Plat of the north end of Beaver Island, 1930s

Summary

The northern two-thirds of Beaver Island, across both civil townships: from Greene’s Bay and McFadden Point at the foot of the sheet, north through Township of Peaine into Saint James, the harbour, the Portage and Sucker Point. It names the owner and acreage of essentially every parcel, and it is the more crowded of the two island sheets — the settled end of the island, drawn at enough size that forty-acre labels along the east shore are legible.

The southern third is on its counterpart, Plat of the south end of Beaver Island, 1930s.

The sheet

The plat is printed sideways. Its heading runs up the left edge of the leaf, so the sheet has to be turned a quarter-turn clockwise before anything on it reads:

T.38&39N. PART of BEAVER ISLAND R.10&11W.

The two civil townships are named by spacing their letters one to a section: ST. JAMES across the top of the sheet and PEAINE across its middle. There is no cartouche, no compass rose, no scale statement and no explanations panel; Charlevoix Co. Mich. is lettered in a small hand at the foot.

Ownership, as the compilers recorded it

Read what follows as names the county’s records carried when Hixson compiled, as Hixson drew them — not evidence of title, occupancy or residence. This volume, unlike the 1901 one, does not state where its names came from at all.

W. S. McCrea holds the interior here too, in blocks of 520 in section 32, 480 in section 29, 400 in sections 31 and 33, 320 twice in sections 19 and 20, 280 in section 17, and 120 besides — the same name that dominates the southern sheet and dominated the 1901 plate Plat of Big Beaver Island, 1901. State holds large inland blocks alongside it, at 480, 280 and 160 acres.

The rest of the sheet is the island’s own surnames, and most of them run straight through from 1901 (spellings verbatim):

• Indian Point to the Portage, along the north shore — Mrs. E. Landich 61.50, Mrs. P. H. O'Donnell 56.15, Father Hayes 48 and 30.25, T. Floyd 40, Tim. Leonard 190.25, J. Vincent Est. 38, Dunlevy, W. J. Gallagher 36.75, and State on several shore lots.
• St. James and the harbour — R. Millory, Mrs. C. Dowdell 48.65, F. Nackerman 50.15, T. Leonard 80, J. W. Gallagher 80, P. Maloney 40, C. Gordan 76, J. P. Gordy 33.50, M. Cull 54, E. Burke 40, Miller 28.65, W. Kerr 42.80, J. O'Donnell, H. McCann, and the LIGHT HOUSE on the point.
• Font Lake and Barney’s Lake — M. Ayers 120 and 80, J. W. Green 160, A. O'Donnell 80, M. C. Donnell, J. H. Green, J. Robinson, T. Bonner 160, Paul French 160, D. P. Boyle 40, M. Coffern.
• East shore, Looney’s Rock to Little Sand Bay — J. Martin 60, W. Gallagher 26.15, M. O'Donnel 47.4, D. Boyle 73.50, Mrs. O. Boyle 120, D. D. Boyle 40, D. O'Donnell 40, H. Risquers 40, J. F. McCauley 40, J. Schmidt 174.60 and 54.60, P. Early 40, J. Deuisdies 80, O. Gallagher 80, Pat Early 58.50, Malloy Bros. 80, Malloy 62, D. P. Gallagher 40, J. F. McDonough 80, M. McDonough 80, T. McDonough 80, F. Chapin 40, and a Church and Cem. in section 34.
• The centre, Round Lake and Egg Lake to the Jordan — P. McCauley 80, J. C. Gallagher 80 and 120, F. McCauley 80, N. McCafferty 80, H. E. Boyle 80, F. Roddy 80, A. Gallagher 40, J. Riskeders 40, H. Gallagher 80, M. O'Donnell 80, J. Mooney 80, Mrs. J. Mooney 40, J. Gillispie 40, M. Biggs 40, O. F. McCauley 40, D. Malloy 40, P. Gallagher 40, Dan Gillispie 160, Dan Gallagher 320, A. Frotchman, D. R. Green 80, A. Green 120, D. Wilson 110, S. Gallagher, P. Malloy 80, W. Richguers 160, H. E. Boyle 160, P. V. McDonough 40, J. Schmidt 80, Jos. Schmidt 80, T. W. Green 80, T. Burke 120, W. F. Gill 40, T. McCauley 40, U. McDonough 120, Mrs. L. McDonough, P. McDonough 40, W. Resjked 40, State 160.
• South, Greene’s Bay to Point La Par — A. Fotchman 120, W. J. Gallagher 120, Banke 80, N. Lafinnies 80, J. J. Tweddle 40, McCann & Green 80, Mrs. L. Greinier 40, H. T. Boyle, M. Boyle 80, M. R. Boyle 80, J. J. Campbell 200, T. J. Shaw 80, Realty Co. 80, Grace Lumber Co. 200, C. Hammond 120, Ross Millory, T. Redding, Smith 200, J. S. Gallagher, Sheridan, C. G. McCann, and E. Ranch beside Fox Lake.
• Institutional entries — State on many parcels, Church, Cem., Sch., the LIGHT HOUSE, and INDIAN BURYING GROUND lettered on the north shore.

Read the acreages with the hooked mark separated off

As on the southern sheet, a small hooked mark drawn like a figure 6 sits beside a great many parcel labels, and short arrows point from a name into the adjoining parcel. Neither is explained, because this atlas prints no legend. Any figure here that looks larger than the parcel it sits in is that mark read as a digit; the acreages above are given as drawn and a few of them are uncertain for exactly this reason.

No person on this sheet is identified with an article here

An initial and a surname are not an identification on an island carrying this many Gallaghers, Boyles, Greens and McDonoughs, and none of the people articles here holds a land record that could confirm a join. The names are leads.

What is drawn, and what is not

No railway. No cross-tied symbol appears on this sheet, and by the accounts this archive holds the Beaver Island Lumber Company’s narrow-gauge line had been gone since somewhere between 1915 and 1917 — at least thirteen years before the earliest date this atlas can carry.

The line work is roads, drawn as two solid parallel rules, and this is the sheet where the island’s road network can actually be seen. A long straight route runs diagonally north-east from the sections 30/31 corner near McFadden’s Point, past Fox Lake, towards sections 20 and 21, forking in section 29 with a branch running south-east. Others follow section lines through St. James and down the east shore.

The 1901 plate drew a long route on much the same alignment — inland from McFadden’s Point, past Fox Lake, then east — with two dashed casings, a style absent from its own legend, and the earlier article left it unresolved. Here the same alignment is an ordinary road in the ordinary style. That is consistent with the 1901 dashes marking a route then unimproved or projected; it is not evidence for it, because this atlas defines no symbols at all and neither sheet has been georeferenced. See King's Highway.

Names on the sheet

PAGETOWN is lettered on the north shore between Indian Point and the Portage, as it was in 1901 — a second dated cartographic attestation of Page Town. INDIAN BURYING GROUND, PORTAGE, LOONEYS ROCK, BARNEYS LDG. and BONNERS LDG. are likewise lettered and likewise thinly covered.

Also lettered, matching existing articles: ST. JAMES, BIG BEAVER ISLAND HARBOR, INDIAN PT., SUCKER PT., LITTLE SAND BAY, SANDY BAY, LEFTS PT., OLIVER PT., MCFADDENS PT., PT. LA PAR, GREENES BAY, FONT LAKE, BARNEYS LAKE, ROUND LAKE, EGG LAKE, FOX LAKE, GREENES lake and JORDAN river.

Sources

1. W. W. Hixson & Company, “T.38 & 39N. Part of Beaver Island R.10 & 11W.”, in Plat Book of Charlevoix Co. Mich. (Rockford, Ill., between 1930 and 1939). Read at native resolution from the 6,600 x 5,100 px sheet master held at the local_path above; Michigan State University Digital Repository item 959, ARK ark:/85335/m5g73c551.
2. The volume as a whole, Michigan State University Digital Repository item 946.
3. kb/articles/documents/big-beaver-island-plat-1901.md for the 1901 readings compared above.
4. kb/articles/organizations/beaver-island-lumber-company.md for the disputed 1915/1916/1917 end of the island’s narrow-gauge railway.

Read the document

19 pages, rendered from the held scan.

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