Article: Pioneer Tells of Railway Building in the 1860's

By William Donovan, Sr., from the Lansing State Journal, June 14, 1933

After graduating from the University of Michigan in the class of 1865 as a civil engineer, I became connected with the construction of the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw railroad (J&LS) between Owosso and Saginaw as assistant engineer in the spring of 1866. The chief engineer of the road at that time was Charles S. Woodard of Ypsilanti, Michigan. He was a civil engineer of excellent ability and judgment and I became greatly indebted to have my early experience as his assistant, both on the preliminary and location surveys in the construction of the road between the points named above. Prior to 1866, the J&LS railroad purchased the historic "Rams Horn" railroad, which had previously been constructed between the cities of Lansing and Owasso.

In 1866, the J&LS railroad began operating between Jackson and Owosso and constructing its extension into the Saginaw Valley. The road was finally completed and in operation from the city of Jackson to the city of Bay City in the fall of 1869. During the latter part of the year 1869, Mr. Woodard, the chief engineer, resigned and became chief engineer of the Jackson and Ft. Wayne railroad, then under construction. I became the chief engineer after the resignation of Mr. Woodard. At the date of Mr. Woodard's resignation the construction work between Jackson and Bay City had been completed with the exception of the reconstruction work on the Rams Horn, which was necessary in order that a first-class road between Owosso and Lansing be secured.

During the year 1869 the company began seriously considering the extension of the line from Bay City to the Straits of Mackinaw. On 6 December, 1869, I left Bay City in company with a practical woodsman and his assistant to walk over the line proposed by the executive committee between Bay City and Mackinaw and in the spring and summer of 1870 the first preliminary surveys were made looking to this northern extension of the road.

The location and construction of the road to Gaylord in Otsego County was completed in 1876 and the final location between Gaylord and the Straits of Mackinac was also completed by me in that year. After the road had been constructed and in operation to Gaylord, the Michigan Central railroad company purchased the J&LS railway and the construction of the road from Gaylord to Mackinaw was delayed until the year 1885, when the Michigan Central engineers had charge of the construction to the Straits of Mackinaw.

As  chief engineer, I employed on preliminary surveys, location, and construction the following assistants who were graduates of the engineering department of the University of Michigan in classes prior to 1875: J.B. Davis, Cornelius Donovan, Lyman Mason, Elijah Treadwell, Charles Pratt and Milford H. Wells.

J.B. Davis was for many years after a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan. Cornelius Donovan became the chief engineer on the construction of the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi river for nearly 40 years, and Milford H. Wells has for many years been a resident engineer of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad and has attained prominence in his profession. Lyman Mason and Elijah Treadwell both died many years ago and Charles Pratt after finishing his work with me took up the study of medicine and is, I understand, a practicing physician in Los Angeles at the present time.

On Canadian Line

In 1876 and 1877, I was a resident engineer on the Wellington, Grey and Bruce railroad in Canada, and on January 15, 1878, I became a resident of Lansing, where I have since resided.

On January 15, 1878, I moved to Lansing and became connected with the land department of the J&LS railroad, of which the Hon. O.M. Barnes was for many years the Commissioner. This land-grant consisted of 579,000 acres of land located in northern Michigan. The land-grant was earned by the J&LS railroad company and by act of Congress it became entitled to these lands as the road was constructed into this new country.

This grant of land was originally conferred by the government on the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay railroad company (Ram's Horn) who defaulted in its construction. Through the instrumentality of the Hon. Zachariah Chandler, then United States Senator from Michigan, the J&LS railroad company succeeded to the rights of the original company.

On December 6, 1869 I was instructed by the executive committee of the J&LS railroad company to examine the country lying between Bay City and the Straits of Mackinaw with a view to the building of a railroad between the two points noted above. The original plan of the J&LS railroad company was to build a railroad from Bay City to Houghton Lake and from there the road was to keep as nearly in the center of the land-grant conferred by Congress as it was possible to do in reaching the Straits of Mackinaw.

Overland to Mackinac

It was over this line that our party, consisting of Robert Birney, as woodsman, of Saginaw, and Norman Gridley, his assistant, now living in Jackson, and myself as civil engineer, started from a point on the Kawkawlin road about 10 miles north of Bay City and struck into the wilderness on our first trip overland to Mackinaw. It should be borne in mind that at the time there were no settlements of consequence along the route in the course which he had marked out for our inspection was laid practically through an unbroken wilderness. Each of the three men in the party carried his own blankets and provisions on his back. My pack consisted of 25 pounds of crackers, 10 pounds of ham, 2 pounds of tea, which with my blankets, axe, and other material weighed about 47 pounds.

The other two men carried, all told, about 50 pounds. There was a light snow on the ground at the time of our leaving Bay City but after three weeks of exploration work we found ourselves in Roscommon County in the vicinity of Houghton Lake. The snow was at this time about 20 inches deep. On or about the 1st of January while we were at camp, a light freezing rain came, which made a crust of the snow. It was evident that without snowshoes we could not go further north so we changed to a southwesterly direction to reach the nearest lumber camps and secure snowshoes for our trip. We were ten days in going 40 miles and finally reached the lumber camps on the headwaters of the Tittabawassee river. With snowshoes our work was comparatively easy. The trip to Mackinaw was uneventful; our time was spent in studying the typography of the country so as to learn where the railroad could be cheaply built and best serve the country and land-grant through which it was to be constructed. The road was built from Bay City to Gaylord in Otsego County in 1872 to 1876 and in the latter year a financial panic shut off practically all railroad building in Michigan and the railroad from the village of Gaylord to the Straits of Mackinac was not built until the years 1886 – 1887.

On or about the year 1886, Michigan Central railroad company purchased the J&LS railroad and it was under the supervision of this last named company that the road was finished from Gaylord to the Straits of Mackinaw. I followed my profession as civil engineer from 1865 to 1877 inclusive.

First to Saginaw

In 1869 the Flint and Pere Marquette railway built its line from Flint to Saginaw and this was the first railroad built to Saginaw from the south. The principal railroads of the state running east and west at that time were the Michigan Central, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, and the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee, now a branch line of the Grand Trunk railway, running between Detroit and Grand Haven. There were no interurban roads then and all forms of internal transportation were in their infancy. It was in, or about the year 1869, that the Grand Rapids & Indiana railway and the J&LS railroad began building northward to Mackinaw and it was at the same time that the Pere Marquette railroad began the construction of its line from Saginaw to Ludington and Manistee on the western slope of Michigan.

The territory we traversed from Bay City to Mackinaw was at this time, an unbroken wilderness. The question of building supply camps for supply of our men and animals was therefore, an important one.

Our supplies were shipped by boat to Tawas City, Alpena, and Cheboygan and from these points we sent our supplies to the end of the early lumber roads where we established bases for our supplies. From these several camps we packed our supplies on the backs of mules to the place where our engineering forces were working. When surveying in the vicinity of Otsego Lake, in Otsego County, we received our supplies from Elk Rapids, a village lying north of Traverse City about 20 miles. The packers in this case followed in part the early lumber roads and for more than one half the distance they made their own trail through the woods. After reaching what is now known as the city of Gaylord in Otsego County, we packed our supplies on mules from a point near the south end of Mullet Lake. The fortunate part of this portion of the work was that we were working nearer to our base of supplies every day.

The question of supplies for men and animals in a new country is a very important one, as hardship always results if supplies are low. It may be well to add here that our principal supply food consisted of salt pork, beans, dried apples, flower, hardtack or crackers. Canned goods could not be purchased then as now in the stores and were only produced by frugal housewives for the use and benefit of their families.

The most pleasant years of my life, from a business standpoint, were from 1865 to 1877 and from 1901 to 1911. The former period, was in harmony with my early training and the latter gave me new ideas and brought me closely in touch with the banking interests of the state of Michigan which I greatly enjoyed.

Tolls of camps

I have been asked by my family to give a brief description of my camping experience in the woods of northern Michigan from 1869 to 1876 when making explorations and building the railroad from Bay City to Mackinaw. As I told you in a brief sketch of my life, furnished for you, we left Bay City on our trip December 6, 1869.

This trip was simply to explore the country and find out as much as possible about the topography of the country and its general character. I never had experience in camping out in the woods and I very much enjoyed my camping in the dense forest. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon of our first day our woodsman, R.J. Birney began looking for a place to camp for the night. As you may imagine that I was very tired, not being used to the carrying of a pack of 47 pounds. The other men were also tired.

A woodsman in selecting a place to camp, always tries to find a living spring of water or if not able to do so he selects his camp near a creek or stream with running water. He also likes to camp where he can get hemlock boughs handily, for the hemlock is the only tree in the woods where the small limbs with their thick heavy leaves, make suitable beds in which to sleep. The woodsman is always very particular about camping in the location where the trees are solid and healthy as a hard wind is liable to blow down dead limbs and otherwise do serious damage.

We found the running stream of water in due time and camped that night in a grove of hemlocks. The woodsman's next effort was to find the best place for our tent and this was to be set up so that the smoke from our firewood blows away from us and not fill the tent with smoke. The tent was an "A" tent open in front and about 6 feet wide and about 8 feet deep. It was put up facing a heavy log of dead timber, which made a backlog for the fire. The tent was put up facing the log and about 6 feet from it, and between the tent and log we built our campfire. Which was always made of dry wood and many times started with pitch pine needles from the pine trees of the forest. After selecting the site for camp, about the first thing I had to do after the boys had cut down a hemlock tree was to pick the small boughs for our bed. These bows were all cut about a foot in length and as I remember it took about an hour to pick enough for our bed, which occupied the whole of the tent floor. The head of our bed was at the back part of the tent, while our feet were nearest the fire.

The large log, with smoke curling away from the tent threw heat into the tent so as to make the inmates very comfortable. The boughs making the bed were laid on edge so as to make a soft springy bed about 8 inches thick and covering the whole floor of the tent. The blankets were then spread and our luggage moved into our temporary home. Our camp kettles for cooking are arranged so as to all go into one pale when packed but are now ready for supper.

The beans are cooking, the tea is being made, the dried apples are put over, and the ham is ready to fry. These, with the crackers, make our first evening meal. You would be surprised to know how very comfortable we were made in our new home in the Michigan forest on the night of December 6, 1869. The rule of our camp was always that the man first to awaken during the night was to get up and replenish the fire. In the morning our fire was fine and everything was put in readiness for getting breakfast. The open "A" tent is very comfortable both for summer and winter use, as the back log fire when properly made affords ample protection from the cold and most severe winter weather.

Find government posts

In packing up for another day's journey usually took about an hour after breakfast to get ready to move about 8 a.m. The work for the day was laid out the night before by candlelight. A woodsman always went ahead and at all times kept me informed as to where we were. This was necessary that we might sketch the hills and streams and be able to get a good general description of the country. It sometimes happened that it was necessary to avoid bad and swampy districts by going around them in locating our position by finding the government corner or quarter post from which we got a new and accurate start and also were able to get the location of the swap around which we came.

It should be remembered that previous to our trip to Mackinaw the government surveys in Michigan had all been made and we secured plats of each Township from the State land office in Lansing in this way we were able to make our sketches and fill in the desired information on our maps as we went along. These maps, together with our notes, were valuable to us later when we began to survey for the construction of the road.

We always rested an hour at noon by taking off our loads and perhaps building a fire and getting tea, cold beans and crackers for lunch. Right here I should tell you about the manner in which we carried our luggage or packs, as they were called. Each pack was done up with a pack strap and each pack strap is nothing more or less than a harness for the man who wears it. They were especially designed for the woods and are quite likely the knapsacks which the soldier boys use on their marches. Every pack strap consists of two wide straps for the shoulders, and two similar straps fastened these and going around the bundle or pack each man carries. When the straps were well-adjusted to the man his pack was put well up on his back between the shoulders and he was able to carry his load to the best advantage possible.

I have said that our trip to Mackinaw at this time was uneventful. We saw many deer and occasionally saw a bear, wolves, and other large animals, but as we made more or less noise in our exploring work the game usually saw us first and was quick in getting out of sight.

Our man Gridley carried a double barrel shotgun and we occasionally secured partridges and other small game for our meal.

Hard work

My experience in camp was filled with interest but after several weeks of hard continuous work our life ceased to be a matter of curiosity and became monotonous and strenuous hard work. We returned from Mackinaw, as I remember it, about the 12th of February, 1870, and after working over my field notes during the rest of the winter. I was instructed by the executive committee to make a preliminary survey from Bay City to Houghton Lake. I made this survey with a core of 20 men and two assistant engineers. We furnished our food supplies with two men and four large pack mules fitted with Mexican saddles that were especially adapted to woods work.

When our men and mules were broken in, they did very affective work and each mule was able to carry a pack of 400 pounds from our supply camps to where the surveyors were working. These pack mules also moved our camp about twice a week so as to be near as possible to the work we had in hand. Our camp, to accommodate 20 men was, was a large tent about 16 x 24 with a stove in the center.

Ten men slept across the back of the tent and four men with heads at the side and six men slept with heads towards the front of the tent, with the feet of 20 men all pointing towards stove. I will not give further details of our camp life except to say that our supplies were more easily furnished for this larger party of men because we had provided our supply bases so that they could be reached by our mule train in such a manner as to make the securing supplies comparatively easy matter.

Camping in the woods with a party of 25 men has its drawbacks which are sometimes of serious character. One of our best men cut his foot quite seriously across the instep and he was cared for by our boys in camp and for six weeks hobbled along (on crutches which were made in camp) as best he could until his wound heeled. We were fortunate as to sickness but were occasionally affected by accidents similar to the one mentioned above.

One not used to woods life cannot imagine how good it seems to unexpectedly come out into a clearing so as to be able to look up and get a full view of the heavens.

Home in the wilderness

The log house was on the other side of the clearing where we were and a light smoke from the rudely constructed chimney gave evidence of life there. Each member of our party dropped axes and tool of every kind, to visit and kindly greet the inhabitants. We reached the clearing about 10 o'clock in the morning, and a beautiful morning it was, for all nature seemed alive to welcome us to this rude homestead in the wilderness.

The young man of the family did not know of any neighbors living east, west, north of his place and on the south there is settlement about 25 miles away. It seems that some time before our party arrived the father of the man was taken seriously ill and died a day or so before our arrival. Our great surprise will be imagined when I tell you that on reaching the house the son was holding his father's funeral.

The oxen were hitched to a kind of stone boat or dray hastily made and the body was cleanly dressed and laid out upon the boat. The procession was about to move to a clump of trees back of the house when our band appeared on the scene and rendered the poor fellow all the assistance possible with the burial of his father. I have often wondered if the son returned with the two families to complete their residence in the country. With the exception of a few days in that near vicinity we never knew any more bout the new homestead and its lonesome inmate.

While the direct survey to Houghton Lake from Bay City was never used, and we were making this survey, influences were at work the executive committee the railway to induce them to build the line from Bay City straight north to what is now the Village of Standish in Arenac County, a distance of 28 miles, and from there proceed northwesterly direction to get within the limits of the land-grant heretofore described by me.

Our surveys were usually conducted from September 1 to January 1 and from March 1 to June 1, thus giving time to our office work in the severe part of the winter and allowing us to escape the mosquito season which was of a dual severity between June and September.

On my engineering force, both upon location and construction, I employed at one time seven civil engineers, each of whom was a University Michigan graduate.