The Yale expositor., 1921-03-24
Early History of This Locality
Continued By Mrs. E. J.
Howell

and landing were located, now
William Freeman's farm. Mill
Greek runs at the south. Here
the banks and stream were filled
with pine logs. Back east on the
same line, few rods, we see a
trail running north,-keep your
eyes on this track. We will meet
them again. We see such queer
wagons standing there, having
just thrown off lot of logs. Com
ing nearer we see they are not
wagons, but cars, and they run on
a wooden track.
For this track a roadbed was
made, graded to make it level and
keep the line straight. The ties
are laid down, solid on the ground,
to hold the rails CD which are 18
or 20 inch diameter timber hewed
and squared on 2 or sides, one
corner squared so the wheels of
the car, on the inner side, may
stay on the track, said wheels
having a fiange three inches deep
to keep it in place when in motion.
These rails are bolted down to the
ties with large oak pins, such as
carpenters use in framing barns.
Everything must be solid and
strong to carry the freight of logs
which looked somewhat like load
of loose hay. No head-on collis-
ions or jumping the track on this
railroad. Horse power, not steam
was used, and the power was turn
ed from one end to the other of the
car, as was done on the first street
cars. The wheels and axles were
brought from the city, the wood
worker and blacksmith of the shan
ties doing the rest. There was
plenty of good oak to work with,
and it was not spared.
The whole outfit was a primi-
tive affair as we look at it now,
but it was not far different in it's
construction from the first rail
road that was built in the east,
and it served it's purpose.
This kind and manner of lum-
bering changed quickly. In less
than twenty-five years steam
roads were being used in the
northern part of the state and the
pine timber was being slaughter
ed.
To return to the Bloomburg
landing. Something is coming in
to sight, and the something turns
out to be William H. Allison,
father of the writer, with his fam
lily, the first ones over this par
ticular piece of particularly bad
road, coming to settle in their
new shanties on the North Branch.
AS we are going the same way as
the railroad, We are invited. to
ride the 312 miles we have to go,
and thus we have our first ride on
the first logging train in these
Is. Our teams and wagons fol-
low and when within a half mile
of our shanties, we load into our
wagons and are soon at our jour-
ney's end. We have passed on our
way Henry Morgan's shanty (now
Lewis Hathaway's). He was a job
Der, always lived in Lynn, and was
a pioneer. All who lived in that
shanty are gone. Joel Bonney was
another jobber here before we
came in 1849. He worked for AL
fred A. Dwight, a pioneer lumber
man, who did much for this coun-
try in the early days and what he
did continued to live long.
What we write is of st. Clair
and adjoining counties, and by
this time the sound of chopping,
saving and falling of trees is
heard in every direction, and the
forest is fast giving up it's best.
Settlers begin to come, buy the
land of the lumbermen who have
cleared the pine but left shingle
timber, as it was called, in great
quantity. The settler goes to
work on his own initiative, sells
his logs to some lumberman with
a drive. This second crop finish
ed, the settler begins to look
sharp. He must have money to
keep the wolf from the door. He
spies the mighty oak. He can sell
that to another kind of lumber
man. And the oak forest, next in
value to the pine, is soon invaded
by crews working in a far differ
ent way. These logs are made
into slaves to make barrels. Black
ash is used to make the hoop. One
that never saw such woods cannot
imagine for a moment what mag
nificent sight was presented to the
early settlers, but it was not the
beauty they saw, only the CONNER
cial value, and what was in it for
them.
And in most cases it was not
until the timber was all gone that.
the settler really began to farm,