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Poe’s Report: Port Crescent’s Last Stand
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Apr 10, 2025
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we uncover the quiet collapse of Port Crescent, a once-promising Thumb Coast lumber town left behind when Washington said no. In 1886, the people of Port Crescent pleaded for help dredging the silt-choked Pinepog River—a final hope to revive their struggling economy after decades of logging and devastating wildfires. Lieutenant Colonel Orlando M. Poe, a respected U.S. Army engineer and Civil War veteran, was sent to investigate. His report didn’t just close the door on federal support—it sealed the town’s fate. This episode explores how one decision marked the beginning of the end for Port Crescent and how a river’s silence can echo for generations.
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in 1886 the people of Port Crescent
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Michigan made a plea to Washington they
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wanted the government to dredge their
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river clear a sandbar and breathe life
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back into their town's shrinking economy
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the river they pinned their hopes on the
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Pinnipog or Partridge River it wasn't
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big it wasn't fast but it was all they
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had and they believed in it the
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government on the other hand didn't this
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is End of the Road in Michigan and today
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we head to the edge of Hiron County in
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Michigan's Thumb to hear the story of a
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town that asked for help and got a cold
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bureaucratic no port Crescent stood near
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the mouth of the Pinnabog River where it
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empties into Sageno Bay in Michigan's
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Thumb it was a working town lumber salt
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shingles flour machinery everything
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moved on ships and the pinog was the
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artery connecting them to the Great
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Lakes but by the 1880s things were
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changing fast the Thumb region had been
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logged hard in the decades prior the
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tall white pines that once covered Huron
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County were nearly gone then came the
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fires first in
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1871 on the same day as the Great
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Chicago Fire then again worse in
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1881 both fires swept through the region
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turning cut over forest and drying slash
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into fuel thousands were left homeless
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entire towns vanished the land that
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remained was scorched but fertile and
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slowly painfully it began to shift from
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timber to
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agriculture but towns like Port Crescent
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built on sawmills and lake transport
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were left behind even so by 1886 it
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still had two sawmills two salt blocks
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general stores and a growing trade in
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white sand locals believed the Pinbog
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River could still serve as a lifeline
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what stood in their way was sand and
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Washington the mouth of the river had
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silted up a sandbar was forming the
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river choked a dam near the mouth
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already damaged made things worse so did
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a dock laid diagonally across the flow
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vessels could barely make it in let
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alone out the shallow shifting sands of
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Upper Sagenol Bay caused problems for
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cargo ships with no safe harbor and
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rising risk ships stayed away trade
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declined and the river once the town's
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lifeline became a barrier on August 5th
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1886 Congress passed a new river and
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harbor act it allowed for a fresh round
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of studies to determine where federal
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money could be spent on navigational
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improvements the citizens of Port
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Crescent saw their chance they wrote
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letters they argued that clearing the
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river would restore trade create jobs
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even offer a safe haven for ships during
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storms on the bay one letter to the Army
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Corps of Engineers read "The prospective
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commerce will be a marked increase but
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on account of numerous wrecks off this
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port marine men deem it unsafe to enter
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or remain here it is a great detriment
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to the business interests of the place."
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They talked about past shipments 200,000
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ft of lumber once floated out with ease
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they argued the improvements could be
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modest just enough to make 200 rods
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navigable a safe harbor a revived trade
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route a second chance the man assigned
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to evaluate Port Crescent's request was
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Lieutenant Colonel Orlando Metaf Poe a
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name that still echoes across the Great
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Lakes born in 1832 in Navar Ohio Po
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graduated near the top of his class at
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West Point he began his career mapping
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and surveying the northern lakes work
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that made him one of the army's leading
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experts on Great Lakes
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navigation during the Civil War Po
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served as a trusted aid to General
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George B mlen and later became chief
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engineer for General William Tacca
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Sherman he played a crucial role in the
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defense of Knoxville and oversaw the
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burning of Atlanta during Sherman's
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march to the sea he was respected for
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his precision discipline and hard-edged
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logic by the mid 1880s Po was overseeing
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harbor and lighthouse construction
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across the upper lakes his impact was so
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significant that one of the Soolocks in
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so St marie critical to Great Lakes
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shipping was eventually named in his
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honor the Pole lock so when Po reviewed
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Port Cresant's appeal he brought decades
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of experience and a strict sense of
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priorities his report dated December 9th
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1886 pulled no punches the mouth itself
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is almost completely choked with sand
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the dock and dam would have to be
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removed the limited width of the river
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and the uncertainty about its bottom
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render any recommendation out of the
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question he recognized the town's
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efforts and the local desire to keep
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commerce alive but his conclusion was
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final the region tributary to Port
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Crescent is limited in area and in
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products i am compelled to report that
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in my opinion Pinog River is not at this
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time worthy of improvement by the
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general government with that a small
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town's hope ran a ground buried in sand
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dismissed by the man whose name would
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soon be etched into the history of
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American engineering in the end
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Lieutenant Colonel Orlando M poe didn't
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just assess a river he delivered a
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verdict on a town's future his 1886
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report didn't cause the fall of Port
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Crescent but it confirmed it without
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federal support the river stayed clogged
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the harbor stayed closed and the last
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best chance to reconnect Port Crescent
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to the Great Lakes vanished under a
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layer of sand the river stayed clogged
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the harbor never reopened the government
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never came back from that point forward
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the decline
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accelerated mills shut down trade dried
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up people moved on what remained of the
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town slowly slipped into memory po's
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decision didn't make headlines but it
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marked the beginning of the end today
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Port Crescent is a memory the town was
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eventually abandoned what's left is now
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part of Port Crescent State Park a quiet
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place with walking trails and a beach
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where the river once carried trade to
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the world the Pinnenbog River still
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meets the bay but no ships come calling
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today you can cross the original steel
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bridge that once led into town except
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you're not walking on city streets but
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nature trails and scenic overlooks of
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the river and bay no cranes no sawdust
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no cargo just wind and water the river's
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mouth is still there still narrow still
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shallow still shaped by the same sand
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that once stopped a town in its tracks
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this has been End of the Road in
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Michigan if you enjoyed this episode
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subscribe and leave a review wherever
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you get your podcasts and if you know of
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another Michigan town that history left
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behind send it our way
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