History of Lapeer County, Michigan : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

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HfISTORY OF LAPEER COUNTY.

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quently, at the ratifvving of the reservation treaty at Detroit,
many learned and able lawyers were present, not one of whom, after
hearing his great speech interpreted, dare to accept hzis-challenge to
discuss the questions affectingo the Indians' welfare with him..
After the treaty of- Saginaw had been ratified and the Indians
had becomue reconrciled to the encroachmrent of the white Mail, O-gema-ke-ga-to was quite friendly, and, like an hzonorable man, endeavored to fulfill his obligations to the new com~ers unlder the
treaty.
IMIMIGRATION COMMENCED.
Prior to thle administration of Governor Cass there wras a general opinion that the wh~ole peninsula was one vast swamp and
wholly un~fit for cultivation. The commissioners sent out to 'Locate
bounty lands for soldiers, after visiting Detroit and going a few
miles west, pronounced the country-iothing but morass, and cousequently the bounty lands were located elsewhere. This report retarded immigration but the ultimate result was advantageous, inasmuch as when the tide of immigration did reach its shores it
brought thither the better class of population. Gov. Cass procured
a survey of the territory and a, wagon road was laid out from Detroit
to Chicago. By this means the country was brought into notice
and its real merits made known. In 1818 some of the public- lands
which had been surveyed, were brought into market and a, steatdy
flow of immigration began.
The population of the territory increased from 8,876 in 1820,
to 31,630 in 1830.
ORGANIZING COUNTIES.
Monloroe county was organized July 14, '1807; Malt-comnb county,
Jatnuary 15, 1818; Oakiland county, nMarch 28, 1820; St. Clair
County, May 18, 1821. About this time, as previously mentioned,
immigration began to increase rapidly, and on September 10, 1~822,
Governor Cass, under the provisions of an act of Congress approve,
July 13, 1787, laid out tenl new counties, of wht'ic11 L;2peer was one;
although there was not, at; that time nor for several years afterward,
a single white inllabitant within its boundaries.
The proclamation issued by Governor Cass was as follows:
"And I have also thoughzt it expedient to lay out the followingI~
county; that is to say:
'"All'thee country includled in thze following boundaries, begrinning
at the northwest corner of the county of St. Clair, and runnzing
thence wTest to th~e line between the sixth andl seventh railges,, east
of the principal meridian; thence south 'to the line between the
townships numbered five and six, north of the base line; thence
east to tkhe line between tile twelfth and thirteenth ranges, east of
the principal meridian; thence north to the place of beginning;
sball form a countv to be called the county of Lapeer.
"Given' under ruy Phand, at Detroit, this 10th day of Septem —
ber,, in the year of our Lord 1822, and of the Independence of the
United States the forty-seventh. LEW. CASS. "
it is said that thie name "Lapeer" was derived from a French
word lapier, signifying flint-an idea suggested by the flinty sub —
stances found along the banks' of the Flint River, and for a long
time was called Lapier, subsequently the i was dropped and e substituted; since whnich2 time it has been known as Lapeer.
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT.
In 1830 Governor Cass appointed S. T. R. Trowbridge, G. O.
W~hitmuore and Hervey Parkes, the latter a surveyor, and all of Oak

land County, commissioners to locate the county site of Lapeer
Co unty. The commissioners left Pontiac September 14, 1830,
taking with them one Josiah Terry as guide. They encamped the
first night o11 the W~hitmore plains about twelve miles so~uth~ of their
destination. On the following day, September 15th, they established
the county site on the northeast fractional quarter of section 5,

township 7 north, range 10 east, and thus described in the proclamation of Governor Cass. A point bearing south forty-six
degrees thirty minutes west and distant twenty-seven chains from
tile northeast corner of section 5 in town 7 north, of range 10 east,
and a short distance northwest from the junction of Farmzers'
Creeki withn Flint River on lands owned by the United States, being
as near as may be the location of the buildings now occupied by the
county of Lapeer. After completing their work, the commissioners
returned to the camp of the day previous, where they spent the
night, but on awakening the next morning Terry was nowhere to
be foundl, and wyas next beard of in Detroit.
Terry being in the emlploy of Judlge Leroy, of Pontiac, and the
records of the U~nitedt States land office showing Danieel Leroy, of
Pontia~c, as having bought the land above dlescribedl as the county
site of the embryo county of Lapeer, was a very satisfactory explanation of his mysterious disappearance.
COUNTY SURVEY.
Lapcer" County as first laid out contained twenty-seven townships of laznd, tile bounddaries of which have already been described
in the proclamation of Governor Cass.
The contract for surveying the countryv betwyeen range 8 cast
and Lakie H~uron, extending north to Saginaw Bay. and south to
towllship 6, embracingg about eighty townships of land in what
are now thle counties of Saginatw, Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, St.
Clair, Lapeer and Genesee, hald been let to Joseph Wampler, a
surveyor from Ohio. In tile fall of 1822 Wampler had surveyed
about twenty-four townships, atnd being completely daunzted by the
hardships of the work, finally atbandloned it, leaving the north line
of township 10 unsurveyed, and returned at once to his home in
Ohio. It is said hne was starved out by the failuare of the packmnen,
their sole means of procuring supplies being to make their way
throuigh swamps whlere they wouzld be! nearly stung to death by
mosa uitoes.
Thlis work: was not resumed' till January, 1834, when Hervey
~Parkies, the surveyor wh~o bad assisted in laying out the county site
of Lapeer Couutygv, undertookr to complete the job, which b e finally
succeededi in doing after elicounterin.6- terrible hasrdships. Lapeer,
which had become qiuite a little hamlet, was t~he headquatrters of
the surveying party. The show wats then eighteen inches deep,
andt the streams not yet frozen over. After a few weeks' hard work,,
the first dav of wh~ich they failed to reach their camp and were
obliged to remuain all nightt in the woods without supper, tents or
blankets, they abandoned it for a time.
During this survey it was no uncommon thing for each man to
shoulder and carry during the day a pacsk containing a blankeet and
several days' provisions. Under such toils it is not surprishr~g that
the myen soon became exhausted. After six weekrs' rest tile w~ork
was resumed, andc this timne Parktes made three deposits of p~rovisions; one at Lapeer, another at Ml'ill Creek, and a third at
Burfch's M~iill, on Blatck River, -six miles north of Port Huron..
Here he expected to be able to use p~ack horses, but was soon
obliged to send them back to Romeo and rely entirely on packmen.
They were at best able to make but thlree Miles a day, often not
more than two, as ruuch of the way the men would sink to their
knees at every step inl the soft and spongy soil.
During the survey a packman was lost while returning from

ttlie, deposit -at Mill Creek, and wandered in thle woods until he
fortunately met a packman returning from the Burch Mill deposit,
who piloted him into camp, from which he had been absent two
weeks, having suffered hardships in his aimlless wanderings in the
wctilderness.
I They were at last obliged to return home in April and wait
until autunin to finish their work, wFhen they found the country in

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