Editing Moffatt Township, Michigan (section)

==History==
Moffatt Township was organized in 1874, at the time part of [[Bay County, Michigan|Bay County]]. The community of Alger was named after [[Russell A. Alger]] almost a decade later. In 1882 to 1883, the area of Alger was created from the formation of a railroad junction along the [[Michigan Central Railroad]].<ref>[http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1880s/TimeLine1880sBackUp.htm RRHX – Railroad History Time Line – 1880s<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>  This junction came from the now defunct [[Bay City and Alpena Railroad]] out of [[Prescott, Michigan]].<ref>[http://cartweb.geography.ua.edu:9001/StyleServer/calcrgn?cat=North%20America%20and%20United%20States&item=States/Michigan/Michigan1890a-south.sid&wid=500&hei=400&props=item(Name,Description),cat(Name,Description)&style=simple/view-dhtml.xsl 1890 railroad map of lower Michigan]</ref> It was constructed under the direction of Russell Alger, who later became the 20th [[governor of Michigan]], and then the [[U.S. Secretary of War]]. The railroads were thriving mainly due to Michigan's [[lumbering]] boom at the time, and Alger grew to be a popular settlement with many mills, restaurants, and saloons. Two small towns named Culver and Wells existed nearby. Culver was located about a mile north, and Wells was about a mile south of downtown Alger.

In 1896 the railroad from Prescott ceased operations,<ref>[http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Timeline/1890s/TimeLine1890sBackUp.htm RRHX – Railroad History Time Line – 1890s<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and into the early 1900s (decade), as the timber reached depletion, the logging railroads disappeared along with businesses.  Today, Wells and Culver no longer exist, and Alger has slowly downsized to a small community of approximately 1,000 people.