Editing Iosco County, Michigan (section)

==History==
[[Image:1842 Manistee Kawtawwabet Missaukee Mickenauk Ogemaw Kanotin Notipeskago Aishcum Unwattin Kaykakee Gladwin Arenac counties Michigan.jpg|thumb|A detail from ''[[:File:1842 A new map of Michigan with its canals roads distances by H.S. Tanner.jpg|A New Map of Michigan with its Canals, Roads & Distances]]'' (1842) by [[Henry Schenck Tanner]], showing Iosco County as Kanotin, the county's name from 1840 to 1843.<ref name=Newberry/> Several nearby counties are also shown with names that would later be changed.]]
{{See also|History of Northern Michigan}}
The county was created by the Michigan Legislature in 1840 as '''Kanotin County''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=George Dawson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aDg4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA196 |title=Acts of the Legislature of the State of Michigan Passed at the Annual Session of 1840 |date=1840 |location=Detroit |pages=196–200}}</ref> and renamed Iosco County in 1843. It was administered by a succession of other Michigan counties before the organization of county government in 1857. A majority of the population was [[Ojibwe]]. The area offered shelter from tall white pines and food from the river and lake. Iosco County was cut from a piece of land ceded by the Ojibwe to the U.S. government. When the lumber boom hit, many more people moved to the area.<ref name="Newberry">{{Cite web |last=Newberry Library |title=Michigan: Individual County Chronologies |url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/MI_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106151503/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/MI_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm |archive-date=November 6, 2016 |access-date=November 4, 2016 |website=Atlas of County Historical Boundaries}}</ref><ref name="clarke">{{Cite web |title=Bibliography on Iosco County |url=http://clarke.cmich.edu/resource_tab/bibliographies_of_clarke_library_material/michigan_local_history/county_material/iosco.html |access-date=January 19, 2013 |publisher=Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University |archive-date=February 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217090126/http://clarke.cmich.edu/resource_tab/bibliographies_of_clarke_library_material/michigan_local_history/county_material/iosco.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The 400-acre [[Alabaster Historic District]], listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], is associated with an operating [[gypsum]] open-pit mine south of Tawas City. The large company town included internal rail lines for transportation and a [[Tramway (industrial)|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.<ref>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> Two companies continue to mine gypsum in Iosco County.

In 2009, Alabaster Township formed the nonprofit Alabaster Wind Power Development Corp. to conduct the necessary two-year studies of wind data at this site as a potential location for development of [[wind turbine]]s. It proposed using 10 large tramway platforms that extend more than 6,000 feet into the lake to gauge winds. The turbines could be built on the tramways. At the time, the federal government was offering subsidies for such studies and development of alternative energy projects.<ref>[http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/02/planners_propose_retrofitting.html Amy L. Payne, "Planners propose retrofitting old gypsum tramway for wind turbines on Lake Huron"], ''MLive'', ''Booth Mid-Michigan'', February 26, 2009</ref>