This is Michigan Moments, rediscovering the pioneering moments of the Great Lakes State. In the late 1800s, the pine forests in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula drew men, mills and railroads into this remote corner of Houghton County. Using a Native American name meaning “small hill by a creek,” Sidnaw began as a lumber town.

By 1900, the community was a thriving hub with sawmills, shingle mills and even factories producing wooden butter dishes and broom handles. The railroads gave Sidnaw its lifeline. At the crossing of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic and the Milwaukee Road, a union depot was built. Trains transported families, workers and supplies while carrying lumber, farm goods and livestock.

One of the town’s most striking figures was Walter S. Prickett. Arriving in Michigan from New Jersey in the 1890s, he built what came to be known as Roycroft Farms. With 300 acres of cleared land, herds of Jersey cattle, Angora goats and sheep, the farm was unlike anything else in the region.

Photographs from the time show bold white letters spelling “Roycroft” on barns and offices, a brand known across the county. These ventures marked Sidnaw’s transition from timberland to farmland.

Sidnaw’s hotels, stores and schools reveal a place once full of energy. The Northern Hotel served travelers. Children attended a fine two-story public school. General stores stocked goods arriving daily by rail. But like so many Michigan logging towns, Sidnaw’s prosperity was short-lived. As the big timber disappeared, sawmills closed and families left.

In the 1920s, Henry Ford built a model lumber camp at Sidnaw. It was, in his words, “the likes of which no sober lumberjack had ever dreamed.” For men used to drafty shanties, the camp must have seemed extraordinary. They slept in heated bunkhouses wired for electricity. Smoking and drinking were banned, but a laundry service was available for $5 per pay period.

During World War II, Sidnaw was the site of a German prisoner-of-war camp. The camp held 251 Germans from February 1944 until April 1946.

Today, Sidnaw is quiet. A gas station, scattered farms and a few homes sit where hundreds once worked and lived. Trains still roll through, but the depot is no longer there. The forests have grown back around the small clearings that remain. Sidnaw stands as a reminder of the boom and bust that shaped much of Michigan’s north country.

Thanks for listening. Please share and follow us for future episodes. This has been Michigan Moments, offering bite-sized morsels of Michigan history.