Ottawa Point (now called Tawas Point) presents a hazard to navigation as it juts out into Lake Huron. It also shelters Tawas Bay, protecting ships from strong north or northeast winds.
In 1850, The Federal government set aside $5000 to build a . . . — — Map (db m123998) HM
This Brass Range Marker surveyors originally used, was
located on the old Iosco County Courthouse in the 1800's. M.C.
Harting's daily path to the Courthouse by his Abstract office took him
by the "stake” for over 50 years. The stake and the . . . — — Map (db m189759) HM
It is respectfully requested that the Board take under consideration the advisability of erecting a set of quarters at this station for the assistant keeper.
Major Thomas Handbury
Corps of Engineers to Light-House Board
. . . — — Map (db m123996) HM
Veterans Memorial This memorial is dedicated to those men and women who serve in time of war and peace and to honor and perpetuate the memory of those who made the surpreme sacrifice for their country. — — Map (db m189758) WM
”Put oil in new Oil House, cleaned same.”
Lightkeeper Samuel Palmer, May 26, 1989
Fuel for the Tawas Point light was originally stored in an oil room in the keeper’s dwelling. During the 1870s the Lighthouse Service changed . . . — — Map (db m123993) HM
The New Light Keepers
The State of Michigan acquired Tawas Point Light from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2002. The light will be managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Division, and interpreted by the Department of . . . — — Map (db m123997) HM
The first water wheel power sawmill in Iosco County was owned by
Alva Wood located on Sand Creek in Grant Township. The
waterwheel weighs 1 ˝ ton, developed 35 hp on the belt. Lacking
enough water to successfully power the mill, Mr. Wood moved . . . — — Map (db m189905) HM
The point is a “making point.”
Annual Report, U.S. Lighthouse Board, 1873
Throughout its recorded history, blowing, drifting sand has constantly extended Tawas Point. This lighthouse was built in 1876 because the end of the . . . — — Map (db m123999) HM
In 1850 the U.S. Lighthouse Service commissioned a light station to safely guide ships into Tawas Bay. The first light station was built in 1852 at the end of Tawas Point, then known as Ottawa Point. The prisms of its fifth-order Fresnel lens . . . — — Map (db m124079) HM
The point has steadily made to the southward and westward, and the extremity of it is now more than a mile from the light.
Report of the Light-House Board, 1873
Blowing, shifting sand on the point forced the construction of the . . . — — Map (db m123991) HM
This township cemetery began in 1870 with the purchase of the land from William and Rosina Dommer, by Daniel E. Fries, Herman Dommer, B. F. Chappell, and William M. Webster, officers of Grant Township. Stages on the Tawas-Manistee line passed these . . . — — Map (db m184789) HM
"Timber!” cried the sawyers as saws and axes brought giant pines
crashing to the ground. Teams of horses moved the logs to nearby
riverbanks to be stacked into huge piles at the rollways. At the
rollway, the company scaler would measure each log . . . — — Map (db m216841) HM
Experience the Tradition
-North America's richest, longest nonstop canoe race.
-Middle Jewel of North America's Triple Crown of Canoe Racing.
-Men and women of all ages paddle 120 miles nonstop through the night to compete for cash and . . . — — Map (db m190040) HM
With an original capacity of 9000 kilowatts, Cooke
Hydro began generating
electricity in December
1911. It was the first of the
six Au Sable River hydros.
Cooke is named for banker
Andrew Cooke, who helped
secure financing for the
project . . . — — Map (db m216845) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m216848) HM
Welcome to Consumers Energy's Cooke Hydro facility, designated as
one of Michigan's historic sites. While here, please help us preserve the
natural beauty of this area so others can also enjoy it.
This map shows the location of camping, . . . — — Map (db m216847) HM
Cooke Hydroelectric Plant William Augustine Foote, a Jackson entrepreneur, built a series of hydroelectric plants along the Au Sable River with the help of his brother, electrical engineer James Berry Foote. The Footes enlisted the aid of . . . — — Map (db m184796) HM
“Oscoda and AuSable are Wiped Off The Map!” headlined the July 12, 1911, Detroit Free Press. The day before, forest fires, fanned by thirty-mile-per-hour winds, had destroyed these “twin cities” and killed four people. Refugees fled to this . . . — — Map (db m154600) HM
Erected in 1865 A.D. by the pioneer lumberman, Henry Martin Loud, who in that year founded in this area one of the largest lumber operations in Michigan.
The church burned in the fire which destroyed the town of Au Sable and most of the adjoining . . . — — Map (db m123971) HM
Michigan's Future: Powered
by Renewable Energy
A century ago, Consumers
Energy pioneered renewable
energy with a string of
hydroelectric plants along
Michigan rivers. Today, many of
those hydro plants continue to
operate, and . . . — — Map (db m216851) HM
Five Channels Dam Workers Camp Consumers Power Company (now Consumers Energy) built Five Channels Dam in 1911 and 1912. It was the second of six hydroelectric plants to be built on the lower Au Sable River by the Foote brothers of Jackson (the . . . — — Map (db m184798) HM
Five Channels Hydro was
completed in 1912. This
hydro is named for the
nearby location on the Au
Sable River where there
were once five distinct river
channels. The workers'
camp built to support
construction of the hydro
was an early . . . — — Map (db m216849) HM
With an original capacity of 9,000 kilowatts,
Foote Hydro began generating electricity in
1918. It is the most downstream dam on the
Au Sable River and was named after William
A. Foote.
W.A. Foote founded what later became
Consumers . . . — — Map (db m216854) HM
Michigan's Future: Powered
by Renewable Energy
A century ago, Consumers
Energy pioneered renewable
energy with a string of
hydroelectric plants along
Michigan rivers. Today, many of
those hydro plants continue to
operate, and . . . — — Map (db m216856) HM
As part of the 2005 Century of Service celebration, Forest Service land surveyors established a national network of high accuracy survey
markers. The large brass disk before you is a part of that network. These
survey markers may be used a . . . — — Map (db m216831) HM
The idea of a memorial began with the Kiwanis Clubs
desire to recognize their reforestation efforts with a
fieldstone marker. R.G. Schreck, former Huron National
Forest Supervisor, wanted something a little more impressive
to commemorate the . . . — — Map (db m216835) HM
Log drives often resulted in logs piling up at river
bends and shallow spots. Log jams could grow to be
miles long and as wide as the river. The cry "Jam
Below!” would be passed up the line while a crew of
volunteers tackled the dangerous work . . . — — Map (db m216842) HM
To plant a tree is to perform an act of faith – faith in the future. To plant a whole forest is more than an act of faith – it is a positive building for the future.
The Kiwanis project for the development of some unproductive land in . . . — — Map (db m185059) HM
The initial price of the lumber boom was a deeply scarred wasteland. Ugly
stumps replaced the majestic pine, fires spread additional destruction, and
efforts to farm the land were disastrous due to the soil being infertile.
But there is a . . . — — Map (db m216844) HM
Capable of producing
4,000 kilowatts, the
Loud Hydro was completed in 1913. It is
named for lumber baron
Edward Loud, who had
bought up most of the
cut over Au Sable lands
between 1900-06. Loud
later teamed up with
Consumers Energy
founder . . . — — Map (db m216850) HM
The latter half of the 19th century brought a boom to the woods of northern Michigan. A rapidly growing
nation hungered for sturdy white pine to meet the needs of home builders, ship builders, and growing
industries. The men who met the challenge . . . — — Map (db m217027) HM
With an original capacity of 4,900
kilowatts, Mio Hydro began generating
electricity in 1916. It is the most
upstream dam on the Au Sable River
owned by Consumers Energy and is
named for a nearby town.
William W. Telft, a company . . . — — Map (db m216852) HM
Michigan's Future: Powered
by Renewable Energy
A century ago, Consumers
Energy pioneered renewable
energy with a string of
hydroelectric plants along
Michigan rivers. Today, many of
those hydro plants continue to
operate, and . . . — — Map (db m216853) HM
Sawyers, swampers, and skidders. Many men were
needed to move the pine from forest to rivers.
Starting every winter, timber cruisers searched
for the best stands of white pine, which sawyers
cut down and swampers trimmed. The sleds, pulled
by . . . — — Map (db m216836) HM
Many of these photographs have
been donated to Lamberman's
Monument. Notice the changing
landscape with the progression of time.
People that have not been here for a while think that
the Monument has been moved. It continues to sit on
its . . . — — Map (db m216834) HM
Many logging companies used the Au Sable River to drive their logs to the
sawmills. Each company branded its logs with a distinctive symbol by
pounding the mark into log ends with special hammers. This branding
process was very important because . . . — — Map (db m216839) HM
In 1823 Louis Chevalier, a French-Canadian trader, was granted five hundred arpents (640 acres) of land by the United States government. This land, located on the AuSable River, extends northwesterly in a long, narrow, French ribbon-farm manner. It . . . — — Map (db m184793) HM
River Rats worked the log drives, herding timber to the
mills. A river rat's primary tool was his peavey. A peavey
is a long wooden pole with a metal point and hook. It was
the river rat's main device for pushing and moving the
timber while . . . — — Map (db m216843) HM
This area is named after a variety of gypsum, discovered offshore by Douglass Houghton in 1837. Prospectors soon began searching for other gypsum deposits, and this quarry was opened in 1862 by B. F. Smith. Used at first as fertilizer and as an . . . — — Map (db m120781) HM
Erected 1923 by the citizens
of the county to commemorate
the organization in 1840
of Iosco County
and the establishing in 1856
of the first Post Office in the
county with Gideon O. Whittemore
as Postmaster.
“History . . . — — Map (db m121979) HM
Erected to perpetuate the memory of the pioneer lumbermen of Michigan through whose labors was made possible the development of the prairie states. — — Map (db m33032) HM
This memorial is dedicated to honor those of this community who served in time of war, and to perpetuate the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice for God and country — — Map (db m184787) WM
