with his party, eating his rations and drinking his whisky. To comfort him for his hospitality, Mullett pointed out the north line of six sections of University land then located with Fuller's house some ten or twelve rods on the University land. Fuller became disgusted, went back to Ann Arbor, and gave the house to Samuel Camp, who located three lots immediately north of this land, moved the house, and afterwards sold to John Bertram, who lived there while building the first framed house and barn in Calhoun county in 1730, L. G. Crossman, master mechanic. At the raising was John D. Pierce, Sidney Ketchum, Deacon Spencer, Marvin Preston, Isaac N. Hurd, Crary and Ketchum to hold the foot of the posts. In 1832 quite a rush for land took place and lasted till the Black Hawk war broke out in May, and in June the cholera, making sad work with our weak settlement. More than half the population of Marshall died,-of that number Isaac N. Hurd and Mrs. John D. Pierce, the latter buried in the night by her husband and Randall Hobart. No female hand to aid in burying this refined and cultivated woman, who used to sing "Sweet • Home" as none other could. She would impart to it such a pathos that a tear-drop would start to the eye of the listener. Luther H. Hays, born October, 1831, was the first boy born in the county and Emeline Chisholm, the first girl, was born in January, 1832. Our people were obliged to go to Dexter east, and Flowerfield west, to do the milling. The mail accommodated us once a week. Mrs. George Ketchum took the care of it; it was kept in a cigar box. The Marshall and Comstock mills started late in 1832. Afterwards a strife arose between Sidney Ketchum and H. H. Comstock as to the head of steam navigation on the Kalamazoo. Comstock lost the county seat of Kalamazoo, when Ketchum claimed the prize. Marshall was lithographed with steamboats and flags flying as the future capital of the State. Actual settlers came to our county in large numbers in 1833 and 1834, but most of the lands were taken in 1835 and 1836. Our population increased rapidly, so that during our first decade we increased to 10,999; in 1850, to 19,169; in 1860, to 29,398, and the fourth decade, to 1870, 36,571. In 1840 Michigan raised 2,157,108 bushels of wheat and 153,000 lbs. of wool. In 1850, 4,893,141 bushels of wheat and 2,000,000 lbs. of wool. In 1860, 8,171,688 bushels of wheat and 3,929,113 lbs. of wool. In 1870, 16,296,989 bushels of wheat and 8.864,989 lbs. of wool. Your speaker bought the first wool sold for money in six counties in 1837, being Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Barry, Eaton, Jackson, and Branch, and then got less than 8,000 lbs. To John D. Pierce and Isaac E. Crary, who came to Calhoun county in 1831, is due the credit of organizing our present system of public schools, which proves to be one of the noblest features of our country. They, too, had much to do in securing the 72 sections of University land, and section 16 of every town in the State for primary schools, besides salt spring lands and internal improvement lands,-not swamp lands. How true it is that the world knows little of its greatest men, here is an instance. While these men may not compare in some respects with those who invented gunpowder, the mariner's compass, the application of steam, or the discovery of America, yet we are made to realize quite as much real benefit from the free schools of Michigan as from either one of those discoveries, if such a comparison is admissible. Speaking of railroads, when our county was organized there was not a mile of railroad in America, and only thirty-two miles in Europe. George Stephenson's "Rocket," invented in 1831, was the first locomotive that could haul three times its own weight, at the rate of twelve miles an hour. A Pennsylvanian invented a tubular boiler that same year and expected to compete with Stephenson for a prize of £550, but while experimenting his machine jumped the track and he was killed. Michigan's first locomotive, named "Rocket," was landed here in 1837,-not a mile of railroad then in Michigan. Now thirty-four separate roads pay a specific tax to the State, and probably full 75,000 miles of track is in running order in the United States today. Now, Mr. President, as I am trespassing upon time which can better be occupied by others, I will come to a conclusion. I take pleasure in inviting all persons from far and near to join us in our semi-centennial some time in 1880, as a sort of old folks' reunion, when not only every town in Calhoun county can be represented with their relics, but all the pioneers of the State. When the aged and the honored may be cheered and refreshed; when the young men and women may be reminded of the responsibilities resting upon them, and of the debt of gratitude and respect they owe the noble men and women who, under difficulties, laid the foundation strong and deep by which we have become a prosperous, cultivated and happy people. CASS COUNTY. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: SEC. 12. That so much of the country as lies west of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen west of the meridian, and east of the line between ranges sixteen and seventeen west, and south of the line between townships four and five south of the base line, and north of the boundary line between this Territory and the State of Indiana, be, and the same is hereby set off into a separate county, and the name thereof shall be Cass. Approved October 29, 1829. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan: SECTION 1. That the county of Cass shall be organized from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of the other counties of this Territory are entitled. SEC. 9. The first term of said court in the county of Cass shall be holden at the school house, near the house of Ezra Beardsly, in said county. SEC. 10. That the county of Cass shall be one circuit, and the court for the same shall be held hereafter on the second Tuesday of August in each year. Approved November 4, 1829. Cass county, named after Lewis Cass, Territorial Governor of Michigan from 1814 to 1831; Secretary of State under Buchanan; resigned his office rather than be an accomplice of secession. Born in 1782; died in 1866. County seat, Cassopolis, established in 1832. The first settlement in the village was made by Abram Tietsort, Jr., who came from Ohio with his family and settled on the banks of Stone Lake in the spring of 1829. THE PIONEERS' PICNIC, CASSOPOLIS, JUNE 21, 1876. ADDRESS BY GOV. BAGLEY-REMINISCENCES AND RECOLLECTIONS BY OTHER PIONEERS. The day for the pioneers' picnic was most propitious. The large quantities of rain that had fallen every day during the week before had left the earth so wet that corn plowing was out of the question, and therefore the people from the country could leave home as well as not. The day was comfortably cool, and excepting that the ground was a little moist, although that was in better condition in the woods than could have been hoped, there was nothing in that direction to be desired. Early in the morning people began to come to town, singly and in squads, but generally whole families together, and the arrivals were constant until one o'clock, many taking their dinner at home before starting for the ground. About ten o'clock the Edwardsburg band arrived and proceeded to the ground, followed by quite a number of teams, being the only attempt at forming a procession during the day. Governor Bagley, accompanied by his wife, arrived on the ten o'clock train, and were taken in charge by Hon. C. W. Clisbee, whose guests they were during their tarry here. At ten o'clock the assemblage was called to order, and the exercises commenced with prayer by Rev. James Ketchum. The following committee was appointed to collect money to defray expenses, and take proper care of the specimens in the museum: John Haines, Eli Green, Wm. Baldwin, and Hon. John Struble. The report of the secretary and treasurer was read and adopted, and after music by the Edwardsburg band, an election of officers for 1876 was held, with the following result: President-Uzziel Putnam, Jr. Vice President-John Nixon. Assistant Secretary-W. H. Mansfield. Executive Committee-J. C. Bradt, Marcellus; Reuben Hinshaw, Volinia; John Greene, Wayne; A. Conklin, Silver Creek; Joseph E. Garwood, Pokagon; G. B. Turner, LaGrange; J. E. Bonine, Penn; A. L. Dunn, Newberg; J. H. Hitchcox, Porter; L. J. Reynolds, Calvin; James Lowman, Sr., Jefferson; E. C. Smith, Howard; John Barber, Milton; M. H. Lee, Ontwa; James Ashley, Mason. After more music an adjournment was had for dinner, and for a couple of hours the three thousand people on the grounds, arranged in groups under the trees and in the fair buildings, created havoc among the eatables that had been put up for the occasion. Dinner disposed of, the assemblage was called to order in front of the stand by music, and Hon. G. B. Turner introduced Gov. John J. Bagley, the speaker of the day, as follows: PIONEERS OF MICHIGAN: One hundred years ago your fathers laid the foundation of a great republic, and for more than half a century they built industriously and faithfully upon that foundation. And when with them life's labors were ended, they transmitted all the results of that labor to you. And what are they? In brief, a territorial area reaching from sea to sea, and from the great lakes on the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, a constitutional government guaranteeing to you and to your posterity religious and political freedom. These they gave you, and every other essential element that goes to make up a powerful nation, a prosperous and happy people. All these you received from their hands, and have brought them down to this Centennial, and are about to hand them over to your offspring, not only unimpaired, but enlarged, strengthened, and beautified by physical and mental toil. Your children accept their noble heritage, and here, in behalf of the young generation growing up around you, and with hands uplifted to your starry banner, I pledge to you, pioneers of the Northwest, that they will take up their grand work where you lay it down, and carry it for ward with a zeal, an energy, an intelligence unsurpassed even by their sires. It is evidently proper that on this Centennial year of American independence, you should assemble yourselves together under the shade of these inajestic forest trees, and tell your children how costly is the inheritance you are about to leave them, and how necessary it is, at all times and under all circumstances, to keep step to the music of the Union, if they would procure the priceless boon of freedom and independence. Amongst the pioneers of southern Michigan, who are with us here today, is one whose early struggles fitly illustrates the energy and pluck of the first settlers, and at the same time, the beneficent and liberal principles of government, which the fathers threw around their children. The person to whom I allude, is the honored chief executive of Michigan, Hon. John J. Bagley. GOVERNOR BAGLEY'S SPEECH. MY FRIENDS, If you had asked me to come here and talk of politics -if you had invited me to "make a speech," I should not have come, but when you said, "come and talk of old times and early days," I could not say no. We find in the dictionary the word pioneer means to go before—. prepare the way for. The noun pioneer meant originally a foot soldier or a foot passenger-one who goes before to remove obstructions or prepare the way for others. How fully we who have been pioneers appreciate and understand these technical definitions of the word, and yet how incomplete and imperfect they are. Foot passengers, indeed, we were. It was easier to walk than to ride; but whether it was or not, we walked. The few household goods we owned-the spinning wheel and the ovenfilled the wagon, and mother and the children chinked into the spare places, and we and the dog walked. Preparers of the way, indeed, were we. The roads we built, the log bridges we threw across the streams we did not destroy, but left for those who were to come after us. The pioneer was unselfish. He cared not whether friend or foe was behind him; if he could make his way any more easy he was glad of it. He felt that he was in partnership with the world-"a fellow feeling made him wondrous kind." He was the advance guard of an army-countless in numbers, irresistible in its power.-an army that knew no such word as fail, and listened to no order for retreat. The pioneer was the child of progress. He looked up and not down; forward, and not back. Behind was the past; before him the future. He felt that the wise men came from the East, and took courage. The needle of his compass always pointed westward, and he followed it. Our pioneers dreamed dreams and saw visions. He dreamed of the old home on the hillsides of New England, or the quiet valleys of New York, of gray-haired father and mother, watching from the low doorway the departing children, or, perchance, sleeping in the village church-yard; perhaps of smaller green mounds covering his John or Kate, or of the country church, where theologic dust, knocked from the pulpit cushion in the good old orthodox way, had so often closed his eyes and ears on drowsy Sunday afternoons; or of the spelling-bee or singing school, where he first met the country lass, "Who, tying her bonnet under her chin, and kept it tied forever after. His dreams were of the yesterdays-his visions were of tomorrow. He foresaw hard work and hard times, back-ache and heart-ache, blue days and weary nights; but he saw, too, in the dim future, the town, the village, the city, the county, the State, an empire of itself; he saw schools and churches, factories and fertile fields, institutions of science and learning; he saw capital and labor, brain and body, mind and muscle, all employed in the advancement of civilization and the permanent improvement of mankind. And of all this he was to be a part and parcel. What visions Do you wonder that the pioneer was brave, cheerful, and were these? faithful? Though his visions were grand, the realization is grander still. builded better than he knew, but with abundant faith in the future, adopted as the motto of the State, “Si quæris peninsulam, amœnam circumspice (if thou seekest a beautiful peninsula, behold it here),"-and, thanks to his right arm and courageous heart, we do behold it, covered with quiet villages, thriving cities, fruitful fields, and blooming orchards, dotted all over with schools and colleges, churches and public institutions, that tell the story of a civilization, grand in its conception and mighty in its progress. This is the handiwork of the pioneer, the ripened crop of the white-covered wagon. We look back to the old times as hard times, and so they were; full hearts and empty purses, hard work and plenty of it, shivering ague and wasting fever, were the common lot of our early settlers, yet they had their share of good times too, and were free from many a plague that annoys their children. Hard money and soft money were not debatable questions. You may remember the story of the man who, when he heard that the bank of Constantine had failed, said, "his heart came into his mouth when he heard of it, and he rushed home and to the bureau drawer, when he found he hadn't any Constantine money, or any other sort." He was a pioneer. Butter and eggs were pin-money; wheat paid the store-keeper; sledlength, knotty wood, that wouldn't make fence rails, paid the minister, while an occasional pig, or a grist of corn or wheat paid the doctor. Trade was the order of the day,-the necessity of the time. And so we traded, and dickered, and swapped, exchanging products and helping one another; and while in the outside world bankers talked of stocks and values, politicians quarreled over tariffs and free trade, and statesmen wrote of the laws of trade, of corporations, monopolies, finances, etc., somehow or other, in our trading and dickering, we managed to grow a little better off from year to year. Quarrelsome school meetings were unknown in those days. We never fought over the question of whether we should build a three-story schoolhouse with a basement, or a four-story one without; or whether we should |