In 1872, McCoy sold out this business and took to lumbering on the south branch of the Manistee River.

In 1873, McCoy settled in the village of Clam Lake, which is now the city of Cadillac, where he continued his lumbering business for ten years.

While there, McCoy ended up holding the positions of village president of Clam Lake, and later mayor of Cadillac.

[1][2] In 1905, McCoy was appointed a member of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan.

That same year, McCoy was appointed by Michigan Governor Fred M. Warner, along with Lawton T. Hemans and Arthur Holmes, to be the commissioners to relocate the remains of the first governor of Michigan, Stevens T. Mason, from New York Marble Cemetery in New York City to Capitol Park in Detroit so that they may be reinterned there.