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

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HISTORY OF MUSKEGON COUNTY.

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WHITE RIVER ITEMS.
*About the year 1844, after the first salt well at Grand Rapids
was completed, the men that sunk it, consisting of a father and two
sons, by the name of Hulbert, came on White River as the most
likely place to strike salt. It was then an unbroken wilderness, the
beautiful lake was navigated only by the red man and his dusky mate,
except it may be that the veteran pioneer, Chas, Mears had a mill
where A. M. Thompson's mill lately stood. It is not known what
induced them to come here, whether they decided upon geological
knowledge, or from Indian stories about the great salt spring, ten or
twelve miles up the river. But one thing is certain, they went there
and found the spring to contain about twenty-five or thirty per cent
salt, and commenced sinking a salt well, and got to the depth of
eighty feet, when the drill got fast and they were obliged to abandon it, but doubtless, salt can be found there in paying quantities.
The old Daylight propeller was the first to ply between Grand
Haven and Pentwater, and was commanded by Capt. Ed. Burroughs
with his brother Edson as Wheelsman. It was a side-wheeler with
heavy stroke, and ran for several years about 1864-5-6.
In giving his pioneer experiences, Mr. James Gibbs, of Mears,
writes that twenty-six years ago but one house, Sargent's, stood in
Montague, where now the spacious Franklin House stands, and
there was but one house in Whitehall at that time. On his arrival there he had to subsist three days on potatoes and salt.

THE CITY MAP IN 1854.
The earliest printed plat of Muskegon City is one by Robert S.
Innes, C. E., which of course shows the "village" on a small scale.
The plat extended from Pleasant anal Jefferson Sts., on the west, to
Myrtle St. on the south, and Little Chief St. on the east, being from
two to five blocks deep and ten blocks long. There was but one pier
extending a short distance into the lake-the old Newell pier-a
short distance east of the mouth of Ryerson's Creek.

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COUNTY MAP IN 1864.
In looking at a map of the county published in Philadelphia in
1864, one is struck with the important changes in the boundaries
of towns and of the progress in other respects. Many of the present wagon roads were then unopened, and not a single railroad appears. Norton and Fruitport are all included under Norton. Muskegon covers all of Laketon and Lakeside as well ax its present territory. White River comes to a sharp point by being prolonged
into what is now Fruitland. Dalton is the name for all of the rest
of Fruitland, of the whole of the present towns of Whitehall, Dalton
and all of Blue Lake, except the two upper tiers of sections. Oceana
was the name of what is now Montague and that part of Blue Lake
not taken by Dalton. Cedar Creek includes the present town of
that name as well as Holton. The other towns were arranged- as
at present. Whitehall village is indicated on the map by a small
plat called "Mears," and Montague village is not named, but in its
place appears the name of W. M. Ferry's saw mill, Ferrisville is the
name of the then considerable settlement at the mouth of White
Lake, which mingled its waters with Lake Michigan by the old tortuous channel to the north of the present one. There appears but
two roads to the north from Muskegon City, the State road, and
one running along the north of the lake and branching off at Green's
Creek towards the lake shore. There was also the road up the river
to Newaygo. Where Pt. Sherman stands appears the name of
Millville.

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LOGGING ROADS
are of recent invention. The Xorthwestern Lumsberiman, in a recent
article, says that the idea of using steam to convey logs from the
pineries first entered into the mind of a Muskegon man, W. S. Gerrish, when sauntering in Machinery Hall at the Centennial Exposition in 1876, and now Michigan has more miles of such forest roads
than all other States combined, and enquiries as to their construction are coming from other lumbering States, especially the South.
CHANGE OF NAMES.
The names of quite a number of places have been changed, and
the places themselves in some cases have disappeared, being either
paper organizations andl appearing only in old maps, or the people
have moved away, and left the formerly flourishing village to desolation. Among these is the projected village of "Crimea," on the
north side of the entrance of Black Lake, and "Chichester," on the I
northeast corner of Moorland; "Ferrysville" and "Stump P. O." at |
the mouth of White Lake; "Carleton," up White River; "Mears,"
(now Whitehall); "Reedsville," now a part of North Muskegon;
"Laketon" and "Millville," now Pt. Sherman; "Oceana," the name
of a township of varying size, which at one time included Montague
and Whitehall. The names of the railroads are all changed into
Chicago & West Michigan Railway, which were formerly the Chicago,
Michigan & Lake Shore, the Ferrysburg & Muskegon, the Muskegon
& Pentwater, the Muskegon & Big Rapids, etc. For a time the
name of the county varied, even in acts of the Legislature being
sometimes Muskegon, and at other times Muskego.
MAP OF 1834.
In a map of Michigan of the year 1834, all the territory north
of Oceana was classified as the Territory of Michilimackinac, and is
all a blank space, as is, indeed, nearly all the map of the State.
The only names of settlements that appear in the counties of
Kent, Allegan, Ionia, Ottawa, or Oceana, are those of " McCoy"
and " Gypsum," where Grandville and Jenisonville now stand. All
else is blank. The Grand River is pretty well traced, but the Muskegon and White Rivers are made to appear of equal length, rising
up about Holton. No lakes appear at their Mouths. Oceana
County came down near the line of Muskegon River.

THE PRESS.

In 1882 the Press of the county is represented by three newspapers published in the city of Muskegon: The semi-weekly News
and Rplorter, by F. Weller, shortly to be converted into a daily;
the daily and Weekly Chronicle, by McKay and Dana; and the
Eveninlg fatil, by the Mail Publishing Company. The first is Democratic, the second Republican, and the third Independent. At
Whitehall there is the ForuT,, weekly, Republican, issued by Charles
P. Neirpatss, and the Holton Banner, weekly, Republican, by C. P.
Nearpatss. At Montague is issued the L~UmJbermanv,, weekly, Democratic, by Frank Bracelin.
In 1881-2 there was several changes in the personnel of the
press. In the Fall of 1881 the Hon. W. M. Harford, publisher of
the Ch1ronicle at Muskegon, disposed of the paper to two enterprising- gentlemen from Ohio, Messrs. McKay and Dana. In January,
1882, James C:ampbell, the able conductor of the E veninzyg ournal,
Muskegon, sold the good will of that paper to the publishers of the
Chrolnicle, and the.~ournal ceased to exist. This reduced the press
of Muskegon to two, the semi-weekly Nezvs anl Reporter and the
Daily Chronicle.
The Eveting J'ouenal was commenced Feb. 10th, 1882, by
Chas. S. Hilbourn, James Smith and W. G. Cameron. Messrs.
Hilbourn and Cameron are both experienced newspaper men, the
former having been publisher of the Lakeside Register, published
in Muskegon from 1873 to 1877, when it was sold to Mr. Weller, of
The BNees and Re2vorter. It was a Democratic organ. The Mail

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