Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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P1IONEER HISTORY OF INGIIAM COUNTY

settlements were made in the county these pioneers expended much
time, energy, and considerable money in building corduroy causeways and plank roads, while all the time there was worlds of firstclass road making material lying right at their very doors. Not
until 1866 and a railroad had been built through this section did
the people realize how liberally Dame Nature had provided for
their needs, and even then they were slow about utilizing her gift.
In 1878 when L. F. Robb bought his farm about two miles
south of Mason he found that the Michigan Central Railroad had
leased three acres of land where it procured gravel with which to
ballast the roadbed, and had put in a side track for the accommodation of the company. In 1882 Mr. Robb opened a gravel bed
on his farm and operated it for about three years. In 1886 Peter
Malcolm, a sturdy Scotchman from Bay City, who was interested in railroad construction, bought thirteen acres of gravel
land of Mr. Robb, and continued to add to this until "Kilwining,"
as he named his possession, contained seventy acres of as good
gravel land as could be found in Michigan. These grounds were
on the east side of Sycamore Sreek, and about one mile in length.
After taking off the soil for some distance on the west side, the
workmen made their excavation for gravel, lengthwise, through
the center of the ridge. The magnitude of the work is best realized
when one stands in the highway at the south city limits and gazes
many feet down into the great hole which extends to the highway,
with railway tracks, cars and a huge steam shovel at the bottom
of it.
This gravel pit is now a thing of the past, but for over thirty
years the output was enormous. There are many miles of railroad in the northern part of the State that are ballasted entirely
with Kilwining gravel, besides miles of highway in the same section built of material from that gravel pit.
When Mr. Malcom first bought his land on section 16, Vevay
township, he ran a stone crusher, and farmers in this vicinity
found there a good market for the stones on their land, which
after being crushed were shipped out the same as the gravel was
later. A portion of the "hogsback" just north of the Kilwining
bed had been procured by the company, and as soon as work
ceased in the old pit the working paraphernalia was moved there
and operations begun. This wonderul formation, which at this