History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

BRANT TOWNSHIP.

This section of the county is most favorably circumstanced so
far as the quality of its lands, the number of its water-courses, and
the purity of its flowing wells may be considered. The settlement
of the township has been slow indeed: thousands of acres of its
fertile soil are still untouched by the plowshare; other resources
are still waiting upon enterprise to offer up their stores of wealth;
the land summons the industrious to its embrace, and demands, as
it were, that within the next decade the present population of 860
shall be increased centum per centum, the district developed, and
its place among the more important sections of the county insured.
Francis M. Cobb operates a steam saw-mill in this township,
and George Severns a similar mill on the town line.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
The undulations of the land are more marked than those of any
other portion of the county. The soil is a sandy loam generally,
with large tracts of black loam and clay subsoil. Bad river and its
tributary streams may be said to course through every section.
The main stream has its source in the southeastern sections of
Marion, enters the township at the northwest quarter of section
31, and, flowing northeasterly, courses through sections 29, 21, 22,
14, and 13. The North Branch of Bad river has its head-waters
in the northeastern sections of the adjoining township of Marion.
This stream flows in a zigzag course through the northern sections
of Brant, and forms a confluence with the larger stream in St.
Charles township. Great and Little Potato creeks rise in the
township of Marion, and, like Bad river, with which their waters
conjoin in section 14 of this township, flow in a northeasterly
course. Many rivulets, supplied by the flowing wells, aid in bestowing upon this portion of Saginaw a fair quantity of good
water.
The " flowing," or Artesian, wells of the township are not the
least important feature among its physical characteristics. In
some places the water forced its way to the surface, and formed for
itself, in the course of years, natural channels through which it
might rush forward to join some parent stream. The average
depth of a boring necessary to obtain a supply of Artesian water
at any location in the township is said to be from 60 to 300 feet.
In some situations the water has been reached at a depth of 25
feet.
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