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

774

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

mile of Caro, the present seat of Tuscola county. There were no
hotels in East Saginaw when Mr. Emerson located there, and for
many years tlle " Halls of the Montezminas " was an " open house "
to all travelers far and near, and many of the pioneers and early
settlers of Northern Michigan remember Mr. Emerson's genuine
hospitality with feelings of deepest gratitude.
In 1837, the first year of his residence at East Saginaw, Mr.
Emerson shipped to C. P. Williams & Co., Albany, N. Y., the first
full cargo of clear lumber shipped from Michigan. In 1849 Mr.
Emerson, in connection with three others, constructed the first
steamboat on the Saginaw river. It was christened the "Buena
Vista" and was engaged in carrying passengers, lumber, and towing
rafts to the bay. About 1855 or '56 Mr. Emerson retired froin the
lumber trade, and devoted the remainder of his life to the realestate business. He was never married, and his only sister, Mrs.
Atwater, died many years ago.
Curtis Emerson was a man in whom the citizens of Saginaw
county had tile most implicit confidence. Always honest and upright in his dealings with his fellow men, lie enjoyed the good will
and esteem of all classes since his entry into Saginaw county. lie
was ill during the past 10 years of his eartlly pilgrimage, buit bedridden only a few months. On Feb. 11, 188, lie was " gathered to
his fathers," and a few days following his remains were laid to
-rest.
FIRST REGULAR SETTLEMENT IN THE TOWNSHIP.
Curtis Emerson located just outside the original plat of East Saginaw in 1847. At that time there were only two dwelling houses, a
boarding house, a blacksmith shop and the Emerson saw-mill and
office. One of the houses was the property of Capt. Leon Srray; the
others may be said to belong to Emerson. In 1848 lie fitted up
the blacksmith shop as a store, and succeeded in gathering round
him a limited circle of genial spirits, who made his store their
church, school and public hall, and were not slow, when circumstances pointed out such a summary course, to adjourn to his
dwelling-house. This settlement actually existed in 1848-'9 on the
river front, near the foot of Bristol street, above the "' Hoyt Plat."
This mill is referred to in the county history as built by Harvey
Williams, for Mackey, Oalkley, Jennison and Little in '36, and as
purchased by Curtis Emerson and James Eldridge 10 years later.
PATENTEES OF U S. LAN)DS IN BUENA VISTA.
The principal portion of the lands of Buena Vista at tlie disposal
of the general Government was entered in 1835-'6. A few entries
were made previously, between 1830 and 1832, but the earliest recorded in the iUnited States survey dates back to May 31, 1823, when
Justin Smith entered a fractiot of sec. 7. Up to the period when
the last acre of the township lands was purchased (1855) the
country was in its wild state. Tle village of East Saginaw, organized that year, was very primitive indeed; and yet it was so improved at that time that it bore the same comparison to the town