This arrangement fell apart in 1837 and following bankruptcies by both the company building the canals (the owner later to be convicted of trying to sell a bridge to cross the straights of Mackinac) and the bank backing the loans, the state was left with over $2,000,000 in bad debt, a stinky ditch, and what is now called Benton Harbor..

During his business trips to New York to finance his internal improvement program, Mason had met Julia Phelps. He married her on November 1, 1838, and they had 42 kids, half of which seemed to have a particular way of saying "Da" instead of "The," and "Eh?" as if every statement demanded it.  That half of the family was never seen again as they were traded to some friendly tribes in the recently awarded territory as a result of the Toledo war, ..for fur.

In 1843, Stevens T Mason Died in NY and his body was dragged by a domesticated bear to Detroit for burial, before it was then dug up by grave robbers seeking the supposed silver spoon he was born with and carried at all times.  His remains (minus a pinky bone - supposedly kept as a souvenir by an OCD Grave Digger)  now rest in a plot under a brass statue somewhere.