Mich.) Ladies' Library Association (Schoolcraft

“ Read by Miss Isa Smith.
My earliest recollections of Prairie Ronde date back to the spring of 1830, when, one evening, I was lifted out of a covered wagon and set down upon my short legs, in front of Esquire Duncan's log house. It stood upon a rise of ground, among stately trees; a little stream, with white sand and clear water, running close by, making it a cheerful place, even with no fences or other evidences of civilization. Years afterward, a saw-mill was built a few feet from the site of this log house, known as Duncan's saw mill. ”

“ I communicated my intention to Smith, and before my school was finished he too, declared his intention of going. When I went home in the spring, I met Hosea B. Huston, a young man who had grown up, a near neighbor of ours, in the family of one John Lakin, and who had not, so far as I know, a living relative in the world. He too, had just finished teaching a winter's school, and learning my intentions, decided at once to become a third member of the party to Michigan. We left on the 18th of April, 1830, our destination Ann Arbor, Michigan. Anything beyond that was an unknown land. ”

“ Game was as common in the woods and on the prairie as cattle, horses and sheep are now. Whisky was the only luxury and cheaper even and better than it is said to be now. Everyone drank it to keep out cold, heat, pain of every kind; as an antidote against ague and a bond of sociability. And yet in those early days there was apparently less drunkenness than now.
Father received a small stock of goods about this time, belonging to Smith, Huston & Co. How he got them, I do not know, but probably in about the same way the Klondike miners receive their supplies. ”

“ Vegetables and wild fruit being so plenty, we lived as well as we do now taking our healthy, keen appetites into consideration. Small game, such as turkeys, partridges, quail, pigeons, rabbits, squirrels, also fresh fish, were the favorite meat diet of our family.
In the winter and spring of 1831, father built a log house on the south-east side of the Big Island, as it was called, a circular forest, of about a mile in diameter, with prairie all around it. ”

“ Of the real privations and sufferings of pioneer life that many experienced, I know nothing. With horses the journey to Detroit for supplies was not such an impossible undertaking as it would seem to-day. ”

“ There the only settler was a man by the name of LaRue, who had squatted and made a pre-emption claim on the 80 acre lot which was afterwards laid out as the village of Schoolcraft. He had built and lived in a little cabin which stood for some years just west of the dwelling built and occupied by Col. Daniels, and afterwards by Judge Dyckman. Smith at once decided that the land on the east side of the Island, being a central point on the prairie was the best point for locating a business establishment, and determined to start a store there. ”

“ A pretty large log building was erected just west of where my son Addison now lives, and the family and goods were removed to it. In May, James Smith again came from Vermont, accompanied by his brother Addison, who had some cash capital which he invested in the concern, and became a member of the firm of Smith, Huston & Co. and was to remain in charge of the business, while Huston was to go to Bronson, and build a store there—a branch of the business at the Big Island; James Smith going immediately to New York to purchase a stock of goods to supply both stores. ”

“ I have been asked to tell something of the pioneer schools in Schoolcraft; not that I can relate anything of much interest, or of great importance; but because I taught the first public school in this village, in the year 1834, in a small building erected for that purpose on "The public square," now "The park." I had some 25 or 30 pupils. Those recently from New England were well advanced in the studies then taught in district schools, while others, whose parents had lived on the frontier, had never seen the inside of a school room and were unable to read at 10 and 12 years of age ”

“ With an old Indian pony and a light wagon, and a box of provisions we started, only one of us riding at a time, by way of Jackson, Marshall and Battle Creek, in each of which places there was a log cabin or two, the road being a mere trail from Ann Arbor to Bronson, now Kalamazoo, and not a bridge in the whole distance. At Bronson where we arrived just at sunset on November 5, having left Ann Arbor on the last day of October, there were four log cabins, one of which was occupied by Titus Bronson, the proprietor of the future village, where the county seat had already been located. ”

“ That necessity is truly the mother of invention was often demonstrated in pioneer days. I recall a novel arrangement for grinding or pounding corn, constructed by Delamore Duncan. A large stump near the house was hollowed out at the top and a spring-board set in place projecting over the top of the house and a pestle at the end completed the mill or stump mortar. With this the meal for bread for the family was prepared.
The Indian burying ground in the north-west part of the township had great interest for the new-comers. ”

“ I had intended to go farther, and give some of the leading events in the history of the village, mentioning some of the most noted persons who settled not only in the village, but on the prairies—Prairie Ronde and Gourdneck—with some of their characteristics, enlivened with anecdote and story. But this article is already too long for the occasion, and I am appalled at the difficulties of what I had undertaken. At the great age of 89 years, with many infirmities, I find it difficult and painful to remember and compose and write for any considerable time. ”

“ So, in the spring, we bade adieu to our good host, Calhoun, and moved into a house of our own. This place soon became known as Schoolcraft, and a village plat was surveyed, with streets and a park. It was many years, though, before we knew just where these luxuries were located, without looking on the map. One street, Eliza street, was named after my mother. We soon had neighbors, however, and Schoolcraft and Big Prairie Ronde were known as the garden and grain supply of the state of Michigan. ”

“ At Ann Arbor, on his way west, he heard of a notorious Indian robber, Shavehead, known as a dangerous customer to lone travelers. Not wishing, just then, to part with his scalp, he made a circuit of 30 miles or more to avoid meeting him. He was reported to have killed and scalped 90 or more white persons, and as being in his war paint, and wearing these scalps, at all times. Father was tired ere noon, and, secure in the thought that all danger was passed, seated himself on a fallen log and proceeded to eat his dinner of bread and cheese, and make himself comfortable for a noon-tide rest. ”

“ Among the seniors there was more disregard of annoyances, an heroic determination to make the best of everything, a spirit of good fellowship and kindly mutual helpfulness, and a hearty open air freedom of speech and action. ”

“ Thaddeus Smith, his wife and son Henry P. took the same schooner as far as Detroit, and from there took the Southern or Chicago road to White Pigeon, and thence to Prairie Ronde. Huston reached Prairie Ronde about the same time from Ann Arbor. There they learned that LaRue, instead of building a cabin on his claim as he had agreed, had re-sold his claim to a man named Bond, and run away; so there was no place to store the goods when they should arrive nor a place for the family to live. ”

“ He sat up in bed and shivered (with cold of course,) while the wolf flogged his dog, went into the house, under the bed and ate up all his precious stock of soap grease. He never thought of the loaded rifle hanging within reach. In this case the wolf was probably the greater coward of the two, but poor Abner did not know it. ”

“ Smith he would divide his meat with him, and one meat-hungry family rejoiced that day.
Improved roads, the railway, the telegraph, the telephone, and other Edisonian inventions, have shortened distances since those early days. And yet I fancy were I to walk from the site of the Old Branch in Kalamazoo, to Prairie Ronde, the distance would seem much greater than it did sixty years ago, when I sometimes walked home from school Saturday afternoon. ”

“ At Strongs Ridge, Ohio, where we staid one night we were told we would see no more peaches after we left there—a strange condition of things I thought—so we bought a goodly supply and saved the stones and on reaching Prairie Ronde planted them in Mr. Guilford's garden, the first garden cultivated by a white man on the prairie. ”

“ The Duncans and Calhouns were not our only neighbors. Within a radius of a few miles were other settlers; the Harrisons, Clarks, Barbers, Nesbitts, Hoyts, Knights, Shavers, Wygants, Bairs, Armstrongs and others, all hunters, each and everyone possessing peculiarities of character belonging to himself. Distributed all over the south half of Kalamazoo county, then called Brady, were 100 or more people from almost every state in the union. Hunting and trapping were the chief occupations of the times, with a liberal division of work, farming and house building, thus combining business and fun. ”

“ As soon as it was dark and the lights extinguished, some old veteran would begin with an opening solo in a minor key, with very little variation, then another would join in, and another and soon the entire pack would make the air tremble with the chorus of from twenty-five to fifty voices. ”

“ Subsequently the stove, in our next and more pretentious house, gave place to a capacious fire place and brick oven. With the advent of this whisky, we became at once the center of attraction for 15 or 20 miles around. The Indians were our most numerous customers and neighbors.
They went once a year to Detroit or some point in that region to receive pay for lands relinquished to the state. When they came back, money was plenty to pay for powder and lead and calicos, and when that was exhausted they obtained their goods by exchanging for them venison and skins. Mother soon became a favorite. ”

“ But those who were born in the early morning of the present century and are still living should be content, for in the words of John S. Ingalls, greater progress has been made during their life time than in sixty centuries previous. ”

“ Dwinell, a graduate of Yale, took his place, filling it with satisfaction to his pupils.
In 1846, through the generosity of Rev. William Taylor, "Cedar Park Seminary" was opened. For some years that was one of the most popular schools in western Michigan. The rapid growth of Kalamazoo enabled her citizens to establish schools with superior advantages, and Cedar Park Seminary was sold to this district.
The worth of the present high school and of the lower departments are too well known to render any remarks concerning them necessary. ”

“ Although their pioneer experiences retain great interest for those who participated in them, they are not supposed to hold the same interest for these sons and daughters of younger generations that I see before me. Many of you will enter the next century in the prime of life and help solve problems we wot not of. ”

“ These were for the more exalted and wealthy travelers, who desired speedier transit and better accommodations, while boats of the line, moved by two horses at a walking pace, were suitable for emigrants like ourselves, and crowded to an over fullness with a miscellany of men, women, children and household freight. ”

“ The first grist-mill was built in 1830 by John Vickers on Rocky Creek. Corn only was ground in this primitive mill of small dimensions. In the fall of the same year Mr. Vickers sold the mill to Col. Fellows, who built during the winter the first saw-mill in the county, near where William Maile now lives. In this mill was sawed the lumber to build the first store at Bronson, now Kalamazoo. One other claim I must enter. Prairie Ronde furnished for Cooper the character of "Bee-Hunter" in his novel, "Oak Openings." One Towner Savage disputes the honor with Mr. Harrison. Mr. ”