1884 Portrait & Bio Album
| 1884 Portrait & Bio Album | |
| ROSE LAKE was organized under authority of the Board of Supervisors given Oct. 12, 1870. The first election was held on the first Monday in April, 1871, at the house of Wm. McKinzie. Inspectors of said election were Wm. Wood, Wm. McKinzie and J. N. Miner. Officers elected - Wm. Wood, Supervisor; L. Price, Clerk; and G. W. Oliver, Treasurer; Highway Commissioners - G. L. Hinkley, D. Lanigan and S. A. Wells; School Inspectors - G. L. Hinkley and S. A. Wells; Constables - W. G. Shepherd and J. N. Miner. It is numbered 19 north, of range 9 west, and is bounded on the north by sherman, on the east by Hartwick, on the south by Cedar, and the west by Le Roy Township. It has five school districts, with three school-houses, located as follows: District No. 1 school-house is located on section 29. Building is frame and cost $800. Number of pupils in attendance, 79. No. 2 has a log school-house, which is built on section 3, and cost $150, with 49 pupils in attendance. No. 3 has a frame building located on section 15, costing $300. In this district there are 34 pupils. Nos. 4 and 5 have no buildings, and no report of school population. About one-half of the lands in this township are what is called stump lands. The pine lands are sandy, and rather flat; the hard-wood lands are clay loam with a rolling surface. It is watered by one of the branches of Pine River, which forms the outlet to Rose Lake. This lake is about two miles long, and from one-half to one mile wide, and is located in the northern part of the township, which is dotted over by numerous other little lakes. The principal business of this township is lumbering, which is carried on extensively. Comparitively speaking, but little farming has been done here yet, and the farming interests are secondary. W. M. McKinsie, Wm. Wood, L. Price, G. L. Hinkley, S.A. Wells, J. N. Miner and A. E. Sawyer are credited with having made the first actual settlements. Its railroad station and principal trading place is Le Roy, on the Grand Rapids & INdiana Railroad, which runs along near the western line of the township. The population, as shown by the census of 1884, is 673, an increase of about 200 in four years. Business interests are centered principally in Sawyerville, which is situated by one of the little lakes on section 32. Here A. E. Sawyer has the largest lumber manufactory in the county. Operations were begun for this establishment in 1873, by cutting roads, etc. During the winter of 1873-4 the machinery was hauled in and a tramway was constructed from the mill to Le Roy, a distance of three miles. In the spring everything was completed and the saws were started. Average amount of lumber cut annually up to 1880, was 5,000,000 feet. In 1880, another saw and a steam feeder were put in, increasing capacity to about 12,000,000 feet annually. The lumber is transported over the tramway to Le Roy, and from that place sent to the various lumbermarts. Mr. Sawyer employs at times over a hundred men. He has a blacksmith shop here, mostly for his own use, and a general store. Metcalf & Knowles have a saw and shingle mill on section 23, with a daily capacity in shingles of 40,000. This mill was moved from Sunrise Lake. On section 13, Joseph H. Spiers manufactures shingles and clapboards. Capacity of shingle-mill, 40,000, and the clapboard-mill, 5,000 feet, daily, which is handled by C. L. Gray & Co., of Evart. A Methodist Society has been organized at this place, and is served every two weeks from the Le Roy charge. Services are held in the school-house. The following named citizens have served the township as: SUPERVISORS: Wm. Wood, 1871 B.G. Moulton, 1872-3 Wm. Wood, 1874 B.G. Moulton, 1875-6 James McHugh, 1877 O.L. Millard, 1878 A.J. Archbold, 1879-80 O.L. Millard, 1881-2 B. Monaghan, 1882-4 |