Fort
Historic
Mackinac Island
Colonial
Old Mackinac
Historic
Mill Creek|
|
A Brief History of Historic Mill CreekRobert Campbell’s Mill Robert Campbell was a man who recognized the potential power of Historic Mill Creek. Campbell came to the Straits of Mackinac from his native Scotland to seek his fortune in the fur trade at Fort Michilimackinac . Arriving sometime after 1761 when the British took control of the French fort, Campbell realized that Mill Creek contained enough waterpower to drive a sawmill. By the late 1700s many of the trees between the creek and Fort Michilimackinac four miles away had been cut down for timber and firewood. Keeping warm in the winter at Mackinac using only fireplaces requires a monumental quantity of firewood. Each winter every fireplace consumed 15 cords of wood which is a pile 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 120 feet long. Wood cutters from Michilimackinac harvested the trees close to shore and transported the wood by boat back to the fort. In February 1771 one of the woodcutters, Corporal John Annan of the British 60th Regiment, died and was buried beside Mill Creek. Without a sawmill every board had to be sawn laboriously by hand. This slow and tiring procedure required two men and one long saw. One of the men, called the tiller man, stood on top of a log, directed the saw blade, and hauled it up with each stroke. The other man stood either on the ground, if the log was raised up by large saw horses, or else worked in a saw pit dug into the ground. He pulled down on the saw which cut only on the downstroke and got the sawdust in his face. Working all day, two men could cut only fourteen boards each 20 foot long; it was exhausting work. With a water powered, up and down saw blade, the men could cut 150 boards and their muscles were not nearly as sore.
During the American Revolution the British, afraid of an American attack, decided in 1779-81 to move the fort and town from the mainland to Mackinac Island . The move created a demand for sawn lumber to construct the new buildings. Robert Campbell seized the opportunity. He recognized that by damming Mill Creek he could obtain enough waterpower to drive a small sawmill. In the Straits area only Mill Creek has enough fall to generate the necessary power. Robert Campbell obtained use of 640 acres of land along the south east side of the military reservation surrounding Fort Michilimackinac which local Indians had granted to the British. However, Campbell never received a formal deed. The building boom on Mackinac Island during the 1780s kept Campbell busy sawing boards. Although Historic Mill Creek has an abundance of water in it during the spring thaw and runoff, its flow greatly decreases during the hot summer days of July and August. Moreover, when winter turns the stream to ice, the mill can not operate. Before sawing boards Campbell usually squared the log first with a broad ax. The boards were sawn almost to the end of the log but the last few inches called a stubshot remained uncut. This facilitated shipping to Mackinac Island . The sawn logs were dragged by oxen to the shore and then attached by chains into a raft which was floated across the lake. After the logs reached the job site the boards were sawn off at the end and released from the log. Robert Campbell constructed a two room log house on the east side of the creek. A double-sided fireplace heated the two rooms of the 20' x 40' single story home. Nearby Campbell erected a workshop/storehouse from boards sawn in the mill. His horses and oxen dragged the heavy timbers to the mill. Fields, planted on lands which had been cleared of trees, provided hay and pasturage. Campbell was as much a farmer as a sawmill operator. Also he probably continued to trade with the Indians for furs. By the early 1800s Campbell's farm, as it was known, included several buildings, forty acres of cultivated lands, a large orchard, and a grist mill as well as a sawmill. The grist mill with its large, granite grinding stones was added to grind corn and other grains. The amount of cultivated lands in the Straits area was small but corn purchased from local and distant Indians was ground into cornmeal in the mill.
When Robert Campbell died in 1808 his 22 year old son, John, took over the mill. Robert's heirs wanted to secure a firm title to their inheritance so they filed a claim in the Detroit Land Office. The land claim was confirmed because the Campbells proved they had occupied the lands prior to 1796 when the United States received jurisdiction. In 1810 Deputy Surveyor Aaron Greenley surveyed the Straits area and indicated the Campbell property as Private Claim #334 on his map. After securing title to the lands, Robert Campbell's heirs decided to sell the property and in 1819 they found a buyer in the person of Michael Dousman, a wealthy Mackinac merchant. Michael Dousman’s Mill Michael Dousman, born in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania in 1771, came to Mackinac in 1796 soon after the American takeover. He found the area to his liking and became active in the fur trade. Dousman acquired considerable property in the area including a several hundred acre farm on the north end of Mackinac Island .
When the British attacked Mackinac Island in the summer of 1812 Dousman was captured by the invading force. However, he was permitted to warn the civilian inhabitants to get out of harm's way before fighting began. Some later called Dousman a traitor because he remained on Mackinac during the British occupation and sold supplies to the garrison. Dousman knew how to prosper even in adversity and he enlarged his fortune through the fur trade even as he defended his reputation. By the 1820's Dousman was the second largest property holder in Michilimackinac county. Part of his estate was the mill and farm which he purchased in 1819 from John Campbell, his wife Elizabeth and the other heirs of Robert Campbell. Dousman lived in his two story house on Mackinac Island and sent an employee to reside at Mill Creek to manage the farm and operate the mill. The census of 1820 listed 24 persons in Dousman's household which included the people who worked for him. Some of them undoubtedly lived at Mill Creek, but we do not know their names. Robert Campbell's old house on the east side of the creek had burned down, so Dousman's men erected a new structure west of the creek. The 17 x 40 foot house contained only two rooms divided by a double fireplace. The western room served as living quarters for the family. The eastern room, occupying about one third of the house served as a workshop and forge. Porches extended along the north and south sides of the house and one could and look out across the waters of the Straits to Mackinac Island beyond.
Under Dousman's ownership the mill continued to saw boards for use on Mackinac Island . Sometimes trees cut on nearby Bois Blanc Island were rafted over to Mill Creek for sawing. Lumber was sold to the U.S. Indian agent and boards cut in the mill were used to construct the Mission House (1825) and the Mission Church (1829) on Mackinac Island . During the 1820's Mackinac Island 's fur trade economy dominated by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company was at its peak and, thus, there was a need for building materials for the growing community. By the mid 1830's, however, the fur trade went into a decline and the mill ceased operation in 1839. There was a flicker of hope that the economy at Mill Creek might improve when government surveyors designated Mill Creek as the northern terminus of a proposed road from Saginaw to Mackinac. Though there was some clearing for the road, the area began to revert to wilderness. Post-Mill Use Of The Site When Michael Dousman died in 1854 his heirs soon sold Private Claim 334 to William W. Wendell for $400. The site was visited only by surveyors and a few fishermen. Shortly after the Civil War a man named Young, who was a tenant of the Wendells, built a house on the property and quarried limestone for a couple of years. Subsequently the Wendells rented the house to Charles Bennett and his wife Angeline who resided there from about 1870 until 1910. The Bennetts served as caretakers of the property until the house burned about 1910. During their stay, portions of the property were leased to the Petoskey Mackinaw Lime Company who exploited the limestone and clay. These resources were probably utilized for local road building. Evidence of these quarry operations is still evident in several places along the stream and the bluff. The quarrying destroyed the site of the mill, but did not touch the dam. In 1881 the Detroit and Mackinac Railroad Company constructed a railroad track parallel to the lake and bridged the creek a few yards downstream from the site of the dam and mill. Workmen found a small brass or copper plaque bearing the inscription: "Here lieth the Body of British muster rolls from Ft. Michilimackinac confirm that John Annan did indeed die on that day. Trains continued to run until the late 1980's when the track was abandoned and the rails pulled up. Only a few feet downstream from the dam a bridge was erected to permit the Old Mackinaw Trail highway to cross the creek. The bridge abutment still remains. During the 20th century the U.S.23 Highway was rebuilt closer to the lake. The Old Mackinaw Trail road was abandoned but the exit road from the park follows its route. Over the years Private Claim 334 was divided into several parcels. During the Great Depression the owners of the major portion of the land were no longer able to pay their property taxes and 503 acres reverted to the State of Michigan . The lands were administered by the Forestry Division of the Department of Conservation as a part of Mackinaw State Forest . Mill Creek Rediscovered One summer day in 1972 Ellis and Mary Olson, and Margaret Lentini, amateur archaeologists from Cheboygan, came to Mill Creek in search of the mill. Ellis had seen some old millstones in Cheboygan and his research indicated they had originally come from Mill Creek. Equipped with a metal detector, they began their search. Thick brush covered the bank of the stream, but several hewn logs in the stream bed indicated clearly where the dam had been located. Searching downstream from the dam, the metal detector gave a distinctive ping as they walked along the high east bank. Digging carefully, they found a number of items including a flintlock musket lock. Later several pieces of thin brass decorated with a lion and a crown were located. Ellis Olson took the objects to Dr. Lyle Stone in Mackinaw City . Dr. Stone, staff archaeologist of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, was conducting archaeological excavations at Fort Michilimackinac . Dr. Stone recognized that the pieces of brass were from a British soldier's hat from the War of 1812. Stone showed the artifacts to Dr. David Armour, deputy director of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, who authorized an exploratory excavation at Mill Creek. Armour was excited because he knew that the cap plate came from Fort Mackinac , which the Park Commission had been restoring since 1958.
Test excavations revealed a storage basement depression and a mound of dirt which covered a stone fireplace. The objects found dated from the late 1700's to the early 1800's and included military buttons from Fort Mackinac . Yet, the site had an air of mystery about it. Close inspection of the few early maps of the Straits indicted a mill on the stream, but none showed the exact location. Historical documents likewise were sketchy and, thus, archaeology was the primary way to learn about the history of Mill Creek. The site begged to be explored. The Park Commission, with permission of the Forestry Division, sent a small archaeological crew headed by MSU graduate student Patrick Martin to conduct excavations during the summers of 1973, 1974 and 1975. Searches were also begun in a number of libraries and archives to find additional maps or records. Martin and his crew located two substantial houses, one on each side of the creek. On the east bank the remains of a barn was found and the logs from the dam were mapped. Test pits were dug over a large area in an attempt to locate the site of the mill. Archaeological evidence indicated that there had been a substantial community at Mill Creek from approximately 1780 to 1840 and that the community was closely connected to Fort Mackinac and Mackinac Island . Believing that the area might have potential for development as a historic park, the Mackinac Island State Park requested that the Michigan Legislature transfer the 503 acre site to the commission. In 1975 the transfer was made. In order to assess the development potential a grant was secured in 1977 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Victor Hogg headed a planning team that developed a feasibility study and master plan. The plan blended historic reconstruction with interpretation of the natural resources to tell the story of how people used the land and its resources from the Ice Age to the present. The Park Commission was impressed with the plan and authorized the staff to apply for grant funds to implement the plan. Coastal Zone Management of the U.S. Department of Commerce was particularly supportive as was the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The $200,000 in grants made possible additional excavation in 1979 and 1980 by Tom Ford as well as the construction of nature trails and the reconstruction of the mill dam.
Desiring to open the park to the public, the Park Commission in 1982 issued $500,000 in revenue bonds to develop Historic Mill Creek State Park . The project went on a fast track. An operating water-powered sawmill was reconstructed and the Orientation Center comprising a museum and theater area and a restroom/concession building was built. The park opened on June 15, 1984. © Mackinac Island State Park Commission. All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reprinted in any form without permission. Adapted from: Historic Mill Creek by David A. Armour. Mackinac Island State Park Commission, 1996. |
Plan Your Visit  |
 |