Mecosta County's first Fourth of July 1856 Author: Jim Wood
This tale of Our Muskegon River Valley begins on February 25, 1856 when the founders of Our River City, Zerah and Margaret French, sold 80 acres to Frederick B. Leonard and Chauncey P. Ives from Lansingburg (Troy) New York.
The purchase included a half mile of Mitchell Creek and its outlet into the Muskegon River. Both of these land speculators and their business associate merchant banker George B. Warren of Troy continued to purchase hundreds of acres in Mecosta County and the surrounding region.
Warren and Ives wanted to build a sawmill and possibly found a village at the wilderness location that lumbermen called the big rapids of the Muskegon River.
Leonard didn't care for the idea and sold his one third undivided interest to Warren.
During the spring of 1856, Warren and Ives hired workers to construct a millpond, millrace, dam, and sawmill where Michigan Avenue crosses Mitchell Creek. The site had to be timbered off, under-brushed and graded. An earthen dam impounded the creek waters. The millpond on the northwest corner of Hemlock Street and Michigan Avenue covered the entire site of the present Big Rapids Department of Public Safety Complex.
The millrace slanted from the millpond to the sawmill on the northeast corner of Hemlock and Michigan.
The race frequently referred to as the diagonal caused the present jog in Hemlock. A sluice gate was used to regulate the flow of water in the race and a weir controlled the millpond's water level.
A two story frame building was erected of seasonal lumber supplied by the E.H. Utley sawmill located 20 miles away in Newaygo County's Everett Township.
The mill machinery construction materials, and food supplies were transported from Grand Rapids via Croton and Big Prairie. Supply wagons traveled the 60 odd miles to Big Rapids through a roadless forest.
A round trip in good weather required two weeks. Inclement weather and the nearly impassable forest caused numerous delays.
Finally in the late spring of 1857, the river settlement's first industry became operational. The industrial complex also included a frame barn, and a two story boarding house-office located at 305 North Michigan Ave.
Warren and Ives old red mill was the only sawmill in the immediate region of Our River City and the only mill between settlement and Traverse City.
The residents of the river settlement knew that the growth, prosperity, and continued existance of their forest hamlet depended on the success of the of the Old Red Mill. Recognizing the historical significance of the opening of the sawmill. Chauncey P. Ives delayed the start-up until the upcoming anniversary of Our Nation's Birthday.
Word of a Grand Opening festival was ciirculated to the scattered dwellers of the trackless forest. On July 4, 1857, the inhabitants of the frontier settlement and surrounding area excitedly watched the first white pine logs sawed into lumber.
The pioneers joyfully commemorated the event with a jubilee followed by a sumptous meal. Dancing on the green commenced when the speechifying, jollyfying and dining ended.
The new business prospered, the isolated, primitive, and dangerous logging hamlet expanded, and the river settlement benefited ecnomically from the logging industry for the next three decades.
Because of the historic significance of the opening of the Old Red Mill, the national holiday, and the scarcity of the entertainment in the region, people living in nearby Montcalm, Newaygo and Osceola counties probably joined in the festivities.
The number and names of those who attended the first Fourth of July celebrated in Mecosta County are unknown today. However, the followed married couples and their children lived by the big rapids of the Muskegon: Asa-Lydia Brockway; Wolliam-Margaret Brockway; James-Laura MOntague; Jesse-Caroline Barker; Henry-Martha Evarts; Hannibal-Sophia Hyde; Charles-Jane Humphrey; William-Margaret Kibby; Chauncey-Charlotte Ives; Silas-Sally French-Moore; Zerah-Margaret French; Alfred-Fanny Clark; Duncan-Margaret McLelland; Dougal-Sarah Owen; Freeman-Sally Rose; William-Mary Mitchell; Nathan-Emily Coates.
Likewise the following single adults resided in the area: Jesse Shaw; Frederick Raynsford; Katherine Tanner; John /Davis; Andrew Green; Andrew McFarlane; Lewis Green; George French; Alexander French; George Greed; Delos Blodgett, Thomas Stimson; Allen Moore; George Wilkinson; John Parish; John Hinton; James Rodgers; Nelson Ganong.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Wood is a member of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, a participant in the Mecosta County Civil War Round Table. Two of his great grand fathers and five of his great uncles served in the Union Army during the Civil War. The five surviving veterans of this horrendous conflict were honored members of the ?Grand Army of the Republic. Jim and his wife Doralenia reside at Peachwood in Millbrook ?Town, Mecosta County on a high and windy hill where time stands still.
