SURVEYOR'S FIELD NOTES — PORT HUME TOWNSHIP
Prepared for the County Assessor's Office, 1924
R. Aldous Plimpton, Licensed Surveyor, Michigan Land Grants Commission
Transcribed from original field notebook. Some marginalia preserved.
Port Hume sits at the confluence of the Hume River and the Bay, the latter opening westward into Lake Erie. The township proper occupies some eleven square miles of flattish ground, rising gently northeast toward the ridge where the Thorpe estate commands a view of the lower districts.
THE HARBOUR is the commercial centre. Two principal quays extend into the bay; the easternmost (Chandler's Wharf) handles grain and dry goods, the western quay coal and ice. The chandlery operated by Reddick & Sons occupies the stone building at the wharf head. NOTE FOR ASSESSOR: tonnage through this harbour has declined markedly since the Iphigenia incident (1911–12). Shipping men are long-memoried.
THE IPHIGENIA WRECK lies in approximately forty feet of water, bearing 285° from the harbour light at a distance of three-quarters of a mile. The wreck is visible at low water during calm conditions. No salvage attempted.
HUME HOUSE (family: Edmund Hume, widow and children) stands north of the harbour on the bluff road. Stone construction, 1887. Edmund Hume deceased; estate in some apparent disorder per county records.
THORPE ESTATE (family: Julian Thorpe, sole surviving heir) occupies the northeast ridge, roughly 2.4 miles from the harbour. The late Cornelius Thorpe's improvements — the greenhouse wing, the gate lodge — are maintained, though the gate lodge stands unoccupied. I noted the lodge's lock had been changed recently; the reason was not offered.
BLACKWELL MILL on the south river bend continues to operate, though the 1922 labour disturbance left marks on the building and, it seems, the foreman's disposition. The outbuilding behind the weighing shed bears fresh boarding where windows were broken in. Vasko the gatekeeper (now deceased, I am told) used to keep the yard clear; his replacement is less vigorous.
ST. ANSELM'S CHURCH AND POLISH SODALITY HALL stand together on Church Street, a block from the river. The sodality maintains a reading room and a small lending library. The sacristan, an elderly Pole whose name I could not catch, was reticent about the hall's finances. The fund subscriptions listed on the board did not agree with what I was told verbally. I have noted this discrepancy for the assessor's attention.
RIVERSIDE WAREHOUSE (operator not identified at time of survey; nominally listed to Cadenza & Sons, Chicago) stands on the river's east bank, two miles upstream from the harbour. The warehouse appeared to receive regular nighttime deliveries, which is irregular for bonded goods. I did not inspect the interior; the caretaker was unhelpful and smelled strongly of spirits, which struck me as professionally ironic.
DR. LINDEN'S SURGERY operates from the Aldenhaven Building on Main Street, second floor. Dr. Linden has been the attending physician for most notable deaths in Port Hume over the past decade. He is known to be thorough, and to charge accordingly.
PELLMAN'S NOTARY AND RECORDS OFFICE holds the longest continuous archive of property transfers in the county. Miss Sarah Pellman (succeeding her father) maintains a cabinet of sealed correspondence going back to the 1870s. She was polite but firm: some records are "held in trust" and not available for assessment purposes. I have flagged this for the county solicitor.
General note: Port Hume is the sort of town that knows more than it says. I have been a surveyor for thirty-one years and I know closed mouths when I meet them. Whatever happened with the Iphigenia, and with old Thorpe, and with Father Jarzembek — this town has its version, and it is keeping it.
— R.A. Plimpton, October 1924