278 GENERAL HISTORY. 



Peach orchards, 473 acres, 14,704 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 269 

 bushels of fruit. 



The value of orchard products of all kinds, sold or consumed in 1883, was 

 $56,194.00. 



Vineyards, 17 acres: grapes sold in 1883, 3,465 pounds. 



wine made in 1883, 44 gallons. 



Nurseries, 21 acres; products sold in 1883, 13,508.00. 



Market garden products sold in 1883, $4,703.00. 



OAKLAND COUNTY. 



This county was laid out by proclamation of Governor Lewis Cass, dated 

 January 12th, 1819, and commissioners were therein designated to examine 

 the county and report the most eligible site for the seat of justice thereof. 

 This proclamation was to have taken ejffect from and after December 31st, 

 1822 ; but this period was antedated by the issue of a second proclamation, 

 dated March 28th, 1820, perfecting the organization of the county and estab- 

 lishing the seat of justice at Pontiac. A third proclamation, issued Septem- 

 ber 10th, 1822, established the limits of the county as they at present exist; 

 but with Lapeer, Sanilac, Saginaw and Shiawassee attached. 



The county derives its names from the prevalence of "oak openings." 



The famous Indian warrior, Pontiac, made this his favorite residence. 

 Hence the name of the town and village. It was first settled in 1818 by the 

 Pontiac Land Company. 



The earliest permanent settlement in this county is believed to have been 

 by a party of four persons with their families, who came by way of Mt. 

 Clemens, spent their first night within the county at the junction of Paint 

 creek with the Clinton river (near the present village of Rochester), March 

 17th, 1817, and located in the town of Avon. 



Major Oliver Williams located lands on Silver Lake in 1818, on which he 

 settled with his family in the spring of 1819, cutting his road and bridging 

 where necessary, and finding a few families at Pontiac who had packed in 

 their goods on ponies or on foot. 



L. Campau, an Indian trader, on his way from Saginaw to Detroit, on 

 January 9th, 1819, met William Hunter, of Detroit, near Royal Oak, with a 

 gang of men, cutting a road to Pontiac, at which place he was said to have 

 been the first settler. 



During 1818 and 1819 lands were located in Avon, Pontiac, South field, 

 Bloomfield, Independence, Royal Oak, Troy, Silver Lake, Oakland and other 

 towns. 



The tide of immigration thus commenced continued to increase, and, as 

 early as 1830, the agricultural interest had so fur developed that an effort 

 was made for the organization of an agricultural society. This movement, 

 however, was not successful, and the effort was, for the time, abandoned. 



As in other sections of the territory, the practice here, with most farmers, 

 seems to have been to plant orchards as soon as ground could be properly 

 fitted for the purpose. The demand for trees for this purpose also induced 

 the early development of nursery enterprises for its supply. Among the 



