Allegan County, Michigan - Chapter 50: Ouh Subject in 1671, 1880

What our Subject is - -The Territory of Allegan and Barry in 1671 - Surface of the Ground - The Rivers and their Tributaries - Numerous Lakes - The Trees of the Forest - Wild Animals.

The subject of this history is the territory comprised in the counties of Allegan and Barry, the events which have transpired within its limits, and the deeds of its red and white residents, wherever done. In order, however, to show the chain of events, we are obliged to mention briefly some outside occurrences connected with the general progress of discovery and civilization in Michigan and the Northwest. Before, however, proceeding down the historic pathway from 1671 to 1880, we will glance at the principal characteristics

That territory would now be described as all that part of the State of Michigan bounded south by the base-line, east by the line between ranges 6 and 7 east, north by the line between townships 4 and 5 north, and west by Lake Michigan. But in 1671 there were of course no base-lines nor meridians, no ranges nor townships, and the voyageurs and missionaries, the primitive geographers of that day, would have used a far different method of description. They would have spoken of a tract of rather sandy land, twentyfour miles wide, stretching back about sixty miles from the eastern shore of Lake Michigan (its southwestern corner being but about sixty miles from the head of that lake), and if they had been extremely minute in their explorations they might have told something of the nature of its forest covering, and of the streams which rolled across it.

The surface was somewhat broken, but not extremely so, and gradually ascended from the lake eastward. It hag been decided by scientific observation that at the eastern limit of the tract (being the eastern boundary of the present county of Barry) the ground rises to a height of two hundred and fifty feet above the level of Lake Michigan, and the distance is nowhere exceeded between that line and the sheet of water just mentioned.

The principal stream which watered the tract under consideration was the one which, according to the early explorers, was called the Kekalamazoo by the Indians, but which has long been known to the whites under the abbreviated butstill sufficiently lengthy appellation of Kalamazoo ; which entered the present county of Allegan from the southeast, three miles west of its southeastern corner, and pursued a general northwestern course, though with many turns and convolutions, till it poured its waters into Lake Michigan seven miles south from the northwestern corner of the same county. Its principal tributary, now known as Rabbit River, entered the " Kekalamazoo" from the northeast, about eight miles from its mouth, and, with its branches, drained all of the northeastern part of the territory of Allegan County. The next largest affluent, which has long borne the name of Gun River, carried the waters of a large lake from the present boundary between Allegan and' Barry Counties southwestward into the Kalamazoo, which it reached only four miles below the entrance of that stream into the territory under consideration. The other tributaries of the river just named drained all the remainder of the territory of Allegan County except a small tract in the southwestern corner, the dark waters of which flowed southwestward through the various branches of Black River into Lake Michigan, and a still smaller area in the northwest, the trooks and creeks of which found their way into the long bayou now known as Black

The eastern portion of the tract under consideration, now known as Barry County, was mostly drained by the main channel and the branches of a stream which flowed northwestwardly through it, - making its way into Grand River, and thence into Lake Michigan, - and to which, on account of the wild fruit along its banks, was early given the name of Thornapple River, although the water of the extreme southern and western borders rippled southwestward through groves of pine to unite with the Kalamazoo.

But the distinguishing feature of the territory of Barry County was the lakes which dotted its surface in the most lavish profusion. The Ottawa or Pottawattamie warrior, as he bounded through the gloomy glades after the deer, or set out on the war-path against his distant foes, passed scores of pellucid lakes flashing in the sunlight of summer or covered with the ice of winter, and varying in size from the broad, irregular expanse now known as Gun Lake, covering over five square miles, to the miniature sheet flashing amid the dark mass of pines like a diamond imbedded in emerald. Nearly a hundred and fifty of these lakes or ponds were to be found in what is now Barry County, while the territory of Allegan County, though much larger, showed but about eighty.

These hills were covered, these lakes were surrounded, largely by towering pines, comprising some of the most majestic specimens of that genus to be found in America, the dark and odorous foliage of which swayed and sighed in the breeze one hundred and fifty feet above the earth from which they sprang. These, however, did not comprise the whole of the native productions of the soil. Beeches, maples, oaks, elms, and other trees common in American forests were found in many localities, and the hemlock showed itself here and there beside the more stately form of its sister evergreen.

Around the lakes and through the forest the deer roamed in large numbers. Here, too, at night, was heard the howling of innumerable wolves, always apparently hungry and seeking with ill success for food, their principal reliance being some superannuated or crippled deer which they were able to overtake. Occasionally a black bear rolled his unwieldy form beneath the trees, though the prevalence of pines, instead of the oaks and hickories on which those animals depend for food, rendered their presence rare. At still wider intervals the shrill scream of the panther, fiercest of American beasts, was heard afar in the forests, making all other animals tremble with fear, and startling even the Indian warrior with the prospect of more than ordinary danger.

Raccoons, squirrels, and other small animals abounded ; wild turkeys trooped in noisy squadrons through the undergrowth ; wild geese and ducks, in spring and autumn, often covered the surface of the placid lakes; while amid the trees flitted thousands of the smaller birds, of varied song and diverse size and many-hued plumage. On the ground, besides some harmless varieties of serpents, the deadly rattlesnake made its tortuous way, preluding its fatal stroke with the warning note which distinguishes it from all other

Of the human occupants of this region, almost as deadly as the serpent we have just mentioned, and even more deadly, enough will be said in some of the following chapters.