CRAWFORD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MUSEUM NEWSLETTER

HERITAGE DAY 1998

The first annual Crawford County Museum Heritage Day on Saturday, August 8, was a huge success. Over 300 people took part in the activities or visited the museum complex for the day and everyone is looking forward to the second annual one next August. Many demonstrators were showing old time crafts. Donna Carmean, who chairmanned the event did spinning the in 'women's work' area. Others were rug hooking by Mary Davis, knitting by Hertha Laupmanis, using a treadle sewing machine by Ruth Moore, quilting by Barb Domcik, wood carving by Donna Clark, and Barb Green playing the dulcimer. In the 'men's work' area Jim Carmean caned chairs, Carl Hatfield made baskets, Gary Davis made dulcimers, Bill Green played the dulcimer, Don Geiss did leather working, Larry and Tim Domcik helped set up. Pete Stephan had his AuSable river boat on display, Ray Bunzoe had his early explorer's camp set up under the mulberry tree. The Tuesday Ladies (ladies who volunteer Tuesday) had a terrific bake sale and did a brisk business over the fence on Michigan Avenue. Volunteers furnished baked goods as well as members of the Alumni Association and townspeople. One of the hottest items sold out in an hour, the abelskivers made by Barbara Nelson and Lewis Smith. Paula Edlund at the Framery II had a used frame and plant sale with all proceeds going to the museum, J Dap furnished tablecloths, Riverland Gear brought bottled water (the city was having water problems) and the Avalanche helped with publicity. THANK YOU! Downtown Sidewalk Sales were scheduled for the second weekend in August, so the Museum joined in with their celebration on the same Saturday. Next year's Heritage Day will be planned for the third Saturday in August giving merchants and the museum staff more time between it and the Marathon Canoe Race which occurs the last Saturday in July.

FLOAT WINS AWARD For the third year the float entry from the museum won a prize in the AuSable River Marathon Parade held on the last Saturday of July. The theme was 'School Days' and Bill and Ruth Moore, our very able float builders, created a musical float featuring local music teacher, D.J. Brown with some of her students. Thank you, Ruth and Bill, a job well done!

GPA SUPPORTS MUSEUM

The Grayling Promotional Association continues to support the museum in many ways. This spring Mary Jane Knibbs, who is a member, both of the GPA and museum planted some of the planters with flowers furnished by the GPA. Our two gardeners, Kathy Nave and Martha Austin also planted flowers and kept the yard picked up and the flowers weeded. They planted their vegetable garden again in front of the village barn, but the dry weather did not help their crops and a 'thief in the night, or day' apparently enjoyed the fruits of their labor, as each day, a few more vegetables disappeared! NEW PICTURE ACQUIRED One of the most interesting pictures that we acquired this summer was a picture of the original Michael Hartwick Hotel that was built in 1882 on the same corner where the Shoppenagon's Inn now stands. It was a beautiful three story hotel and the stories have been that it burned down several times and was rebuilt. At this time we have found no accounts of the fires, but we believe that the Crawford Avalanche probably carried the stories if they can be located in the microfilms at the library. Caroline Long Hall is the owner of the picture which was found in the George Alexander house when the Longs bought it in 1941. She let us borrow it to have laser copies made, both for the museum and the hotel which reopened last March. So far this past summer and fall two tour buses have stopped for lunch at the hotel and a tour of the museum. We hope that this trend continues. DEPOT DRAWING AVAILABLE The ink drawing of the depot that appears on the front of this newsletter is also available as an unframed print for $5.00. This editor has had one framed for a gift and it makes a most attractive picture. Another picture that is available at the museum is a drawing, made by Terry Dickinson, that is also a pen and ink sketch. It is a much larger drawing. Terry did an airbrush colored one that hangs in the museum office area. Since he no longer lives in the area he will not be doing any more colored ones but if you are interested in the picture perhaps you could find another artist to do it for you. CHIEF SHOPPENAGON Chief Shoppenagon was one of very few Indians who lived in Grayling during the time after the white man came. The flooring that was made at the Kerry and Hanson Flooring mill was names 'Chief Brand' believed to be because of the Chief. The museum has many pictures of him, some with his family and some in his full regalia. The Shoppenagon Inn was names after him. For many years, no one was aware that any of his family were left. This past year and a half, about three different sets of his ancestors have visited the museum and the hotel. They have been interested in the stories about him and the artifacts collected of his, especially the paddles that were made by him. We hope some day to hear some of the stories that they know about him. THANK YOU GRAYLING DAY For many years, Grayling has celebrated a Thank You, Grayling Day started when Jack Alef at the bank decided to serve hot dogs, donuts, coffee and cider to their customers. Since that time it has become a community project and most businesses take part. The museum was open again this year for the day on October 8. THANK YOU to all of you that have bought memberships, given donations of different amounts and those who have given $100 for names on the memorial plaque. Without your support we would not be able to operate: we appreciate all of you. THANK YOU to those who have given us services in many other ways. All of it helps to keep the museum open. The annual Christmas Walk in Grayling will be on November 22 and the museum will be open that day. NEW PICTURES Thank you to the people who sent the extra money to have the photos copies. Now that the summer is over, this is the time to look over the pictures at Tees 'N' Such R US and decide which pictures we do not have. He has two notebooks filled with old pictures of the Crawford County area. It will take some time to go over all of them. We have some picked out and because they were very generous in their price we will end up with about 25 new pictures. MUSEUM SKETCH Thank you to Ken Wright who scanned the black and white sketch of the depot for this newsletter. The sketch was drawn by Thomas Welsh, II. and is used on note pads that are for sale at the museum gift shop. The depot was twice this size at one time, but half of it was torn down in 1939.

THANK YOU MARIE!

Our most faithful volunteer for the past 20 years has been Marie Akers who took over as treasurer and secretary before the museum was moved to the depot. Not only had she had those two jobs, she also worked at the museum on more days than any other volunteer and took care of all kinds of daily chores, record keeping and taking groups of people through the museum, particularly school children. She has been ill this past summer and her son, Larry Akers, has taken over her secretary work and Paula Edlund has been elected treasurer. Larry was also elected to serve on the board of directors. The museum volunteers wish to thank Marie for her many years of service to the museum. We hope her health will continue to improve and that she will again be helping at the museum.

BLUE WATER TRAIN The Blue Water Train was to make a trip from Bay City to Grayling on October 10 and 11 and many tickets were sold for the trip. While the people from the south were in Grayling shopping, eating and antiquing, those from this area were to ride from here to Waters and return. Everyone was excited about the train ride but unfortunately it was discovered at a very late date that the tracks which were to have been repaired were not finished or properly done. The trips had to be cancelled much to the disappointment of everyone. It is sincerely hoped that the tracks will be repaired before another year and that another trip can be scheduled so that adults and children can enjoy a train trip.

HISTORY FROM 1933

We brought you the story published by H. C. McKinley as part of a writing competition in the Crawford Avalanche. Here is the only other story that was submitted back in 1933. THE AUSABLE RIVER by Henry Stephan Sr. I came to Grayling 52 years ago next August. I was then 11 years old; we came directly to Grayling from LeHavre, France. My father brought his family here to take up a homestead and there were five boys and three girls, and with my mother, there were in all ten in the family. There was no depot or hotel at Grayling then, so when the train stopped they dropped off what we had brought with us, a feather tick etc. My father then began looking around to hire a team to take us to Mrs. Horton's eight miles east of Grayling; he finally found one and hired it. There was a load on the wagon, so we all walked behind it. I can still remember that 'Rube' Babbitt and Levi VanBuren were then cutting the road east of Grayling, some eight miles or so; it was noon when we came upon them and I can still see them frying pork in a frying pan and getting their dinner in the open. We reached Mrs. Horton's homestead that evening and my Father rented her woodshed and we moved in; there was no floor in the woodshed. We also had to pay rent to bake bread in Mrs. Horton's oven, and soon my sisters all learned to bake bread. It was not very long before my father went to Grayling and bought lumber from Salling, Hanson Company and made a raft and started down stream 16 miles by river. His raft ran aground several times so he took off his shoes and rolled up his pants and waded to float his raft. On the way down, the sweepers (overhanging trees) swept his shoes and lunch off the raft and he could not find them. He was a tired and hungry man when he reached Jasper landing; this landing was one of very few places that had a wagon trail whereby one could get to the stream between Grayling and Wakeley's bridge. When he started building he had to pay Levi VanBuren $5.00 per trip to haul his lumber to the homestead situated NE1/4 of SW1/4 of Section Five T26N, Range 2 W. At first he built a leanto with the lumber and we moved into that until such time as he built his first house. I forgot to mention that Father could not buy bread in Grayling then so he had to buy a barrel of crackers instead for his large, hungry family. When we finally got the house built we cleared land for crops; at that time there were a number of settlers, whom I remember as Thomas Lound, Bradleys, Nick Shellenbarger, McKinley, Knetch, Bell and others. Frank Bell, one of the sons, is now a circuit judge in the Upper Peninsula. Nick Shellenbarger lived by hunting and fishing; he was the father of Grant, Wesley, Will and Charley. He would come to our house and say to my brother Will, "Let's go down the river to South Branch and get a deer." Those days there were no hunting seasons, so they would shine and kill two deer, one for each family. Arriving at the mouth of the South Branch they would build a fire, cook and eat a meal then they would point their boat back upstream the 10 miles and spear grayling, suckers, and pilot fish. When they would get back to Nick's landing they generally had a tub full of fish which they would salt and store away. Some of the first English language I learned, was to say, "Come in Nick." Nick came to our house often, so after hearing my older brother say this when he knocked at the door I picked it up. One day I was left alone at home and someone knocked at the door and I said "Come in Nick," but it turned out to be John Leece. He laughed so hard he could hardly stand up. I was sent to school but could not talk English and the teacher could not talk French, so we just made signs to each other. Two of my old schoolmates are still living in Grayling, Mrs. William Foley (nee Lizzie Bradley) and Mrs. Charles Amidon, also a Bradley girl. Mrs. John Leece could speak French so she helped us with our English. Something like forty years ago all of the people living in this county had a picnic on the banks of the AuSable river. The place where it was held is still know today as the picnic ground. It's location is the NE1/8 of SE1/4, Section 4, T26N, Range 2 West, and the property is owned by Mrs. Simon Ford of Bay City, Mich. But what a change 50 years had made in the location. Then it was covered with nice yellow Norway and white pine trees and the ground was a carpet of pine needles. Not much underbrush, and it was a lovely spot. When I had my first river boat of which I was very proud I had it carpeted with deer skins. I ferried people across the river, mostly girls. Fannie Lound was my queen in calico and I was her bashful, barefoot beau - and I was very bashful at that time. My first experience going with a fishing party was when I was about 13 years old. I went as a camp boy, to watch camp and wash dishes, with old man Babbitt, Rube's father, and his three sons Archie, Walter, and Rube. They gave me 50 cents per week for watching camp: the party was from New York and they were here for grayling fishing. From that time on I was old man Babbitt's camp boy. This camp was at Jasper's landing. Old man Babbitt would make fish chowder, he would cook the whole day and I had to get dead oak wood as he would not use anything else, for the dead jack oak made a fine bed of live coals. I was young and growing then and used to eat half a gallon of his grayling fish chowder, and the rest of the party were very fond of it too. (To be continued in the next issue)

NEW OFFICERS At our August meeting, Paula Edlund was elected as treasurer and at the September meeting, Larry Akers was voted in as a new board member and elected as secretary. Also at this time, it was decided to have a new mailbox, so the museum address is now P.O. Box 218.

In one of the newsletters, names that are on the Memorial Plaque were listed. My apologies to those whose names were misspelled or wrong. The following list is a complete one from the two plaques. Let us know if there are corrections to be made.
Fred Bear	Clyde & Margaret Marion
Carrol D. Wert	Jaymie Brunskill
Herbert Stephan	Elmer Fenton
Timothy William Ruddy	Ivan & Dorothy MacArthur
Mr. & Mrs. Frank May Sr.	Helen Bauman Roblin
Mr. & Mrs. Henry Bauman	Helen & Clyde McQueen
Mr. & Mrs. Rasmus Hanson	Alex & Mary Selesky
Joseph J. Laurich	Helen Cross Brewer
Russell V. Wright	Gloria MacNeven Frymire
Mr. & Mrs. Frank LaMotte	Harold "Spike" MacNeven
Mr. & Mrs. Perry Akers	Donald Feldhauser
Leroy Perry Akers Jr.	Joyce Anne Bourrie
Henry & Caroline Feldhauser	Hugo & Agnes Schreiber
Verne & Marge Olver	Art & Lillian Clough
Mr. & Mrs. T.P. Peterson	Adam & Mary Anne Gierke
LeRoy Millikin	Frank & Lizzie Serven
Joseph Cinciala	Tony Nelson
Bill & Rosa Christenson	Philip & Louise Moshier
Harold & Edith Long	Otto & Mona Failing
Helen Daniels	Floyd & Betty Millikin
George Daniels	Frank L. & Bertha L. Millikin
Harold & Fedora Rasmussen	Jaclyn Ruddy
Rudolph & Fern Feldhauser	Shirley Rasmussen
James Post	William Arnold Moore
Jim Wakeley	Donald & Elsie Jansen
June Feldhauser	Eldena & Pamela Hunter
Harry & Josie McEvers	Jappe & Louise Smith
Edward & Emilie (Fischer) Sorenson	Pearl Packer
Margrethe (Hanson) Snyder	Allen Failing
Justin R. Premo	Ingeborg Raae
Geraldine Premo	Oliver Wes Hayes
Otto & Mollie Nielson	Charles & Alice Woodbury
These names are from the $100 category listed in the membership coupon. We thank all of you who have contributed to this. The museum needs your support as admissions do not cover all of our expenses. THANK YOU.