» ALCONA COUNTY. 369 



is that it seems to be good all the way down. The writer dug a well that was about 

 twenty feet in depth, which passed through several strata of sand, gravel and clay, and 

 the bottom earth was thrown in heaps, where it was frozen. In the spring potatoes 

 were planted without removing the heaps, wliich proved equally good as those planted 

 in other portions of the garden, and quite as productive. 



The four tiers of townships lying west of the front are more varied in their conforma- 

 tion and productions of forest trees than the front ; they have broader belts of pine, 

 intermixed with the maple and hemlock, with cedar in the valleys and bordering on the 

 numerous small lakes. The western tier of townships, in the vicinity of the Au Sable 

 river, contain what ax'e known as the Plains. These were evidently once pine-bearing 

 lands, but were burned again and again, until everything was swept away, not even the 

 stumps remaining. 



They are usually covered with a growth of black pine, a stunted, worthless variety 

 of no commercial value, and usually interspersed with the grub oak, which is peculiar 

 to most of the State. A belt of these burned lands, or plains, extends across most of 

 the northern counties of northeast Michigan, running in a southerly direction across 

 Alcona county, where it is believed to contain thousands of acres of cleared, arable 

 land, which is adapted to successful farming. Most of the Agricultural College lands 

 were selected from these plains that were adjacent to the hard wood, and therefore sup- 

 posed to be superior. If our Agricultural College would expend less for developing 

 sorghum, and more for the test of the agricultural value of these lands, by locating a 

 test farm upon them at the expense of the State, and thus bring them into the market, 

 there would be less complaint about insufficient api^ropriations, besides adding to the 

 taxable property of those townsliij^s in which they are located, which would enable the 

 settlers therein to make better roads and build more school-houses. 



The State has a wealth of lands that keep the people poor and add nothing to the 

 wealth of the State. They are a drag to the new townships and a curse to the counties. 



The first settlers of Alcona, as well as most other northern counties bordering on the 

 lake, were fishermen. The history may be properly divided into three epochs — fishing, 

 lumbering and farming. 



The fishermen learned the value of the pine trees in making their fish barrels : the 

 lumberman found its value in eastern markets ; but the farmer found the value of the 

 soil much as mines of valuable mineral are found — accidentally. 



The first fruit trees were planted for the same reason that Adam's "Garden of Eden" 

 was planted — for his own use and that of his family. 



The first fruit trees planted on the west shore of Lake Huron were planted at Spring- 

 port, or South Harrisville, 40 years ago (in 1846), by S. M. Holden, the pioneer of Al- 

 cona county. (See history of Alcona Co.) They were brought from Birmingham Oak- 

 land Co., and consisted of 30 apples and some plums and cherries. On a recent visit to 

 the place of Isaac Wilson, who now occupies the homestead of Mr. Holden, at Spring- 

 port, only four of those old trees were found, on the shore of the lake, a few rods south 

 of J. VanBuskirk's saw-mill, and stiU in full bearing. Mr. Wilson, who is also one of 

 the pioneers, has kindly cared for those aged trees and the four are now in full bearing, 

 and are of the following choice varieties, viz. : 1 R. I. Greening ; fruit perfect and tree 

 loaded. 1 Early Harvest ; fruit perfect, and in abundance. 1 Canada Red : fruit very 

 fine and the tree full of fruit, second year of bearing. 1 "Fameuse," or Snow apple, in 

 full bearing, and has always been so, being very hardy and the fruit always good. 



The next trees planted in Alcona county were brought from West Bloomfield, Ontario 

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