1956 Map of Alba

About this map

Alba sits at the intersection of the Pennsylvania railroad and regional roads in this mid-century survey of the Northern Michigan highlands. The landscape is defined by the vast timberlands of the Pigeon River State Forest and Au Sable State Forest, where the headwaters of the Manistee River and the Pigeon River emerge from a terrain dotted with kettle lakes and glacial depressions. Evidence of the region’s logging history and early 20th-century settlement is found in the remains of Deward, a former lumbering town, and scattered rural institutions like Barnhart Sch and Blue Lake Sch.