Carved out of the wilderness seemingly overnight, Harrison had its beginnings with the coming of the railroad and its controversial new location as the seat of Clare County. Businessmen, a few families, and armies of lumberjacks soon gave Harrison a reputation as the toughest town in Michigan. More than 10 years of the lawless lumber era gave way to the beginnings of a peaceful village in 1891. The streams and lakes previously used for water, ice, and log hauling became attractive to tourists drawn by the slogan, �20 Lakes in 20 Minutes.� The miles of railroad and narrow-gauge rails turned into roads and trails for the buggies and automobiles used by settlers and vacationers. While agriculture largely failed in the tree-stumped wilderness of the early 1900s, the village prevailed into a city representative of small-town American life.