The day was fair, the sun shone bright when our sails were filled with
the breeze that carried us along over the blue waters to Traverse City.
Arriving at Traverse City, we found several people whom we knew, so we
felt that we were not entirely among strangers. We were soon
comfortably settled among very kind neighbors. Traverse City at that
time was very new. The Boardman Company had settled there to lumber. The
firm of Hannah, Lay & Co. bought the Boardman Company out. A steam saw
mill, also a water mill run by water power. This small mill was in the
west part of town beside the big mill pond. The company's big boarding
house was where the company's men boarded. This was in charge of Dr. D.
C. Goodale. Then the company's store, with a large stock of general
merchandise, presided over by the genial clerk, H. D. Campbell, or
"Little Henry," as we children always called him. He was the children's
friend. No matter how busy he might be he always had a kind word and a
pleasant smile for us children. Then there was the large steam mill and
blacksmith shop just beyond the store. There was no bridge there then to
cross the river on. We children most always crossed over on the boom
which held the logs in the river. The only bridge on the river was up
near the Boardman Lake.