Station: McKinley, MI (Potts)

McKinley was settled in eastern Oscoda County around the J.E. Potts Salt & Lumber Company and originally called Potts. In 1891, the H.M. Loud & Sons bought the Potts lumber interests, including their mill, machinery, narrow gauge railroad, timber and land leases. The town was renamed McKinley in 1892. 

Notes

Potts/McKinley was originally a log loading site on the Au Sable river for the purpose of launching cork pine into the river and floating it downriver to the mill(s) at Au Sable on Lake Huron.

Cork pine floated but hardwoods did not and the railroad was then extended southeast along the river to Au Sable.

Potts/McKinley was approximately located at Evans Road crossing of the river in Mentor Township.

Time Line

1890. September 24. Charles Crawford, a brakeman on the Potts Railroad was killed this afternoon while coupling cars. His head was severed from the body and the body badly mutilated. [DFP-1890-0925]

1897. The population of Potts reaches 250. [CFH]

1889. Alex Wilson, while under the influence of liquor, fell from a log train on the AS&NW railroad near Potts, and was run over, dying shortly afterward. He was an old veteran and was buried by the G.A.R. [NREP-1889-0905]

1900. Most of the pine near McKinley was completed. Logging moved farther north and west using the AS&NW railroad branch lines.

1900. The railroad repair shop here burned. A lack of remaining timber didn't warrant rebuilding it. The logging headquarters was moved to Comins, including several buildings. The town was abandoned.

1900. The depot from McKinley was apparently moved to Comins when the railroad headquarters was relocated.

1913. The post office in McKinley was closed. The area is now a ghost town. [MPN]