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    Cheboygan
    Cheboygan
    Cheboygan
    Ebook165 pages1 hour

    Cheboygan

    By Matthew J. Friday

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    About this ebook

    In the fall of 1844, an entrepreneur named Alexander McLeod made his way up a shallow river in far northern Michigan with the idea of building a lumber mill. He discovered that the region around the Cheboygan River would be a suitable location. McLeod built a small cabin for himself, and the following spring the first permanent settler, Jacob Sammons, arrived. McLeod s employees and other businessmen followed with their families. The settlers improved the river, and Cheboygan became a booming lumber town. Along with the growth came grocers, bankers, saloonkeepers, laborers, doctors, and other pioneers. Colorful characters and beautiful buildings graced Cheboygan s bustling downtown. When the lumber ran out and the mills closed, residents sought a new identity. Tourism and industry led the way, and Cheboygan is enjoyed throughout the year. This collection of images of Cheboygan and the surrounding area highlights its birth and growth from boomtown to vacation destination.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJun 2, 2008
    ISBN9781439619247
    Cheboygan
    Author

    Matthew J. Friday

    Matthew J. Friday is a member of the board of directors of the Historical Society of Cheboygan County. He holds a master�s degree in history from Central Michigan University. The author of Among the Sturdy Pioneers: The Birth of the Cheboygan Area as a Lumbering Community, 1778�1935, Friday has also written numerous articles and given presentations on the history of northern Michigan. Friday is a fifth-generation resident of Cheboygan County.

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      Book preview

      Cheboygan - Matthew J. Friday

      hat.

      INTRODUCTION

      Today when people want to go up north, they are usually looking for the opportunity to relax, see untamed beauty, and get away from it all—noise, congestion, and even other people. And while people may value these things today, they were reasons to avoid the north in the mid-19th century. It was a place cut off, isolated, and known for extreme weather. Transportation was limited at best, and civilization was quite a distance away.

      Mackinac Island was a lone outpost. Once the center of John Jacob Astor’s fur trade, that market declined toward the end of the 1800s, and those still living in the area had to find a new way to make a living. Fishing was a popular choice but until something bigger came along would never facilitate much growth. Luckily, however, the region was richer in something more lucrative than fish. Northern Michigan had an abundant supply of trees, especially white pine. In the eastern United States, lumbering had already depleted much of the great virgin forests. Now those East Coast lumber barons had to find a new place to go, and Michigan was perfect. In the north, pristine white pine was abundant.

      Native Americans had long inhabited the area. Mackinac Island was a sacred place for the Odawa and Ojibwa people, and trade had been conducted there for centuries. The nearest major river to the tip of the mitt, the Cheboygan River provided an ideal location for trade. Native Americans met other tribes at the mouth and, later, also met soldiers from Fort Mackinac.

      The name Cheboygan (sometimes called, in those early years, Sheboygan, Chaboigan, or Jaboigan) in all probability comes from the Annishinaabe (Ojibwa) zhiibaa’onan, meaning a channel or passage for a canoe. While this meaning makes the most sense as to the origins of the name, it is not the most colorful. As one story goes, an old Native American chief, desperately wanting a baby girl, ran into the wigwam where his wife had just given birth. He emerged, frustrated, and exclaimed, She’s a boy again!

      But to early settlers, the name was not important. In 1844, Alexander McLeod drifted over from Mackinac Island to this river with a funny name. A cooper named Jacob Sammons soon followed, and before too long, a small water-powered sawmill, owned by McLeod, was up and running. In those early days, the Cheboygan River was shallow and all but closed to navigation due to a large sandbar that blocked the entrance to any ship of moderate size. But near the river was a bay that was deep enough to handle incoming schooners, and soon a mill popped up here as well. Cheboygan and Duncan City were born.

      For the remainder of the century, Cheboygan and its sister city, Duncan City, were at the very center of Michigan’s lumber boom. Growth was somewhat slow at first, but by the early 1870s—when the rest of the country was in an economic crisis—the Cheboygan area was beginning to take off. Dozens of lumber mills were built and with them came the people to keep them going. From the myriad day laborers to the proprietor of the general store, the banker, and the doctor, Cheboygan became more than just an obscure dot on the map of a developing north. It became important.

      But it took a great deal of effort. In the inaugural edition of the Northern Tribune (July 17, 1875), the editor opined in a way that made sense then and still makes sense today: Having confidence in the future destiny of the place, he has made such investments as became necessary for the conducting of his business, and will henceforth be found lending all his means and talents towards bringing about this result. The success of a business, or a city, required more than just a marginal conviction.

      The operators of the W.&A. McArthur Company, Embury-Martin Lumber Company, M. D. Olds Mill, and the Pfister and Vogel Leather Company (among others) all manifested this real conviction, and the result was unprecedented prosperity for the north. These huge industries employed hundreds of people and provided good jobs. The employees were of various ethnic groups—notably Swedes, French Canadians, and Poles. They put their hearts and souls into their new jobs and home. In the countryside, they sowed their being into the fields and grew their future. Schooners, steamships, and railroads soon made their way into Cheboygan, bringing immigrants, merchants, and visitors. It was the place for progress, business, and culture in northern Michigan.

      Cheboygan and Duncan City were, however, boomtowns. And boomtowns often go bust. By the beginning of the 20th century, the lumber in the area was in short supply. A huge sawmill at Duncan City, one of the largest in the state, burned to the ground in late 1898 and was not rebuilt. The town was abandoned. In Cheboygan, most of the mills had closed or were in the process of doing so, leaving many men without work. If the mill workers had to leave, so too did their families. Adding insult to injury, a massive fire in March 1922 burned away much of the architectural soul of the town. The lumber and the boom it created were gone, and Cheboygan was left with an identity crisis.

      But all was not lost. Long before the lumber ran out, Cheboygan was known as a place with natural beauty and clean air. By the end of the lumber era, the transportation facilities were already in place to bring visitors, and there were plenty of recreational activities to attract would-be tourists. Summer cottages popped up along the area lakes, notably at Mullet Lake Village, Aloha, Burt Lake, and all along the U.S. 23 shoreline, from east of town and up to Mackinaw City. From here one can today continue north across the majestic Mackinac Bridge or hop on a ferry and sail across the Straits of Mackinac to the splendor and magnificence of Mackinac Island.

      Cheboygan and the surrounding area became tourist destinations. Still, Cheboygan maintained its manufacturing status through large and small industry. But unlike the Cheboygan of old, it is difficult today

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