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Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY, MICHIGAN by Florence McKinnon Gwinn Huron County Pioneer & Historical Society, 1922 [page 12] CHAPTER II FIRST COUNTY SEAT AT SAND BEACH Upon the organization of the county in 1859 Sand Beach was made the county seat. It remained so until 1864 when the court house burned with nearly all the records. One term of court was held in the Dow House, after the fire, and then the capital was moved to Port Austin. The first settler was JOHN ALLEN in the spring of 1837 and with him came ALANSON DAGGETT. The fisher- men, however, had visited this point at an early day to catch the white fish and trout with which the clear waters of the lake abound. Mr. ALLEN and Mr. DAGGETT put up a saw mill at Rock Falls and in the fall of that same year BELA HUBBARD, of Detroit, tells of a trip he made here in connection with the Michigan Geological Expedition from Detroit to Port Huron. Dr. HOUGHTON, State Geologist, and C. C. DOUGLASS with a guide, PIERRE GURET, of French and Indian blood and a dog being the rest of the party. Mr. HUBBARD states that they were to examine and report upon the salt springs of the lower peninsula. Prior to the settlement of Michigan by white men the Indians supplied themselves with salt from the saline springs of the Saginaw Valley and the Huron Peninsula. The state being desirous of knowing more [page 13] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY about these springs sent out this party into the wilder- ness far from the habitation of white men. They had completed the river explorations after many difficulties and reached the point where Saginaw now is in October 1837. Mr. HUBBARD says: "We then prepared for an expedition which was attended with some danger at that late season of the year, a lake journey of 150 miles from Saginaw to Port Huron. We procured a canoe from the Chippewa reservation. It was a dugout of wood 30 feet long, but so narrow, that seated in a line of the center we could use a paddle on either side." Bay City was then an infant of one year and boasted a frame building used as a chapel and two or more log huts." He also mentions finding apple trees along the Tittabawassee river. An old manuscript mentions the planting of these when FATHER MARQUETTE and his Jesuit brethren paddled around our beautiful peninsula 200 years before, dropping here and there a few apple and pear seeds from which the earliest settlers were to gather fruit. Some of these trees were found in Case- ville township in 1841. No doubt these warriors of the Cross camped there over night. When the party reached the islands near the Au Gres river they caught a large sturgeon with their hands and threw it on the shore. It stocked their larder for many days with its variety of meat. Mr. HUBBARD says: "Of our further voyaging until we rounded Pointe Aux Barques I have nothing to note beyond the usual adventures and delays that attend mariners on so perilous to trip in such a tiny craft upon the treacherous waves of Saginaw Bay. The toils of the day were compensated by the sweetest of slumbers when after having supped upon pork and hard bread, each wrapped in his blanket, we fell asleep beneath the soft influence of the Pleiades." He also gives the following description of the coast in that day: "It is rock bound affording no harbor and being thickly wooded with evergreens its aspect was forbidding and gloomy. Added to this the waves are [page 14] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY incessantly lashing the rocks whether the wind be from the lake or bay. This action of the winds has caused channels to be worn through large masses of the mov- able sand stone which tumbles into the lake from small islets. In the immense caverns formed by the con- stant action of the restless waters a fleet of skiffs might be safely hidden. In doubling the cape the voyager is struck with the singular appearance of two projecting masses detached from the main and covered with tim- ber. They bear close resemblance to the bows of ves- sels with hulls exposed down to the keel. The bowsprit and sides are nearly perfect. They are about 50 feet in the beam and 16 to 20 feet in height." (4). The name the French voyagers bestowed upon it at an early date is significant of the mimic resemblance, Pointe Aux Barques. This point was first settled by JONATHAN G. STOCKMAN. He came from Cleveland with his wife and six children and engaged in the fishing in- dustry. The next settler was HENRY GILL who landed at Burnt Cabin Point, July 4, 1852. When a resort started at Point Aux Barques it was made a township, 700 acres being taken from Port Austin for that purpose. But to continue the story of Mr. HUBBARD and his party. Near White Rock, on Lake Huron, they found a settler or rather a lumber man, the first they had seen since leaving the Saginaw reservation. JOHN ALLEN had been there for three months. He and five other men had erected a saw mill on a dashing little brook that nearly swamped their canoe on entering the stream. He had no neighbors but the mistress of the house informed them that they were expecting families to come and set- tle in the then visionary White Rock City. The annals of this place constitute one of those chapters of romance of which the records of 1835 and 1836 are so re- plete. (5). ------- (4) Michigan Historical Collections (5) Huron County Album [page 15] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY Maps had been displayed in Detroit and other places depicting a magnificent harbor into which steamboats were entering. Pictures of saw mills, court house, churches and other public buildings were shown. And as a result lots were sold at fabulous prices to buyers and the rage of real estate speculation was at its height. Mr. HUBBARD states that even those lines of advancing civilization -- the surveyors marks were lacking. Except Mr. ALLEN, it was 40 miles to the nearest inhabitant. The party carved their names on the large beech tree for the benefit of future visitors as the first guests of the adver- tised White Rock hotel. Mr. ALLEN later sold out to Mr. ROBINSON and he to HIRAM WHITCOMB in 1845. The creek still bears the name of ALLEN'S Creek. In an interview with JOHN HOPSON three weeks be- fore he died he made the following statements to Mrs. DOW of Sand Beach: "I came to Rock Falls, or Barnett- ville as it was then named in 1847. The trip was made in a skiff owned by LYMAN FRENCH and a Mr. McDONALD. They started from Port Huron and every night would camp on the beach resuming their journey in the morn- ing if the weather would permit." On one of his early trips Mr. HOPSON brought with him a yoke of steers and a wagon. This was the first wagon to enter Sand Beach, now Harbor Beach. This town is situated on Magnet Bay. The ground upon which the village stands is high and level. At a distance of about one-fourth of a mile from the shore there is an abrupt descent of about 20 feet, below which is a beau- tiful plateau extending to the lake. Mrs. LUDINGTON, the first white woman in Sand Beach township states that Mr. LUDINGTON and herself came to Rock Falls, then ALLEN'S Creek. In order to find a suitable location for their home Mr. LUDINGTON ex- plored the shore with a small row boat until he reached the point where Harbor Beach now is. The beautiful white sand of the beach attracted his eye and he decided [page 16] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY to locate there. Their first child, ALMONT A., was born here in 1851. At ALLEN'S Creek were their nearest neigh- bors, Dr. CUTLER, HIRAM WHITCOMB, Mr. ALLEN and ALASON DAGGETT. Mr. LUDINGTON built a frame house in 1854 just west of where the depot now is. They moved from here in 1857 to Center Harbor where they lived seven years. This town was first known as Jerry's Mill. The firm of Leuty, Durant & Co., of Lexington purchased the mill and premises with a large tract of valuable pine land in 1864. They also built a fine dock, several build- ings, including a boarding house and dwelling house, for Mr. H. H. OSTERTROUT, their agent and fireman. The first wedding in Sand Beach township was that of DUNCAN McCASH and MARY ANN FRENCH. LEVI H. BUELL officiated. Date, April 19, 1852. The daughter of Mr. BUELL is now Mrs. BANKER, of Harbor Beach. Sand Beach dates its first settlement to 1837, but no improvements were made then. In 1868 its population was 200. At the present date HUNTING TRESCOTT is its oldest resident. In those early times HIRAM WHITCOMB was a leading man in the settlement. His neighbors were the lumbermen and their families. An interesting character of those days was a man whose name still clings to the point be- low Harbor Beach resort. His ostensible business was fishing but his real business was coining counterfeit Mex- ican dollars. Then he began engraving bank notes. Mr. WHITCOMB told him that this fact had become known to the people. At first he denied it, but later made a full confession and said that he had been at one time an employee in the Philadelphia mint. He left the country soon afterward. The old die he used was at one time in H. W. CHAMBERLAINS store. The first railway train came into Sand Beach in 1880. Mr. GILCHRIST and Dr. CUTLER, the father of DEAN CUTLER, of Bad Axe, organized the first Sunday school in 1852. It was also the first of that denomination in the county. Before that time traveling M. E. preachers had [page 17] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY held services in the settlement. The first M. E. church was erected in 1878 under the pastorate of ROBERT BIRD. Little is known of the early history of the Catholic church in Sand Beach. In 1866 Father KLUG made visits to the few Catholic families there. A Free Methodist church was organized in 1879 with seven members. The Evangelical Lutheran people had Rev. Mr. SCHWARZ as supply in 1872. The Presbyterians were cared for by Rev. E. DAVIS in 1880. In 1854 Mr. BURLEIGH, who came to a place named Purdyville, just below Band (sic) Beach, gives this description of the dwellings in that day: "The log cabins had clay floors. The settlers had no nails, so used poles to bind the shakes on the roofs of their dwell- ings. The window casings were made of pine, split with a frow, and kept in place by wooden pins. They had tal- low candles for lights and jumpers, a roughly construct- ed sled about 8 feet in length, were the only vehicles used then for travel, both summer and winter. The maple trees in that vicinity had been tapped by the In- dians for so many years that the marks were far above a man's head. The Indians used the bow and arrow to kill the deer. They had no difficulty in doing so. The first school was organized in 1852 and E. B. WARD, of Detroit, contributed the land on which the school house was built. ALONZO TRESCOTT (son of HUNT- ING TRESCOTT) was the first teacher. Another name associated with that of Sand Beach is that of JOHN BRENNAN, who has lived there 44 years. He contributed a very interesting paper on the early history of the town to the Huron County Pioneer and Historical Society a couple of years ago. In it he states that: "Sand Beach was the home of the first real settler as many of those coming first were lumbermen. Here was erected the first steam saw mill by JOHN HOPSON. Here was located the first bank. In the natural course of events as the familiar scenes of pioneer days began to disappear and the whole county to show signs of an [page 18] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY order of things obliterating the past the government har- bor was erected with its broad entrance and the light house as if to mark the pioneer gateway of the county. The next one of the pioneers of prominence was JEREMIAH JENKS, who in 1864 with J. L. WOODS and GEORGE W. PACK purchased a saw mill on ALLEN'S Creek. This structure had been built on the site of the first saw mill on the eastern side of the county. During the 11 years following they produced of 50,000,000 feet of pine lumber for the outside market. B. W. JENKS was the clerk and bookkeeper for the firm in 1866. He af- terwards became one of the partners. Another settler, JESSE L. JENKS, came into the township in 1870 when he had control of a stage route between Port Sanilac and Port Austin. In 1856 we find HUNTING TRESCOTT as- sisting in the construction of a mill at Center Harbor for Mr. J. JENKS. Among the early newspapers of the county was the Huron County News, published at Sand Beach from '62 to '64 by O. F. HARRINGTON. This paper followed the county seat to Port Austin, where in 1871 it finally pass- ed into the hands of W. F. CLARK. The work on the Harbor of Refuge at Sand Beach was begun in 1873 but a number of years elapsed before it was completed. Up to 1883 the largest number of vessels at one time seeking shelter from the storms was 89. Capt. ROBERT WAGSTAFF was appointed custodian of the harbor in 1882 and held that position until ill health compelled him to resign in 1898. He was well fitted for the position, having made a trip around the world and crossed the ocean nine times. Capt. W. S. RICE was his successor. The life saving station was constructed and went into commission during the year 1881 with Keeper D. E. DUES and G. W. PLOUGH in charge. Another name on the records of that early day was ANDREW MAULE, whose grand-daughter, Mrs. NATHAN CASE, is now a resi- dent of Sand Beach township. He took the first load [page 19] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY of provisions to where the city of Bad Axe now stands. The food was for the early surveyors. About four miles from that place the oxen were mired and they had great difficulty in rescuing them and getting the provisions to the camp which was on the site of the presetn court house. In the night they had to drive away the bears which were after the barrel of pork. Much more could be said of this thriving city but space will not permit. ===========================================================================