The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1939-06-02
INTERESTING
Of C|TY'S
EARLY DAYS

| Forty years ago The Herald pub
| lished an interesting article prepared
| by the late j. 5. Van Alstyne, dealing
with the early history Of WyandOtte
The matter had been written for an
address before d local mems club. II Is
SO interesting and carries so much
| little-knOwn information concerning
the inception of the city that we re-
print il for the benefit Of our readers
The locality where WyandOtte is sit
uated was undoubtedly a place of i'm
p0itance 10 the Indian tribes that
hunted through its woods and piled
| their canoes over its nearby waters.
Evidence is not wanting that the
IcighbOrhOUd was the headquarters of
The powerful tribes of the WyandOttes
| Ii was the custom of the Indians 10
| select some suitable spot near the
| headquarters of the tribe for u burial
ground, and in the early history of the
village when excavations were being
made il was not uncommon TO eXhume
the bones Of some long neglected In
dian brave and 10 find in the grave
| the implements Of war and chase. The
savage era passed, the colonial period
| came OH. The colonies became indie
pendent and this beautiful peninsula
became territory of the L. s. In the
war of 1872 Detroit and its vicinity
did not escape the contests waged, aud
in 1913 it was capitulated disgrace
fully, carrying with IL All surrounding
country, only 10 be returned a year
later.
About this time John Biddle appears
on the scene. During the war of 1917
Major Biddle was captain Of artillery
and served under Gen. Scott OH the
frontier. with signal ability, being pro-
NOTED TO the rank of major. Ia 1918
he purchased or located large tracts
Of land in Wayne county, among which
was the tract afterward purchased
from him by the Eureka Company of
Wyandotte and where he built his
country residence and called ii Wy
andotte," after the tribe whose head
quarters il had been. His country seat
in WyandOtte was favOrite resort Of
the older residents IF Detroit. The
house was plain and unpretentiOuS. 1t
ST. back from the road and was an
Ideal spot TO while away a summer
Gay. In 1853 Philip Thurber a bust
ness man. Went 10 Lake Superior. and
while 1T Marquette fell in with q. X.
Harlem, who owned a piece of land
near the city of Marquette. Little, if
any, iron ore had been mined from the
now celebrated Lake Superior iron
mines Thurber secured specimens of
iron ore and had them analysed and in
tereSted his friends III the matter,
among them Capt. L. Il. Ward, MI.
Holmes, prominent dry goods mer-
chant. and others The result was the
organization ON Oct. II. 1858, of the
Eureka Iron Company. Darius Webb,
IN iron founder of high reputation.
was engaged to Superintend its bust
ness and erect blast furnace. Mr..
Webb suggested some place between
Pert Huron and the mouth of the De
trOn river, where proper supply Of
charcoal could be obtained. Through
w. " Carpenter, an intimate friend Of
the Biddle family, WyandOtte was fix
ed upon and 2204 acres Of land were
bought, the piice paid being so per
acre WOrkmen flocked in and it was
decided TO lay out plat for village.
Dee. Il. 1854, the village of WyandOTtv
was fairly launched. There WAS no
road opened on either the north or
south line and only chOpping through
the woods on what is known now as
The Eureka road. then called Collier
1uad. This place was then the paradise
IF the sportsman. In the spring and
fall the river was alive with wild
ducks and geese. Deer was plentiful,
wild turkeys were daily seen and quail
and small game were abundant.
corduroy road ran from an old dock III
what is now the foot of Elm street out
20 the unR,rr from which TO build
Fort Wayne had been cut. The road
ran nearly half a mile through the
| woods reaching this 40 acre opening
Sibley quarry was also opened TO Sc
cure stone for the 'fOit. The homes VI
! The wOrkmen soon began 10 dot the
sill stumpy fields. The furnaces, mod
est affairs compared 10 those Of our
| time, began TO rise along the level. In
| 1855 the Wyandotte Rolling Mill Com
pany bought q mill of Redmond SEQ
| field and put il up below the furnace
The furnace was originally built for
production of 100 tons, but gradu-
ally improved until it produced 6OC
| tons per day. 1t was in the casting
| houses of these furnaces that the first
experiments in making Bessemer steel
| were made under the direction OF
| Capt. Z. b. Ward, and the knowledge
| and experience acquired in the iron
| age brought in the age Of steel In
deed. il was merely an accident that
the rolling Of steel from BessemeI
steel was not pursued in Wyandotte
| instead Of Chicago.
The story runs that Capt. Ward ask
| ed Sam Potter if his engine would roll
| steel rails. Sam said no" He then
az ked ID. w. Potter how about Chicago
Mr.. Potter said YES" so the steel
plant went to Chicago, and when the
rails were to be rolled he saw to II
that he had the needed power. When
| the owners laid out Wyandotte 1t was
their wish to make it model town
and in all their contracts ana deeds
wien selling lots there was clause
| forbidding the sale of intoxicating IL
auors. This was Obeyed for few
years, but when the rolling mill built
a boarding house and permitted 1t tt
| sell beer there was no further posi-
bility Of restriction. The nearest avail
able place for a saloon was In Ecorst
and it was popularity called cSeDasto