 to 1870 the village plat just sat there, the Civil War not helping. Young decided the addition of the adjective would provide useful But shortly after that conflict was ended, in 1869, Conkling arranged for ptomotional wallop, and successfully pushed for its adoption in spite of a dock to be built. The small log hut built by the dock man was the sole ponderous Post Office approval machinery. residence for a long time in Metropolitan Mackinaw City. The Board of Supervisors of Charlevoix County soon jumped on the Ironically, Conkling died just a few days before the long·promised first bandwagon at the suggestion of a promoter from Grand Rapids that GR&I train puffed into town from Petoskey. beautiful Pine Lake would sell better if renamed Lake Charlevoix. The Board sought state and federal approval to effect the name change. This The streets in the city were designated by numerals and letters in the was granted in 1926, but there are still dozens of elder citizens who enjoy original plat, but, in 1916 the village council renamed them for French and the error of referring to it as Pine Lake. British soldiers and traders who had been especially noteworthy in the early days of Michillimackinac. As of now, Pine River- which drains Lake Charlevoix and Round Lake into Lake Michigan -is the only local item of geography to have withstood the Maybe today's big real estate minds would be more successful if, like ~("."Charlevoix takeover". Edgar Conkling, they hired ad·men types with big adjectives to tout future possibilities of their Edens·to·be! 74 75 Whoever was responsible for the original county name change must have He had toured the Great Lakes and made a leisurely voyage down the been a scholar because Father Charlevoix's name was not exactly a MiSSissippi, visiting mission stations as planned, and had seen wonderful household word around the state of Michigan a hundred and fIfty years things, but no Northwest Passage. He reached New Orleans in 1722 and ago. returned to France in 1723 after a harrowing shipwreck experience in the Guif of Mexico. Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix was an exceptionally bright French boy, born in 1682, who became a member of the Jesuit Order at age 16. Father Charlevoix spent the rest of his life teaching, editing a Jesuit While still in his rwenties he moved to Quebec in French Canada to teach journal, and writing his experiences. As a teacher he had the reputation grammar at aJesuit College there. He stayed for four years and in addition among his pupIls of being rather full of words. (Incidentally, one of his to his teaching dUties, became proficient in several Indian dialects. pupIls was the celebrated author Voltaire.) Returning to France, he planned to settle into a teaching and writing Wordy or not, as the author ofa "History and Description of New France", career. By sheer accident he became a key figure in an international the first general narrative history of French Canada based on both intrigue involving the fabled Northwest Passage, which everyone in his personal experience and existing source material, Charlevoix made his day believed existed· an easy water route said to lead across America to mark in history. the Western Ocean· a shortcut to the gold and spices of the Orient. It too was translated into many languages and has been through numerous At the end of Queen Anne's War, France, underthe terms of the Treaty of editions and remains today as one of the most important bits of source Utrecht, lost the Canadian Maritime Provinces to Great Britain. To keep material pertaining to France in the new world, giving a clear account of an eye on Britain, and to re-strengthen France's position in the new world, flora and fauna encountered and accurate descriptions of the customs of the French king was persuaded by his advisors that it was of paramount native Americans. importance for France to beat other countries to the discovery of the water passage. A copy ofthis history was in George Washington's private library. Copies of both "Letters to the Duchess' , and "History of New France" may be His ministers came up with two proposals to accomplish the project. One found in both the Petoskey and Charlevoix public libraries. idea was to mount a well-armed expedition, which it was estimated would cost at least 50,000 francs, a very large sum. From time to time there had been skepticism concerning Charlevoix' direct connection with this area of Michigan. A careful reading of his TIle other idea was more subtle - dispatch a single]esuit priest as a secret letters to the Duchess will perhaps convince a reader, particularly the one agent of the crown. His apparent purpose would be to inspect French datedJuIy 31, 1721, in which he describes spending the night on an island missions around the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi River. "below' the Beaver Islands. Since there is only one Island in the area described, tiny Fisherman's Island, which is located just south of Arguments in favor of the latter were that it would require minimal Charlevoix, we can be fairly certain that he spent at least one night in financial outlay, and that it would excite no one's suspicion. Charlevoix County! The priestJytrip was quickiyaccepted as the most likely ofsuccess. Father Charlevoix, because of his familiariry with new world conditions and his knowledge of Indian dialects was chosen to undertake the project. So Father Charlevoix returned to the new world, this time armed with orders to the French governor at Quebec to supply him with rwo canoes, eight companions and all necessary gear for a journey. He had become a secret agent, a spy, for the King of France.

Part of the plan was that he was to write a series ofletters addressed to "his Patroness, the Duchess de Lesdigueres', reporting details of what he saw and did. He did so, but the procedure was in fact merely a ruse to throw off suspicion as to the true purpose of his trip, and the letters were never delivered to "the duchess". They were published later in illustrated book form and eventually were translated into many languages in many editions. Fortunately for us, Charlevoix was a gifted observer and writer, but he returned from his trip rwo years later with the disappointing news that no easy route to the western seas had been discovered.

76 77 What emerges from a reading of that book and a number of other equally THE SONG OF HIAWATHA aggressive memoranda defending Longfellow is that both the poet and Schoolcraft, his inspirer, were giants of their time. Chase S. Osborn, the only Michigan Governor to leave office with a surplus in the state treasury and therefore a bosom friend of taxpayers everywhere, had another likeable trait to go with his old·fashioned honesty. He frrmly believed in going all the way to defend the character of Michigan and national heroes, deaq or alive, from any and all character attacks. A fine example was the extraordinary length he went to to defend Henry Schoolcraft and Longfellow when the ugly charge of plagiarism popped up in connection with Longfellows epic poem The Song OfHiawatha. Longfellow, it was said, had stolen the spirit and theme and structure for Hiawatha from an 1835 Finnish poem, know as The Kalevala.

To add fuel to the fire, Malcom W. Bingay, one·time sainted newspaper writer, raked up the century·old fuss in a column in his home newspaper, The Detroit Free Press: "In 1835, Dr. Elias Lannrott, the Finnish poet, gathered many ancient runes and published them... in the book. .. The Kalevala. Longfellow ran across a german translation of this work and helped himself to the mustard (by writing The Song OfHiawatha), the old son·of·a·gun!" This bald accusation fired up the aging Osborn and his wife Stellanova, who was also his writing panner;and the two fired off a vigorous defense of the great Longfellow, who had been dead for some sixty years: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft - whose book "Algie Researchs" inspired Longfellow's "Hiawatha" "The Similarity in verse of The Kalevala and Hiawatha is no warrant for such malignant charges! Verse forms do not belong to anyone person any more than do the multiplication tables, the alphabet or the air and Schoolcraft is, in fact, a standout among the truly remarkable men who sunlight!" grace Michigan history, and fully deserves to have a county, townships, streets and schools named in his honor. Arecitation ofhis accomplishments "And Longfellow", they continued, "made no secret of the fact that he is impressive: based Hiawatha on tales collected and published by Schoolcraft... He expressed long·standing admiration for the work Schoolcraft did in · He wrote a learned treatise on the lead region of Missouri (and gathering together the Indian legends of the Upper Michigan Ojibwas, more than a dozen other books, mostly about Indian lore). which are the bases for Hiawatha". · He discovered the source of the Mississippi River. There is no question that Longfellow readily credited Schoolcraft for both inspiration and story lines. He wrote: · He was one of the first regents of the University of Michigan. "I pored over Mr. Schoolcraft's writings for nearlythreeyears... this Indian · He was a founder of the Historical Society of Michigan. Edda .. .is founded on a tradition, prevalent among all the north American Indians, of a person of miraculous birth, who was sent among them to Schoolcraft was precocious starting out, a very bright child. At age 16 he clear their rivers, forests and fishing grounds, and to teach them the arts established a magazine. At 22 he was a partner and the operator of a glass of peace... Mr. Schoolcraft gives an account of him in his book, Algie factory in New Hampshire. At 23 he wrote"A View Of The Lead Mines Of Researches, volume I, page 134, "the literary world is greatly indebted to Missouri". He had hoped this effort would earn him an appointment from him for rescuing from oblivion so much of the legendary lore of the the U.S. Government to superintend the lead district of MissOuri. indians ... " Missing out on that assignment turned out to be lucky. He received an The Osboms continued to be so agitated by Bingay's comments that they even more prestigious appointment to travel through the western half of collaborated on a 697 page book of defense of Longfellow, including the NorthwestTertitorywith GovernorCass, and began his long association index, published in 1942. Plagiarism indeed! 79 78 FLYING LADY with Michigan. As a result of this trip he wrote a paper that told the world about "Copper Mines and Prospects" , on the south shore ofLake Superior. Famous people are forever coming to the Petoskey area for all sorts of In 1821, at age of 28, he wrote his best-known book "Narrative Journal Of reasons, the principal one of course being personal Rand R. Travels ... ", and a year later, a valuable report to the u.S. War Department on the geology and mineralogy of the Midwest. But, at times a star comes here to crusade actively for some cause in which he or she happens to believe in deeply. For instance, in The Petoskey He was appointed U.S. lIfdian Agent and Intetpreter at Sault Ste. Marie, Evening News of October 8, 1936, there were two front·page stories and in 1823 married Jane Johnson. Jane's mother was a full-blooded announcing a visit by Amelia Earhart, the most illustrious woman flyer in Chippewa, and the source of many of the legends he later published... in the country, if not the world. the seminal book, Algie Researches. "Algie" was Schoolcraft shorthand for Algonquin. The occasion for Ms. Earhart's visit to Petoskey was to fulflll a speaking engagement before the annual conference of The Northern Michigan Schoolcraft gradually assumed positions ofgreater and greater importance Education Association. She was on a lecture tour which complemented in Indian affairs. In March, 1836, he negotiated the treaty with the Ottawas her position at Purdue University as "Consultant in Careers for Women"_ and Chippewas which quieted Indian claims to all Michigan lands north of the Grand River and Thunder Bay on Lake Huron, and the Eastern half A half-century ago the early stirrings of Womens Lib were just beginning of the U.P. to alter American life. As .an aggressive front-runner in the exciting new field of aviation, Ms. Earhart was in great demand -as a sort of]oan of Arc The cash consideration was the equivalent of 12-1/2 cents per acre. of Women's Rights. (If this amount seems stingy, com pare it with the 2 cents per acre we paid Just eight years before her date to speak here, June 17, 1928, Amelia, Russia for Alaska, and the 4 cents per acre France received from us for accompanied by her pilot Bill Stultz and mechanic Lou Gordon had made Louisiana Territory.) a successful flight from Newfoundland to Wales in a tri·motor german Fokker aircraft. The flight followed by just a year Lucky Lindy's solo flight Of the treaty, Mrs. Schoolcraft said: "My people are like children, they do west-to-east acrOSS the Atlantic. not know what they need". The trip to Wales with Ms. Earhart aboard was remarkable only because While its every intention may have been good, the treaty's language has she went along. Seven trans-Atlantic flights had previously been invited unending disputes over Indian fishing rights, continuing to this accomplished with 27 men aboard all told, but Amelia was the first lady day. to brave the trip. The Schoolcrafts were practlcmg Presbyterians. They launched a Her feat was underwritten by a Mrs. Frederick Guest ofLondon, formerly movement for a church at the SOD, and were among its frrst five members. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Later, when Schoolcraft was transferred to Mackinac Island as Indian The Earhart saga just wouldn't quit. For a time she was busy cashing in on Agent, he was named an Elder of "The Old Mission Church", occasionally her notoriety. She joined the staff of a pioneer passenger airline (There conducted Sabbath School and church services himself. His Island career was a theory that everyone's fear of flying would go away if more women coincided with the falling off of the fur trade and the dissolution of the dared to go aloft). Then she became a founder and vice-preSident of the American Fur Company's domination of the commerclallife of the area. New York, Philadelphia and Washington Airway. Unfortunately events turned out badly in Schoolcraft's later life. Her job was to sell flying to women. It was a busy period for her, filled with air.show appearances, stunting, and all sorts of other public relations In 1842 wifeJane died while he was on a business trip in Europe. Abrother activities. Amelia loved every minute of it. who hadmarriedJane's sister was murdered in Sault Ste. Marie-a case that is a mystery to this day. For a time she was aviation editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine. She wrote a book, The Fun G/lt, designed to popularize women's flying. It celebrated He was crippled by rheumatism and confmed to a wheelchair for long the achievements of the handful of women flyers of distinction dating all periods. He had difficulties with his son who was a gambler and embezzler. the way back to the first lady balloonist in 1799. In 1847 he married again but seems never to have been happy with his "I maintain my prophesy", said Ms. Earhart, "aviation as we know it today new spouse. will soon be accepted as an everyday meanS of locomotion, whereupon we will progress to stratosphere flying". His last days were spent in Washington D.C., writing. He worked on special assigrunent for the War Department. He died December 10, 1864. Shortly after completing the book Ms. Earhart turned it over to her publisher and struck out for her next exciting adventure -this time a solo

80 81 I

flight across the Atlantic. With her lively background of achievement, it is no wonder that her Petoskey teacher-audience, mainly women, who were pretty far removed "Starting from Havre de Grace, Newfoundland", she reponed laconically, from such daring-do, found her an engaging speaker. "on the afternoon ofMay 20th, 1932, IIanded at Londonderry, in the nonh ofIreland the next mOrning, 13-1/2 hours aftertakeoff. That, briefly, is the story of my solo flight across the Atlantic". As The Evening News reponed: "Miss Amelia Earhan, the nation's outstanding woman flyer, interestingiy told of her achievements, concentrating on her flight from Honolulu to Oakland. With a charming sense of humor the aviatrix described in detail the preparations for the flight and highlights that occurred during the long trip over the ocean. Miss Earhan urged the adoption of state laws which would require periodic examinations for women pilots ... similar to the exams now required of male aviators". Since 1936 was an election year it is perhaps not surprising that Ms. Earhan permitted a slight degree of panisanship to color her visit. As The Evening News headlined it: "Charming Aviatrix Boosts Pres. Roosevelt On Visit To Petoskey This Morning." "A re-elect Roosevelt button adorned the coat lapel of Amelia Earhan this morning as she arrived in the city to speak before the teachers of Michigan. "While I am not making any political speeches in Michigan in behalf of President Roosevelt, [ am actively supponing him", said the flyer. "[ have great personal regard for the President and I feel that he has a social consciousness that is lacking in his opponents". Since Earhart had worked in Boston as a social worker prior to her first trans-Atlantic flight, her bias is understandable. "Without offending", The Evening News said, "Miss Earhan turned down numerous autograph-seekers at the High School this morning". "lfJ sign my name once, I'll have a hundred more asking for my signature. They are just asking for it because the others are. [ tell them to write me. Amelia Earhart's favorite photo of herself I'm very glad to send an autograph if the seeker feels it is wonh paying three cents for". It really wasn't as matter-of-fact as all that. Her altimeter malfunctioned en­ route so it was necessary for her to hedge-hop just over the waves a good What kind of Person was Ms. Earhan? part of the way. The wings of her plane iced up at one pOint, a frightening occurrence. But she was on the record as the first woman to do it! "Meeting her is a pleasant surprise to those who have known her only through newspaper photos", said The News. "The camera is not overly For her successful achievement, Amelia was named Chevalier of the kind to this delightful young lady. Dressed simply, and of course without French Legion ofHonor, and awarded the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, a hat on the tousled hair which has become her trademark, Miss Earhan and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society. (It is pointed out has an air of girlish charm... " that while her 1932 solo flight was West-to-East, somewhat less challenging than the opposite direction, her flight was the first by a woman, solo, Sadly, one year later Amelia Earhan was lost on an ambitious flight over either way. In September, 1936, four years later, Beryl Markham of East the Pacific. No provable trace of her or Fred Noonan, her navigator- or her Africa became the fIrst woman to fly solo across the AtlantiC, East-to-West. plane -has yet been found, although such rumors as her execution by the Markham crash-landed in Nova Scotia but escaped serious injury). Japanese in Saigon and discovery of traces of her plane and shoes pop up Not too long after conquering the Atlantic, and just four years before her from time to time. visit to Petoskey, Ms. Earhan accomplished another very difficuit flight _ It seems too bad that her book, The Fun OfIt has apparently been off the from Honolulu to Oakland, across the Bay from San Francisco. shelf in the Petoskey Public Library only three times in all the years it has . been available!

82 ~"< Apparently both bride and groom wanted to avoid the pomp of a big·city HORTON BAY WEDDING BELLS wedding. It is probable, also, that Hadley wanted to satisfy her curiosity about a place that had such a strong hold on her future husband. Beyond Nowadays nothing much upsets the equilibrium of Horton Bay, unless it doubt, they were influenced by the availability of Windem ere cottage for is the infrequent collision of a car wheeling too fast around the sweeping their honeymoon. curve in the center of town and a maple or ash tree just off the shoulder. Even in the old days things were pretty orderly around the store unless a .'" couple of dogs got to fighting, or a horse ran away. Things were a little different, though, on the bright, sunny afternoon of September 3, 1921, the day that Ernest Hemingway was married to a handsome red·haired young woman named Hadley Richardson, from St. Louis, Missouri, in downtown Horton Bay. It was the first marriage for both, and it took place in the little Methodist church that then stood next to the store. The event was of unusual local interest because weddings didn't happen very often in this town ofhalf a hundred souls, and because everybody had been invited to the ceremony. As had perhaps been antiCipated byDr. and Mrs. Hemingway, parents of the groom, more than two·thirds of the locals were too shy to attend. This was just as well because the seating capacity of the church would have been severely over·taxed if fifty people had shown up. A general invitation was appropriate since the townspeople had almost all participated in Ernest's upbtinging through his teens. For many summers he had availed himself of Aunty Beth's and Jim Dilworth's open·handed Somewhat complicated arrangements were worked out long·distance by hospitality on countless occaSions, hiking the four miles across the sandy Ernest's mother, Hadley and Ernest himself, but not without glitches. hills of Sumner Road from Walloon Lake to indulge his paSSion for solitude and the hooking of rainbow trout in Horton Bay. The church was easy to reserve. Long before 1921 it had ceased to be used regularly. Sunday services were held only when a "circuit rider" minister The Dilworths liked Ernest and let him bunk in the woodshed at the rear could fit a date into his schedule. It had been some time since a wedding of their home as a non·paying guest. Since Aunty Beth added to her ceremony or even a baptism had been observed in it. blacksmith husband's income by providing chicken dinners to parties of summer people from Charlevoix, and her culinary talents were becoming The Hemingways were not affiliated with any area church, so the services famous, there were usually leftovers available to the future Nobel prize· ofa minister presented a problem, and the date, late in the summer season winner, who had yet to earn his spurs. Ernest had such a good appetite dldn't help. Dr. Tuttle, Episcopal Bishop ofSt. Louis and a regular summer several biographers have suggested that Ernest's later health problems resident at Wequetonsing was suggested by Hadley, but the reverend could be traced to cold fried chicken three times a day and liberal helpings doctor had wound up his vacation and returned to St. Louis. of tomato pudding as a steady diet! Ernest turned to Grace Quinlan, a friend from the winter he had spent in As a boy Hemingwaywas neither liked nor disliked by the natives. He kept Petoskey, requesting that she" pick me a prelate" ,preferablya Presbyterian to himself, so they didn't know him well, but they had watched him or Episcopalian. growing up and were sympathetic for the wounds he had received serving the Red Cross in Italy in the recent World War. Miss Quinlan arranged for Dr. W.]. Dotson of the Petoskey Emanuel Episcopal Church to perform the service, and also lined up an organist. Dr. Hemingway had, on occaSion, willingly served BayTownship residents profeSSionally overthe years. In fact, only a few years before this wedding day he had signed the death certificate of his oldfriendAIonzo Stroud, one The record concerning details of the wedding is a little murky due to tlle ofthe founders ofHorton Bay, and attended his funeral service at this same participants living so far from the scene of the event, and who was church. reporting details. Reports didn't necessarily jibe with the facts.

People always inquire why the wedding was held here instead ofSt. Louis, One Hemingway biographer says that "the girls in the wedding party or Oak Park, IllinoiS where Ernest had grown up. The wedding would spent the morning gathering wild·flowers to relieve the stark appearance surely have filled a large church in either city, since both families were of the church, and for the bride's bouquet". prominent and socially active. 84 85 There were a few attractive Balsam sprays around the church altar, but as you can see ifyou look around here at that time ofyear there is only Brown­ eyed Susan, Golden Rod, Queen Anne's lace and the beautiful blue Chicory in bloom. The latter is so delicate that it loses its color instantly when picked. So, it is more than likely that the bride's posies came from a florist. Sute o! Miehig=. There is lack of consensus on who was Best Man: Bill Home, Ernest's ambulance driver-buddy in Italy, or Bill Smith, Ernest's long-standing AHidavit for License to Marry Horton Bay summer pal.

Home was quoted in the Princeton University Alumni magazine in 1979: St;tte of Miehi~'an \". "I was an usher at the wedding". County of Cbrlevolx f 192,1

Bill Smith performed as an usher also, although the Guest Register at "Pinehurst", Aunty Beth's home, indicated that he was scheduled to be ;;;~ .~.,.'2" O,P"'""' fo," """,, 10. mo",o,. b"w,," best man. The fact is there fmally was no best man, a last minute sage :~:;;:-"~j~~-:e-'- r ------ben,g duly swotn. depo.e< a... d says thal_~ decision by Ernest no doubt, to avoid bruising the sensitive feelings of 1$ acquaonted wuh the laws ,eh'gan telat>ve to marnao::e. as pnnted upon the back of th'$ blank. that there l~ no either friend. legal impediment to the marriage 01 ~elf and the other person named; and that to the best of___ know_ There is misinformation about who was Matron-of-Honor. The Dilworth ledge and belief the following statements are true:- guest book is no help. It indicates that both Hadley's friend, Helen Breaker (Male) Ii (Female) ~ of St. Louis, and Hadiey's sister Fannie were to fill that roll. There were all kinds of little oddities which would be of absolutely no ::: :.:,:~1~~:: o:o::,~:::-!;t1)f!=~ interest except that they pertained to a Hemingway wedding: - Ernest was so sensitive about being years younger than his bride that he :::.~---=.~ I :;.:-~~_ fudged on the "affidavit fora license to marry", giving his age as 23, when, in fact, he was barely 22. Hadley was 30. .""1,,, .tf!!:~_ ------.-.---'§. I ::':::: ¥~------A recent biographer has written that several of the St. Louis attendees arrived in Horton Bay September 7, a date that fell four days after the ::9'ddi:'U~=:·~~··Mothe,,'. ",,,,de,, name =.l_ I , ______::-_= ____ ------Number of times previously ",,,rried ~-~ ceremony, an obvious error. ~_ Number of time. previou.ly ",,,,.,.ied -~-!:'-::.::.f ! Maiden- "ame of bride , i! a widow ------Some sources say that the entire Hemingway family were at the wedding, but both Marcelline and Madeline were out of town. Ursula, Carol and Leicester attended with their parents. "n and for Charlevv '-ovum.>'. # S_m ornlS".~",o," m'.o~~~~ ~../z..::r.. - Marjorie and Georgiana Bump were invited but did not attend because Mid.i,.". Ihi,------" - d., of~ 92,( ~ k~ their mother had been omitted from the guest list. - A story in circulation states that members of the Italian Consulate in Detroit were on hand. Not so.

r.... _ ...J -Dr. Roland Usher, author and later on head of the History Department at t __ < o •••'.a'.AN ~" ~AG'.'""<) Washington University, Hadiey's sister Fannie's husband, did not come north forthe ceremony because he could not stand Ernest. Hadley, whose parents were deceased, was given away by family friend, George Breaker.

- One writer says that the wedding party at the appointed hour, "gathered under the tall elms across from Jim Dilworth's black- smith shop". If this Ernest Hemingway and Hadley Richardson, had been so, they would have had to walk a quarter of a mile in the stifling Affidavit for License to Marry, 1921 heat to the church. In fact they assembled at the rear of the Horton Bay Store, next to the store's ice-house a few feet from the front door of the church. 86 87 A day or so after the wedding the Petoskey newspaper noticed the event, but misspelled the family name - "Hemmingway" MICHIGAN'S Beyond these minor hitches, all went well_ When the wedding march swelled up from the church organ a few small boys waited outside as the OIDEST LIVING wedding party entered the church and slipped in beside their respective parents_ The head-count, including friends from St. Louis, Oak Park, Petoskey and Horton Bay was certainly no more than thirty. THING? The ceremony came off in fine style; ifHadley arrived a trifle late with wet hair from an afternoon swim as was reported, it didn't marter. She looked vety nice and very happy. Ernest limped a little going up the aisle. Not too long ago there appeared in the press a story about a mushroom­ AIl in all it was a gracious event, a simple wedding in simple surroundings, like fungus that had been found in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that is after which the wedding party adjourned to Aunty Beth's home for a acres in extent and has apparently been growing and spreading for many wedding breakfast and picture taking. generations. Following the socializing John Koteskey drove the couple in his Model T But, until the jury comes iIi. with greater detail on that remarkable growth, Touring car to the Walloon Lake end of Sumner Road, four miles from ifyou have an urge to see something truly unique, and truly old, follow the Horton Bay, over the sandy road that Ernest had trudged on foot so many side road leading east from U.S. 131, just north of the Grayling turnoff to times as a youth. John's car had a "just married" sign in back and old shoes Hartwick Pines State Park. dragged along until the string broke. Ernest and Hadley crossed Walloon Lake in a rowboat to Windemere for their honeymoon. The reason that this location is special is that about forty acres of mixed White Pine and hardwoods were unaccountably overlooked here when That's all there is to report, except to note that townspeople had chipped the rest of Michigan was systematically cut over. in to defray the modest cost of a watercolor painting of the church for Hadley as a wedding gift. It was painted by Mrs. Dahigreen, wife of a !twill take more than several members of your family, arms outstretched, retired Charlevoix physician who lived in the house directly across the fingertips touching, to reach around the biggest White Pine in that smaIl street from the church. forest, and you will have to crane your neck to see to its topmost branches, 155 feet straight up. She was good at water-color, and the painting was quite nice. But there has never been a mention ofit since the wedding. No doubt Hadley threw This Pine is about 300 years old -one hundred years olderthan the United it out when the marriage went on the rocks several years later, in Paris. States - and still growing. Tty to see it fairly soon, though, because foresters say it has reached full maturity and may not be with us too much longer. There is another tree in the park, slightly smaller and a few years younger, that is 20 feet taller than grandpa. The Park was given to the people of Michigan by Mrs. Karen Hartwick some years ago as a living memorial to her husband, Major Edward Hartwick, who spent his youth in the Grayling area. After attending West Point Military Academy, he served with distinction in the Spanish­ American War. He had participated in the celebrated cavalry assault up Sanjuan Hill in Puerto Rico, led by Theodore Roosevelt.

Hartwick Pines Park is a rich legacy, and the state has done a magnificent job in transforming it into an unspoiled reminder of the Michigan that used to be. There is a foot-trail leading along a path so bedded with centuries of pine needles and leafy debris that every step is cushioned and hushed as you proceed. Dark glasses are unnecessary even on the brightest ofdays as you walk along with huge trees blocking out the sun.

88 89 This insistent shade condition has other effects on your surroundings, see wheels like this pair, (always painted red) here and there all over too. One thinks of a forest as a tangle of branches and undergrowth the state, treasured left-overs from the olden days. \Vhen big trees had difficult to penetrate, but this one is so ancient and has been so densely been felled, and cut into 16·foot lengths, they would be hoisted up under shaded for so long that smaller trees have long since died-off, and bushes the heavy axle and wheeled out of the woods to a railroad, or river·bank and grass also refuse to grow in the absence of sunlight. for water transport to a sawmill. Here they were cut into standard planks for shipment out to a fast-growing America. The result is spacious, open terrain, with many feet and yards between the trees that won in the age·long reach for the sun's rays above. You can Continuing along the trail you quickly arrive at the virgin section of the easily see for hundreds of feet through the permanent twilight in every Park, and begin to feel the silence and soft underfooting and absence of direction. sunlight that you will never forget. Starting point on the trail to the giant pine is a museum built, appropriately, After stopping to pay your respects to that very oldest of the White Pines of logs. On the first floor a series of glass-enclosed dioramas depict in in Michigan, your attention is called to the numerous big mounds of earth pictorial shorthand the life of this forest. One of the most interesting all around. These are actually the remains of huge trees that reached exhibits is a cross·section slice of a giant pine·log, with tags describing the maturity, died of old age, finally fell, and are slowly turning into woodsy meaning of irregularities in the ring·pattern. soil. Lumberjacks called them "cradle knolls" because they could sneak an afternoon nap behind one, unnoticed by the woods·boss. "The slow growth in the early years, shown by narrow width of the ring pattern near the center is due to competition from other young trees." Features of this interesting area are described on small signs as you proceed, and you wind up at an old·time logging camp. "Wide and narrow growth patterns further from the center indicate years of more or less rainfall." Hartwick Pines is easy to find, and quickly reached from Charlevoix (69 miles), and Petoskey (57 miles). "Dark·colored rings in the early 1870's (shortly afterthe Civil War) show the affect of change in atmosphere resulting from widespread and persistent forest fires that swept the lower peninsula." (The great fire that destroyed much of down·town Chicago in 1871 was a consequence of that same widespread drought.) On the second floor of the museum many more panels tell the story of Michigan lumbering. One is filled with axes, including big, double·bitted ones, log·scalers, pike·poles and other tools of the trade. Old photos depict action in the lumber-camps and river drives; some show the famous Shay logging locomotive in action. Incidentally, inventor Shay took out first patents on his adaptable engine while living in Boyne City, when Boyne was the north country's last big lumbering and sawmill center. He spent his later years living in Harbor Springs, leaving as a personal legacy the Harbor Springs waterworks and his name permanently on the local Elementary School. Another display explains the legend of Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, "Babe", dreamed up by some imaginative fairytaler of the tall pine country for the amusement of "shanty·boys" lounging on long winter evenings after supper in the bunkhouse.

After looking over all these fascinating exhibits you set out on the easy walking tour in company of a guide, or on your own, on a well-marked trail. ~ "'... % ~ .':;", First pause on your hike is to inspect a pair ofgiant "Big Wheels", a device Silas Overpack's Big Wheels invented by one Silas Overpack in Manistee to haul big logs out of the were used to haul logs from the woods. woods in summertime, instead of waiting for sledding conditions to set in in winter.

90 91