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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 151
shirtings, 50 to 62 cents per yard; satinetts, $2.50 to $3.50 per yard;
green teas, $1.50 to $2.50 per pound; brown sugar, from 25 to 30 cents
per pound; loaf sugar, from 40 to 50 cents per pound, etc., etc. There
being so few mills and little wheat at this time, families mostly depended
on buying flour by the barrel. Corn could not be bought for less
than $1 per bushel, nor butter for less than 25 cents per pound. One
principal cause of these high prices was the cost of transportation.
There Avere vessels on the lake at the time, but freight could not be
brought from Buffalo here short of $2.50 per barrel bulk. For several
years the settlers consumed all the products that Avas raised though this
section; but as soon as a surplus accumulated, a ready market AA'as found
at Detroit, Alonroe and other settlements in the upper regions of Lake
Erie.
ISAAC MILLS AIRS. ISAAC AIILLS
In the spring of 1817 the TOAVII of Portland was laid out by its then
proprietor, Zalmon Wildman, of Danbury, Connecticut. It embraced that
portion of the present area of Sandusky Avhich lies betAveen Hancock
Street on the east, Decatur on the vA'est, and Jefferson on the south.
During the ensuing year a claim was interposed by Hon. Isaac AIills,
of NCAV Haven, Connecticut, to an undivided portion of the Avhole tract
embraced in the present city limits, which resulted in a compromise by
AA'hich three-fourths Avas allotted to Air. A\ 7 ildman and the other fourth
to Air. AIills. In the spring of 1818 they united in laying out the present
plat of the toAvn under the name of "Sandusky City," since changed
(by the provisions of an act to provide for the organization of cities
and incorporated villages) to "Sandusky." Its location is on the south
side of Sandusky Pay, being in 41° 32' 10" north latitude, near the