In a few weeks the boom was over and the boomers disappeared, while the townspeople endeavored with more or less success to return to normalcy. The community, which had organized as a village in 1874, with Peter Barbeau as its first president, now felt strong enough to assume a city's status, and a city charter was applied for and received from the State Legislature. The first city election was held in 1887, and Otto Fowle, Republican, contested the mayor's office with Geo. W. Brown, Democrat. The latter won, but two years later Fowle was the victor.

The First City Council
The following gentlemen composed the first city council of Sault Ste. Marie: W. B. Cady, H.L. Newton, A. E. Bacon, E. J. Pink, George Blank, S. F. Howie, Malcolm Blue, Jos. S. Burchill, H. M. Oren, J. E. La Montagne, A. F. Hursley, and E. J. Penny.

Mr. Fowle took a leading part in the public affairs of city and county, and was one of the best citizens of Sault Ste. Marie ever had. In 1890 he was active in promoting the issuance of city paving bonds for $25,000.00. In the advertisment for the sale of these bonds, the population of the city in that year was stated to be approximately 9,000. In that same year the Board of County Supervisors voted to bond the county for $25,000 for the purpose of constructing a gravel road from Sault Ste. Marie to Pickford.

As far back as 1850 the harnessing of the enormous water-power in St. Mary's River had been mooted. In the fifties Samuel Whitney of New York had taken title to the old Methodist Mission property, and had acquired an interest as well in the Bendrie Claim above the falls. These, the proposed terminals of a water-power canal, were approximately three miles apart, and they constituted the ends of a depression where the water had passed around the falls in ages gone by.

In the seventies Henry Seymour, lumberman, interested Detroit parties in a water-power project. They took over the Whitney interest, but their titles were defective, and could be perfected only by legal means. Pending these, they engaged Colonel Duffield, a Detroit engineer, to make surveys, plans and estimates for a power canal. The State Legislature passed a bill clearing the way for the organization of a water-power company.

Company Is Formed
Local agitation for water-power development continued until 1885, when the village voted $40,000.00 to construct a water-works system, the same to be operated by water power. A construction company was organized by Otto Fowle and William Chandler and they were joined by Frank Perry, Louis Trempe, P. M. Church, George Kemp, Joshua Greene, Geo. W. Brown, Henry Seymour and R. N. Alams.

Availing themselves of the legislative act above mentioned, they took over the locations held by Mr. Seymour and the Detroiters and acquired some intermediate right-of-way property. They soon spent the $40,000.00 appropriations, and $20,000 more with it. They had set out to establish a water-power canal and not to make money out of the project; and having used up their cash resources, they cast about for further help and succeeded in interesting a syndicate of western capitalists. Certain rights were transferred, granting to St. Mary's Falls Water Power Company a franchise to construct and maintain a canal and penstocks for water-power purposes across and through the streets, highways, lanes and alleys of the village of Sault Ste. Marie, and setting aside certain lands within the village for the purpose of establishing the canal.

The new owners agreed to spend $50,000 in construction work within twelve months from March, 1887, and an additional $50,000 within eighteen months from that date. If they failed to do this they bound themselves to return a majority of the stock to the three trustees of the selling company. It was proposed to increase the width of the canal to 150 feet, and more land was purchased for that purpose. The boom of 1887 was on, owners held their property at fabulous prices, and a perfected title to the mission farm alone at the lower end of the proposed canal cost the promoters $60,000.

The syndicate failed to fulfill the terms of its contract and matters again came to a standstill. Then it proposed to find $100,000 more to be used in actual construction, provided the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie would do the same. This was done, and work was started once more. The $200,000 partially completed the canal and operations ceased. A country-wide financial depression ensued, the company could not bond and the outlook appeared black indeed.

Fowle Didn't Lose Heart
Mr. Fowle, chairman of the negotiating committee acting for local citizens, did not lose heart however, nor did his associates. A period of fruitless bargaining with various promoters and capitalists followed, during which the local company reacquired title to the canal through foreclosure of the right-of-way bonds. Some wealthy New York and Chicago men proposed to complete the canal and construct big pulp and paper mills, but nothing came of it.

The climax of this story of alternate hopes and discouragements is told by Mr. Alvah L. Sawyer in his "History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan:" :In 1893 there came to the two Soos a man of whom little was known. He had the appearance of a man filled with confidence and was inclined to say little. Little attention was paid to him, although it was known that he had been looking over a ditch in the Michigan Soo in which had been buried the hopes, money and ambition of engineers, financiers and the people of the two cities for nearly half a century. This was the water-power canal, and the man was Francis H. Clergue.

"It was not long before those who held the mortgages and the right of way of the canal were approached by Mr. Clergue with an offer to buy the rights and begin once more the developement of this great water power, which had for centuries been running to waste over the rapids of the river. They were ready enough to sell, for they had lost all the money they cared to in the ditch, and they had no idea but that the newcomer was to do the same. Some laughed at him, while few ever dreamed of his success. But Clergue bought the ditch and went to work seemed more and more unsurmountable, so much more determined seemed that master mind which was planning.

Canal is Completed
"Day after day the work prosecuted, and year after year, until at last the people, even the most skeptical, began to see that they had now a man backed with plenty of money and filled with an energy which never knew the meaning of the word failure. At last they saw the canal completed, and on October 25, 1902, the water was let in and the power turned on in the great house of the lower end of the canal. Then it was that the whistle cords were tied down on every whistle in the Soo, and the people of the two cities gave way to rejoicing, for they saw a new era of prosperity opened for them." Thus the vision of the the people of the Soo, and of the ten citizens of '85 who set out to build a water-power canal, materialized in a gigantic way, greater by far perhaps than they had pictured originally. Most of the ten lived to see their dream come true, and to participate in its benefits, even though the project had passed from their hands. It was a mightly struggle, and at times an apparently hopeless one, but their faith conquered in the end, and the final outcome meant much to the city and to them.

Through the initiative of Otto Fowle and other progressive citizens, Sault Ste. Marie enjoyed the benefits of city water long before the power canal was completed. The community's first water-works system was a two-wheeled cart loaded with barrels and drawn by a pony. The water merchant drove into the shallows of the river on the present site of Brady Field and filled and delivered his customer's barrel for a quarter. The place was a favorite resort for the village cows, who came there to drink in the summer and to bury their flanks in the water, thus avoiding the flies. Frequently the carrier filled his barrels when surrounded by cattle. It is recorded that many old inhabitants vigorously protested against a change in the method of supply, saying that barrel delivery was good enough for them.

First Pumping Station
The first pumping station was erected a short distance west of the C. P. R. bridge, and water was taken a little way out in the stream. As the city grew, a change became inevitable and the present station was built at the west end of Fourth Avenue, far away from any possible sewage contamination. With Lake Superior above, the greatest natural filter in the world, and the rapids below, forever drawing down fresh supplies and foiling all hazard of back-wash, Sault Ste. Marie enjoys perpetual reserves of the finest drinking water to be obtained anywhere, always cool and sparkling clear.

Local Bank History
Mr. Fowle was one of the organizers of the Sault Savings Bank in 1886. Its first location was on the west side of Ashmun Street, near where Bacon's drug store now stands. The bank occupied its present beautiful quarters in 1888. The present officers are: Mr. M.J. Magee, president; Mr. Henry Hickler, vice-president; Mr. Herbert Fletcher, cashier; Mr. Herman Taylor and Miss May Turner, assistant cashiers. Mr. Magee succeeds Mr. George Kemp, recently deceased, who was born and bred in Sault Ste. Marie. Mr. Kemp, an exemplary citizen and always loyal to his home town, bequeathed to his city one of the most valuable dock properties on the Great Lakes.

The Central Savings Bank received its charter in 1902, Mr. R. N. Adams being its first president. In the same year Mr. J. L. Lipsett, Mr. E. S. B. Sutton, and others organized the Chippewa County Savings Bank, which opened for business in the Brown Block on South Ashmun Street. Thus the city had four banks at one period. Three years later these banks consolidated in the Central's location. Mr. J. L. Lipsett assumed the presidency of the combined institutions and has held that office since. The other officers are: Mr. C. E. Ainsworth, vice-president; Mr. A. Wesley Clarke, cashier; Mr. C. W. Swart and Mr. P. T. Wines, assistant cashiers.

The present officers of the First National Bank, originally organized by the private banking firm of Mead & Fowle in 1886, are: Mr. R. G. Ferguson, president; Mr. E. H. Mead, vice-president; Mr. Fred S. Case, vice-president and cashier; Mr. Otto McNaughton and Mr. Donald Finlayson, assistant cashiers.

These three strong banks have played a vital part in the upbuilding of Sault Ste. Marie and Chippewa County.

The Edison-Sault Company
The beginnings of the electric lighting industry of Sault Ste. Marie were made in 1887, nine years after electric lights were installed in the capital building at Washington. The Edison Sault Electric Light Company's power-house at that time was a rapid's edge near the present third lock. There was considerable shortage of power at first, owing to the narrowness of the forebay and its frequent clogging with needle ice. The Edison Sault Electric Company succeeded the old concern in 1891, and in 1905 a new power-house was constructed well out in the river, thus insuring power in adequate supply.

The teeth of the laughing tumbling rapids so admired by thousands have been drawn, and their countenance has been veiled by a compensating dam. Once a terror to the portaging voyageur, they work now, docilely and efficiently, for the modern Saulteur. They flood his streets and his home with light. They print his newspapers, propel his street-cars, and cancel the stamps on his out-going mail. They sharpen the butcher's knives and grind his sausage; they push up the elevators in our office buildings, and push down the dentist's filling in our aching teeth. They furnish us grateful warmth in the evening, hot waffles in the morning and ice-cream for dessert. They curl milady's hair and sew her gowns. They melt limestone at 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit, and freeze poultry at 20 below zero. They spin a fragile electric fan or raise the ponderous leaf of a jack-knife bridge with equal facility. They reach far out through Chippewa County and perform their wonders there. Truly times have changed since the days of the ancient Chippewas who shot the rapids or their enemies with equal gusto.

Fort Brady Is Moved
As Sault Ste. Marie grew and buildings crowded around old Fort Brady, it was deemed advisable to find another location for the post. By Act of Congress, July 8, 1886, the Secretary of War was authorized to sell the old military reservation, purchase a new site and erect proper buildings upon it. In the early nineties General Sheridan selected the present location on the hill. The garrison occupied the new post in October, 1893.

A part of the old reservation was sold in 1894, the present federal building lot being reserved and placed in charge of the commanding officer at Fort Brady. For years it was a common, much as it had been in days of old. When Secretary of War Taft proposed to sell it, a vigorous protest on the part of public spirited citizens resulted, and a second Act of Congress set it aside indefinitely for public building purposes. In 1908 Congress appropriated $150,000 for the present building, and two years later it was completed and occupied by the Sault Ste. Marie postoffice force and other governmental departments.

Three complete postoffices are maintained in Sault Ste. Marie, in the federal building on Portage Avenue, at Fort Brady, and at the ship canal. The latter is unique in that it was established for the benefit of the craft passing through the locks. It is open twenty-four hours a day during navigation, and tourists often avail themselves of its facilities.

The second great fire in August, 1896, finished Water Street as the business highway of the city. The costliest building in the city, the Sault National Bank block, the Prenzlauer, Metzger, Perry and many other buildings were destroyed. The historic Chippewa House went with the rest, part of it having been built sixty years before. Many present day Saulteurs lost their business or office quarters in this fire, including Mr. Chase S. Osborn, Mr. Otto Supe, Mr. E. S. B. Sutton, Mr. J. W. Shine, Judge Charles H. Chapman, Mr. T. E. Foard, and Mr. M. J. Magee. Ashmun Street and Portage Avenue succeeded Water Street as business centers, and their strategic location seems likely to maintain themselves in that position indefinitely.

Company G Organized
In the fall of the same year Company G, Fifth Michigan Infantry, was organized in Sault Ste. Marie, and many of the city's finest young men enlisted in this volunteer militia company. The Armory was constructed in 1897 and weekly drills were held there. When war with Spain was declared in 1898, and President McKinley called for volunteer troops, Company G responded, and evolved as a unit into Company G, Thirty-fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry.

The Company marched away to the war under the following officers: Robert S. Welsh, captain; Henry F. Hughart, first lieutenant; Gilmore G. Scranton, second lieutenant; Wilfred T. Raines, first sergeant; Alford H. Colwell, quartermaster sergeant; Edgar C. Lemon, Edward M. Lacey, Fred H. Smith and John K. Dawson, sergeants; Albert H. Passmore, John A. Gowan, Wm. A. Goulding, Robert C. Sweatt, Leo P. Cook and George Stanley, corporals; Clement C. Wheeler and Eugene J. O'Neill, musicians; Thomas E. Roberts, wagoner, and Peter Murray, artificer.

Company G sailed in June, 1898, from Newport News for Cuba, and was in service in the field until Santiago surrendered and after. Its members suffered severely with typhoid fever, malaria and yellow fever, and several of them died of the effects of these diseases in Cuba and after their return. They were given a great home-coming welcome, but the rejoicing was mingled with sorrow over the ravages of disease and death. After peace was declared, Henry F. Hughart Camp No. 34, Spanish-American War Veterans, was organized here, its membership being composed of comrades who served in the naval as well as the land forces of that war.

At the close of the century the time village of Le Saut de Sainte Marie had progressed to city stature. It had passed from French t British domination, and thence to the freedom of American government. The descendants of the ancient fighting Chippewa, once all powerful here, saw the seat of their dominion transferred into a community eagerly striving to advance the arts of peace. Broad-visioned and history-making men had come and were at work, and with them came the assurance of prosperity and the realization of greater things.