With this episode we honor Memorial Day with the story of Russell A. Alger. Alger rose from poverty in Ohio, when he was orphaned at age 12, to a lumberman and cavalry officer in the Civil War.

Having moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1860, he engaged in the lumber business in the Grand River valley. After the Civil War began in April 1861, Russel Alger volunteered for the Union Army in August, 1861 as a private in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry, commanded by Col. Phil Sheridan. He was then commissioned as a Captain when the regiment was mustered into federal service in September. He rose up from Captain to Major in the 2nd, promoted to Lt. Colonel of the 6th Michigan Cavalry, and finally to Colonel and in command of the 5th Michigan Cavalry Regiment in 1863. With this regiment, he served in George Armstrong Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade at Gettysburg. Alger was mentioned by Custer for distinguished service at Gettysburg, and in 1864, while a part of General Phil Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign, he again was noted for valor at the Battle of Trevillian Station, where he was also severely wounded. Alger resigned his commision soon after and returned to Michigan, settling in Detroit. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson included Russell Alger in the lists of officers receiving promotions to brevet ranks. Alger was promoted to the honorary rank of Brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers. In 1867 he was again breveted by President Johnson, this time to Brevet Major General of Volunteers.

Having moved to Detroit, General Alger soon re-entered into the Michigan lumber business. Involved in several lumber companies, the most notable being the Alger, Smith and Company, in which he was president and primary partner of the firm. His lumber operations centered on the AuSable River in Iosco County, the Huron Shore in Alcona County, the eastern Upper Peninsula, including Manistique and the Kingston Plains. The Alger, Smith, and Company also operated a large mill and had extensive lumber operations on the north coast of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. Other lumber operations were in California, Washington state, Alabama, and Florida.

Alger did not limit himself to just the lumber business, but was also involved in Republican politics in Michigan and on the National level. Alger was elected as the Governor of Michigan in 1884, serving a single 2-year term from Jan. 1, 1885 to Jan. 1, 1887. As governor, he was involved in trying to break the 1885 sawmill strike in Bay City and Saginaw. Also during his term of office, he saw the creation of two new counties in the Upper Peninsula- Iron and Alger, the creation of a State Board of Pardons, and the establishment of the Michigan College of the Mines, today's Michigan Technological University in Houghton. In 1888, Russell Alger sought the Republican nomination for U.S. President. He lost to Benjamin Harrison, the eventual victor in the race, defeating incumbant President Grover Cleveland. In 1897, Alger was appointed to the office of Secretary of War in the new William McKinley administration. He oversaw the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War in 1898. He was considered a poor leader of the Army and despite the American victory, he was held responsible forr the poor logisitics, the Army Beef scandal, and the selection of General William Shafter to the command of the Cuba campaign. McKinley aksed for and received Alger's resignation as Secretary of War at the war's conclusion. Russell A. Alger's last involvement in politics came in 1902 when he was appointed by Governor Aaron Bliss to the vacant U.S. Senate seat that had been held by James McMillan, who had died in office. Alger was elected to permanently fill the seat and he served as Senator from Michigan until 1907 when he died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C.

Sources for this episode:

Fuller, George N. Governors of the Territory and State of Michigan. Lansing, MI: Michigan Historical Commission, Bulletin No. 16, 1928.

Hotchkiss, George W. History of the Lumber and Forestry Industry in the Northwest. Chicago, Illinois, 1898.

Kilar, Jeremy W. Michigan's Lumbertowns: Lumbermen and Laborers in Saginaw, Bay City, and Muskegon, 1870-1905. Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1990.

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News this week out of the Trump Administration in Washington is that there are plans to relocate the headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, Utah. Along with this there are plans to downsize the staffing of the forest service, downsize reseach offices from 57 to 19, and open up more of the federally owned forest lands to logging and other operations. There is also likely the plan to downsize or even eliminate national forests in specific areas as well.

Thic commentary focuses mostly on an article in Bridge Michigan, an online magazine about public affairs in Michigan that centers on the planned closure of all four of the Forest Service research offices in Michigan and how that may effect our forests. This however will affect all of our region as the same will happen in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well. It may also indirectly affect Ontario and the rest of Canada.

Bridge Michigan article:

House, Kelly."Trump administration plans closure of 4 Michigan forestry research centers." April 3, 2026 bridgemichigan.com/michigan-environment-watch/trump-administration-plans-closure-of-4-michigan-forestry-research-centers/

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In honor of Women's History Month, this week's guest Emily Macgillivray (The Outdoors Historian) joins the podcast to share the story of Ozhaawashkodwekwe, also known as Susan Johnston, an Ojibwe woman born in the Chequamegon Bay region of Lake Superior (Wisconsin), married to an Irish fur trader and a leader of her tribal clan in Bawating (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) where she owned a large sugar bush on nearby Sugar Island in the St. Mary's River.

Maple Sugar was an important food source and commodity for the indigenous people of the Great Lakes. It was an important part of the diet in the early Spring before other food was available. It was used for food preservation, similar to salt, and could be bartered for other food, exchanged for trade goods, and more.

Emily also touches a bit on the indigenous experience in the fur trade and also the importance of re-learning indigenous history in the 21st century as compared to how it was traditionally taught in the past in both Canada and the United States.

Emily Macgillivray is a historian and writer who lives in the Chequamegon Bay area of northwestern Wisconsin. She has worked as an educator focusing on histories of the Great Lakes, United States, and Canada, fo over fifteen years. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and was an assistant professor at Northland College, where she also taught field courses focused on the Lake Superior watershed. She has also worked in both large and small museums focusing on Indigenous and Black historys. Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, Emily has also lived and worked in Kingston, Ontario, Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan, and Chicago, Illinois. She currently works in land use development for her municipal government. In her free time she combines her love of the outdoors and history in her wrting on Substack as The Outdoors Historian.

You can follow Emily on Substack at substack.com/@theoutdoorshistorian

Check out Emily's website at theoutdoorshistorian.com

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