Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. 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 94] CHAPTER IV TIMBER INDUSTRIES, EARLY AGRICULTURE LUMBER AND SHINGLES The people of today can scarcely realize the im- mense amount of lumbering done in the county for many years. The varied and various branches of that indus- try; life in the logging camps where men toiled from dawn to dark measuring their accomplishments, not by the eight-hour day but by the possibilities of their ef- forts. The stories of the cooking, the river driving and the "drives" would all be interesting to the inhabitant of the county today. In the beginning of lumbering here as elsewhere only the cream of the timber was brought to the mills, leaving the rest to be wasted in the fires of later years. In order to give some idea of this industry we give the following statement of the log crop of 1874: THOMAS SNELL & Co. ----------------------- 2,000,000 feet Bay Port Salt & Lumber Co. ---------------- 500,000 feet F. CRAWFORD ----------------------------- 12,000,000 feet E. and J. ERSKINE ------------------------ 1,000,000 feet AYRES, LEARNED & Co. --------------------- 1,000,000 feet R. B. HUBBARD & Co. ---------------------- 5,000,000 feet W. R. STAFFORD --------------------------- 1,400,000 feet HICK & FULLER ---------------------------- 600,000 feet PACK, JENKS & Co. ------------------------ 3,000,000 feet Other parties, small lots ---------------- 2,000,000 feet ______________ Total 36,000,000 feet [page 95] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY The log crop of 1873 was also an important industry. The shingle mill of PUDDOCK & Co., at Verona, had a record of making 35,000 shingles per day. The amount of wages paid to employees in the village of Caseville during 1874 was over $7,000 per month. We find that the earliest location of land in the county was made by AARON G. PIER, then of St. Clair, on June 18, 1839. Probably the longest continuous ownership of land is that of the T. J. PHILP farm on section 36 Verona township. This land was taken by Mr. PHILP'S father in 1857 and has been owned and occupied by the family ever since. The land the county buildings are on was taken by RICHARD WINSOR in 1863 under a land warrant issued to a soldier for service in the war of 1812. The last patent issued in the county was to RICHARD GWINN, September 25, 1907, covering land at the foot of Sand Point in Caseville township. It was signed by THEODORE ROOSE- VELT, then president of the United States. ===========================================================================