Would you, if you supervised a team of 35 men who built , for you, 70 miles of roads in Cheboygan and Presque Counties, have liked to receive 40,000 acres of valuable, heavily wooded land for your payment? That happened to a Cheboygan newspaper man. Unbelievable! Michigan had little money, so they paid their developers with undeveloped land. To understand how this happened, we must look at the history of Cheboygan City newspapers.

For the first 25 years of Cheboygan’s rapid growth, there were many smart and hard working settlers But they had no newspaper. Cheboygan’s first newspaper appeared in 1871. People were hungry for news. There was no tv, radio, phone or other media to inform them of what was happening at home and in the world.

In 1871, Dr. W. P. Maiden printed a weekly newspaper titled “Manitauaube Bitters.” lt was an 8-by-12 inch, 4-page newspaper. It lasted only from January to June, of that year.

The next newspaper was the Cheboygan Times, published by Attorney D.R. Joslin.

In 1875 our story begins. The Northern Tribune was founded by Merritt and William Chandler. They were brothers. Their editor was Charles S. Ramsey. It was a weekly newspaper. Another newspaper was now in competition with them. George Robinson edited and printed The Cheboygan Tribune, which was later renamed The Cheboygan Independent.

Our heroes of this story are Merritt and William Chandler. They were Quaker Friends, who moved to Cheboygan from Adrian, MI, where they had received an excellent education at the Quaker Raisin Valley Seminary. They had acquired some knowledge of lumbering from working in the lumbering industries of Lenewee County area.

Merritt Chandler learned that the state of Michigan, would pay, in land, to anyone who would build a road from Presque Isle, on Lake Huron, to Petoskey. Merritt submitted a bid. A lower bid was submitted by another man and Merritt lost the job.

The man who was given the job could not accomplish it, so the job was given to Merritt. He hired 35 husky, hard working, honest Quaker boys, who successfully built the road to Petoskey. Merritt was given 40,000 acres of prime, heavily forested land in Cheboygan and Presque Isle Counties. He next completed the road from Onaway area to Black Lake. His crew had built 70 miles of roads.

Merritt moved his family to the area where the two roads crossed, and there he and his brother-in-law founded Onaway. He built Onaway into the steering wheel capital of the world. They manufactured car wheels for the development of the infant auto industry.

What became of William Chandler Merritt’s brother? He moved to Sault St. Marie and he founded the Sault St. Marie News. In 1886, William founded the Sault Savings Bank and the Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Company.

William Chandler ran for the Michigan Legislature and he won. He served from 1898 until 1902. Every bill that he presented except one passed and became law.

In earlier years, the father of Merritt and William moved to Michigan because he was an abolitionist who greatly opposed slavery and who participated in the Underground Railroad to help slaves reach the safety of Canada. A route for this underground railroad passed through Petoskey and Cheboygan.

S. William and Merritt Chandler founded today’s Cheboygan Tribune newspaper. After they left, Cheboygan had more
newspapers. One was the Cheboygan Independence and later the Cheboygan Free Press, which was owned by Attorney James J. Brown, who later moved to St. Ignace. His son, Prentiss M. Brown, became prominent in Cheboygan. Prentiss Brown was elected to serve in the Michigan Legislature, in which he served as a Senator.

In 1879, the Cheboygan newspaper was owned by Edward Forsythe. This paper was later purchased by Al H. Weber. In 1886, Broom and Charles Smythe founded The Cheboygan News. In 1904, the Cheboygan Herald was published by Ira A. Smith in the Tribune’s building. It was later renamed The Cheboygan Tribune and it became a daily newspaper. It was later renamed The Cheboygan Observer.

Today the Cheboygan Tribune is owned by Gannett Newspapers.

One last laugh. My friend, Charles Vaneros purchased a home on Mann Road, Cheboygan County. This home was built by Merritt and William Chandler as a hunting cabin. When Veneros did some improvements, he discovered that his cabin had been insulated with newspapers printed by
Chandler’s Cheboygan Tribune. He read a lot of news that had happened in Cheboygan many, many years ago. And the truth became apparent. All of their papers did not sell. But they sure did serve another need!