1950 Map of Roscommon North

About this map

South Branch Au Sable River meanders through the heart of the Huron National Forest, anchoring a landscape defined by recreational camps and early 20th-century industry. The 1949 aerial survey and 1950 field check document a specific era of Upper Michigan's wilderness management, where private sporting retreats like the Bay City Hunting and Fishing Club and South Branch Ranch stood alongside active resource extraction. Evidence of the region's logging and homesteading past is scattered across the terrain, notably at Pioneer Cemetery and several sites marked simply as Ruins. The New York Central railroad corridor in the southwest corner near Gerrish provides a sharp contrast to the remote Deerheart Valley, showing how transportation networks supported both the Northern Block and Supply Company and the burgeoning tourist trade at Bell Top Lodge.