228 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



was then withoiat a settler on the shore between Xew Buffalo and St. Joseph 

 (called twenty-eight miles). A part of the land still belonged to the Govern- 

 ment. Not liking to face such a solitude alone, and having but little to do 

 with except my hands, I proposed to my friend A. S. Woodruff to start a peach 

 orchard on the lake shore in partnership, explaining to him, as well as I could, 

 the advantages of the water protection, and a market on the other side of the 

 lake. He thought enough of it to go with me on an exploring expedition. So, 

 with our chart, a spade, and some provisions, we set out. We reached New 

 Buffalo the second day, passing the night in a deserted shanty. We were 

 neither of us quite satisfied, placing great stress on the quality of land. We 

 found some good land, but before we could trace out at any one place directly 

 on the shore a good sized farm for each of us we ran into broken or poor land, 

 oak openings in those days not standing high in our estimation, unless they 

 were burr oak. Eeturning disappointed to St. Joseph, I thought as I strolled 

 out on the bluff where the Hoyt House now stands, "perhaps I have sold 

 myself out of home." Looking across the one and a half miles of sand hills 

 north of the mouth of the river to the dark forest on the bluff beyond, indi- 

 cating timbered land, I reasoned to myself, " It there is any good laud there 

 some day there will be a road to it;'' for at that time there was not a settler's 

 clearing on the shore from those sand hills to South Haven, though there 

 were several along the Paw Paw river and between the river and lake ; and to 

 reach that bluff by road it was eight miles travel, as we had to go up the river 

 a long way to a bridge and then take the road down the other side of the river. 

 My friend concluded to go with me, and we were put across the river in a skiff, 

 passed over the sand hills, and went on to the timbered bluff. Traveling near 

 the front of the bluff, keeping in sight of the lake, we found good land, but 

 too broken to suit our large ideas. If we could then and there have taken 

 a Eip Van Winkle sleep, to awake to-day and behold the Fruit Paradise of my 

 old neighbor Wm. J. Nott, we would have been led to rub our eyes and butt our 

 heads to dispel the illusion, for no tired dreamer ever fancied such a meta- 

 morphosis. 



We passed along until we came to the top of the ridge at a point between 

 the house now owned by Mr. Morely and the bluff. From this point we looked 

 down into a tall forest of oak, ash, elm, bass, maple, and butternut. I for 

 one was ready to say Eureka! The surface was just right, and such sights of 

 rail timber! I don't remember that I saw a bit of the hard work necessary to 

 clear it. I was a happy man. A little further on we came to a roll-way 

 where logs had been rolled down the bluff. Taking the track which led away 

 from it, about half a mile from the shore we found a small clearing and a log 

 house. The place was for sale, and the owner was in Valparaiso, Indiana. 

 After tracing out the lines, the next day I started on foot to find the owner, 

 and the purchase was made. The tenant soon moved off, and on the first day 

 of November my family was domiciled in that log house. At this time there 

 lies in sight from the ridge where I first got sight of that tall timber, 1G3 acres 

 of land which I cleared with the work of my hands and the products of that 

 farm, and out of that rail timber I had at one time a mile of fence which was 

 too high for a deer to jump. This was necessary in the fall to keep the bucks 

 from rubbing and twisting my fruit trees with their horns, and from the same 

 23oint there is now in sight ninety-eight acres of orcharding of my setting. 



Well, the next spring (1848) I had two and a half acres cleared, fenced, and. 

 planted with trees. Apple two rods apart each way, with peaches and a few 



