Archibald Jones Day celebrates the man who forever changed Crystal Lake

Region

August 20, 2012

Archibald Jones Day celebrates the man who forever changed Crystal Lake

Archibald Jones Day celebrates man who changed Crystal Lake

By Carol South Special to the Record-Eagle The Record Eagle Mon Aug 20, 2012, 07:14 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Heavy whitecaps the night of Aug. 23, 1873, changed Crystal Lake history.

The fierce waves overwhelmed a temporary dam built while workers dredged a channel linking the Betsie River and Crystal Lake. When the dam surged out of place, the lake began gushing away — 11 feet of depth lost by the next day in the deluge.

The permanent depth loss created miles of sandy shoreline and coveted real estate — iconic features of the Crystal Lake area.

But the unintended consequences made scapegoats of Archibald Jones and his Benzie County River Improvement Company. He is remembered, even 129 years later, as "The Man Who Pulled the Plug on Crystal Lake."

Stacy Daniels is a devoted Archibald Jones and Crystal Lake historian who's traced, delved and searched for every bit of information about this infamous event. The retired environmental engineer is a Frankfort native who first read of the episode as a boy.

In 2010 he spearheaded the first Archibald Jones Day celebration, complete with a lighthearted re-creation of the plug pulling. As Daniels prepares for the third annual gathering, scheduled for Saturday in downtown Beulah, he reflected on what might have been.

"If whitecaps hadn't happened, you'd be hearing the horn of a canal boat two times a day at least," he said of the errant wind that scrubbed a potential strategic water passage to Frankfort.

"It's a tragedy, a protagonist fighting the elements, and a comedy, the 'whoops!' moment," added Daniels, who is writing a book covering the misadventure that boasts 2,500 references.

A treasured addition to this year's celebration will be the unveiling of a restored 1873 Benzie County River Improvement Company map. Daniels delighted in the map's rediscovery in the archives of the Benzie Area Historical Museum. It had been donated to the museum about 30 years ago and survived a fire while sitting almost — but not quite — forgotten.

Daniels was talking with the museum's former curator, Florence Bixby, when she mentioned Archibald Jones' map.

"I almost fell off the porch," Daniels said.

The map provided key historical insights into the topography and development of Benzie County in the mid-19th century.

Beulah is not on the map because its land was under water when it was drawn.

"It was a really interesting artifact to have because it so concerned the history of Benzie County and its economic development," said Dr. Louis Yock, executive director of the Benzie Area Historical Museum. "It's on linen and it was in really bad condition: a lot of mold, a lot of mildew and falling apart."

The map was found in the home of John Bahle, a member of the original Benzie County River Improvement Company board of directors.

"(Bahle) was a surveyor so Archie probably had a surveyor," said Daniels of a clue that Jones, who grew up near the terminus of the Erie Canal, methodically went about his project.

Daniels' research also traced the articles of association for the Benzie County River Improvement Company in state archives. He will present stock certificates during the Archibald Jones Day celebrations.

"He had a legal company, issued stock certificates and the researcher in Lansing found it was registered on Aug. 16, 1873," Daniels said. "The plug was pulled a week later."