Ray Trucks in the early 1900s.
This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union and the Mason County Historical Society
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — A botanical collection created by a Scottville High School student in 1901 has been donated to the Mason County Historical Society, preserving a detailed record of Mason County’s native and cultivated plants from more than 125 years ago.
The collection, titled “Herbarium and Plant Descriptions,” was compiled by Ray Trucks (1884-1965) while he was a student living in Scottville. The book, which contains pressed plant specimens and handwritten scientific descriptions, was donated to the historical society by Trucks’ grandson, Mac McClellan of Baldwin.
Trucks collected the specimens during the spring of 1901 in Amber, Custer and Pere Marquette townships. Entries in the herbarium are dated April 23, April 26 and May 20, 1901. Each specimen is accompanied by detailed notes recording its scientific and common names, plant family, locality, habitat, growth habit, root structure, stem, leaves, flowers and other botanical characteristics. Among the preserved specimens are bloodroot, hepatica, trout lily, spring beauty, blue violet, jack-in-the-pulpit, blue cohosh, wild columbine, wild strawberry, wild sarsaparilla, Solomon’s seal, elder, blackberry and dozens of other native and cultivated plants. An index lists approximately 50 specimens collected during the project.
Designed by Edward T. Nelson, professor of biology at Ohio Wesleyan University, and published by Allyn and Bacon of Boston, “Herbarium and Plant Descriptions” was a workbook used to teach field botany. Copyright dates of 1888 and 1895 indicate the volume is from the revised 1895 edition. In addition to providing instructions for collecting, pressing and mounting plants, students were expected to record detailed scientific observations, creating a permanent record of each specimen and where it was found.
Although the herbarium documents Mason County’s flora at the turn of the 20th century, it also represents an early chapter in the life of a man who would become one of Lake County’s most influential attorneys and civic leaders.
Born Nov. 27, 1884, in Montpelier, Ohio, Trucks was the son of Porter and Emily (VanFossen) Trucks. His family moved to the Custer area in 1887 before settling in Scottville in 1889. He graduated from Scottville High School in 1903 as president of a class of five — the first class to complete a full 12-year high school curriculum in the village. As a student, he earned spending money by lighting Scottville’s 25 kerosene street lamps on moonless nights for $3 a month.
After saving enough money to attend Detroit College of Law, Trucks earned his law degree in 1908 and returned to Scottville to establish a law practice, serving as both village clerk and village attorney. He also spent time being an entertainer. In 1912, he moved to Baldwin, where he began compiling the abstract records documenting land ownership throughout Lake County. He married Lerene Claria MacLeod (1889-1969) in 1914, and the couple raised four children: Ford, Olga, Beth and Norma.
Ray and Lurene Trucks in 1964.
During a career spanning more than five decades, Trucks served as Lake County prosecuting attorney, probate judge, president of the Michigan Title Association, chairman of the Lake County Draft Board, president of the Baldwin School Board for approximately 27 years and director of the Lake-Osceola State Bank. He also developed recreational properties around the L Lakes in Pleasant Plains Township, reflecting his belief that tourism would become an important part of the county’s economy.
Trucks died July 20, 1965, at Paulina Stearns Hospital in Ludington and was buried in Pleasant Plains Township Cemetery near Baldwin. More than 60 years after his death, the herbarium he assembled as a teenager provides an unusually detailed snapshot of Mason County’s plant life in 1901 while preserving the work of a young student who later helped shape the civic and legal history of neighboring Lake County.
The book has been placed into the Mason County Historical Society’s Rose Hawley Archives, which contains over 150,000 artifacts, documents, and photographs from Mason County. The Mason County Historical Society is a charitable 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded in 1939. It operates Historic White Pine Village, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum, the Mason County Emporium, and the Rose Hawley Archives. To make a monetary or archival donation, visit www.masoncountymihistory.org.
Please Support Local News and Sports Coverage
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
The payment can be paid monthly through PayPal: Click this link.
To sign up for an annual subscription, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources.
For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2026, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
