The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1859-06-28
Huron County.

The new county Of Huron, lies in a delta form,
bounded east by Lake Huron, and west on Sagi-
nav Bay. 1t is six townships wide on the base
line and is bounded south by Sanilac. The soil
and surface is much diversified, tae county be-
ing largely overspread by marshes, and inter
spersed with windfalls. 4 considerable portion
of the country however, is choice timbered land,
bearing beach and maple, with noble pires scat
tered among them. These lands are now recei-
wing settlers who are attracted by their fine quail
ity, and low price.
The oldes. settlement in the county,-is Sebe-
wane, which lies near the southwest corner OF
the county, and numbers az present, several
hundred inhabitants.
The township of Bingham, lying at the south
and center, upon the line of Sanilac, although
quite new, has population of several hundred,
who are all engaged in farming. Thi. settlement
contained by the assessment roll Of 1853, abou,
one hundred permanent tax payers, since which
time the number has been largely increased
This settlement illustrates the value OF roads, a;
an agency of settlement. Most of the settlers
of Bingham, landed at Lexington or Forrestville
and ayailed themselves Of the new roads, as ial
a. they could do so, and bought the first good
and cheap land which they came 20. The Legs
lature OF 1859 acted up to this policy in refer
ence to Huron county as well as others.
| In this county, State roads are provided ioi
BY law, to be paid for by the appropriation o
nonresident taxes, from Port Austin, which i
near the northern extremity, TO point on thu
Lexington and Lapeer State road. et''o roa'
= ., &c Uunt rom Fort Hope, on the east shor,
of Huron county, to Saginaw Bay and another
from Sand-beach Bay TO Sebewaine, which las
has been surveyed.
The most important industrial interest of Hu
ron county at present, is in lumber. There ar,
eleven mills on the coast, viz That OF Cottrel
e. Squires, at Sebewane; that of Frank Craw
ford, at Pigeon River; !. b. 4 W. Armstrong;
at Pn-a-pog river; Simeon Smiths, at Port Aus
tin; Donahu & Mason's, at New River; R. b
Hubbard's, at Willow Creek; Stafford, Jenrcs
Hayward's, at Port Hope; Ludington's, a
Forest Bay; and Gilchrist's mill, at Sand-beacl
Bsy These mills lie along the coast, from sever
tracts of pine land, varying from five to ff,eer
thousand acres. They are chiefly what are Gale,
| by lumbermen "single mills" that is, running
one sash or muley saw, an edging saw, and cir
cular for flooring and siding. Several OF thes.
mills however, have much more machinery
That at Port Austin, for instance, which ia the
largest, has one frame saw, one muley, gang o
twenty, two large circulars, two edgers, and {
flooring and siding machine. This is in all re
spec,s a splendid mill.
| The Hubbard mill, at Willow Creek, has AZ
upright, two circulars, and flooring and siding
machine. Each of these mills gives employment
to Il number of hands, varying according to the
extent OF machinery, from twenty-five to one
hundred
| There is an extensive steam mandatory Of
grindstones near Point de Barques, which has
been in operation some fifteen years, and EN-.
ploys thirty hands. Thepce come the famous
Lake Huron grindstones, celebrated over the
world for their grit. Iiemlock clothes large
portion Of the surface of Huron county, and we
were credibly informed can be locked, prof Ia.
bly,, for two dollars per cord.
Large deposits of sand exist upon the lake
shore, which is pronounced by practical men as
the best article hereabouts for glass manufacture.
close examination with strong microscope
displayed clear, well defined crystals, of uniform
size and shape.
Altogether, with much rough, uncou,h sur
face, broken up by swamps, and rendered forbid
ding by windfalls, Huron county has many ad-
vantages ina strong, rich soil, in pine of the first
excellence, and in other resources, which in time
must make her take high rank among the
producing counties of Michigan.