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INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE SAGINAW VALLEY BY JUDGE ALBERT MILLER
So our young State, that had so recently started out to do business on her own account with such high hopes and under such favorable auspices, was bankrupt, and so great had been the previous financial crash in mercantile circles that but few men doing business in 1836 maintained their credit. So for a time we were almost literally a community of bankrupts as well as a bankrupt State. But thanks to the energy, industry, and frugality of our citizens, the vast undeveloped resources of our State and the wise and prudent administration of its government, our State has gradually arisen from that degraded position till now she stands in the front rank of her sister States in reference to State credit and the prosperity of her citizens. But to return to the Bad River canal. After the pay stopped, the work of course stopped also; when the Irishmen were dismissed
from the job the last installment of their wages had not been paid, and for two or three days, with angry looks, they paraded the streets of Saginaw, mat ing those interested in the contract fear they would mob their houses, but after a proper explanation of the cause of the non-payment of their wage they left without doing any damage to any one. The whole amount expended on that work by the State was a total loss, resulting in no good to any one Some years after the transaction the State settled with Mr. Little, the con tractor, and paid him $16,000.
About six years ago Mr. Wentz, the engineer before referred to, visited his friends in Bay City, and having had a pleasant acquaintance with him while he was engaged in the survey of the canal, I was glad to meet him on the occasion of his visit, and to talk with him about the changes that had been made in the Saginaw valley during his forty years' absence from it.
Michigan
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