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.

456

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

built at the foot of a large hill, and customers from the south were in
the habit of unloading their logs at the top of the hill and rolling them
down the bank to the mill. One day a large log was started from the
top of the hill as usual and rolling down with great rapidity went clear
through the mill without stopping long enough on the carriage to get
either barked or spotted, carrying the saw with it down the broad-way
on the opposite side of the mill, to the great delight of all who witnessed
the feat, except Uncle Arthur. Afterwards the old gentleman got a
grist mill running, and a customer being dissatisfied with the grinding
of a grist, thinking it did not turn out quite as well as it should have
done, told Mr. Power that he thought he did not always get what was
his due, to which the old man indignantly replied, 'if thee had thy due,
deacon, it would kill thee.'
"The store of one of our first merchants was broken into one night,
but on being examined the next morning it was ascertained that there
had been nothing carried away except a lot of pennies that had been
left in the money drawer. The thief was arrested a few days afterward, and when asked why he did not take something else besides the
coppers, replied that he found the goods marked so high he could not
do anything with them.'
"Fifty years ago this present winter, I had my first experience as
a pupil in a public school. There was but one school district in the
whole township, and myself and two elder brothers were compelled to
go over two miles to reach the schoolhouse, and many a night have we
gone home from that school, tired and weary, on account of the distance,
and full of fear and anxiety as the shades of night came on and wolves
began their hideous howling. It would seem to us in our inexperienced
and frightened condition, that the woods were full of wolves, and that
they were just ready to pounce upon and tear us to pieces, when in fact
there would not be more than one wolf perhaps within a mile of us.
From that time I began to realize more fully the condition of my surroundings, and to take account of passing events. I found the wilderness everywhere, and the habitations of man few and far between.
Going with my elder brother to visit the family of an uncle, who had
just settled upon a southwest quarter section in Oakland county, we
found in following along the base line, that our uncle lived some four
and one-half miles beyond the last settlement on the road: but the anticipated pleasure overcame the fatigue of the journey and we arrived
at our destination in season.
"But, Mr. President, those small openings in the forest marked the
wide beginnings of a more perfect civilization. The foundations of an
Empire were being laid by those heroic and courageous pioneers, and
on that foundation they have 'built better than they knew.' By the intelligence and industry of those brave men, roads have been opened,
schoolhouses built, churches erected, manufactories established. The
forest has been transformed into cultivated fields, the comfortable farm
house, or the palatial residence, has taken the place of the rude cabin
of the pioneer, and the well filled barns and lowing herds attest the
wisdom and prosperity of the husbandmen, until a commonwealth has
arisen grand in its proportions, rich in its productions, and glorious in