Looking Back: Fickle weather and harbor upgrades

CHARLEVOIX — One hundred and fifty years ago, the Saturday, May 9, 1874 Charlevoix Sentinel reported that an “aged matron” in Charlevoix Township, which included our settlement then known as Pine River, had 40 grandchildren.

The Sentinel also said that almost until publication time there had been still so much ice out in the bay between North and South Points that vessels could not get in. Traverse City was open, the Straits of Mackinac were open, but here we had sat stuck fast as vessels that had long stopped here had to pass us by. The steam-powered Idaho, in need of wood fuel, tried to ram its way in to the 900-foot Fox & Rose dock jutting out into Lake Michigan where the wood was piled and waiting, but to no avail. The boat ended up onloading wood from the dock in Norwood. Editor Willard A. Smith did not mention if Petoskey and Little Traverse Bay were suffering the same plight as we were. But by Friday, the ice had loosened sufficiently.

“The schooner St. Cloud entered this port, her ultimate destination being Petoskey. She has a cargo of flour and whiskey.” Priorities, priorities. The previous week, the Sentinel said we were out of pork, beef and beer, and subsisting on sucker fish.

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Speaking of fickle weather, there was still so much snow on the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad tracks in Mancelona that trains coming from the south had to stop there. Petoskey had seen only one construction and one passenger train, carrying 30 mostly homesteading passengers, in one week.

Again, Willard Smith stepped into his bully pulpit to exhort the people of Charlevoix County to go to the polls on June 6 to vote yes to a $5,000 tax increase needed to upgrade our harbor. We were still two years away from federal governmental oversight and responsibility that would make us an official “port of entry” in the national chain of commerce.

Why were these funds needed? Right after our two channels were cut in 1869, Charlevoix County was caught off guard by the resulting economic explosion that began to open up the northwestern tip of the Lower Peninsula, and open it up fast. Industries began to appear all around Lake Charlevoix, which would come to encompass fishing, logging, three iron smelters, two chemical works and others. The boats that would serve these industries became larger, their hulls deeper and our two channels were facing the probability of not being able to accommodate them. Their relatively shallow depths had to be carved further down to a minimum of eight feet and a hoped-for nine. (Today’s lower channel depth is around 20 feet.)

“THE ISSUE. Will the People of Charlevoix County Vote Against Their Own Interests? A question of vital interest to them, and a question which, perhaps, is the keystone to their destinies. The Board of Supervisors, failing to agree on a plan (per usual), have referred it to the popular vote. The paramount hope of every resident of the Pine Lake (Lake Charlevoix) region is the ultimate free and unobstructed navigation of Pine Lake. This is but natural, as the ultimate success of every citizen hinges upon this event.” Smith goes on to say that since just under $1,500 was expended for the 1869 cutting, since then another $15,000 had been put into the channels. And look what happened. The world began to beat a pathway to our door, or shore. That godsend could not be allowed to wither and die. A vote "yes" will “afford a degree of relief to our people which will more than counterbalance the burden thus imposed. Any arguments introduced to disprove this fact we look upon as false logic, and do not hesitate to pronounce it so.

“It is not sought to secure a great—and consequent temporary—depth of water, but such depth as can be rendered satisfactorily permanent, even if the depth does not exceed eight feet. It is estimated that the amount asked for, if judiciously expended, will make nine feet of water in both channels, pile and plank the banks of the upper channel (for both navigation safety and stabilization), and put the necessary cribs on the south side of the mouth of the lower channel.” This latter attempt to build a companion south pier had been started in 1872, the same year the north pier was built complete, but never got beyond its initial 80 feet for some obscure reason.

To do everything that needed to be done at this time, “The amount can be raised by a tax of a fraction over one per centum on the taxable property of the county. But the plan submitted will only incur a tax of about five-eighths per centum for two years. What candid man can doubt the profit of such an investment?

“There is no better way of calling the attention of Congress to our wants than by increasing our commerce. It is only a question of whether the people will help themselves, or help rival localities which must profit from their stupor.” When Smith was on fire, he thundered forth like a Biblical prophet. And he was usually right. Now to anticipate the result of the June election.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: Fickle weather and harbor upgrades