[Journeying]

IT has been said that the first horses at Detroit were brought from Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, after the defeat of General Braddock in 1755. There were undoubtedly some here at a much earlier period, for horses were brought to Quebec in 1665, and in Cadillac's grant of land to Joseph Parent, in 1708, one of the conditions was that he was to shoe Cadillac's horses. There were but very few horses, however, for general use, and until about 1840 their place was largely supplied by the little French ponies which roamed at large both inside and outside of the town. These were branded on the shoulder with their owner's initials, and when wanted were caught and broken. They received little care, and lived by foraging, yet they were generally in good condition. If a barrel of salt was left outside of a store over night, it was no uncommon thing to find that it had been gnawed through or broken, and oftentimes the citizens were awakened from sleep by the clatter of the ponies' hoofs as they galloped through the streets. They were very hardy, and under the saddle have been known to travel sixty miles a day for ten successive days.

Supplies for the army, from about 1760, were occasionally brought part way by land from Niagara with ox-teams, accompanied by an overseer on horseback.

Early in the century a common mode of traveling, when there was but one horse for two or more persons, was known as the "ride and tie " method. One person would take the horse and ride on a few miles, then tie the horse and proceed on foot. The next one of the party coming up would take the horse, ride a few miles ahead of the first person, and again tie the horse to a tree. Journeys of several hundred miles were performed in this manner. During this period Indian trails and bridle-paths constituted almost the only semblance of roads, hence horseback riding was, for the most part, the only possible method of land travel, and with swamps to wade and streams to ford the method was slow indeed.

On October 16, 1796, John Wilkins, quartermaster-general of the western army, wrote from Pittsburgh to James McHenry, Secretary of War, that he had arrived there on the 14th, having left Detroit on the 4th. The Detroit Gazette for December 13, 1825, says : "Governor Cass left this city yesterday morning on his way to Washington. He was escorted out of town by a large company of citizens on horseback." On June 20, 1826, the following item appeared : "Major Forsyth, who returned from the city of Washington last week, performed the journey to that city and back in eighteen days. We believe the journey has never before been performed in so short a time." On September 25, 1828, it was stated as a noteworthy fact that John Palmer had just made a trip to New York in four days and fifteen hours ; the ordinary time was six days and nine hours. When Major John Biddle went to Washington as the territorial delegate, in the fall of 1829, he wrote back on December 7 saying : "I arrived here last night after a long and fatiguing journey of upwards one thousand miles, nine hundred of which I performed on horseback." Travel in the interior of the State was not possible until the military roads to Chicago and Fort Gratiot were opened.

For short distances, from the days of Cadillac until 1830, the low, two-wheeled French carts were almost the only land carriages used by any one. They were cushioned with hay or robes, according to the ability of their owners, and ladies of the highest social standing made their calls or went to church sitting on the bottom of these primitive vehicles. A row of them in front of the churches or the council-house was no uncommon sight. In 1815, Governor Cass brought his family from Ohio to Detroit in a carriage, but as the country was very poor, and the wealthiest in only moderate circumstances, any attempt at display was seldom made. The carriage, therefore, was used only on rare occasions, and was finally sold to Mr. McKinstry for use as a hack.

About 1834 Major Larned procured a two-seated carriage, and the same year C. C. Trowbridge procured of Joseph Clapp, of Pittsford, Mass., a single carriage. It was so much admired by Mrs. Antoine Beaubien that she ordered a duplicate. E. A. Brush and A. T. McReynolds also ordered carriages about the same time. At present hundreds of carriages and landaus are kept by private persons for their own use and pleasure. In 1822 the only four-wheeled wagon in the city was owned by Judge Sibley, and it was in constant requisition among his less fortunate neighbors; even Governor Cass frequently solicited the loan of it, saying to his old French servant, "Pierre, go up to Judge Sibley, and tell him if he is not using his wagon to-day I should like to borrow it;" and as Pierre started off he would sometimes call after him and say, "Come back, Pierre! Tell Judge Sibley that I am going to get a wagon made, and after that I will neither borrow nor lend."

The first public stage from Detroit left for Mt. Clemens on the arrival of the steamboat in June, 1822. In 1827 stages commenced to run between this city and Ohio. On February 16, 1830, a stage was advertised to go from Sandwich to Niagara, three times a week, the journey to be made in four days for five cents a mile. In this year a line of post-coaches ran from here to Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Tecumseh. The following Stage Regulations were advertised in 1832:

The Sandusky Line, passing through Monroe and Maumee, leaves the Hotel every evening at six o'clock. The St. Joseph Line, passing through Ypsilanti, Saline, Clinton, Jonesville, White Pigeon, Mottville, and Niles, leaves the Hotel every morning at seven o'clock during the summer season, and three times a week during the winter season. A branch of this line leaves Ypsilanti immediately after its arrival, for Ann Arbor, Jackson-burg, and Calhoun. The Ann Arbor Line, passing through Pekin, Plymouth, and Panama, leaves the Hotel three times a week.

The Pontiac Line leaves daily ; and a branch, three times a week, passes through Rochester, Stony Creek, and Romeo. And also a. line to Mount Clemens three times a week. A daily extra will also leave the Hotel for Ypsilanti at twelve o'clock. As almost all of the above routes are regular mail routes, the traveling public may depend upon a safe and speedy conveyance. Extra carriages will be furnished at all times for any part of the country.

B. WOODWORTH. April, 1832.

On May 30, 1834, this item appeared in a Detroit daily:

A new line is about to be established between this city and the mouth of the St. Joseph River, and the first coach left to-day. This line will run through the county seats of Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, and Kalamazoo. Steamboats are about to commence running between the mouth of the St. Joseph and Chicago, so that the entire distance from Detroit to Chicago may be performed in less than five days.

In 1837 stages ran from Detroit as far west as Chicago, east to Buffalo, and north to Flint. The time to Chicago was four and a half days.

The increasing extension of railroad lines constantly lessened the number of stage routes, and since 1873 no regular stages have been run from the city.

The first public carriages were the two-wheeled cabs. In 1845 two of these were procured by a man named Robert Banks, --Henry Jackson, James Hall, and Mrs. Woods being associated with him in their ownership. Banks had a barber-shop on the northeast corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street. Previous to the arrival of the cabs a space near the corner had been paved with hexagonal blocks of wood, and he advertised that his hacks would be found there. A city license of $5.00 a year is paid by the owners of each hack, and drivers pay a license of $1.00. The following charges are allowed by law: Fifty cents for one person anywhere in city limits; children under ten, not more than two at a time, twenty-five cents; each trunk or bundle weighing less than fifty pounds is carried free ; for those weighing over fifty pounds, the legal charge is fifteen cents. Hacks by the hour are allowed $1.50 for first hour, $1.00 after for one person, and twenty-five cents an hour for each additional person ; between the hours of 11 P. M. and 5 A. M., one half more may be charged. A single person has a right to demand conveyance, at these rates, to any part of the city.

One of the earliest efforts to establish a regular line of street-omnibuses was made in May, 1847. The following newspaper item gives details of the enterprise:

OMNIBUS.-- Mr. Jonas Titus has started his omnibus again upon the route along Jefferson Avenue from the Michigan Exchange to Hamtramck. The 'bus has been decorated in fine style, and running at regular hours will greatly accommodate the East End and our citizens during the hot months. Prompt encouragement should be given (by the purchase of tickets) to an enterprise so laudable and useful.

This line was not well patronized, and soon ceased. Three years later the papers gave this notice of a new effort of the same character:

JEFFERSON AVENUE LINE OF OMNIBUSES.-- Messrs. Baldwin & Drake, proprietors of several fine cabs and carriages, have engaged some splendid omnibuses to form an omnibus line from the Depot to the head of Jefferson Avenue during summer. An omnibus will pass each way once in thirty minutes, taking on passengers at every point in the Broadway style. The fare will be fixed at a low rate, probably at six cents per ride.

The line went into operation on Jefferson Avenue on April 30, 1850. and soon after on Woodward Avenue, but like its predecessor was short-lived. Another interval of three years passed, and in 1853 an omnibus line was established by William Stevens, from Cleveland. This line was composed of the vehicles which had previously run to and from the hotels. It was sold after two years to A. J. Farmer; after three or four years, to Mr. Morris, and finally to Thomas Cox. Mr. Cox was succeeded by the present omnibus company, composed of Messrs. E. Ferguson and George Hendrie. Their office and stables are on Larned Street near First. They run twenty omnibuses and baggage wagons and two Herdic coaches, and charge two shillings for passengers, and the same for ordinary baggage. The office is open day and night, and their train-agents meet every passenger train coming to Detroit, at the Junctions, and arrange for the conveying of passengers or baggage to any part of the city. The system is a great improvement on the old plan, under which each hotel sustained its own 'bus and baggage-wagon, the drivers, a motley crew, literally seizing upon the travelers who came within their reach, while their cries made a bedlam of the depots and steamboat landings.

The Omnibus Company also own and run the coupes formerly managed by the Detroit Carriage and Express Company. These coupes were introduced on April 17, 1878, and the property was sold to the above-named company in July, 1883.

Return to Home Port