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.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

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August 5, 1824, incorporating the Pontiac and Paint Creek Turnpike
Company, named the following as the incorporators: John R. Williams, Daniel LeRoy, Peter I. Desnoyers, William Thompson, Solomon
Sibley, Amasa Bagley, James McCloskey, David Sauard, Benjamin
Woodworth, Jonathan Kearsley, Johnson Niles, David C. McKinstry,
Thomas Palmer, Cyrus Chipman and Olmstead Chamberlain. This
turnpike was to extend from a point three miles from the Detroit river
on the present road, by the most practicable route via Royal Oak to
the courthouse in Pontiac, with a branch from Royal Oak to a point on
Paint creek to be fixed by the commissioners. The corporation stock
was fixed at $200,000, divided into eight hundred equal shares. Jamtes
McCloskey, Daniel LeRoy and Johnson Niles were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions. This was a toll-road, with two gatesone near Detroit and the other within half a mile of where the Paint
creek branch commenced.
The contrast of the old and the more modern roads, noted in the
following paragraph written thirty-five years ago is further intensified
by the many improvements made in the thoroughfares of the county
within the intervening period: "The contrast between the smooth turnpike-roads of the present day, upon which an ordinary roadster can
easily make eight miles an hour, and the bridle paths and subsequent
'corduroys,' where the speed was seldom more than one or two miles
per hour, is indeed wonderful. The first twelve miles from Detroit on
the Saginaw trail was nearly an impenetrable swamp, covered with heavy
timber and so level that the water stood upon the surface a greater
part of the year. Many a venturesome pioneer, who had perhaps found
his way from New York or New England, has had the last atom of
faith in the new country taken from him in this indescribable morass."
IMPROVEMENT OF THE CLINTON RIVER
The difficulties of transporting persons and goods over the early
roads projected between Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac, naturally
drew attention to the waterways which connected the interior with the
lake regions. The valley of the Clinton river was thought to be especially feasible as an outlet for the products of Oakland county and an
inlet for goods and settlers, and the improvement of that stream was
pushed so persistently that the legislative council of the territory passed
an act, which was approved by the governor April 17, 1827, incorporating the Clinton River Navigation Company. Specifically, it was incorporated "for the purpose of removing obstructions from the Clinton
river, and making such river navigable for boats from the village of
Mount Clemens to Mack's lower mills in the county of Oakland."
The length of this proposed improvement was about thirty miles and
it was calculated that it would afford invaluable shipping facilities to a
large extent of rich agricultural country. It was the first incorporated
company of the kind in the territory, and but for the advent of railways would undoubtedly have been a success. The incorporators of
this company were Nathaniel Millard, Jonathan Kearsley, Levi Cook,
Charles Lamed, Ellis Doty, John R. Sheldon, Christian Clemens, Alfred