The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1922-02-10
WRITES OF EARLY
COUNTY HISTORY

ttI. f----- 4ii.l
Miss Marcella Hid Of Baraga, a
student in the Department of His
tory of the Northern State Normal at
Marquette, has written the PAPER pub
lishcd herewith. This paper was pre-
pared as part of her class worE-in
this department.
When we realize what an excellent
harbor L'Anse Bay affords, we are
not surprised to find the history Of
L'Anse beginning as fur-tradipg
post. In fact it was practically iden-
teal witm most Of those early west
ern out-posts of civilization, that one
often reads about in American histo-
ry.
AS was often the case, missionaries
were the vanguard of Christianity and
among them was Rene Menard, S. j.,
a Catholic priest, who, in 1850, came
to spread the doctrines Of his faith.
Although subjected to many severe
privations he was successful in his
efforts for long period of time, but
the strain told upon him and he sue
cumbed to the bitter hardships.
But the first man who helped in the
actual establishment Of colony at
L'Anse was Feter Crebassa, we'll
educated Canadian Of French and In
dian descent. He set up post for the
American Fur Company in the early
thirties and served as factor for about
twenty-five years. 1t was he who in
duced Bishop Baraga to come to this
section of the country and establish
mission on the east side of the bay.
Hesitating at first to leave his loving
parishionefs, yet earnestly jealous to
carry the gospel to those whose need
was more urgent, the Bishop relin-
quished his charge. After very
strenuous journey from LaPointe,
Wisconsin, he arrived in L'Anse ON
May "a, 1843.
His first visit was short but within
a year he made return trip, and this
time built a church and started a
school in the same location. The
former was dedicated on September
20, 1843, and called "The Holy Name
of Jesus" From this time on, white
men came in increasing numbers and
began to open up the resources of ir-
on ore, lumber, and various other
things which the country provided.
Moreover, they started to ship the
raw materials to places where indus
try had become more concentrated.
AS result Of their labors, we are
not surprised to see, in 1871, that
L'Anse was the terminus Of the Mar
quette, Houghton and Ontonagon rail-
road. From L'Anse the passengers
and luggage had to be taken to other
points by stages. In fact Mr.. Begole
says, "The highway between these
latter points was literally alive with
sleighs carrying heavy copper ingots
to L'Anse and returning with supplies
for the people of the copper country.
Those engaged in staging passengers
enjoyed a remunerative business"
Therefore, it is easy to see how
L'Anse became one of the fiourishing
towns of the upper peninsula, and, to
the newcomer, it surpassed all expec-
tations. Until the panic of 1873, we
find L'Anse the controlling "metrop-
oils" of this northern region, but after
the depression Of that year it started
to lose its preeminence. In addition
to this, the extension Of the railroad
to Houghton in 1883 carried with it a
great deal of the business from
L,Anse.
Previous to 1850 Baraga county
was a part of Houghton county, but it
gradually drew apart, until finally,
in 1876, Baraga county was organized
by the state legislature and L'Anse
was made the county seat. The first
election was held Monday, April IS,
1875. and the first sheriff was Alex
A. Shields.
While L'Anse was still growing,
a vein Of iron ore was discovered
about five miles south of the village.
That discovery led to q great many
hasty speculations, and exploitations
even went as far as the construction
Of an ore dock which, though a model
Of its time, was not long useful, mas
smuch as the ore ran out and no more
was discovered. I
In their rush for wealth, the citi-
zcns Of L'Anse ''lost sight Of the fact
that they were not the only people on
the globe" and when the Nester Bro
thers Of Saginaw came in 1883 looking
for site for = sawmill, there was no
opening for them IN L,Anse without
spending small fortune before even
bseinniug active operations. There.
fore, they selected . site about foul
us31~u ar0und fha Nav fxoxn fhera .fo1