Au Sable, MI

Au Sable is an Iosco County CDP on the south side of the Au Sable River, right where it meets Lake Huron. Oscoda sits across the river, so the two communities share the river mouth while keeping distinct names and township histories. Au Sable was settled in 1848 and platted the following year, when the river was already the obvious route into the interior.

The river also shaped the older work here. Commercial fishing, lumber camps, and log drives shaped Au Sable Township, and the Au Sable carried timber toward mills and lake shipping. A 1911 fire devastated Au Sable and Oscoda, another chapter that still turns up in local history. Today the Michigan DNR treats the Au Sable as one of the state’s major Lake Huron tributaries, while the township’s museum and local history preserve the fishing-and-lumber past. For a quick mental picture, take the river to the lake, put Au Sable on the south bank and Oscoda on the north, and let that geography set the scene.