380 GENERAL HISTORY. 



vineyard that has been my pride will be given up, and I shall abandon the 

 business, hoping that the enemy will go to fresh fields, when, perhaps, I can 

 take advantage of his inattention and plant a few ^'lnes for my own use." 



According to the census of 1884 Grand Traverse county had of apple 

 orchards 2,661 acres, 57,999 bearing trees, yielding, in 1883, 23,502 bushels 

 of fruit. 



Peach orchards, 124 acres, 2,523 bearingtrees, yielding, in 1883, 1,838 bushels 

 of fruit. 



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

 ^29,453.00. 



Vineyards, 6 acres: grapes sold in 1883, 140 pounds. 



wine made in 1883, none. 



Nurseries, 4 acres ; products sold in 1883, S225.00. 



Market garden products sold in 1883, $6,289.00. 



BENZIE COUNTY. 



Benzie county was taken from Leelanaw by act of the Legislature, approved 

 February 27th, 1863, and was organized in pursuance of an act apj)roved 

 March 30th, 1869, which provided for the election of county officers on the 

 first Monday in April, 1869. 



The county seat was located at Frankfort by a special election held for that 

 purpose on the first Monday in July, 1869, as provided in section four of the 

 organizing act. 



Aux Bee Scies is the French name of the principal river in the county. 

 Americans corrupted the name to Betsie, which has been refined to Benzie as 

 a name for the county. 



The general elevation of the table lands of the county is from two hundred 

 to four hundred feet above the level of Lake Michigan, and the drainage is 

 through the Platte and Aux Bees Scies rivers. It seems probable that the 

 latter stream, the corruption of the name of which has been applied to the 

 county, was so designated on account of the narrowing of the stream at its 

 mouth, or possibly from the tendency to form a bar at the entrance from the 

 lake. 



As early as 1867 W. S. Hubbell, president of the Benzie County Agricult- 

 ural Society, reports to the State Board of Agriculture as follows: — 



''Results in fruit culture through this section thus far are very encourag- 

 ing. The peach crop this year was a full one, and strangers who attended 

 the Benzie fair expressed the opinion that better specimens of their kind 

 could not be shown in the State than were there to be seen. Plum trees bore 

 very full, and the fruit was perfect. Apricots were grown by Dr. Walker of 

 first quality. J. R. Barr exhibited very fine quinces. Isabella, Concord and 

 Catawba grapes were exhibited in perfection." 



In 18G5 Professor Alexander Winchell characterizes the Grand Traverse 

 region, including Benzie county, as "the most remarkable and most desirable 

 section of country in the Northwest, and expressed the opinion that, as a 

 fruit growing region, it was doubtful whether any other part of the United 

 States could compete with it." 



