North Country History with Rob Burg

Rob Burg
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Your podcast on the Forest History of the Great Lakes Region. The forests of the Great Lakes have been home to people for centuries and have provided great resources and wealth, shelter, food, and recreation for many. But in the wake of these uses, the region has been environmentally damaged from deforestation, fire, and erosion, and are still recovering to this day. I will be your guide for exploring the forests and sharing stories of the forests and the people who have called them home.About Rob Burg: Hi! I'm an environmental historian specializing on the forest history of the Great Lakes Region. I am a mostly lifelong Michigan resident and studied at Eastern Michigan University for both my undergraduate degree in History and graduate studies in Historic Preservation. My 35-year professional life has mostly been in history museums, including the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the Michigan History Museum, and the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. I began my environmental history career with managing both the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum and the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum for the Michigan History Museum system, directing the Lovells Museum of Trout Fishing History, archivist for the Devereaux Memorial Library in Grayling, Michigan, and as the Interpretive Resources Coordinator for the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska. I am proud that the first person to ever call me an environmental historian was none other than Dr. William Cronon, the dean of American Environmental History.

  1. May 25

    Russell A. Alger: Lumberman and Civil War General

    With this episode we honor Memorial Day with the story of Russell A. Alger. Alger rose from poverty in Ohio, when he was orphaned at age 12, to a lumberman and cavalry officer in the Civil War.  Having moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1860, he engaged in the lumber business in the Grand River valley. After the Civil War began in April 1861, Russel Alger volunteered for the Union Army in August, 1861 as a private in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry, commanded by Col. Phil Sheridan. He was then commissioned as a Captain when the regiment was mustered into federal service in September. He rose up from Captain to Major in the 2nd, promoted to Lt. Colonel of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, and finally to Colonel and in command of the 5th Michigan Cavalry Regiment in 1863. With this regiment, he served in George Armstrong Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Gettysburg. Alger was mentioned by Custer for distinguished service at Gettysburg, and in 1864, while a part of General Phil Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign, he again was noted for valor at the Battle of Trevillian Station, where he was also severely wounded. Alger resigned his commision soon after and returned to Michigan, settling in Detroit. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson included Russell Alger in the lists of officers receiving promotions to brevet ranks. Alger was promoted to the honorary rank of Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers. In 1867 he was again breveted by President Johnson, this time to Brevet Major General of Volunteers.  Having moved to Detroit, General Alger soon re-entered into the Michigan lumber business. Involved in several lumber companies, the most notable being the Alger, Smith and Company, in which he was president and primary partner of the firm. His lumber operations centered on the AuSable River in Iosco County, the Huron Shore in Alcona County, the eastern Upper Peninsula, including Manistique and the Kingston Plains. The Alger, Smith, and Company also operated a large mill and had extensive lumber operations on the north coast of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. Other lumber operations were in California, Washington state, Alabama, and Florida. Alger did not limit himself to just the lumber business, but was also involved in Republican politics in Michigan and on the National level. Alger was elected as the Governor of Michigan in 1884, serving a single 2-year term from Jan. 1, 1885 to Jan. 1, 1887. As governor, he was involved in trying to break the 1885 sawmill strike in Bay City and Saginaw. Also during his term of office, he saw the creation of two new counties in the Upper Peninsula- Iron and Alger, the creation of a State Board of Pardons, and the establishment of the Michigan College of the Mines, today's Michigan Technological University in Houghton. In 1888, Russell Alger sought the Republican nomination for U.S. President. He lost to Benjamin Harrison, the eventual victor in the race, defeating incumbant President Grover Cleveland. In 1897, Alger was appointed to the office of Secretary of War in the new William McKinley administration. He oversaw the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He was considered a poor leader of the Army and despite the American victory, he was held responsible forr the poor logisitics, the Army Beef scandal, and the selection of General William Shafter to the command of the Cuba campaign. McKinley aksed for and received Alger's resignation as Secretary of War at the war's conclusion. Russell A. Alger's last involvement in politics came in 1902 when he was appointed by Governor Aaron Bliss to the vacant U.S. Senate seat that had been held by James McMillan, who had died in office. Alger was elected to permanently fill the seat and he served as Senator from Michigan until 1907 when he died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C. Sources for this episode: Fuller, George N. Governors of the Territory and State of Michigan. Lansing, MI: Michigan Historical Commission, Bulletin No. 16, 1928. Hotchkiss, George W. History of the Lumber and Forestry Industry in the Northwest. Chicago, Illinois, 1898. Kilar, Jeremy W. Michigan's Lumbertowns: Lumbermen and Laborers in Saginaw, Bay City, and Muskegon, 1870-1905. Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1990. To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  2. Apr 4

    What is the Future of the U.S. Forest Service and our National Forests? A Commentary

    News this week out of the Trump Administration in Washington is that there are plans to relocate the headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, Utah. Along with this there are plans to downsize the staffing of the forest service, downsize reseach offices from 57 to 19, and open up more of the federally owned forest lands to logging and other operations. There is also likely the plan to downsize or even eliminate national forests in specific areas as well.  Thic commentary focuses mostly on an article in Bridge Michigan, an online magazine about public affairs in Michigan that centers on the planned closure of all four of the Forest Service research offices in Michigan and how that may effect our forests. This however will affect all of our region as the same will happen in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well. It may also indirectly affect Ontario and the rest of Canada.  Bridge Michigan article:  House, Kelly."Trump administration plans closure of 4 Michigan  forestry research centers." April 3, 2026                                   bridgemichigan.com/michigan-environment-watch/trump-administration-plans-closure-of-4-michigan-forestry-research-centers/ To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  3. Mar 16

    Susan Johnston/Ozhaawashkodwekwe: An Indigenous Woman in the North Country

    In honor of Women's History Month, this week's guest Emily Macgillivray (The Outdoors Historian) joins the podcast to share the story of  Ozhaawashkodwekwe, also known as Susan Johnston, an Ojibwe woman born in the Chequamegon Bay region of Lake Superior (Wisconsin), married to an Irish fur trader and a leader of her tribal clan in Bawating (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) where she owned a large sugar bush on nearby Sugar Island in the St. Mary's River.  Maple Sugar was an important food source and commodity for the indigenous people of the Great Lakes. It was an important part of the diet in the early Spring before other food was available. It was used for food preservation, similar to salt, and could be bartered for other food, exchanged for trade goods, and more.  Emily also touches a bit on the indigenous experience in the fur trade and also the importance of re-learning indigenous history in the 21st century as compared to how it was traditionally taught in the past in both Canada and the United States. Emily Macgillivray is a historian and writer who lives in the Chequamegon Bay area of northwestern Wisconsin. She has worked as an educator focusing on histories of the Great Lakes, United States, and Canada, fo over fifteen years. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and was an assistant professor at Northland College, where she also taught field courses focused on the Lake Superior watershed. She has also worked in both large and small museums focusing on Indigenous and Black historys. Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Emily has also lived and worked in Kingston, Ontario, Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. She currently works in land use development for her municipal government. In her free time she combines her love of the outdoors and history in her wrting on Substack as The Outdoors Historian. You can follow Emily on Substack at substack.com/@theoutdoorshistorian Check out Emily's website at theoutdoorshistorian.com To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  4. Mar 9

    The Saginaw Forest: The University of Michigan's First Educational Forest

    When the University of Michigan's School of Forestry was created in 1903, it was understood that an experimental forest was needed where forestry students could learn their trade. Saginaw, Michigan lumberman and University of Michigan Regent Arthur Hill stepped in and purchased an 80 acre tract of worn out farm land just east of the city of Ann Arbor for the program to develop the "Saginaw Forestry Farm" as Hill asked the University to name it.  The Saginaw Forest, as it officially became known in 1919 served as a training ground for future professional foresters for many years. As the School of Forestry transformed into the School of Natural Resources, studies at Saginaw Forest expanded into the flora and fauna of the forest and the aquatic life in Third Sister Lake and nearby wetlands. The Saginaw Forest is now part of the School of the Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) where it continues to be a laboratory for students studying the environmental sciences and related fields.   Episode Sources: Arthur Hill, Saginaw County Hall of Fame. https://saginawcountyhalloffame.org/arthur-hill Saginaw Forest website. https://seas.umich.edu/about/field-properties/saginaw-forest To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  5. Mar 2

    The Big Wild--Michigan's Pigeon River Country State Forest, Part 2: Jimmy Carter and Recreation in the Forest

    Sportsmen and sportswomen have come to the Pigeon River Country for more than a century to recreate in the forest. Hunting and fishing have been the primary choices for outdoor recreation for many, but the state forest is also a prime spot for morel mushroom hunting, wild berry picking, camping, hiking and backpacking, horseback riding, and more. In 1986, one such visitor was former President of the United States Jimmy Carter. I first came across the fact that Jimmy Carter came to the Pigeon River in October 1986 to go Ruffed Grouse hunting from an article written by Dianna Stampfler in the September/October 2024 issue of Michigan History magazine. The article, "The Big Wild, Jimmy Carter in Michigan's Pigeon River Country" sparked my interest to dig deeper into this story. It also led me to Jimmy Carter's own account of this hunt in his 1988 book , "An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections." He shares this story in the chapter Ruffed Grouse, From Georgia to Michigan. Piggybacking on the story of Jimmy Carter's Pigeon River Grouse hunt is an explantion of the various types of recreation available in the Pigeon River Country State Forest. If you love the outdoors, there is likely something in the PRC for you to enjoy. Episode Resources: Carter, Jimmy. An Outdoor Journal: Adventures and Reflections. New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1988. Stampfler, Dianna. "The Big Wild, Jimmy Carter in Michigan's Pigeon River Country. Michigan History magazine. Lansing, MI: The Historical Society of Michigan, Vol. 108, No. 5. September/October 2024. To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  6. Feb 23

    Gooseberry Falls State Park-The CCC along Minnesota's North Shore

    Among the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota in the 1930s was the development of Gooseberry Falls State Park, one of Minnesota's most popular state parks along the north shore of Lake Superior. In 1934 the CCC arrived to build a camp on a bend of the Gooseberry River where it descends to Lake Superior. The work that Company 2710 would do at Gooseberry Falls for the next seven years included the construction of numerous stone buildings and other structures that have become some of the best examples of stone and log construction that were popular in both national and state parks during the Great Depression. In August 2025, as part of my 2025 Podcast Tour, I visited Gooseberry Falls State Park and camped overnight to explore the history and architecture of the park. I will share that with you in this episode. Episode Sources: Benson, David R. Stories in Log and Stone: The Legacy of the New Deal in Minnesota State Parks. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 2002. Gooseberry Falls State Park interpretive panels text. Circa 1996. No authorship given. To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  7. Feb 16

    The Big Wild-Michigan's Pigeon River Country State Forest, Part 1: Ernest Hemingway & P.S. Lovejoy

    Conservationist and Forest Advocate P.S. Lovejoy called the Pigeon River Forest "The Big Wild." It is one of the largest contiguous forest lands in Michigan at now over 118,000 acres. Like much of the forests of the Great Lakes, it has had its rebirth in the 20th century after the success of the 19th century lumber industry and the subsequent wildfires that followed.  Ernest Hemingway summered with his family in Northern Michigan while he was growing up. Born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1898, Young Ernest Hemingway and his family traveled to Petoskey every summer where they had a cottage on nearby Walloon Lake. Ernest loved fishing and his fishing adventures took him as far a field as "the pine barrens" east of Vanderbilt that was the home of the Black, Pigeon, and Sturgeon rivers, along with fishing trips in the Upper Peninsula. The pine barrens were the cutover and burned over land that had once hosted great forests of white pine and hardwood and would soon become the Pigeon River Country State Forest.  Another visitor to the area was P.S. Lovejoy, a forester and conservationist, who would first see the land in 1919. Although it was still recovering from logging, fire, and failed attempts at afgriculture, he saw in his mind "The Big Wild," a roadless area of forests hosting a wide variety of wildife, including the newly reintroduced Rocky Mountain Elk. His idea was for a wildland that contained no conveniences for visitors. It was wilderness in it's truest form. While his idea was not matched by reality, it became the basis for one of Michigan's unique state forest lands. What began as a 6,500 acre forest reserve (like Higgins Lake and Houghton Lake Forest Reserves), grew over the next century to 110,000 acres. In December, 2025, a new land purchase of the 8,500 acre Black River Ranch grew the forest to now more than 118,000 acres.  This episode of the North Country History with Rob Burg podcast shares some of the history of the creation of this state forest and covers the newest addition to the forest in the 21st century. Resources used for this episode: Franz, Dale Clarke. Pigeon River Country. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1985/revised edition 2007. Heckman, Kerry. Showcasing the DNR: A Landmark Investment in Public Land. Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lansing, Michigan. December 10, 2025. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MIDNR/bulletins/3ff3542 Kates, James. Planning a Wilderness: Regenerating the Great Lakes Cutover Region. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 2001. Websites with Further Information: Official Michigan Department of Natural Resources website: https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/places/state-forests/prc Website for the Pigeon River Country Association, the non-profit 501c3 organization that partners with the DNR, and the Pigeon River Country Discovery Center, and educational and visitor center housed in the historic former forest supervisor's home: https://pigeonriverdiscoverycenter.org/ To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

  8. Feb 9

    Frank W. May-From Slavery to Lumberman

    In honor of Black History Month, I want to introduce a unique story in Michigan History to my listeners, the story of Frank W. May, a man who was born into enslavement in Kentucky prior to the American Civil War, and after emancipation raised himself to the ownership of a sawmill in Detroit and a lumberman owning a modest logging operation in Otsego County in the Northern Lower Peninsula in the 1890s. In 2017 I had an article about Frank May published in Chronicle, the membership magazine of the Historical Society of Michigan, title "Frank W. May's Spirit of Enterprise." It was based on research that I conducted in 2016 mostly through the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collections. I don't quite remember how I came across Frank May and his connection to the Michigan lumber industry, but I knew that it was a story that needed to be shared with a wider audience. In this episode I am casting that net further and I go back to that article and sharing it with the listeners of the podcast.  The article that I wrote: Burg, Rob. "Frank W. May's Spirit of Enterprise."  Chronicle, Membership Magazine of the Historical Society of Michigan, Lansing, Michigan. Vol. 40, No. 2. pp. 20-22. hsmichigan.org To leave a comment, send me a text here. Support the show

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Your podcast on the Forest History of the Great Lakes Region. The forests of the Great Lakes have been home to people for centuries and have provided great resources and wealth, shelter, food, and recreation for many. But in the wake of these uses, the region has been environmentally damaged from deforestation, fire, and erosion, and are still recovering to this day. I will be your guide for exploring the forests and sharing stories of the forests and the people who have called them home.About Rob Burg: Hi! I'm an environmental historian specializing on the forest history of the Great Lakes Region. I am a mostly lifelong Michigan resident and studied at Eastern Michigan University for both my undergraduate degree in History and graduate studies in Historic Preservation. My 35-year professional life has mostly been in history museums, including the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the Michigan History Museum, and the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer. I began my environmental history career with managing both the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum and the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum for the Michigan History Museum system, directing the Lovells Museum of Trout Fishing History, archivist for the Devereaux Memorial Library in Grayling, Michigan, and as the Interpretive Resources Coordinator for the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska. I am proud that the first person to ever call me an environmental historian was none other than Dr. William Cronon, the dean of American Environmental History.

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