Scope and ContentThere are two documents which are bound together with a red ribbon and stamped with the seal for the United States General Land Office. The largest of the two documents is a land grant for Arthur Bronson for 75 acres of land in the White Pigeon Prarie Michigan Territory in 1834. It is marked as certificate No 2941 and was recorded by Michigan in Volume 56 on page 28. White Pigeon Prarie Territory included land along the Lake Michigan coast, which also includes Saugatuck. It appears that this portion of land covered the northeast quarter of the town which would be from the northeast side of Butler St at the public square center between Main and Mary, the southwest corner up to North St and N Maple Rd, and the northeast corner.The second document is a "cover" for the land grant and is from the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior, dated 1905. This document is a confirmation of the land grant and was signed and sealed by W.A Richards, who was Commisioner of the General Land Office in 1905. The confirmation suggests that the land grant is an official copy of the orginal, but the reason for the copy is unknown. It is possible there was some sort of land dispute over Bronson's property in the White Pigeon region, but this is unknown. There is also a number written in the top left corner of this document which reads, 139533 and has the initials R.W. The paper documents are forms that have been filled in with the necessary information. Portions of each document have printed sentences with blank, dotted lines. The dotted lines are filled in by handwriting, with the required information such as the description of Bronson's land claim and the signatures. The land grant also has red ink which was used to fill in the unused lines of the documents. It is possible that this grant is among the first of a series that were related to the Saugatuck area. Arthur Bronson was a land speculator from New York who speculated lands in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan.