Deward Michigan

Located about 12 miles Northwest of Grayling is what used to be one of the largest lumber townes in Michigan. We have visited their recently, as matter as of fact twice this week, the first attempt was miserable, such a nice day 58 degrees, and of course my 4wd went out, and buried in the snow I was...Thank God Aaron and Kristina was their with us..being it was their Idea to go out their...Needless to say it took about an hour to get the Jimmy out of its predicament, and to get home into some dry clothes.
Last night Aaron and kristina called wanting to go back out their, Melanie and I had made other plans, But Kristina called saying they found what looked to be the Housing area of Deward...Well my plans changed , and to Deward we went. So glad we did, if you have ever seen the town of Perecheny, times it by ten. We spent a couple of hours their last night, I was in amazement, I like the Ghost Townes (MYSTERY I guess) . I don't know if their are spirits wandering the area, but for those who love to travel to see these old sites, it is awesome. No buildings survived, but their are the old foundations, garbage piles, dig out basements(large holes in the ground). Footings from the mill's. Mel and I will be going back out to wander with Aaron and Kristina, at this great find. I am building a page on our website with pictures, hopefully will have up by wednsday.

Next time lets make sure everyone's 4x4 works right? LOL... it was fun none the less. Hopefully this rain will stop soon so we can get out there again and explore.

Since we have been at DeWard last Kristina and I have found some cool new sections that make me believe that someone has a town there after DeWard died out.

Could be just people dumping things out there, or old deer hunting camps from way back when. Also there were tree planters out their eons ago planting all those rows of pines, I imagine they camped out their to do that. We are setting up an interview with the History guru of Deward to get the history of the town.

Ok but what i was referring to was the 8in blocks that i don't believe they had back then but the main part was I didn't think that they had wiring into there house. We found some in a cellar coming through the wall

Ok Blocks:
The critical appearance of the true hollow core came when Harmon S Palmer received his first American patent for 'Machinery for Molding Hollow Concrete Building Blocks' on 27 December 1887 and others in 1899 and 1903,9after which he sold the rights to other manufacturers.10Palmer claimed to have begun manufacture in 1889,11and it is said that by 1902 he had himself had already built a number of structures, and his plant had made about four hundred block machines.12By 1904-5 he was complaining of the numerous machines which were being made in infringement of the patents, and was engaged in extensive lawsuits to suppress them.13In 1907 there were about a hundred companies making block machines, many apparently in breach of Palmer's patent.14Thus the mail order house of Sears, Roebuck & Co took the precaution of assuring buyers of concrete block machinery: 'We bind ourselves to protect every customer in every way as to any claimed infringement of patents, trade marks, or copyrights on any goods bought from us in the past, or that may be bought from us in future.'15The Ideal Cement Stone Company is a good example. It was established in 1904 by four 'masons', three of whom, were engaged in making the blocks and one in laying them. Because of the unfamiliarity of bricklayers with the material, and their hostility towards it, the enterprise could only succeed if the manufacturer would also undertake the laying. They had one machine, producing two hundred 8 x 8 x 16 inch [200 x 200 x 400 mm] blocks a day
I am searching for the earliest introduction of electricity to that area.