Pinora Township History

To understand Pinora Township history, you first need a few facts regarding Lake County history.  Lake County was first named Aishcum. 

The original territory was laid off as Aishcum County on April 1, 1840 and consisted of Townships 17, 18, 19 and 20.  The name of Aischum, a chief of the Potawatomie indians, was first given Lake County, although the Ottawas were supposedly the earlier settlers.  Aischum's signature appears on all of the Indian treaties affecting the Michigan lands from 1818 to 1836. 

On March 8, 1843, the name was changed to Lake County and perhaps with the hope of more easily attracting people to the county's recreational advantages.  The present name Lake has no special appropriateness, since the county is an inland county, contains but few lakes and none of any size.

It was not until 1871 that Lake County was formally organized by a session of the Legislature after having been at various times divided and a part of Ottawa, Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, Mason and Osceola Counties.  

Lake County's Townships Division History

The first homesteader to Pinora Township was John Bigbee, a Civil War veteran from Ohio who arrived in 1865.

In 1880 the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad's Land Department sold 3,900 acres of good timberland located near and at Deer Lake, Pinora Township, Lake County to Osterhout and Fox Railroad Company of Grand Rapids.

Sale conditions included that the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad build a spur to the tract, and to a soon to be erected lumber and shingle mill on Deer Lake's shore. Road executives viewed this as an opportunity to achieve but the first stop in a much larger plan; Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad entry in Manistee County.

So we know that the Osterhout and Fox Railroad Company ran in the vicinity of Deer Lake - - and no doubt southwest a little - - as there was a Foxville in about Section 29, Pinora Township. The spur that the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad built was the one to Raiguel - which was a little west and north of Foxville. Both Raiguel and Foxville had short-lived post offices.

Two lumbering towns once existed in the township; Deer Lake from 1881 to 1893 and Foxville from 1884 to 1886.

Deer Lake was established as a 1881 as a lumbering settlement on the Manistee Branch of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad in Pinora Township, 5 miles west of Orno and 22 miles northeast of Baldwin. Reed City was 9 miles southwest of Deer Lake and furnished the daily mail. The population for Deer Lake in 1881 was 400 and E.P Hayes was the Postmaster. J.C. Clark was the express and railroad agent.

The Chase Library holds a ledger of the Deer Lake Sawmill. The ledger is the record of letters and orders from March 16 to September 15, 1888. Although very difficult to read, the following facts are legible.

Names of people connected to the business were: W.A.D. Rose, W.R. Rice, G.R. Gray, ? McKellaher, and ? Horner. Orders from the sawmill were sent to these other Michigan cities: Battle Creek, Big Rapids, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Reed City, and Shelbyville. Orders were also shipped to other states; Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Most of the shipping was done by Railroad.

In 1890 the population of Pinora Township increased to 890, the amount lowered in 1900 with 373 people and again the population decreased to 336 by 1910.

As its territory was one of the latest in Northern Michigan to be stripped of its dense pine forests, the transformation from a lumber to an agricultural, dairy and livestock country became eminent. Pinora had some fine farms featuring dairying, and still about thirty five percent of its land belongs to the State Forest.

History tells that David Lathrop a Pinora Township farmer was the first school teacher in Lake County. The school was a log building on the Albert Oliver homestead.

In 1904, traveling meant either going by horse and wagon along winding and rutted trails or else boarding a train for a more comfortable, but often smoky and sooty, journey on the steam-powered rail lines.

Automobiles were a rarity and enjoyed mainly by people of means in urban areas. Most people had not seen one as yet and horses were terrified of them. Still, the traveler of 1904 would find no motels, no fast food restaurants, no convenience stores, and no electric lights in rural areas.

Drinking water came from a pitcher pump and using the toilet meant taking a walk out back to the privy. There were no radios, no television, no computers, no air conditioners, no movies, and no video games.

But people survived and were happy. They worked hard, they had strong faith, and their families were close knitted. The changes that they wrought are all around us today.

Lake County's Township

Division History

In 1867, Lake County consisted of one township, Chase:

In 1869, Lake Township was added to the West side of the Lake County:

In 1870, Ellsworth Township was added to the Northeast corner of Lake County.

And in 1871, Killsbuck, Pinora, Pleasant Plains Townships were added to Lake County.

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