History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, profusely illustrated with portraits of early pioneers, rare pictures and scenes of olden times, and portraits of representative citizens of today, [Vol. 2]

BRIDGEPORT TOWNSHIP

319

D. A. Pettibone & Company built a shingle mill in 1862, which was
operated very successfully for four years until destroyed by fire. Mr. Heidley
and others erected another shingle mill, and for several years the manufacture
of shingles was a prosperous industry. Bridgeport shingles became widely
known through the State, because of excellent quality and extremely long life,
and it is said that until quite recently some of the oldest houses in Saginaw
had upon their roofs shingles made in Bridgeport in the eighteen-sixties.
Salt was Also Made
Upon the discovery of salt brine in Saginaw Valley, in 1860, and the
success attending the manufacture of salt on the river, the people of Bridgeport became interested in this industry. D. A. Pettibone drilled a well in
1862, in connection with his shingle mill, and erected a salt block. The brine
was of excellent quality, but for some reason or other this block was not a
profitable venture and later was destroyed by fire. In 1863 Charles A. Lull
drilled a well to a depth of six hundred feet and built a salt block, the work
being done by Leonard Blake. After operation for a short period these
works were dismantled and at length fell into decay. The great salt business
of Saginaw overshadowed that of smaller places on the river, where the
genius which made it a success there seemed to be lacking. Nothing further
was ever done to revive these industries or to develop the natural resources
which lay beneath the soil.
After the timber began to be cleared away and the land drained the
progress of agriculture was quite rapid, and the need arose for a grist mill
at the "Bend of the Cass." In 1878 John and Martin Messner erected a flour
mill on the site of the old Heidley shingle mill. The mill was thirty by forty
feet in size and had two run of stone, one for grinding wheat into flour and
the other for making feed. With a limited capacity of three thousand barrels
of flour annually, and fifty bushels of feed a day, this mill was scarcely
able to meet the local demand, but it saved many miles of hauling for farmers
in the neighborhood, who otherwise would have been compelled to drive
to Saginaw or Frankenmuth.
Organization of the Township
Bridgeport was organized as a township in 1848, under authority given
by the board of supervisors, and comprised nearly all the eastern portion of
the county. At later dates other towns were organized and taken out of the
original township, so that only a full town six miles square remained. Buena
Vista Township lies on the north, Frankenmuth on the east, Taymouth on
the south and Spaulding on the west. The Cass River enters the town in
Section 25, flows northwest through the village of Bridgeport, and enters
Spaulding Township in Section 13, while Fish Creek and other minor streams
wind their way through its sections. The land is capable of high cultivation,
and the enterprise of the farmers who settled in the township has made it one
of the best in the county.
The first election was held on April 4, 1848, the ballot box used being a
small hand box or trunk, which until recent years was a valued relic owned
by the decendants of one of the original settlers of the place. The records of
the first meeting, however, were lost and nothing is now available back of
1868. It is supposed that all official records were destroyed many years ago.
In 1868, when the population of the village was about five hundred,
Dennis Bow was supervisor, George J. Hill was clerk, George Miner was
treasurer, and Leander L. Hill was justice of the peace, of the township. By
1881 the population had dwindled to two hundred and thirty-nine; and the
entire population of the township was fourteen hundred and five.