Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-12-16

in the late SOS or early eos.
The pine was then taken out of the
| forests down to Pine river where it
was sent down the river to Alma,
where Ralph Ely had established a
mill. So much timber was brought
down the river that at times you
could walk from Elm Hall to Alma
over the river on the logs.
When the war broke out, large
number from around Elm Hall en-
listed. An earlier chronicler says
that many of them found urgent
business in Canada" but that a ma
jority of them were by no means
towards and cheerfully enlisted That
they were not towards is amply prov
ed when it is known that out of the
, forty who went away twenty-one of
them never came back. Among those
who went were the whole Slayer
family, the father, Daniel, and sons
Michael, Nathaniel, Jacob and the
on-in-law, Mr. Blanchard. One of
them, VIM. Strayer,- was killed in the
battle of the Wilderness. Out of the
four boys, only one is now living, Mr.
Jacob Strayer, of Elm Hall, When
the wall was over, a post, called the
Ely post, was organized with some
thing like seventy members, but time
has cut that number down to about
thirteen or fourteen.
Since there was so much fine pine
near Elm Hall it was only natural
that mills should be put up. The one
owned by Ralph Ely at Alma took
care of a large share of the timber
but in the year 90. during the war
before he enlisted, Daniel Strayer had
commenced TO build a dam on the
Pine. This dam was finished when
the Strayers returned home from the
war in the year 1868 A mill was
also put up and this mill now stands
some little distance north of the pres
ent village.
Peter Schlappie also built mill
creek west of the Hail. and completed
the dam before the war After he
had constructed the dam and mill
race he put up small water saw mill,
but this building has since been de-
stroyed
In the fall of GO Lester Hawkins
put up a large store building in the
place on the four corners where DR..
Skaters store now stands.
The year before that '65, new
school house had been erected, the
old one was growing too small for
convenience and thus it Became neces-
sary to put up a new one. This old
school still stands in the south part
except by the United Brethren as
church.
Along in the COS both Daniel
Strayer and Peter Schlappie died, the
latter being taken away by that dread
disease, smallpox. These pastors
were succeeded by Wesley Perkins
and he by Rev VIM Bridenstine.
Under the administration of the latter
a new United Brethren church build
ing was commenced However, it
remained for his successor, Elder
Maynard, to bring the building into
completion The church cost in the
neighborhood of $4,000, and among
other things it is said that that church
had the best bell in Gratiot county.
Along in the seventies the United
Brethren had revival. A great many
were converted during this time, and
a number of the new converts branch
ed off into church by themselves,
and are known as the Methodist Epis-
copal church of Elm Hall. They
have a church building of their own
in the north part of the village, with
the Rev. Mr. Nhaley, of Riverdale,
as their acting pastor.
During the seventies also the store
OF Blair & Houck burned TO the
ground, but the firm were not AT all
discouraged and Immediately rebuilt,
this time putting up much better
building. which today stands on the
four corners and is occupied by the
department store of Mr.. Blair.
About this same time also Mr..
Butcher erected the first hotel in Elm
Hall, which building is now being
occupied by Seneca Ely as a resi-
dence II is situated directly across
from the building just mentioned, Mr..
Blair's store
In 1883 c. c. Gilmore began pub
fishing newspaper in Elm Hall. This
newspaper was known as the Cor
ner Local and thrived for several
years. In glancing through its col
umns one is amused at many things
in it. Its advertisements were of
course perfectly in accord with al
fairs as they were at the time when il
was published. but are often amusing
to us. For instance, a Mr.. N. f.
Coffin, the town barber, advertises as
follows: "Clipp cut 15c, Comb cut
20, Shave 1Oc, Sea Foam 1Oc" Dur
ing the troublesome times of the
eighties one enterprising merchant
heads his ad: War! War; War!
War with England? No. War with
Canada? No. War with Utah? No
War with high prices? YES" In
81 the paper moved to Riverdale.