• « Previous Entries

Category

Branch County MI

• 08.23.09
  More of the west Mickesawbe boundary
  Branch County MI (0)

  (Aug 16, con't.) Yet another photo of the west boundary of the Mickasawbe reservation. Here I'm looking west on State Street, where one has to stop for Quincy-Grange Road. Both roads follow section lines. Governor Cass wanted the reservation boundary lines to coincide with section lines, but Mickasawbe and Ashkebe insisted that the surveyor offset it 60 rods to the west. The yellow arrows point to lines of trees on both the north and south sides of State Street. These tree rows are field boundaries that still follow the old reservation line. It also so happens ...
  
  
• 08.17.09
  Mickesawbe boundary, continued
  Branch County MI (0)

  Here's another view of the Mickasawbe reservation line, from yesterday's ride. I was riding along Quincy-Grange Road, which follows a section line. The reservation boundary was offset 60 rods to the east, right where the line of trees is at the far end of the wheat field. googlemap A yellow push-pin markers the spot where I took the photo. The farm buildings visible beyond the tree/reservation line in the photo can be seen near Ridge Road. Quincy-Grange Road, Newton Road, and State Street all follow section lines. Ridge Road follows a half-section line. ...
  
  
• 08.16.09
  Metric Rez Line – Not
  Branch County MI (0)

  There are a lot more places where one can see tree lines and fence lines that mark the east boundary of the old Mickasawbe Reservation than I had expected from looking at the plat maps. The above is not one of them, though. My bike is parked just this side of a tree line which happens NOT to be one of those. It turns out (now that I can study my GPS trace) that I had come too far. In fact, this road is not a particularly good one on which to look ...
  
  
• 08.08.09
  Old trails in Coldwater Township
  Branch County MI (4)

  (July 26, con't.) When I visit the Oak Grove Cemetery I sometimes like to get a few photos from the old bridge across the Coldwater River, too. This bridge is now blocked off for vehicles but it's not hard to climb over the guardrails to walk on it. And a footpath is still left open for pedestrians. I always assumed the old bridge is pretty close to where the original Chicago Road crossed the river. Today I examined the plat maps, and determined that the crossing was at this very location at least since ...
  
  
• 08.06.09
  William McCarty’s gravestone, finally.
  Branch County MI (2)

  (July 26, con't.) My first stop, after getting some breakfast, was at the Oak Grove cemetery. It was my 3rd stop at that cemetery this year. 1st trip in May - I looked for William McCarty's grave. McCarty is the person who interceded in the dispute between James Tompkins and some Potawatomi women over apple trees in 1831. (See "William McCarty's Language Skills.") I spent a long time looking, but didn't find McCarty's grave. Found some of his in-laws, but not McCarty himself. Visited in a house his son had built, but hadn't ...
  
  

• « Previous Entries