Early Settlers and Pironeer Life

Early settlers & Pioneer Life

Could it be that the zephyrs, so tender and gay Whispered of this beautiful land?
They must all have conspired the story to tell So pioneers would all understand.
So those seeking homes soon rode there in boats To the shore of that promised land,
And ox teams drove through the untraveled woods In an ever increasing band.
And there, amid hardship and strife and hard work The settlers built their new home
Where the sunset so brilliantly swept by the shore, And this Beautiful Charlevoix was born.

A Fantasy, by Rosa Nettleton - May 13, 1954

The permanent settlement of Pine River dates from 1854 with the arrival of Medad Thompson and his wife, Mormons estranged from the way of life they had encountered on Beaver Island. Fishermen had erected shoreside cabins and shanties on all three lakes for several years before that date, but not one of those temporary inhabitants could properly be called a settler. Their way of life precluded working and changing the land. After the Battle of Pine River and the resultant panic cleared the area, it was almost a year until there were new inhabitants.

After the Thompsons came the Dixons and others, ever so slowly at first, with increased momentum after the Civil War. Some stayed, a few founded other communities further along Pine Lake, many left. Those who initiated the history of Charlevoix showed noteworthy grit. It was a difficult life they chose, building homes in an astonishingly beautiful but unforgiving wilder­ness, in an environment of climatic extremes. These are the most prominent of our influential forebears.

 

Note: for additional information see the text following the pictures.

 

 

 

Slide01 Chief McSauba

Slide30 Bridge 2

Slide31 Bridge 3

Slide32 Bridge 4

Slide33 Bridge 5

Slide34 Bridge 5

Slide35 Bridge 6

Slide36 Bridge 6

Slide40 Downtown Charlevoix 1890

Slide41 Downtown Charlevoix 1890

Slide42 Downtown Charlevoix 1890

Slide43 Downtown Charlevoix 1890

Slide44 Downtown Charlevoix 1890

Slide45 Downtown Charlevoix (panarama)

Slide46 Downtown Charlevoix (panarama)

Slide50 Bridge Street 1878

Slide51 Bridge Street 1884

Slide52 Bridge Street 1904

Slide53 Bridge Street 1922

Slide60 Belvedere 1875

Slide61 Belvedere 1892

Slide62 Belvedere 1900

Slide63 Dixon Street 1884

Slide70 Hotel Fountain City

Slide71 Hotel Belvedere

Slide72 Hotel Belvedere

Slide73 Hotel Beach

Slide74 Hotel Inn

Slide75 Hotel Inn

Slide76 Hotel Inn

Slide80 Manitou

Slide81 Manitou

Slide82 Manistique

Slide83 Milwaukee clipper

Slide84 Missouri and Illinois

Slide85 North American

Slide86 Silvia

Slide87 South American

Slide90 Platt map 1901 (left)

Slide91 Platt map 1901 (right)

Slide95 Sugarbow

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