History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

235

space of one hundred feet between lots 56 and 57, in Fletcher's plan of
the survey of the tract of land granted by the act of congress passed
April 2I, I806, and entitled (an act to provide for the adjustment of
the titles of land in the town of Detroit and territory of Michigan, and
for other purposes); thence along the said space of one hundred feet
and, with the course thereof, through the said tract; then thence westwardly on the road which was opened and cut by the troops of the United
States to the termination thereof; thence westwardly to a large oak
tree standing on the right of the Saginaw trail, so-called, and within a
short distance of the same, the said tree being marked with the letter
H; thence westwardly in a direct line as surveyed and marked by
Horatio Ball, to the main street in the village of Pontiac, and thence
along said street to the termination; and the line surveyed as aforesaid
is to be the center of the road.
"In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the said territory
to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand at Detroit, this fifteenth
day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and nineteen.
"LEWIS CASS.
"By the Governor:
"WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE,
"Secretary of Michigan Territory."
This road, originally commenced by Colonel Leavenworth, was extended from time to time, under various acts of legislation by the territorial government, until it reached a point some six miles beyond the
present city of Flint, about 1834. It was cut out of the width of one
hundred feet through its whole course and graded to a width of eighty
feet. Subsequent to the admission of Michigan as a state, it was worked
by the various counties through which it passes until it became a splendid turnpike.
OTHER ROADS ESTABLISHED
By act of July 23, 1828, a road was ordered laid out from the northeast corner of Oakland county, running south along the county line
until it intersected the Detroit and Pontiac turnpike. Under the same
act a road commencing at the bridge over the Clinton river in Pontiac
and running along the north side of Pine lake, the east side of Orchard
lake and the north side of Walled lake, was also ordered. The council
act approved March 4, 1831, ordered a road laid from Pontiac southwest to a point on the road between Monroe and Ypsilanti; that of
June 26, 1832, one running from section I8 in Southfield township to
Detroit; and the acts of April 4 and April 20, 1833, authorized thoroughfares from Bloomfield west to the Pontiac and Monroe road and from
the same point, through Auburn, to Flint. Nearly all of these roads
were afterwards substantially graded and graveled.
The legislative records show, however, that the act of ISIg ordering
the Detroit and Pontiac turnpike was not fully carried out; for in June,
I822, another act was passed by the council authorizing the governor
to appoint three commissioners to establish a road from Detroit via
Pontiac, to Saginaw, or the Saginaw river. Again, an act approved