Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1876-05-17

happened prior to the advent Of
the speculative American.
If Alpena has no such incidents
as we have Just narrated, she has
q practical past to point to with
pride on, tha. has been erected
by the energy of her sons and
daughters. We have no ruined
castles to write about; we can not
sing about the antiquity of some
mouldering stone pile; we have no
battle fields sacred by the blood of
patriots who fell in the defense of
life and liberty, but we can proud
ly point to the many monuments
Of industry that mark the victo-
rious career Of many Of Alpena's sons
and daughters in their stern strug-
gle with the world. And it has re-
quired both courage and persist
ency to convert the wilderness that
once formed Alpena, into valuable
business blocks, houses, churches,
gardens, streets, roads, and farms.
1t required constant and unceasing
labor to bring about the great
change which has been performed
during the last thirty years.
Separated fro m the stirring world
outside by at least $50 miles, the
people of Alpena have been thrown
during the long winters, upon their
own resources for help and amuse-
ments, and well have they improv-
ed the few moments at their
leasure in pleasant recreations, as
the many socials, etc, will speak
for.
In charity our people have not
been behind other communities,
and when q society got embar-
rassed, pecuniarly, it had but to an
nounce q social for its benefit, and
those who could sing, play, or re-
cite, freely and willingly gave their
services, while those who could
neither sing, play, or recite, paid
their 25 cents or so cents, and the
result was, that our people passed
a very pleasant evening, while the
society was materially assisted by
the result. Sometimes fairs were
held; sometimes lectures were de-
livered, but the result was always
the same, and the object, that OF
furnishing amusements for deeply
industrious race, and to aid de-
serving societies, was thus attained.
1t was one characteristic Of our peo-
pie, that they loved harmless and
recreative amusements, but they
desired the society to do something
to merit the aid that il asked. The
people worked, themselves, honest
ly and laborously, and they carried
the same principle in their charita-
ble actions. How well many OF
our readers will remember, when
an unfortunate man would get his
hand or arm mangled by n saw,
how willingly purses were opened to
aid the sufferer-each one Offering
freely of his earnings, and thus in
n measure helping to bear the bur-
dcns Of the afflicted one.
Bnt we do not need to go back
to the time of the early voyagers
to find Alpena wilderness; we
need but to go back some fourty
years in order to find Alpena un-
settled and the home Of solitude
and its echo the redmap, for, at
that time, no whiteman is known
to have penetrated the wilderness
Of Alpena for the purpose of set
Ting, or at least We have no record
of any one who landed on the shores
OF the river, prior to that time, for
that purpose. But the adventurous
spirit Of man was impelling him TO
look for new scenes of labor, and
as he travelled northward, he soon
learned Of tho valuable fishing and
trapping grounds about Alpena-
an information that he quickly turn
cd to valuable use.
The pursuit Of fur-benring ami
mails has proved very beneficial
towards opening up new regions,
for trappers are very observing
men, their pursuit learns them to
be, and the capabilities Of new
country as regards its facilities for
water; its adaptability for farming,
and the kind Of timber that grows
thereon, are soon spread before the
world, being the result Of the OBJ