By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

I recently purchased a set of color slides from an online auction. I was really excited at first because they are in color and from the 1950s. They were taken at the Wildlife Park of John “Spikehorn” Meyer. While still a great find, I was disappointed the man himself wasn’t a subject of any of the slides. My assumption would be by the time the photos were taken Spike was aging and probably in Gladwin at the nursing home where he died in 1959.

The song by Jamey Johnson, “In Color” was running through my mind when I first saw the slides. The only other color photos I have seen of Spikehorn was a short clip from a 1950s era tourism promotional film. The clip is on YouTube, and I will link it when this article is online on the Cleaver website.

Born in Ohio but raised on a farm near Shepherd, Spikehorn came to the Harrison area in the late 20s. On 80 acres south of Harrison he continued various businesses such as his Green Mountain Tree Company. Already claiming to be in his 80s he began Spikehorn’s Bear Den and Wildlife Park in the 1930s. Wearing homemade buckskins and sporting a long beard, his business was visited by 1,000s of tourists each year.

The Chambers family began working with Spikehorn in 1951. They quickly assumed nicknames; Lonnie Chambers, alias Chief Red Eagle, his wife Willa Maye was “Starr”, his son “Little Beaver” or “Blue Eagle”, his oldest daughter “White Horse” and the youngest “Little Violet” as part of their “Indian” personas. They were not Indigenous people but a Black family from the Detroit area.

Disagreements between Spikehorn and his associates were not unusual and usually involved non-payment. Chambers had his share of disputes with Spikehorn. Spike would defend Lonnie and his family claiming heritage as “Indians in the Blackfoot Tribe” and later he would …   More

This early 1900 postcard is not out of the ordinary but that is what I like about it. A collage of early Clare buildings in Clare colorized and published by a company out of Toledo, Ohio.

It was mailed from Clare to Harrison to Mrs. Jos. Newbound.

This card also calls Clare, “The Market City”. I was curious about this title and sure enough found a mention of ‘Market City’ on the front page of a 1909 Clare Sentinel. It read, “In accord with a movement on in many cities Clare has fallen in line and adopted a slogan. “THE MARKET CITY.” The adoption was made Monday, a committee determining that A. E. Maynard’s suggestion as given above be the city’s choice. This is an admirable one as interpreting what Clare does today. It is much to be doubted if any other town in Michigan in proportion for her size can show such an array of wagons and buggies as come to Clare, especially on Saturday. “One and all” for “The Market City”, not to inject it into our political differences, not to boost just on the eve of a municipal election and forget it immediately, but on a sane, consistent basis let us all boost for better markets, a greater Clare and a city of pure homes and ambitious lives.”

What I like about this card is the simple message on the back. It is a quick communication between two friends when a letter wouldn’t suit and not everyone had phone service. The card reads, “Hello Fannie, how are you coming? Trust everything is O.K. Think I am going to like it fine when I get acquainted. Ans soon. Laura” It was mailed in August of 1910. Since I’m naturally curious, or nosey as my husband likes to say when it comes to my genealogy, I looked up the receiver of the card. It went to Fannie (Melvin) Newbound. Fannie was born in Highland in Oakland County and died in Harrison in 1942. Her husband Joseph was born in England and died in Mt. Pleasant in 1947. They appear …   More

Most people who are familiar with Harrison have heard the phrase and the area’s claim to fame, “20 Lakes in 20 Minutes.” A sign with arrows pointing in the general direction of those 20 lakes has been on First Street in Harrison for over 70 years.

The first mention of the slogan “20 Lakes in 20 Minutes” in the newspaper is in a 1933 Cleaver article. It touts the areas trout streams, lakes and natural beauty.

The “20 Lakes” sign at Murton Oil Company was branded with their name and the Texaco brand. They also sold Firestone brand tires and offered tire repair. The Murton station also had a slogan of their own which was “Be Certain, See Murton.” And “Harrison’s Downtown Station.”

The original sign was created by Thelma Hubbell, artist and longtime Murton Oil Co. employee. It was located near the station across the street from the State Saving Bank in the area near the current Rite Aid parking lot. The bank can be seen in the oldest photo of the sign.

The “20 Lakes in 20 Minutes” slogan was originally coined by Harrison resident J.M. Van Deusen but widely used by real estate developer James A. D’arcy. D’arcy used the slogan in advertisements selling small cabins and lots in subdivisions he developed.

James A. D’Arcy purchased a large tract of land from the Weatherhead family, and it was platted into the Weatherhead-Hughes subdivision and included all the lake lots north and south from Hughes Point on Budd Lake. D’Arcy developed the unique idea of selling cabins and lots as a package deal. The affordable, ready-made vacation getaway between $495 and $795 was marketed to factory workers in the Detroit area. D’Arcy also originally developed the Snow Snake Mountain Ski Resort in the late 1940s.

D'Arcy also developed the Piney Woods subdivision just north of Harrison. The draw for these small cabins was the proximity to lakes and state …   More

Essentially a ‘running gear’ assembled/manufactured from 1928-1935 Ford vehicle axles, wheels, and tires provided by the customer to Everett Allen, Dover, Michigan.

    A write-up by Leo J. Fitzpatrick in December 2007 on donating a Dover Wagon to the Clare County Historical Society tells the ‘story’:

   This wagon was built by Everett Allen at his blacksmith shop in Dover in 1943. The person ordering the way furnished the front axles that were used from Ford vehicles built 1928 to 1935.  Ford Motor Company used 15-inch wheels in their 1935 vehicles.  The person ordering also furnished wheels and tires.   Everett Allen used Ford axles because they had a bow in the axle.  The bow     allowed the axle to be used upside down for better ground clearance and strength for the design of the wagon.   He said he built 68 of these wagons between the late 1930 all through the middle of the 1940’s.   Everett could build a wagon in a day and a half using his own iron and wood for a cost of      $35.00 for material and labor.

   This wagon was the 34th wagon that he made.  Bernard Fitzpatrick ordered in 1943.  It was the first rubber-tired implement on the Fitzpatrick farm. [ A Centennial Farm].  There was never a mechanical bread down in all the years it      was used.  It was a very good wagon to sue with a team of horses and it was an     excellent tow trailer on the road.  It was used regularly on the Fitzpatrick farm     for a period of 40 years.

   In 2007 it was rebuilt and donated by the Fitzpatrick family to the Clare      County Historical Society.

   Leo J. Fitzpatrick provided this information from is personal knowledge.   More

This typewriter was originally given to the Harrison Community Library in the 1990s. It was loaned to the Clare County Historical Society in the 2000s and recently returned so it can go in the new museum area at the Surrey House, the future home of the Harrison District Library. The serial number reveals this Remington would have been built between 1904 and 1908.

The fire that burned the Cleaver was on December 26, 1925. The Cleaver issue January 1, 1926, reported about the fire and that edition of newspaper was printed at the Clare Sentinel in Clare until the Cleaver could get a press and get back up running. The Cleaver office has been in the same location on Main Street it moved into after the fire at 183 W. Main Street, Harrison.

On October 6, 1998, Merlin (Roy) Allen wrote from Bridgeport, Michigan:

This Remington Model 12 typewriter was used by Jesse F. Allen, publisher of the Clare County Cleaver. He owned the paper from January 1909 to September 1936. Bought used from the Allen Printing Company, Lansing, in 1921, the machine was used in the Cleaver office until he sold the business, after which he used it personally. In 1925, when the Cleaver building burned to the ground, it was among the few articles found.

Typewriters were relatively expensive and scarce during the y ears this machine was used at the Clare County Cleaver office. It is very likely that at that time, fewer than a dozen typewriters were in use in Harrison. I know of one at the post office (an old Oliver), two or three at retailers, two at the school, four or five in the courthouse, one in Quinn’s law office; and that’s about it.

When Jesse Allen died in 1949, the old Remington was passed on to the children, and went from household to household. Since 1975, granddaughter Dolores (Wood) Gronda and I have shared its care and custody. We pass it on now to the Harrison Museum.

    More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

When thinking of women in Clare County history Anna Marie Beemer Bailey stands out. Marie, as she was called, was born to Oliver and Lena (Gosine) Beemer on October 31, 1901, in Clare County. Her father Oliver was a legend in the county and also to Marie. Marie wrote a lengthy essay about her father’s merits, but this article is about Marie and perhaps I can share that another time.

She married Frederick Bailey (1898–1954) in 1922. She changed her name with marriage but all her life she was known as Marie Beemer Bailey. Marie’s brother Art Beemer married Fred’s sister Thressia. Such is the tangled web of pioneer family trees when populations were smaller. In 1964, Art, Bill, and Fred Beemer were the founders of Beemer’s Sand and Gravel run by Art’s grandson Cody Beemer today. That business celebrates 60 years of continuous business this year.

Cody holds Marie’s diaries and other family history. Some of that collected history was used in the 2014 book Harrison that Cody and I coauthored through Arcadia Publishing. In the 1970’s Marie intended to write a history book about Harrison but never did. She kept detailed diaries about her life with over 30 volumes in total. I’ve only read through one, but they detail her life from small things such as who she had lunch with or who she called on to noting family or community member deaths. The diaries are a glimpse into small town life seen through the eyes of a busy and vigorous member of the community.

Marie was a schoolteacher for over 53 years in various positions in Clare County. She started teaching school in 1917 at the one room schoolhouse in Leota. Many news items ran in the Cleaver over the years similar to this 1943 clip from Frost Township, “The children of the Frost School enjoyed a program and Christmas tree at the school Wednesday morning. The children exchanged gifts and the …   More

With great interest I’ve been following the finding and removal of the Thew Type O Steam Shovel from the bottom of the drained Wixom Lake near the Edenville dam. Not seen in 100 years, the shovel ironically helped create the lake that drained when the dam failed this past spring.

The steam shovel’s new home will be the Midland Antique Engine Association. They are optimistic and enthusiastic about restoring it back to working condition. It’s only one of a handful known to exist.

The YouTube channel of Jordan Mowbray has an interesting video detailing the process to get the steam shovel out of the lakebed. A lot of tedious hand digging and detaching the boiler from the steam shovel and a lot of volunteer hours went to getting the machine released from its former resting place. Heavy equipment that didn’t exist 100 years ago assisted in pulling the machine out. The river and lakebed are a tragically fascinating to site to see.

This treasure can be restored, and its old parts used as patterns to make new ones and the hope is it can be running again. Restoration is the end goal. The wheels were still turning as the steam shovel was hauled out of the dirt. There had been unsuccessful attempts to resurface the steam shovel in years passed but the catastrophic dam failure finally made it possible.

One of the things that comes up all the time, particularly when I speak to school groups, is the lore of trains in our lakes.  Is there a train in Budd Lake? Almost every lake that was active during the logging era has a legend of a train or other sunken treasures.

While there isn’t a train in Budd Lake, there is logging era evidence all around us. I’ve also heard railroad tracks were run across Budd Lake.  We know this isn’t true and that any tracks across or near Budd Lake are just fun stories. We know exactly where the tracks were in relation to the lake (near the Harrison Lumber Co. and power dock area where …   More

An ice storm blanketed most of the upper Midwest including Clare County. Tomorrow, on 2/22/2022, an ice storm is expected but Clare County totals are predicted at ice accumulations of one tenth to one third an inch.

The Clare Courier reported that they installed a gasoline engine in order to print the edition of paper reporting the storm. “Hand composition being necessary the Courier will not present its usual appearance.”

Trains ran late, if at all and “the streets of Clare are covered with the shiny surface from door to door, and the trees, poles and wires glisten in their icy mantle. How long we will be without light, power and telephone is hard to say. It is certain no new poles can be installed until the frost is out of the ground and even temporary repairs cannot be made until warmer weather and the ice is gone.”

The Clare Sentinel reported in their 2/24/1922 issue, "The oldest inhabitant have never seen the equal of this Storm, which is reported to be tbe worst of its kind in state’s history. The storm was general across southern Michigan, up Saginaw Valley and across the central portion of tbe state. Clare county is entirely shut off from outside telephone and telegraph communication, being reported down for miles every direction."

Every community reported about the storm. Also from the Clare Courier, “People of Farwell and vicinity, have sure suffered their share of loses by the unprecedented sleet storms of last week which has destroyed fruit and shade trees, forest trees both young and old, telephone, telegraph and electric light equipment, and nearly cut us off from the outside world, Pere Marquette trains and auto traffic have been our means of hearing from outside. Many of the present generation will never again in this territory see fine fruit and shade trees we have been privileged to enjoy.”

In the weeks following the storm professors from the Michigan Agricultural College arrived in Clare to …   More

Linen postcards from the  1930s and 1940s was something I had largely overlooked in collecting and researching Clare County.  So many are available and at an inexpensive price they didn't seem that important.   Most are not actual local scenes but generic lake and landscape tourist scenes.   Since they weren't actual local images I hadn't collected or researched them. 

Many linen cards were made by Curt Teich & Co, Inc. .  Since these cards were mass produced and there are so many of them a high percentage are mailed and contain a lot of genealogical and first-person  information of the subject.   If the card is mailed the postmark date can provide information and luckyily with a large company like Curt Teich & Co, Inc. they had their own system of coding and dating postcards.  (https://www.newberry.org/sites/default/files/researchguide-attachments/Teich_Postcard_Dating_Guide_2016.pdf )

I was particulary gratefull to be able to date the linen Teich card that is stamped on the back SPIKE HORN CREEK CAMP BEAR DEN. The card is from the 1930s so we can see what ol' Spikehorn was up to and how he represented his busienss during this time.  The scene with this stamp on the back is an inland water scene and probably a set of cards he bought for resale were that were not personalized.   This particular card was produced in 1934 and of course it could have been for sale for many years at Spikehorn's tourist camp.  

Purchasing and studying some of these inexpensive pieces of local history, while not direct images of Clare county, are still important pieces of our history.     More

A winter scene at the top of James Hill about 1900. James Hill is one of the most recognizable land features in Clare County. It rerouted railroads and caused issues when the automobile became popular and good passable roads were demanded by citizens. Today locals swear the weather forecast is different north and south of James Hill. Certainly, glaciers pushed good farming soil south of James Hill and the view is spectacular in all seasons.

Over 100 Years Ago

Clare Sentinel, 23 August 1912

Mr. R. Emerson said the James hill would be fixed and fixed properly before the threshing machines started north. Good. Thanks, Bro R.

 Clare Sentinel, 13 September 1912

We are nearly ready to draw our grain over the James Hill. Is it in good condition? Kindly help us out as it is a tough proposition for loaded teams. You Clare people touch them up a little.

Clare Sentinel, 28 June 1917

The people of Harrison will be able to resume their former state of cheerful contentment after July 1st. On the following day mail will be delivered to them every twenty four hours, which isn't so long to wait after you've got into, the habit of hearing the train whistle “down brakes” only every other day, to say nothing of Sunday which comes along regularly most every week. Motor car service will start from Clare to Harrison July 2nd, leaving here after the train arrives from the east in the morning, but not later than ten o’clock, one and one half hours being allowed to make the ascent (including up or around the James hill) The return starts at six p.m.  Nate Trubull has expressed a willingness to stick to the job for two years at $950 a year if he could layoff on Sunday. The department said he probably would need to. Also he can carry passengers, which should help to keep his mind off the job (and theirs off the regular tariff rates) He does not deliver mail along the way.

    More

When I do genealogy it’s easy to track and be familiar with families that aren’t yours but have similar names and live in the same places. The same thing happens when researching locally. Budd Lake, New Jersey, the half dozen or so Surrey Houses in the United States, Harrison Township, St Clair, Harrison, Ohio, even Clare, Ireland - all these places and others are sometimes confused with places in our Clare County.

Researching Lake, Crooked Lake or Lake Station is difficult too. If you try to search Lake Michigan, you can imagine the thousands of results that come up.

I’ve addressed this before when a little creamer pitcher was donated to the Harrison District Library that was branded with a Surrey House logo. It wasn’t our Surrey House, but I kept the piece anyway, labelled and stored with the proper information.

I recently saw this postcard of Lily Lake and it was identified as Clare County. I got excited for a moment because I don’t have many historic photos of Lily Lake in Greenwood Township.

On inspection though the terrain and shape of the lake doesn’t match. The seller online of the card gives no other information about it the card and it never says it’s from Clare County. The front says Lily Lake and the back is blank. There is a Lily Lake in many states in the U.S.

Even after a long discussion with my friend and history buff Cody Beemer we couldn’t really say for sure it was or wasn’t ‘our’ Lily Lake. I lean strongly that it is not. I invite anyone else to weigh in!

I was given this photo of an older gentleman with the possibility it could be Spikehorn Meyers. I was so thrilled and taken aback by the photo at first, I couldn’t think critically. A somewhat cleaned and trimmed up John E. Meyers that could only be toward the end of his life in the late 1950s. The photo was taken by local photographer Leonard Hawks. That he would photograph Spike wouldn’t be out of …   More

Knowledge of local history can go a long way in finding and identifying photos.  I found this photo in an online auction several years ago. 

The photo is mislabeled by the seller as a post-mortem child.  In fact is it Paul Weatherhead, asleep in a box in his uncles store downtown Harrison in about 1903.  Unfortunately, I missed purchasing this photo online, but I was able to keep scans that I copied.  It was labeled only with Paul's name and age on the reserve side.  

Paul’s father was Fred Weatherhead, longtime Harrison resident, banker, real estate developer, and popular community leader.  Paul’s mother was Mary Hughes Weatherhead and her brothers operated the Hughes Bros. Store on Main Street for over half a century.

After teaching and traveling abroad in his younger years, Paul made his home in Harrison most of his life.  He was well known as a real estate agent that was heavily involved in the community. His family and their lives are well documented in the Cleaver and through family history collections at the Harrison District Library and the Clare County Historical Society and with many family members that remain in the area. 

Post-mortem photography was an accepted memorial practice over a hundred years ago.  There were few photos of a person and taking a photo of the deceased alone or posing with family members was common. It's easy to see why the seller of the photo would think young Weatherhead was deceased posed in such a way. 

Paul didn’t die as a child but in 1989 at age 88 and is buried in the family plot at Maple Grove Cemetery in Harrison.   More