railroad was for timbered land at Royal Oak, and
for building a steam saw mill to make the five by
seven inch oak rails. As soon as the mill was
in operation I put men to work clearing and
grubbing the roadway to Detroit. It was all the
way through heavy timber from the mill to the
rear of the farms fronting the river. As fast as
the trees were cut down all that were suitable
were made into ties, while the large trees were
rolled to the center and so placed as to form two
continuous lines of logs. On these logs the ties
were placed, having a gain cut in each end to
receive the five by seven oak rails. When the rail
was placed in the gains a wooden wedge was
driven alongside the rail which fastened it solidly
in place. After making a few rods of this style on
the road we put a car upon it, and the use of a
towing line enabled the horse to travel outside
the ties, we were able to deliver them as fast as
required. We made a ditch on each side of the
track, throwing the soil excavated into the space
between the rails, which was the means of
keeping the water from the track and making a
dry and solid road for horses. With two working
parties of twenty men each, one overlooked by
Uncle Jack Keys, and the other by John W.
Hunter, who was the first settler of what is now
the village of Birmingham, while John R. Grout
was the engineer in charge, in a few months we
reached Jefferson avenue. Here we erected a
depot, and commenced the transportation of
passengers and freight to Royal Oak. The wagon
roads across the heavy timbered land were
almost impassable. The migration into Oakland,
Genesse and Lapeer counties was large, and it
was not unusual for us to recieve $100 for a
single day's traffic over these wooden rails. The
receipts from this source nearly met our
expenses in extending the road to Birmingham.
We made that place the terminus, until we found
the wear upon the wooden rails was be-
gining to broom them to an extent that we feared
would unfit them to receive the flat iron bar for
which they were intended.
As iron at that time cost ninety dollars a ton,
and the amount we required would cost a
hundred thousand dollars, the outlook became
serious. We had the control of money, but our
bank might be jeopardized by using any con-
siderable sum in the purchase of iron. We finally
applied to the legislature for power to raise a loan
of a hundred thousand dollars on six per cent
bonds having twenty years to run. This was at a
time long before the utility of free passes was
known, and our application must stand upon its
merits. I, however, invited a carload of the
members to make an excursion over the road to
see its importance and its situation.
[who was inclined to stutter] told the man who
asked him if there was not danger that the
horses might bolt and throw the car from the
track, that "the only d-d-danger on the Pon-
Pontiac R-r-road" was that he might die of old
age before he could get through. To obviate
that danger as much as possible, I took the
place of the driver and took the legislators over
the road with such speed and smoothness as
some of them had never before witnessed, and
soon after their return the bill was called up and
became law.
As soon as the bonds could be prepared and
signed I went to New York, sold them at par
and purchased the iron and a locomotive. This
locomotive came from the shop of Baldwin &
Co., Philadelphia, and had on each side a brass
plate bearing the name of the writer. It retained
that name until I parted with my interest in the
road, and it was then renamed the Detroit.
Some twenty years after, I found it and Uncle
Key still doing the work about the depot of the
then Detroit & Milwaukee road.
Uncle Jack Keys, a black horse and the
locomotive, were identified with the road for
twenty-five years. Old Pete [the black horse]
drew the first iron rails from the mill, drew the
first passenger car over the road, and for years
did the switching at Pontiac and exhibited an
intelligence rarely seen in any animal of any
kind. He learned how far from the track he
must be to be safe while a train was passing. If
on hearing a train approaching and he found
himself too near he would move sideways a
foot or two. While shifting cars he would not
start until he had first looked back to see the
number he was expected to draw, and if more
than a given number were in the train he would
not pull a pound, but soon as the extra cars
were detached he would pull all his strength.
Mr. Keys was famed for his honest industry
and stentorian voice. The late Rufus Hosmer
declared that his whisper could be heard from
Detroit to Royal Oak. Benjamin Brisco, who I
believe is still living in Detroit, was sent out
from Philadelphia to put up the Sherman
Stevens, and is therefore one of the Pontiac
Railroad pioneers.
the Michigan Pioneer Collection, volume 13,
page 484. The Detroit Pontiac Railroad later
merged with the Oakland and Ottawa which in
turn became the Detroit & Milwaukee Railway.
track layout I drew this diagram
showing how the early layout of
sleepers, ties and stringers for rails
was put together. In 1868 a
wooden railway was given some
serious consideration between
Ionia and Stanton but nothing ever
came of it.
information I found in a GTW
newsletter at the Briggs Library in
St. Johns.
The only known photograph of
the 1838 "Sherman Stevens," one
of Michigan's first steam loco-
motives, was recently discovered
in the collection of Kenneth E.
Schram of Detroit. It was given to
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