The first post-office in the county was in Prairie Ronde, and my father was post-master, receiving his commission from General Jackson. The first frame building in the county, a small barn, was built by Delamore Duncan in 1830. The first grist-mill was built in 1830 by John Vickers on Rocky Creek. Corn only was ground in this primitive mill of small dimensions. In the fall of the same year Mr. Vickers sold the mill to Col. Fellows, who built during the winter the first saw-mill in the county, near where William Maile now lives. In this mill was sawed the lumber to build the first store at Bronson, now Kalamazoo. One other claim I must enter. Prairie Ronde furnished for Cooper the character of "Bee-Hunter" in his novel, "Oak Openings." One Towner Savage disputes the honor with Mr. Harrison. Mr. Beadle, of dime novel fame, told me he helped Cooper lay the plot of the story, and that Mr. Towner Savage was the original "Ben Boden." One event that occurred during the Black Hawk war excitement took great prominence in my boyish mind, because to me it demonstrated the fearlessness and bravery of my father. It was in the spring of 1832, and Col. Lyman Daniels, whose regiment had been ordered to the front, had important papers and money he wished taken to Detroit. It was thought to be a perilous journey at that time. I distinctly remember Mr. Daniels asking Col. Fellows if he would carry them, saying he had been unable to find a man who dared undertake it. My father, then a man nearly 70 years of age, said he would take them, and the papers and money were transferred to his saddle bags and the trip made in six days. In 1830 he had visited Detroit and purchased apple trees, and some of them are still standing, and promise to bloom in a few weeks in all their pristine glory. While in Detroit he enjoyed the hospitality of Gen. Cases. The hero of the war of 1812 and the whilom boy soldier of the revolution were both members of the ancient order of Masons. Of the real privations and sufferings of pioneer life that many experienced, I know nothing. With horses the journey to Detroit for supplies was not such an impossible undertaking as it would seem to-day. But inconveniences were abundant. The post-office was a basket and the basket was kept under the bed. There was a bushel and a half of the first mail Col. Fellows, brought from White Pigeon, and for each letter the post-master paid 25 cents. But I suppose the worth of the news from home and from "the girl I left behind me," could not be computed in dollars and cents. It seems but yesterday that a citizen of Schoolcraft would walk in and say, "Is there airry letter here for airry one of the Bonds?" The manner of sending money by mail at that time differed somewhat from the present check, draft and order system. A fifty or one hundred dollar bill would be cut in two and one-half sent at a time.