Enterprise  Clippings

by Vianna A. (Harper) Carr

Fifty-nine years ago last month, Vianna A. HARPER CARR, then a girl of 13, came with her parents to Mt. Pleasant from Indiana with horse and ox teams and covered wagons.  That was in 1865 and Mt. Pleasant was then a “four-corner” and the surrounding country very much of a wilderness.

Mrs. Carr tells an interesting story of those pioneer days in a letter to the Enterprise.  Her letter follows:

In April 1865, at the age of 13, I with my father Alexander HARPER, my two brothers, Gasper A. HARPER and Harrison B. HARPER, and wife, Sarah, and daughter, Jennie, came from Indiana with horse and ox teams and covered wagons.

The country was certainly in its infancy—Mt. Pleasant was a four-corners.  My father and uncle built the first saw mill which was run by water power.  They also built the dam and race, which runs the grist mill today.  The nearest railroad was at St. Johns.  We had to haul all machinery from that point and also other supplies.

There were many hardships as well as social pleasures in those days.

My two brothers, one of whom lives at Alma, Gasper A., is 84 years of age and Harrison B. who passed away May 20, was 81 years old.  My husband, F. W. Carr, came to Mt. Pleasant in the year 1871.  He was in the drug and grocery business until 1910.

During all those years, we have witnessed the transforming of city and surrounding country.

                                                Yours truly,

                                                Vianna A. Harper Carr