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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 209
At that time Sandusky did not contain over forty houses and 300
population and Mr. Devoe was a man of some prominence in the village.
He Avas clerk of the first election of the city and later taught school.
The Clarion of the 5th day of November, 1823, contains an advertisement
by him, that, unless he is paid by the children he taught, he will
place the account in the hands of an agent for collection. Later he kept
a general store.
Mr. Devoe may have had prophetic insight, but he was surely a
prophet Avithout honor in his own country. The Clarion of March 6,
1830, notes the sale of Cedar Point by Mr. Devoe, and there the matter
rests until October 12, 1839, when at sheriff's sale A. M. Porter, after-
Avard the proprietor of the Steamboat Hotel, bought 440 acres appraised
at $439.22 for $292.80; after that for nearly ten years the old newspaper
files do not mention Cedar Point. There is a deed recorded in Volume
14, page 408, of Huron County Record, of deeds from Stephen Hills to
Elijah II. Kimball, dated November 4, 1837, conveying 1,072 acres of
land for $2,000, and later the same premises were sold by the executors
of A. M. Porter to W. S. Person for $1,675.
On March 17, 1849, Mr. Porter advertises that all persons wishing
to fish on Cedar Point must pay him one-eighth of the catch, and then
the records are again silent until August 6, 1862, Avhen the Register
announces that a lighthouse is being built on Cedar Point, which was
probably a successor to the one built in 1840. /As late as the 12th of
August, 1889, the Register describes Cedar Point in an article by Emily
Bouton as until recently covered with brush. /A few years before this
there was a small house on the east side of the point.
About 1840 the lighthouse was built, andJater the range lights Avere
placed in the vicinity, one at the mouth of the bay and two inside, forming
a series of lights Avell known to all pilots and navigators on Lake Erie.
In 1882 B. F. DAA'elle leased the point from its owners, Mrs. Adolph
and Mr. Stoll, and proceeded to make improvements upon it with a view
to attracting pleasure-seekers to its shores. The first thing to be done
was to build a dock where boats could land their passengers, and then
a steamboat began making trips across. After partially clearing a part
of the land, a Avalk was built across from the bay to the lake, a house
was erected on the side near the bay, and later bathing houses were put
up on the lake shore, and Sanduskians began to enjoy their resort by
forming parties and excursions to Cedar Point. Mr. Dwelle expended
$5,000 on Cedar Point, paying no rental for the first season, a moderate
amount for the second, Avith the same rate of increase each year for the
five of his lease. All this time the resort greAV in favor. The steamboat
Hayes made frequent trips and the bay Avas aflutter with white-Avinged
sailing vessels through the summer months. So popular did Cedar Point
become that boats could scarcely be supplied to meet the demand, and
neAver and better sailing craft Avere added to the stock on hand.
In the case of Sloan vs. Biemiller, 34 O. S. 492, the question of the
right of fishing and landing on Cedar Point came before the Supreme
Court, and the plaintiff brought suit to quiet his title and to enjoin the
Vol. 3—14