Mackinac Island (general)

MACKINAC – MILITARY – 1870

GII
Box 212

2 ALS reorganization of Military Company at Mackinac 1870, 1872.

GII
B486
F6

Militia.  Old roll of enlisted men in the Mackinac Light Guard, 1872.

See correspondence:  Robert E. Thomas, July 5, 1956

MACKINAC ISLAND STATE PARK COMMISSION

See:

RG 59-13 – Records of Auditor General’s Department.
Entry 15 – Records of Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1933-34.

Letters in, copies of letters out, financial statements.  Gives number of visitors to Fort and amounts received from admission charges.

RG 67-106 – Conservation Department (Lot 33).
Records of Mackinac Island State Park Commission.
Minutes of Commission, 1859-1961.
Minutes of Board of Trustees of Old Mission Church.
General Administrative Correspondence.

RG 68-24 – Manuscripts Items from Mackinac Island State Park Commission.

RG 68-43 – Conservation Department (Lot 35).
Records of Mackinac Island State Park Commission.  Includes microfilm copy of Post Returns at Fort Mackinac, July 1874-August 1895 (RG 94, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, published by the National Archives).

MACKINAC ISLAND

Primary sources available in Clarke Historical Library, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

American Fur Company Papers, 1834-1848.
Business correspondence of Gabriel Franchere and John Livingstone, agents at Sault Ste. Marie, with their supervisor Ramsay Crooks, N.Y., agents of other outfits and customers, relating to fur trade and shipping on the Great Lakes.

Port Mackinac Papers, 1802-1856
Bills of lading, affidavits, reports, manifests of cargoes laden on ships, open boats, canoes and shipped from different ports as…to Port Michilimackinac.

Barbeau, Peter B. , 1800-1882 papers.
Personal and business correspondence of a merchant at Sault Ste. Marie, concerning fur trade, real estate business and merchandise shipped to and from the Sault…1834-1872.

Mackinac Island.  Collector of customs.
Correspondence of the Treasury Department auditors office with collectors of customs at Mackinac, concerning lighthouse services and keepers, expenditures, appointments…1818-1847.

Mackinaw Island.  Village Board.
Record book of the Borough of Michilimackinac, including ordinances, acts, records of the elections and meetings of the village officers…1817-1861.

Wendel, Abraham, D. 1851 papers.
General correspondence on prices and delivery of merchandise to Wendel; other material of the business of Lighthouse service around the Great Lakes and Customs service on Mackinac Island, 1818-1857.  Wendel was store owner, collector of customs at Mackinac (1833-43).

Also…Bingham Papers and microfilm from Library of Congress and National Archives.

LANSING STATE JOURNAL, January 26, 1941.  Protest against high fees charaged of people landing on the island.

Source:

1.    McKenney – “Sketches of a tour of the Lakes”, 1827.  P386-7.

Mackinac Island State Park Commission Archives contact

Mackinac Island State Park Commission Archives

Museum Collections: (historic objects, documents, photos)
Steven Brisson, Curator of Collections
brissons@michigan.gov
906-847-3328 (May-September)
231-436-4100 (October-April)

Mackinac Bridge drawings (proposed)

Mackinac Bridge Drawings

RG 79-2  Box 112 F2

Bridge profile and proposed bridge drawings.

Mackinac Bridge Authority

MACKINAC BRIDGE AUTHORITY

Created by Act 35, P.A. (ex.sess.) 1934, to investigate the feasibility of a bridge and/or other facility for connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.  The authority was authorized to issue tax exempt bonds which, however, are payable from revenues only.  Members received a salary of $1,000 and necessary expenses.  Abolished in 1947.  Created by Act 21, P.A., 1950 (ex.sess) for the purpose of determining the physical and financial feasibility of a bridge connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsulas.  Authority further empowered by Act 214  P.A., 1952 to finance and construct a bridge.  The board consists of seven members, six of whom are appointed by the Governor by and with the consent of the Senate and the seventh is the State Highway Commissioner.
GII
Much valuable information.  See Vol. 119 (1929) and 1930 “M” for sample.  In folder on Mackinac, Mackinac Island State Park.
GII
1943-6 Container 5  Governor’s Papers, Boards, and Commissions
1945 container 21
1946 container 29
1947 container 10

Secretary of State has list of legislative agents.  Mr. Lawrence Farrell, Secretary to Governor Williams has own private file.

Steinman, David B. and John T. Nevill.  MIRACLE BRIDGE AT MACKINAC.  Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans, 1957.  208 pp.

Ratigan, William.  STRAITS OF MACKINAC!  Eerdmans, 1957. $3.

Tom Chapman, U-M, and Bureau of Government Research in Lansing.  Year project to prepare political and administrative history of the Authority.

AERO
Bx4

General correspondence to the Director, B-Z, 1949-1950.  “Inter-Peninsula Communication Association.  Includes letters, circulars, and memoranda pertaining to Mackinac Bridge Citizens Committee and re-establishment of the Authority.

Lumbering (general)

LUMBERING

World’s Fair Load of Logs – 1893 – Ewen, Michigan
Original photo by C. Raven in Ontonagon Historical Society Collection

The largest load of logs ever loaded and hauled on sleighs was loaded near Ewen, Michigan, Sunday, February 26, 1893, by the Nester Estate.  Malcom McEachin was foreman of the camp and superintended the loading of the mammoth pile.  The sleighs were built by William Elder, and were made of birds-eye maple.  The bunks are 18×20 inches, 15 feet long; six foot run, runners seven feet long.  The load was composed of fifty logs of white pine and scaled 36,055 feet, and were loaded as follows:  In the first tier six logs, in the second eight, in the next three seven each and five, four, three, two and one respectively in the next five.  Each tier excepting the top log were securely bound by a one-half inch steel test chain.  There were 850 feet of chain which weighed 2,000 pounds.  The load measured 30 feet and 3 inches high by 18 feet wide, 18 feet long and weighed 140 tons.  The largest log as scaled by John Fordon contained 1205 feet and smallest log 406 feet.

The load was hauled fifty rods by a team weighing about 3,500 pounds.  It was shipped to Chicago where it will be a part of the Michigan Exhibit at the World’s Fair.  Nine railway cars were required to transport the “World’s Fair Load.”  Thousands of people visited the scene of the hauling the few days the high pile remained on the sleighs.

C.     Raven, of Ewen, seated behind his team of dogs, with his camera and photographic implements strapped on behind, was one of the first on the ground and secured a good negative of the load, and at once filed application for a copyright with the librarian of congress at Washington.  Agents are given liberal commissions on the sale of these views. Address C. Raven, Ewen, Michigan.

******

This information appears on the back of one of the original photos by C. Raven, Ewen, Michigan of “The World’s Fair Load” loaded and hauled by the Nester Estate at Ewen, Ontonagon, Co., Michigan.

Horses were believed to be Clydesdales, aged 5 to 6 years.  See letter from Charles Willman, Ontonagon Historical Society, November 1966.

Sources:

1.    Saginaw Daily Courier, September 25, 1881.  Ad.  The Chapion, Girant Lightning Stump machine.  Good ads for lumbering equipment.  Axes (Wetmore, Crecent, Kau Pi, the Wood Chopper’s Own, etc.), coil and haulter chains.

See Correspondence:  Mr. Howard Otway, November 23, 1955.

2.    Specifications and Drawings of Patents issued from the U.S. Patent Office for October, 1880.  No. 233,755 on page 1192-“Machine for rolling and turning logs.  William E. Hill, Big Rapids, Michigan, assignor to himself and Alfred B. DeLong, same place.  Filed.  August 14, 1880.  (Model) Drawing on page 331 of section on Drawings.

See DETROIT FREE PRESS – Friday, January 24, 1879, page 3.  (2-1/2 columns).  Lists mills, board feet of lumber cut, lumber on hand, where lumber comes from, Tittabawassee Boom Company, Shingle trade, etc., etc.

Lumber Jacks

Driscoll, “Silver Jack”

Beck, E.C., Lore of the Lumber Camps.  Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1948.

Bellaire, John I., “Michigan’s Lumber Jacks”, Michigan History, Vol. 26, 1942.

Circuit Court File, County of Saginaw, June 8, 1880, file 674.

Detroit News, December 7, 1930.

Detroit News, November 13, 1966.

Dorson, Richard M. Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1952.

Hoffman, Daniel., Paul Bunyan:  Last of the Frontier Demigods.  New York, Columbia University Press, 1966.

Holbrook, Steward H., Holy Old Mackinaw, New York, MacMillan, 1942.

Jackson, Harry H.  The Michigan State Prison, 1837-1928.  Jackson, Michigan, 1928.

Kropp, George A., Warden, State Prison of Southern Michigan, March 20, 1969.  Personal Correspondence.

Maybee, Rolland.  Michigan white Pine Era, 1840-1890, Lansing, Michigan.  Historical Commission, 1960.

Nolan, Herbert, In Memory of the Camp Sixteeners, Gladwin, Michigan:  The Kaye Press, 1939.

Reimann, When Pine was King                            1952.

Reimann, Incredible Seney, Ann Arbor, Norwoods

Saginaw News, February 5, 1931

Saginaw News, February 8, 1959, Interview wit Charles Bussinger.

Saginaw News, June 11, 1961.

Saginaw News, August 4, 1964

Sands, Glen, Clerk, Village of L’Anse, May 28, 1969, Personal Correspondence.

Lottery

Lottery

Created by Joint House Resolution 5 of 1972  RG 80-71 Constitution Amendments and Revision Committee MF 1910

SB 1382  Judiciary Comm.  RG 80-71 MF 1936

Lord Selkirk

RESEARCH – LORD SELKIRK CASE
Sources:

1.    Blume, William W.  Transactions of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Michigan, 1814-24, Vol. 1.  University of Michigan Press.  Ann Arbor, 1938, P. 91-2.

2.    Michigan Pioneer Collections Vol. 12P. 483-505, 36P. 346-7

See correspondence:  Gene M. Gressley, April 19, 1955

Log Marks

See:

Record Group 57-19            Records of Antrim County
Record Group 54-9            Records of Cheboygan County
Record Group 67-47            Records of Emmet County
Record Group 69-54            Records of Mecosta County
Record Group 63-14            Records of Montcalm County
Record Group 67-22            Records of Otsego County
Records Group 84-32            Records of Muskegon County

Lighthouses (general)

LIGHTHOUSES

RG 80-32
DNR
Drawings C 554 D 13-14

Executive Office Papers

U.S. Treasury Department, Light House Board, 1867-71                Box 13
U.S. War Dept., Engineers, Lighthouse, 1851-69                    Box 13
National Government, Lighthouses, 1849-1910                    Box 43
Commissions & Agents, Lighthouses, Commissioner to
condemn land for, 1867-71                                Box 67
Reports, National Government, Lighthouse Engineer, 1899            Box 234
Vouchers, Lighthouse, McGulpin’s Point, 1867                    Box 247

Journals

Light at Port Huron.  Pioneer Collections                    Vol. XIII, P. 335
Light at Saugatuck.  Pioneer Collections            Vol. III, P. 305
Light at Kalamazoo River, Pioneer Collections                Vol. XXXV, P. 81
Lighthouse instructions.  Pioneer Collections                Vol. XXXVII, P. 505
Lighthouse at Bois Blanc. Pioneer Collections                Vo. XXXVIII, P. 586
Lighthouse keeper at Fort Wilkins,  Michigan History Magazine    Vol. 29, P. 163-65
Lighthouse at Gray’s Reef, Michigan History Magazine            Vol. 27, P. 127
Homestead Lighthouse (near Soo),  Michigan History Magazine        Vol. 27, P. 639
Great Lakes Lighthouses, Michigan History Magazine            Vol. 27, P. 727
Standard’s Rock Lighthouse,  Michigan History Magazine        Vol. 27, P. 81
Presque Isle Lighthouse, Michigan History Magazine            Vol. 34, P. 245-48
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 26, P. 557
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 29, P. 584
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 1, P. 61-62
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 10, P. 436-438
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 11, P. 352-355
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 12, P. 512, 520
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 13, P. 320
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 16, P. 197-199
Lighthouses, general, Michigan History Magazine                Vol. 25, P. 332

Guides

Streeter:  2690, 3658, 6189
Michigan:  A Guide to the Wolverine State.  Index p. 680
Michigan:  Historical Collections, entry 101

1.     Snow, Edward Rowe, Famous Lighthouses of America.  Chapt. 14. P. 223-233.  Re:  Spectacle Reef Light, Bake Huron; Split Rock Light, Lake Superior; Michigan City Light, Lake Michigan; Tibbett’s Point Light, Lake Ontario; Portland Harbor Light, Lake Erie;

2.     Adamson, Hans Christian.  Keepers of the Lights.  P. 314-23; 324-328; 329-335.  Following is a list of Lake Huron lights equipped with radio beacons (1955):  Lake Huron Lightship, Michigan.  White 13,00 c. p. established; Harbor Beach Light, Michigan.  Alternating white, 80,000 c.p. and red 25,000 c.p. established 1858; Port Austin L., Michigan.  Radio beacon only, established 1942.; Gravelly Shoal L., Michigan.  White 15,000 c.p. established 1939; Alpena L., Michigan.  White 17,000 c.p. established 1877; Thunder Bay Island 1., Michigan.  White 60,000 c.p. established 1832; Poe Reef L.,  Michigan.  White 25,000 c.p. established 1929; Round Island Passage 1., Michigan.  Greem 3000 c.p.  established 1948; Mackinac Island L., Michigan. Radiobeacon only.  Established 1938; Old Mackinac Point L., Michigan.  White 140,000 c.p. established 1892; St. Ignace L., Michigan.  Radiobeacon only, established 1938.  Detour Reef L., Michigan.  White and red sector 100,000 c.p. established 1931.

3.     Pointe Aud Barques Light.  BULLETIN., Lake Carriers Association.  October 1957.  P19 “Pointe Aux Barques light celebrates its 110th year.  First lighthouse on site was built in 1847 of native stones.  In 1857, Capt. George Meade  of the U.S. Army made a survey of the G. Lakes and proposed that the government set up stations at various lake points to check rain, wind, and water level conditions.  Name, according to the Coast Guard, derives from the Indian word A-SPEAKE-KEING, which means a place of the high bluff.  The French translation is “Point of the Little Boats.”  Present lighthouse of brick and dwelling attachment was built in 1908.  Its 120,000 candle power lamp, now unmanned, is 93 feet above lake level.  On w shore of Huron, 14 miles above Harbor Beach.

G10 B1  703 Comm. on appraisal of Granite Island L.S.
GII  B13 726-27 War Department Eng. Lighthouse
GII  B14 71, 2, 3 War Department Eng.
GII  B15 71, War Department Sec. Off