The area offered shelter from tall white pines and food from the river and lake.

The large company town included internal rail lines for transportation and a tramway extending over Lake Huron on long piers for loading gypsum onto ships.

Started in 1862, the mine supplied gypsum for temporary buildings constructed in Chicago at the World Columbian Exposition of 1893.

It proposed using 10 large tramway platforms that extend more than 6,000 feet into the lake to gauge winds.

At the time, the federal government was offering subsidies for such studies and development of alternative energy projects.

By land By water As of the 2000 United States census,[20] there were 27,339 people, 11,727 households, and 7,857 families in the county.

The county government operates the jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of social services.

The county board of commissioners controls the budget, with limited authority to make laws or ordinances.

In Michigan, most local government functions—police and fire, building and zoning tax assessment, street maintenance, etc.—are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.