Excerpted from The House on Washington Street
by Marvin A. Ropert- published 9/3/2001
The first people to live in this part of Michigan were the Chippewa Indians 500 years ago. A small group of this Native American tribe split off from their main group and made this area home. This idyllic life was due to the abundant wildlife in the pine and hardwood forests, and the fish was plentiful in the rivers and lakes. The tribe easily maintained a large stock of dried fish for food and trade. This would have been a peaceful life if it weren't for the Iroquois tribe who often made raids into this part of the Great Lakes.
I believe dad and George found arrowheads in an area near the south end of Tawas Lake. Dad also told me that on the other side of Tawas Lake there is an indian burial mound. He never told me where, he did not think anyone should disturb the graves.
One of the first European explorers in this area was the French explorer, Jean Nicolet, in 1629. Later the famous French explorer LaSalle is said to have visited this area in 1679.
The government purchased all but 8,000 acres of Iosco county from the Chippewa tribe with the Treaty of Saginaw in 1819. This was located near the mouth of the AuSable River and was kept by the tribe for hunting and fishing. This acreage was later purchased and the Indian settlement moved north near the county line, where it remains today.
The first permanent European settlement in the county were fishermen who located, in 1848, at the mouth of the Au Sable River to harvest the abundant resources of Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay. The only means of reaching this area was by ship. Most of the fish were shipped to Boston, New York and Chicago.
The State of Michigan established the Iosco County in 1857. Four years after the first permanent structure, the lighthouse was completed. The name given to the county was Kanotin county. Kanotin means "in path of the big winds'. Henry Schoolcraft later renamed the county Iosco, which means "Water of Light".
The Tawas Point has been extending itself out into the open water of Saginaw Bay at a rapid pace. By 1870 the original lighthouse was of little use for mariners. In 1875 work was begun on a new lighthouse which was placed on the end of the point, nearly 3/4 mile farther southeast from the original lighthouse. This 68 foot tall structure was completed in 1876 and is still in use today and is now 1/2 mile from the new end of Tawas Point.
Dad told me once that when he was young there was a stream that crossed the Tawas Point. Today you would have a hard time finding where it crossed.
In the late 1860s lumbering became the second major industry in the area. With a limited supply of trees in the prairie states, the need for wood was huge and the Michigan forest provided it. Lumber cut near the Au Sable River was floated out to Lake Huron and then shipped at first by boat and then in 1867, by rail when the Detroit and Mackinaw Railroad put a station in East Tawas.
A second larger town was established in 1867 just east of Tawas City along Tawas Bay at a mill site. Since the workers from Tawas City had referred to this site as "going East", it was named East Tawas.
Twenty years after the railroad opened a station, East Tawas incorporated as a village, then as a city in 1895. In 1922, it acquired the adjacent resort community of Tawas Beach.
Every winter, Tawas Bay was harvested for its ice. The ice not only served the people of the area but huge quantities were shipped to Chicago and Detroit. At peak production, Tawas Bay produced enough ice to fill and ship 100 railroad cars a day.
The Tawas Area has seen many changes in the 500 years that man has lived and worked here. The 1500s saw the Native Americans trading dried fish. Then came the Europeans who supplied the country with fresh water fish from the waters of Tawas Bay and Lake Huron. Next came the lumber barons who cut most of the pine and hardwood trees from our forests. Lastly came the summer residents and tourists. This group takes less of our natural resources and today is the main source of employment in the area.
The last 75 years saw much of the forest replanted and the woods are again teeming with wild life. Local waters provide an abundance of fish for sport fishing. The Au Sable River has 5 dams generating clean electric power and the deer still come in the yard at 'The House on Washington Street'.
Changes have come to the Tawas'. The Holland Hotel, Community building, the East Tawas and the old St. Joseph Schools buildings are gone. Every community needs to change; just as kids need to grow, so do communities. Change brings new life with hopes that it preserves and maintains as much of its natural beauty as possible.
I believe dad and George found arrowheads in an area near the south end of Tawas Lake. Dad also told me that on the other side of Tawas Lake there is an indian burial mound. He never told me where, he did not think anyone should disturb the graves.
One of the first European explorers in this area was the French explorer, Jean Nicolet, in 1629. Later the famous French explorer LaSalle is said to have visited this area in 1679.
The government purchased all but 8,000 acres of Iosco county from the Chippewa tribe with the Treaty of Saginaw in 1819. This was located near the mouth of the AuSable River and was kept by the tribe for hunting and fishing. This acreage was later purchased and the Indian settlement moved north near the county line, where it remains today.
The first permanent European settlement in the county were fishermen who located, in 1848, at the mouth of the Au Sable River to harvest the abundant resources of Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay. The only means of reaching this area was by ship. Most of the fish were shipped to Boston, New York and Chicago.
The State of Michigan established the Iosco County in 1857. Four years after the first permanent structure, the lighthouse was completed. The name given to the county was Kanotin county. Kanotin means "in path of the big winds'. Henry Schoolcraft later renamed the county Iosco, which means "Water of Light".
The Tawas Point has been extending itself out into the open water of Saginaw Bay at a rapid pace. By 1870 the original lighthouse was of little use for mariners. In 1875 work was begun on a new lighthouse which was placed on the end of the point, nearly 3/4 mile farther southeast from the original lighthouse. This 68 foot tall structure was completed in 1876 and is still in use today and is now 1/2 mile from the new end of Tawas Point.
Dad told me once that when he was young there was a stream that crossed the Tawas Point. Today you would have a hard time finding where it crossed.
In the late 1860s lumbering became the second major industry in the area. With a limited supply of trees in the prairie states, the need for wood was huge and the Michigan forest provided it. Lumber cut near the Au Sable River was floated out to Lake Huron and then shipped at first by boat and then in 1867, by rail when the Detroit and Mackinaw Railroad put a station in East Tawas.
A second larger town was established in 1867 just east of Tawas City along Tawas Bay at a mill site. Since the workers from Tawas City had referred to this site as "going East", it was named East Tawas.
Twenty years after the railroad opened a station, East Tawas incorporated as a village, then as a city in 1895. In 1922, it acquired the adjacent resort community of Tawas Beach.
Every winter, Tawas Bay was harvested for its ice. The ice not only served the people of the area but huge quantities were shipped to Chicago and Detroit. At peak production, Tawas Bay produced enough ice to fill and ship 100 railroad cars a day.
The Tawas Area has seen many changes in the 500 years that man has lived and worked here. The 1500s saw the Native Americans trading dried fish. Then came the Europeans who supplied the country with fresh water fish from the waters of Tawas Bay and Lake Huron. Next came the lumber barons who cut most of the pine and hardwood trees from our forests. Lastly came the summer residents and tourists. This group takes less of our natural resources and today is the main source of employment in the area.
The last 75 years saw much of the forest replanted and the woods are again teeming with wild life. Local waters provide an abundance of fish for sport fishing. The Au Sable River has 5 dams generating clean electric power and the deer still come in the yard at 'The House on Washington Street'.
Changes have come to the Tawas'. The Holland Hotel, Community building, the East Tawas and the old St. Joseph Schools buildings are gone. Every community needs to change; just as kids need to grow, so do communities. Change brings new life with hopes that it preserves and maintains as much of its natural beauty as possible.