Pioneers
Between 1800 and 1835, many people came
to the area of the Northwest Territory
that would become the state of Michigan.
Pioneers brought what they could carry or what would fit in a wagon from their homes to
Michigan. Some pioneers came with financial resources, others in poverty. A farm family
might bring a iron plow blade with them, then make the handle from wood after settling on
their land. In the gallery you can see a spinning wheel made by a Michigan pioneer.
This handmade spinning wheel belonged to Elizabeth Campbell Anderson. Elizabeth lived
on a farm near Klinger Lake in St. Joseph County around 1838. This kind of spinning wheel
was called a wool or walking wheel. Only wool could be spun on it. The spinner
stood while using it.
Many towns began when surveyors marked out the property line. Settlers paid for parcels
of land with money they brought from the
east. Villages grew up along roads and near mills
that ground grain or cut lumber.
 Many pioneers began farming communities in the Lower Peninsula. Families cleared the
fields of trees, built fences, broke the tough sod, and improved soil through tillage and
natural fertilization. They grew wheat, corn, potatoes and other garden crops, and raised
sheep, hogs and cattle. They also made soap, spun wool, wove material and chopped wood.
Inns such as Walker Tavern at Cambridge
Junction (at the intersection of U.S. 12 and M-50) sprang up along the roads. These inns served stagecoach operators, travelers,
salesmen and settlers moving in with their wagons and carts.
This painting hangs next to the Settlement Gallery in the
museum. It is titled Pioneers along the Detroit-Chicago Road (today's
U.S. 12 highway). The Detroit-Chicago followed an Indian trail known as the
"Sauk Trail" on its western end and the "Montreal Trail" on
its eastern end. Many pioneers settlers followed this trail into Michigan from
Detroit. Painter Roy C. Gamble included two famous Michiganians in the scene:
Territorial Governor Lewis Cass (with top hat) and Fr. Gabriel Richard,
Michigan's delegate to Congress during territorial days. Fr. Richard convinced
Congress to provide the money to layout the Detroit-Chicago Road.
Travel was sometimes adventurous during settlement years. Lansing B. Swan told about
his adventures in a journal of a trip to Michigan in 1841.
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