Name/Title
Trip to Saugatuck, 1853Entry/Object ID
2023.50.13Scope and Content
New York Reporter Describes a Trip to Saugatuck in 1853
In the fall of 1853 a reporter for the New York Tribune visited western Michigan and wrote an account of the journey in the issue of October 8, 1853.
I have just returned from a visit to the Kalamazoo Valley region and a trip to the Holland Colony. Left the Michigan Central Railroad cars at Kalamazoo, a most flourishing town, the center of an extensive trade with the farming districts in that vicinity, and took the stage for Allegan village, passing through the village of Otsego, which begins to show signs of progress. Reached Allegan, the county site, the next day, and spent several days there most agreeably. The village is beautifully situated on a peninsula formed by the Kalamazoo. There is an excellent water power, many manufacturing establishments, a considerable traffic by merchants with the people of the adjoining towns, and a large quantity of lumber exported to the mouth of the river, and thence to several lake ports. The lumbering business is now a most profitable one on account of the large demand in Illinois and Wisconsin for timber boards, shingles, sash, etc. But the harbor at the mouth of the Kalamazoo is a miserable one. In the summer season the bar across the mouth of the river is about five feet deep and impassable for the larger crafts. The products of Allegan industry are obliged to be taken outside the bar by lighters thus greatly increasing the cost of transportation and detaining the vessels. Otherwise the harbor is naturally a most excellent one, the river being navigable for steamboats to Allegan and quite deep on both sides of the bar. The river widens in a lake at Newark [Saugatuck] village. Hundreds of lives are annual lost by gales on the lake and several wrecks occur at the mouth of the Kalamazoo. A vessel and her crew were reported missing when I was leaving Allegan County on my return to Detroit. With a good harbor and a railroad to Kalamazoo, the products of Michigan would obtain good markets and the resources of Allegan County would be greatly increased and its business extended.
While at Allegan I took a jaunt to the Holland colony, twenty-two miles to the northwest accompanied by the coroner of Allegan, in a team of the sheriff's, and arrived at Holland City in six hours taking the Beeline Road. Passed through a fine farming country, some of the best timbered land in the state, and except at the village of Holland (Black Lake) where the land is piney, the soil is much of the same quality throughout the Colony. The settlement in the neighborhood of Black Lake was commenced by the Rev. Mr. A. C. Van Raalte in February 1847 by some of the friends of a party of persecuted Hollands, who had spent the preceding winter in Detroit and Allegan until they could make preparations to clear the lands they had purchased. - by D. C. H.Context
Describes the 1950s natural and economic landscape and how the "miserable" harbor suppressed Saugatuck's early economic growth.Collection
SDHS NL InsertsCataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.50Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionNotes
SDHS Newsletter insert pagesLocation
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Old Harbor/Channel piers pre-1906/Ox-Bow LagoonGeneral Notes
Note
This information was OCR text scanned from SDHS newsletter supplements. A binder of original paper copies is catalog item 2023.50.01Create Date
November 8, 2023Update Date
March 29, 2024