FIRST FERRY. July 14, 1830, Gov. Cass approved an act empowering the justices of the County Court of Oakland, or a majority of them to grant unto E. Jewett, of "Sagana," or to such other person as they may think proper, a license to keep a ferry over the Sagana" river at Green Point, for any period of time not exceeding 10 years, with such privileges, and under such restrictions as may be deemed necessary and proper to secure the establishment of such ferry and to protect the rights of the citizens. The act provided that as soon as the county Court should be established in the county of Saginaw, the justices thereof should be invested with the same powers in this regard as are now conferred upon the justices of Oakland. The legislative authority of the Territory reserved full power to annul or alter the powers and privileges which might be granted by the courts of Oakland or Saginaw. SECOND REGULAR FERRY. The Legislature enacted in April, 1833, that Gardner D. Williams and Ephraim S. Williams may claim the exclusive right of conveying persons, property and animals across the Saginaw river, for hire, at a point where the Tittabawassee road strikes the river, near the store of Williams. The rates of toll were specified, with a proviso that mail-carriers, public expresses, and troops in the service of the United States, or of Michigan Territory, with guns, stores, etc., should pass free. At the same period the Williams brothers were authorized to cut a canal across the island or neck of land, as would enable them to pursue a direct course in ferrying across the river. FIRST THINGS. Asa Whitney and Eleazer Jewett set out the first orchard in the county. They selected the best sprouts from the apple-trees which the Indians had set out many years before, and bringing them to their location on the Tittabawassee (section 5), planted the orchard. Mr. Jewett brought the first swine from Pontiac to Saginaw in 1828. The Indians considered it great fun to kill the hogs whenever opportunity offered; but owing to the watchfulness of the owners the noble redmen were not generally successful. In 1832, Eleazer Jewett rafted down the river a quantity of lumber which he purchased at Flint, and raised a frame building, the first in the county, on the east bank of the river, opposite Green Point. Five years later, in the winter of 1837, he moved this house across the ice, and located it near the Campeau trading-post opposite Wright & Company's mills. The first brick dwelling-house ever erected in the county was that by George W. Bullock, located on Court street, Saginaw City. The first mill was the one constructed in 1834 by Harvey Williams, situate where is now the Williams Bros' Salt Block. The first lumber sawed in that old mill was subsequently bought by Norman Little. The first raft of pine lumber ever floated on the Saginaw or its tributaries is said to have been that brought from the Thread mill at Flint in 1832 by Eleazer Jewett, for the purpose of constructing his house opposite Green Point. The first white farmer was Asa Whitney, who began cultivating a garden in the spring of 1826. In referring to him a pioneer said he "commenced farming on the Tittabawassee, near where Thomas Parker now resides." He was a bachelor, and was accidentally drowned in the spring of 1827. Alpheus Williams and Joel Day cut the first logs for milling purposes, in 1834, below the mouth of Tobacco creek. The first regular sale of sawed lumber made in the Valley, was that by Harvey, G. D. & E. S. Williams, to Norman Little. The only survivors of all the American pioneers in the Territory of Michigan in 1815, are the grandchildren of Oliver Williams, of whom the Williams brothers are members, and Uncle Harvey Williams, son of Alpheus Williams. As late as 1859, 1,000,000 acres of land in the Valley of the Saginaw, were subject to entry at from 12 cents to $1.25 per acre. The State placed the minimum price of salt-spring lands at $4 per acre, leaving the selling price of improved salt land to be determined by the State's commissioner. THE BLACK HAWK WAR did not exercise that baneful influence over the few settlers of this valley which it did throughout the settlements on Grand river, or south and southwest of Detroit. It is questionable whether the settlers paid much more attention to the exaggerated accounts of the advance of Black Hawk's warriors than they would to the reported attack on Drasnovitcheborsk by the prince of Kharizanlinkskoi. Consequently they saved themselves much trouble and all the petty annoyances which civilians encounter in taking the field as militia. A few men, who subsequently made Saginaw their home, were prepared to go to the front; among them were Captains Marsac and Swarthout; but even their warrior zeal was checked when they learned that Black Hawk and his men were prisoners. In the final encounter with the Indians on the Mississippi, Black Hawk surrendered, was imprisoned from 1832 until 1835, and about three years after his pardon was granted he died on the banks of the Des Moines in Iowa, and was buried in Davis county in that State. STORE PRICES IN 1831-2. head-time trading post of the A. F. Co. gave place Med pioneer store. Those were little bee-hives of gey necessary article, as well as a few luxuries, were d business conducted on well-defined principles. w is a list of prices: It appears from this that the word "shilling" was in use among the Indians, as in the foregoing list the price of all the small articles is marked in shillings and pence. In 1831 one of the store-keepers introduced the words "dollars and cents," and henceforth the ambiguous term "shilling" fell into disuse. SEASONS OF SICKNESS. Among the numerous troubles which the pioneers of Saginaw had to encounter was the common ague, generated by miasms arising from the lowlands along the bank of the river, and from the decaying vegetable matter of swales in the vicinity. This disease, known also as the "chills and fever," formed a stumbling block in the path of progress, being one of the great arguments presented by the American Fur Company against the settlement of the district by the American pioneers. This disease was a terror to the men who did come here. In the fall of the year every one was afflicted, every one shook. Respecting neither the rich nor the poor, it entered summarily into the system of the settlers and became part and parcel of their existence. They all looked pale and yellow as if frostbitten. It was not literally contagious, but owing to the general diffusion of the terrible miasma which was so easily absorbed into the system, it was virtually a most dis eable, if not dangerous, epidemic. The noxious exhalations of the swamps continued to be inhaled or absorbed from day to day until the whole body became charged with it as with electricity, and then the shock came. This was a regular shake,-a terrific shake, with a fixed beginning and ending, coming on each day or alternate day, with an appalling regularity. After the shake came the fever, and this last state was even more dreaded than the first. It was a burning, hot fever, lasting for hours. When you had the chill you could not get warm, and when you had the fever you could not get cool. It was a change of extremes. This disease was despotic in every respect. If a wedding occurred in the family circle, it was sure to attack a few if not all those participating in the festivities. The funeral processionists shook as they marched onward to some sequestered spot where the body of their departed friend was to be laid. The ague proper had no respect for Sundays or holidays. Whether they were engaged in the sacred, the profane, or the ridiculous, it came forward to the attack, and generally prostrated its victims. After the fever subsided, you felt as if you were some months in such a prison as Andersonville, or Libby, and, in come cases, as if you had come in collision with a wandering planet,—not killed outright, but so demoralized that you could enjoy nothing. A feeling of languor, stupidity and soreness took possession of the body, the soul was sad, and the sufferer was forced to ask himself that criminal question, What did God send me here for anyway? Your back was out of fix, and your appetite was crazy. head ached, and your eyes glared. You did not care a straw for yourself or other people, or even for the dogs, who looked at you sympathetically. The sun did not shine as it used to,-it looked too sickly by half,-and the moon, bless your soul! the sufferer never ventured to look at it. In fine, you heartily wished that Mother Shipton's prophecy would be fulfilled and this portion of our planet, at least, dissolved. Your It was no wonder, after all, that the American Fur Company's officers looked most unfavorably upon the country, and cautioned all against coming here. The detachment of the 3d U. S. Infantry garrisoning the Saginaw Fort in 1822-3, realized what chills and fever really meant. It was here that Baker, Allen, and a half-dozen soldiers fell victims to it. It was from it that Major Baker and his troops fled, and, owing to it, the settlement of Saginaw was retarded fully six years. THE REIGN OF SMALL-POX. In referring to the settlement of James McCormick on the Flint river, it has been stated that his kindness alone to the Indians saved many bands from death by starvation. Later, about the year 1837, the dreadful scourge known as small-pox spread through the villages of the Saginaw and claimed, as its victims almost two-thirds of the Indian inhabitants, sparing the white settlers in its march, with only three exceptions. Eighteen years later, in February, 1853, a citizen of Saginaw related the story of famine and pestilence in immortal verse. As this poem is so minute in its description and historical characteristics, it is given, as follows: Not far from where our Union meets to-night, Two lovely rivers their broad streams unite; The one through prairies broad, where wild rice grows, The other from the hills of Midland flows: Through verdant vales and forests wide they run, And form a river fair as man e'er saw, Its borders fringed with stately elm and willow, A scene more sylvan I ne'er viewed before, It was the month-fairest of all--of lovely June, An Indian band, its rude encampment made; And in the shadow of its branches green Were warrior, chieftain, children, and maiden seen. Here were old braves in social circle met, Smoking in silence grave the calumet. Or here on withes distended, dressed the skin The infant savage, rocking to and fro, Its cradle pendant from overhanging bough, And implements for fishing lying near The glittering fly, the net, the barbed spear. The frugal meal was served--the pipe passed round. And chieftain, maid, and warrior sunk to rest. It was the soft and solemn hour, When silence reigned over lake and bower, The starry host, and mildly shed |