Cooke Hydro

Cooke Hydro. . , The Foote Brothers, By 1911, the Jackson-based Foote brothers had built several large hydropower dams in west Michigan and successfully captured much of the market there. Now, in concert with Oscoda-based lumber baron Edward F. Loud and others, they turned their eyes to the Au Sable River., Others also looked at the Au Sable, but the factor that enabled the Foote brothers to take advantage of the opportunity was the brilliance of young James Berry (J.B.) Foote in solving the challenge of transmitting the power., J.B. Foote created a 140,000-volt line, the highest voltage in the world at that time. The wires delivered the river's power to the developing cities of Bay City, Saginaw, Flint, and all the way to Jackson., A Key to Economy Recovery, In July of 1911, a devastating forest fire burned across the Au Sable valley all the way to Lake Huron. The fire destroyed the towns of Oscoda and Au Sable. The lumber boom era was at its end and the two towns may well have vanished, as many of that era did. Cooke Hydro's start-up later that year - along with the promise of other hydros under construction - was key to the towns' recovery and future prosperity.