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

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SPRING LAKE TOWNSHIP.

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This town is of very irregular shape in the south and west, being
bounded on the south by the Grand River, which winds to the Lake
by a slow and tortuous course, generally northwesterly, spreading
into wide bayous which extend quite across the township to the northeast. On the west is Lake Michigan, the shore line trending to the
northwest. The town may be described as the north part of Town
7 and 8 north, of Range 16, west. On the east the boundary line
from north to south is fully six miles, on the west the same boundary
line is only about half that distance.
Spring Lake is a beautiful sheet of water extending back from
the river for six miles to the northeast, away into Fruitport Township, with the main arm to the east reaching up to Fruitport village,
and a smaller arm to the west into Stahl's Bay, where good clay for
brick making may be found. A little below Fruitport on the bayou
are the Spring Lake Iron Works, fully described elsewhere. About
the middle of the lake, extending to the east about a mile, is Hammond's Bayou, which is crossed by a bridge about the middle.
Smith's Bayou extends into Section 9, from Spring Lake a short distance northeast of Ferrysbuig; and Lloyd's Bayou, about two miles
long, is west of Spring Lake village. The shore line of Spring Lake
and its bayous is about twenty-five miles, and the township has a
larger water surface than any other in the county, but has not much
more than half as-much taxable land as the next smallest township,
and considerably less than one-third as much as Holland or Olive
townships.

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Norton, Clerk. Next year, but sixteen turned out to election, and
G. L. Norton was made Supervisor.
On June 20, 1853, a special election was held to determine the
question of liquor prohibition, and forty.two votes were in favor of
prohibition, one was against, and two ballots marked " free trade
and saylers' writes."
The following have been the rest of the Supervisors in the
years marked after their names: Wm. M. Ferry, Jr., 1854-9-1860 -61; G. G. Lovell, 1855-6; George Redfield, 1857; J. V. Hopkins,
1858-'66; U. B. Eames, 1862-3-4-5; A. C. Adsit, 1867-8-9-70-71-2 -3; J. B. Perham, 1872; D. R. Waters, 1875; Hunter Savidge, 1876;
Aloys Bilz, 1877-8; H. W. Pearson, 1879; C. M. Kay, 1880-1.
The present officers are (1881-2): C. M. Kay, Supervisor; C. A.
Pearson, Clerk; H. Beckwith, Treasurer; E. J. Pruim, Highway
Commissioner; Dr. W. S. Walkley, School Inspector; James F.
Zwemer, Supt. of Schools.
The fruit interests of this town are perhaps the most extensive
in the county, but a few winters ago the peach trees were nearly all
killed off, which was a severe blow. In 1874 there were about 700
acres devoted to the various kinds of fruit. In 1872 and 1873 the
value of the fruit product averaged over $20,000. To show how
uncertain the peach crop is, Mr. Martin Walsh informed us that in
its third year a ten-acre plat netted $3,000, and the next year the
trees were all killed. Mr. Walsh, who has also an extensive dry
goods and grocery store, is the most prominent fruit grower in the
town, having forty acres in apple, peach and pear, and three acres
in vineyard...
Mr. Martin Walsh, in speaking of the soil of the township, 'gS
that sufficient attention has not been given to its agricultural capabilities; but what little has been done shows it to be excellent for
wheat and grass. He plows, and puts in a subduing crop of oats,
and then lets in the cattle. After stumping, he summer fallows to
wheat, sowing on two bushels of salt to the acre, and reaps thirty
bushels to the acre, and has had splendid grass crops year after
year. Off less than three acres in 1881, he took two ton to the
acre.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
DAVID G. ALSTON, fruit grower in Section Twenty, was born at
Glasgow, Scotland, in 1841, came to Wisconsin in 1848, thence to
his present farm in 1869. He married Dec. 20, 1853, Miss Mar
garet Campbell, and has four children: James, -born Sept. 18, 1854;
Daniel Campbell, Nov. 1, 1855; Margaret, May 20, 1859 (died in
1863); Margaret, May 12, 1865; Christina, June 10, 1869.
B. F. EAMES, fruit grower in Section Nine, was born in Mendon, Monroe County, N. Y., Nov. 21, 1816, and came to Milwaukee in October, 1844. In Dec. 5, 1849, he entered into copartnership

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ORGANIZATION.

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The town was early organized as a part of old Norton Township, and was set apart as a separate municipality in 1849, the name
of Norton being exchanged for Spring Lake, owing to some petty
feeling against Col. Amos Norton, who was a pioneer and one of the
most active men of his time. Jabez Barber, from Canada, was an
early pioneer and lumberman, and it was a blow to the village of
Mill Point (afterwards Spring Lake) when he was drowned in coming from England on the ill-fated steamer I'acific in 1854,
The first meeting of the electors for organization was at the
school house near Barber's Mill (since consumed by fire), April, 2,
1849. Le Moyne S. Smith, moderator; Augustus Stahl and W. M.
Ferry, Jr., inspectors, and J. Vincent Hopkins, clerk. 29 voters
were present. S. C. Hopkins had 24 for Supervisor, J. H. Davison,
3, and Amos Norton 1 vote. M. L. Hopkins was elected Clerk,
L. M. S. Smith, treasurer; Justices of the Peace, G. G. Lovell,
G. S. Miller, and Jedediah Brown: W. M. Ferry, Jr., and P. P.
Cady, Directors of Poor. $100 was voted for township expenses. At
the election in 1850 there were but twelve voters present, who all
voted for W. M. Ferry as Supervisor, M. L. Hopkins, Clerk, and
L. M. S. Smith, Treasurer.
J. V. Hopkins was Supervisor in 1851, forty-six voters present.
In 1852, eighty-one were present, Amos Norton, Supervisor; A. S.

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