Creeks And Streams
Creeks and Streams in Chandler Township Charlevoix County Michigan flow from the heights of Chandler Hill and eventually make their way into the Bear River which runs to Little Traverse Bay near Petoskey Michigan. The headwaters of the South Branch of Springbrook Creek [also called "The Big Creek"] coming out of Chandler Hill, clear and sparkling (photo above taken 2006), sufficed as our drinking water when I was growing up on top of Chandler Hill with my family, without inside running water. We drove to Boyne City once a week whether we needed to or not. On our way to Boyne City, we stopped in Boyne Falls at Floyd and Myrtle Hausler's Creamery, and sold our cream. Once we arrived in Boyne City we bought gas at Bob Davis' Service Station, grocery shopped at Gray's Grocery Store, stopped by the co-op feed store to buy food for the chickens, looked at furniture at Gil Coon's Furniture & Appliances store, checked out the clothing at Kaden's, spent 10¢ at the Fox's Store, walked around town and looked in the store windows, and finally just sat in our car parked on the main street to watch the people walk by. The three newspaper photos immediately below show how some of the Boyne City buildings looked in the 1950-1960s timeframe. One of the stores had a clock in the window. It was a special electric clock about 10 or 12 inches tall, with a cut-out in the bottom half with a light that shone down on a summery background, with a tiny little girl sitting in a swing. The swing swung back and forth to the ticking of the seconds. If I ever went to look in that window, and the clock was not plugged in, so that the little girl was not swinging, I would begin to cry.... which made for a "not fun" trip to Boyne City for everyone. Sometimes Mom and my Dad would take us to the theater to see a movie which was always kid-friendly because musicals, which were harmless, were the popular genre' with movie stars like Jane Powell and Jane Russell. After this day of amusement, we headed back to Chandler Hill, by driving on Thumb Lake Road to cut across on Slashing Road to reach Chandler Hill Road. Half way across Slashing Road we always stopped and waited in the car while my dad dipped a special cream can style of can into the Springbrook Creek, to get our drinking water for a week. Our whole family drank from that one can by using a long handled dipper that hung from a nail on the wall over the water can. If ever my brother Rodger knew that I was going to go get a drink of water, he would race ahead of me, and dip into the water can first. After he had his nice clear drink of water, he would put the dipper back into the can, and swirl it around. That would rile up any sediment so that I would not want to have a drink, no matter how thirsty I was, until the sediment had a chance to settle down. So while I lived on Chandler Hill, and did not have running drinking water until I was in high school, I drank Springbrook water from our can. As seen in the photos below, the Creeks and Streams of Chandler Township were not only lovely to look at, but were also a necessity of Life in the case of my family!
~ Karla Howard Buckmaster
~ Karla Howard Buckmaster
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The map of Chandler Township Charlevoix County MI above from the website noted,
designates, in blue, the waters of the township.
Also, the Charlevoix County Road Map shows the branches of the Springbrook Creek.
designates, in blue, the waters of the township.
Also, the Charlevoix County Road Map shows the branches of the Springbrook Creek.
South Branch of Springbrook Creek ("The Big Creek") close to where it comes out of the hill...
the spot where the creek runs through the culvert under Slashing Road
the spot where the creek runs through the culvert under Slashing Road
All of the above photos are from the spot where my dad Karl "Cub" Howard would stop on the way home from Boyne City MI
to fill up the water can for drinking for the week...
fresh, sparkling, beautiful-to-see, water from the South Branch of the Springbrook Creek.
to fill up the water can for drinking for the week...
fresh, sparkling, beautiful-to-see, water from the South Branch of the Springbrook Creek.
~ Creek beside Howard Road near Bachandler Camp Road ~
(From North Branch of Springbrook Creek)
Cabin of Ken and Marion Starr (God's Little Acre)
(From North Branch of Springbrook Creek)
Cabin of Ken and Marion Starr (God's Little Acre)
~ Creek beside Howard Road near Bachandler Camp Road ~
(From North Branch of Springbrook Creek)
Cabin of the Chandler Club
(From North Branch of Springbrook Creek)
Cabin of the Chandler Club
~ The Dago Creek on Springvale Road close to Cobb Road ~
~ Water on the edge of Howard Road heading toward Chandler Hill Road~
16 September 2006
16 September 2006
Back in the swamps surrounding Howard Road lies an ecosystem of the Beavers' Paradise. In the photo below left, the water was running beside the otherwise dry road because the beavers had dammed the stream, so the waters had backed up in the swamp until it needed an escape... beside the roadway. Farther off the roadway, in behind the Howard/Keyes property, the beavers damned up so much water, for so long, that the trees could not survive. The barren swamp trees with their bare branches then poked out like the quills on the beavers' fellow mammals... the porcupines.
The two photos below were pulled from a short video that Stacey Buckmaster Reeb took 21 May 2013 while stopped, as she had been driving up Chandler Hill. In the video the water was loud, and rushing, from the recent rain storm. The rapid water, running up over the edge of the pavement, and washing it out, was an example of why the ditches need to be adequate to handle this type of torrent.
By late 2013, Chandler Hill had been redesigned, and rebuilt. See the finished results on the Roadways webpage on this website.
By late 2013, Chandler Hill had been redesigned, and rebuilt. See the finished results on the Roadways webpage on this website.
~ Sanctuary for the Homeless on Slashing Road by Creek ~
Found on Emmet County Helping Hands Facebook page on 30 September 2023: "The new sanctuary, I call this place, bliss reach out, already a happy once homeless here having some much needed down time. We are local to boyne. If you want to help the homeless, this is it!! Socks, food, drinks and warm clothing and cots always needed! Other hippie things as well taking the homeless out of the city's and into the woods."
Someone asked, "Is that Slashing?"
The Poster replied, " I'm not a local but I believe I'm near slashing. I just share my location for meet ups on messenger."
Here is the photo below that the Poster first posted.
Someone asked, "Is that Slashing?"
The Poster replied, " I'm not a local but I believe I'm near slashing. I just share my location for meet ups on messenger."
Here is the photo below that the Poster first posted.