Gladwin County
By Rick Sigsby
2008
First Published
128
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Gladwin County, named after a British commander of Fort Detroit, is situated in upper mid-Michigan. Settled at the beginnings of the Civil War, this area has been blessed with the ability to survive and thrive from its natural resources and the hardy pioneer and entrepreneurial spirit of its people. The white pine forests provided much of the wood for homes downstate, and the railroads brought in the people to fill lumber camps and towns with names like Cedar (now the city of Gladwin) or Grand Forks (now known as Beaverton) and long-lost crossroads such as Lyle, Hard Luck, and Podunk. As the lumbering era came to a close, the rails brought in farmers to replace the woodsmen. The horses came out of the woods to plow the fields. When the tractor replaced the horse, oil was discovered and a new boom began. But that soon went bust, and Gladwin once again reinvented itself by becoming the thermoforming capital of the world. The area is ripe with waterways, rivers, and lakes, both natural and man-made. Once clogged with logs and now bulging with watercraft, many of the lumber camps from a century ago today have become new recreational settlements.
Author
Rick Sigsby
Author · 1 books
Rick Sigsby is a retired park ranger, writer and part-time owner of racehorses. He has a weekly newspaper column called "Rick Off the Record" and is a regular contributor to several nationally circulated horse racing magazines. A lifelong resident of Michigan, Rick lives with his wife, Ann, and cat, Tommy, in the mid-Michigan town of Coleman.
