Confident, Rural-Oriented, Industrial Pioneers
A Photo Representative of the Himelhoch Immigration Experience
So why did they leave? They were self-confident,
rural-oriented, industrious pioneer types, who were astute enough to learn about the
potential opportunities in other parts of the world, be it South Africa,
Australia, or the United States. In addition to Riga, there was the much closer
booming port of Bentspils (Windau).
Windau was rapidly attracting Jews of nearby towns
and specifies Sasmaken.
Why, like so many Courlanders, did they first go
to Bay City, Michigan?
The Bay City area of Michigan was a replica of the Courland. Michigan pine
became known as “Green Gold,” and a huge lumber boom exploded, just as in the
case of Riga, Only it was far away greater. Like Riga,
Bay City was a port on the Saginaw River and its tributaries fanned far out to
the great forests of Michigan as well as to Saginaw Bay with its access to Lake
Huron. There were plenty of waterways to store logs and continuously feed the
saw mills.
In 1865, Henry Sage built the world’s largest sawmill at Bay City, which according to the New York Tribune in 1877, was the
world’s highest producer- 200,000 feet of lumber each day and 40,000,000 each
season. Just as in the case of Riga, there was a general boom involving the
need for a wide range of other products, and Bay City became
a Jewish peddlar’s mecca, including many Courlanders
who then settled in towns they serviced, establishing stores, and similar to
the Himelhochs, became one of the first Jewish
residents.
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