After the Indian treaties of 1821 and 1836 were signed, land speculators from New England arrived in Michigan to buy up land and the valuable timber growing on it.
One of the first land speculators and lumber cruisers to purchase timber land in West Michigan was John Ball, who moved to Grand Rapids from the state of New York in 1836 (see story of John Ball
https://borculo.weebly.com/blog/john-ball-and-borculo-by-bob-essenburg)
Soon after timber land was purchased for logging, sawmills began to spring up all over Michigan. Many of the early sawmills were powered by water from rivers and streams.
One of the first sawmill towns was called Jenisonville located in Georgetown Township. The first settlers to arrive there in 1835 were the Jenison family who purchased a tract of 1,600 acres of timber-covered land. They used waterpower from the nearby creek flowing into the Grand River to operate their first sawmill.
At this time the Eastern White Pine was the most desired tree for its lumber. The largest stands of white pine in West Michigan were located west of Jenison in the sandy soils of Blendon Township, growing westward all the way to the town of Borculo. Some of these white pine logs were floated on rafts down the Grand River to be sawed into lumber in Grand Haven. From there the lumber was shipped to large cities located on the Great Lakes.
But other white pines were sawed into lumber at sawmills located nearer the Grand River in Blendon Township. At one time the Blendon Lumber Company owned one half of all the land in Blendon Township.
This map of 1864 shows the Blendon Lumber Company Railroad (outlined in green) which at that time no longer extended all the way to the Grand River. The Ohio Lumber Company Railroad (outlined in red) went from Blendon Township to the Grand River. It also shows the “Dutch Road” (in blue) going from Grand Rapids to Holland in 1847.
(see also https://borculo.weebly.com/blog/borculo-the-last-of-the-colony-towns-of-ottawa-county-by-robert-essenburg)
Some early settlers found some good timber on the farms they purchased. Transporting them from their farm to a sawmill was always a challenge. They often used oxen or horses to drag or skid the logs over the ground. When the ground was frozen this worked quite well. When the ground was muddy and soft the logs would dig into the soil.
In 1875 a wagon maker came up with an invention that solved this problem. Silas Overpack from Manistee, Michigan invented the “Big Wheel”. The two wheels of this wagon were like regular wooden wagon wheels except they were ten feet in height! Logs could be attached under the axle and lifted up so they would not drag on the ground. He later sold thousands of these Big Wheels to the lumber industry in the United States.
My grandfather Roelof Essenburg got a job working at the Moeke sawmill in 1885 at the age of 18. He boarded at the large Moeke house with other single men for the next five years. He was a teamster who brought in logs from area farms to be cut into lumber. At one time the Moeke sawmill was Borculo’s largest employer. Around the year 1900 much of the timber in the area had been harvested.
For the next 60 years, Borculo became an agricultural community. Soon Borculo had a harness shop, a black smith shop, a creamery cooperative, a feed mill, a lumber company, a grocery store, a chick hatchery, an implement dealer, a garage, and a gas station. They also added the village school, church, and cemetery. This was the second or farming era in Borculo.
The 1950s ushered in another change - the end of the family farm as we knew it. Soon technology and agribusiness began to take over farming. Fewer people were needed to produce our food. Borculo was changing from a farming community to a bedroom community. People were driving to neighboring towns and cities to work but would return in the evening to sleep. Some of the farmland was converted into housing developments for the people living in this third era. For many years now, people have been living in this third era where the village of Borculo is thriving and is a great place to live.