North Country History with Rob Burg
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.
North Country History with Rob Burg
Russell A. Alger: Lumberman and Civil War General
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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.