Looking Back: Medical mystery, ferry rides and warrior remains unearthed
CHARLEVOIX — One hundred and fifty years ago, the May 23, 1874 Charlevoix Sentinel reported that “Medical Hall has up a new sign.”
This is the first time in the five years since the Sentinel began publication that this term had ever appeared. There was only one doctor in town at the time, Levi Lewis, nine years away from building his opera house along the channel next to the bridge. No indication where his Medical Hall, if it indeed belonged to him, was located, nor its size.
Right below this item appeared “Don’t swear if you do have to drink leaky milk.” Pause for reflection. Does milk itself leak? Does milk’s quality change if it leaks from whatever is containing it? Is that a misprint for “leeky,” a milk produced by cows who have ingested leeks, which have a strong flavor? Inquiring minds need to know.
One of the favorite things to do up here now, if just for the pure pleasure of doing so, is experiencing the ferry ride that runs between Petoskey and Harbor Springs across Little Traverse Bay. You could even do it way back then. “FERRY.—H. A. Rollins, of Little Traverse (Harbor Springs), has established a sail boat ferry between the latter place and Petoskey.”
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At last it was here, our new bridge, a replacement of the one removed the previous autumn to allow widening and deepening of the channel. Glory be, and about time. “The Bridge.—The new bridge is about completed, and teams (of horses and oxen) will be able to cross on Monday. The contractor — Amos Fox — has fulfilled well the terms of his contract, and we have a bridge fully up to the requirements.”
The little wooden structure, mainly two hinged roadbeds raised and lowered by manpower using a rope, winch and pulley apparatus on each side of the channel, would make do for four more years when increased maritime demand required a much bigger and stronger span.
A major archaeological and cultural discovery occurred on Antrim Street during the previous week. “Indian Remains.—On Tuesday, Mr. Joseph Clark, who was excavating a cellar under his new residence, exhumed portions of a human skeleton. His curiosity having been awakened, he began search in the vicinity and soon after unearthed the greater portion of two more, which were directly under a large decayed hemlock stump. Dark colored outlines in the sandy soil indicated the entirely decayed remains of other bodies — undoubtedly having been interred at an earlier date.
“The bodies found were in a badly rotted condition, and were accompanied by large strings of roughly wrought, but pure copper beads. A large and well-shaped flint tomahawk, and 246 perfectly formed arrowheads were also found with the remains. Although the skull and jawbones barely held together, the teeth were perfect in number and preservation, indicating that their owners were young persons — it may be, young warriors, who fell in battle, and were buried with their weapons by their side. Pieces of hard, sinewy flesh were also found, and as it is impossible that it should be human, the fact gives rise to the theory that smoked or preserved meat was deposited with the departed braves, to last them to the happy hunting grounds. From the size and decayed condition of the stumps which were directly over the remains, it is clearly evident that they were deposited there — we dare not surmise how many hundred years ago.”
Seasonal Odawa have inhabited this region since time out of mind, fishing, hunting, cultivating the ground from spring through fall before heading back downstate for the winter. But it is difficult to comprehend that while they were in the region, battles between tribes for land, water and existence might have occurred right here on Charlevoix land, leaving their dead behind in what had been regarded as sacred ground. The whereabouts of those excavated partial remains and artifacts, if they even exist today, could perhaps provide some indication as to their age and cultural connections. From the description, it appears that that parcel of Antrim Street ground might have long been a chosen location for the interment of tribal warriors, and no one else. Can those with Odawa backgrounds here provide any insight?
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: Medical mystery, ferry rides and warrior remains unearthed