Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1876-05-31

was used for all public gatherings,
church and Sabbath school, elec-
tions, ball room, etc., etc"
To use one of Mark Twain's ex-
pressions, If Miller's store had been
burned it would have been a serious
loss to the whole community. They
might have stood the loss of the
drug store, one of the county Of
fees, and the church, but if they
had lost all the store departments,
county Offices, Court room, church
and Sabbath school, ball room, ETC.,
the loss would have been tremen-
dous.
Young and thinly settled as Al
pena was, yet she boasted Of
school. 1t was situated somewhere
near Mr.. Heuber's present meat
market, and consisted of board
shanty about sixteen feet square,
with a shed roof. 1t had formerly
been used for cooper's shop, but
the necessity for some place to train
the young minds had forced the
coopers to vacate. Miss S. Carter
is entitled to the honor Of having
taught the first school.
No American could get along
without his mail, and the early set
tiers of Alpena were no exception
to the rule, so postoffice was
started in 1858, with Daniel Carter
as first postmaster. The first mail
arrived January 18th, 1858, and it
was a very important event to the
settlers then in Alpena. The post
office was known as Fremont af-
terwards at the request Of the
citizens the name was changed to
Alpena; then to Thunder Bay, and
finally to Alpena again. This name
it still bears, as the postal authori-
ties got tired of so much changing.
Mr.. Potter speaks of the mail as
follows: "The u. s. mail was in
charge OF Indians and half-breeds
on the route between Bay City and
Sault Ste. Marie. The mail was
drawn on a train by three dogs,
the course being around the shore,
and they drove up in front of the
pcstoffice, kept by Daniel Carter,
Esq, with as much ceremony as
does the :horough-brace Of the pre-
sent day. The mail came once
week in winter, and in summer the
only chance for the mail to get to
Alpena was in case any person
from Alpena went below, when the
postmaster would give him an or
der for the mail, and the last word
to parting friend was, generally,
don't forget the mall"
In December, 1858, Mr.. John
Cole arrived in Alpena, accom-
panied by a number OF mechanics,
for the purpose of building two
sawmills, one at each end Of the
dam, which had been commenced
that season. One of the mills was
for Lockwood & Minor, and the
other for Geo. N. Fletcher. The
timber was got out and framed, but
the mill of Lockwood g. Minor was
not put up until several years af-
terwards, while the timber for Mr..
Fletcher's mill was burned in one
Of the fires that afflicted Alpena.
During the winter of 1s5s-59,
the first lum bering commenced in
Alpena, Messrs. Archibald Il Muir
ray having a contract to put in the
river one million feet, more OF less,
of logs for Lockwood & Minor.
The logs were taken from II. 81. N.
r. 6. E., and the contract price
was about So per thousand feet.
Mems wages we're from s14 to SIG
per month, they agreeing to stay
until the drive was down. Mr..
+. X. Potter's business was to
scale and mark the logs at the
landing, aud he thus had the honor
Of scaling the first log, as well as
that Of measuring the first cargo
of lumber that left Alpena, which
was in the latter part OF the sum-
mer OF 1859. The honor Of cutting
the first log belongs to Mr.. Sam'l
Boggs, while that Of drawing it is
claimed by three different parties,
William Stevens, Albert Merrill,
and w. Steples. Henry Doyle had
a hand in saving the first log
The schooner Meridian, Captain
Flood, carried the first cargo of
lumber from Alpena.