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HISTORY OF ALPENA COUNTY BY WILLIAM BOULTON IN 1876
After the party had rested a little, they proceeded to survey the village of Fremont, but so jubilant were they with their political success that instead of commencing at the section corner, they started from the first place that suited them, and laid out the street now known as River street. When they had surveyed the street a short distance, they found it would interfere with the mill privileges on the south side of the river, so they made a short turn, near the present site of Golling's brick block, and then proceeded with the survey. This was the commencement of the first survey of Alpena, and the greater part of what they surveyed was covered with green woods.
Sometime after the events just narrated, the settlers began to be much annoyed by the noisy howling of the Indians who were camping on the north side of the river. Walter Scott, the trader, had considerable whisky in his shanty, which he used to give the Indians in payment for their furs, etc., and as long as the Indians were able to purchase it they kept up a constant powwow, howling, whooping, and "raising cain" generally. At last the settlers determined to put an end to the cause of the disagreeable annoyance, and so one night Mr. Fletcher- and Mr. Trowbridge went over to Scott's storehouse, and finding no one in it. proceeded to bore holes in the whisky barrels and let the liquor run out. There was considerable disturbance next morning when the Indians came over to get their morning bitters, and Scott found his
whisky all gone; but the damage could not be easily repaired, for communication with the lower ports was very uncertain, and by the time another supply of fire water could have been received, the Indians would have been on their way to Mackinaw to receive their annual gifts from the government.
Michigan
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