The weeks leading up to the July 11, 1911 Au Sable - Oscoda fires in Iosco County were very dry with several smaller fires in the days leading up to July 11th, a day with high winds (Sodders. 1997: 319). No one knows for sure how the July 11th fire started, but some think that sparks from a train may have contributed to the fire). Au Sable and Oscoda, are located at the mouth of the Au Sable River, across the river from each other (Au Sable is on the south side of the River). Au Sable, the larger of the two had six saw mills, including the Loud Family Mill, a sash and blind factory, and the Au Sable River Boom Company working with logs floated on the River by various mills) and a vital downtown. The exact death toll is unknown but it may have been from five to twelve people losing their lives (Sodders, 1997:315-20).
As I learned of the 1911 Au Sable-Oscoda Fire, I was immediately struck by the utter devastation to these two towns. These towns lost businesses and people. I was left with the impression that these towns never quite recovered from the fire.
According to Sodders, “historians speculate the conflagration of 1911 delivered the fatal punch to the fast-waning lumbering era in northeast lower Michigan. Many industries simply did not or could not afford to rebuild. Oscoda received far less damage from the fire than her sister city, Au Sable, but neither town rebuilt to its former stature after the fires (Sodders, 1997:319)”. Sodders' research indicated that the Loud Family Mill was never rebuilt with the Loud’s moving their operations to Oregon.
Thornton talks of the effect of the fire on the people: “the tragedy of the fire was the breaking off of long friendships among neighbors of two communities; entire families, left destitute in a matter of minutes, suddenly had to leave to find housing and employment. Some moved to nearby towns to live with relatives, while others moved to Detroit and other industrial centers of the state (Thornton, Neil 1987, Along the Historic Riviere aux Sables, Chapter 17—‘The Fire of 1911’ Printer’s Devil Press: Tawas City, Michigan quote in Sodders, 1997:349).
I am left wondering what life is like in these Au Sable and Oscoda now. The places called Au Sable and Oscoda are still here but with far fewer people and in a very different form then before the fire. Life is going on but no where near as it was before the 1911 fire. Perhaps this was inevitable and the 1911 fire just made this happen sooner?
- December 15, 2021: Introduction
- December 17, 2021: 1871 Fires
- December 20: 2021: 1881 Thumb Fires, part 1
- December 22: 2021: 1881 Thumb Fires, part 2
- December 27, 2021: 1896 Ontonagan Fire
- December 29, 2021: 1908 Metz Fire
- January 3, 2022: 1911 Au Sable - Oscoda Fire (this article)
- January 5, 2022: Reflections
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