x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

North Country History with Rob Burg

Your podcast on the Forest History of the Great Lakes Region. The forests of the Great Lakes have been home to people for centuries and have provided great resources and wealth, shelter, food, and recreation for many. But in the wake of these uses, the region has been environmentally damaged from deforestation, fire, and erosion, and are still recovering to this day. I will be your guide for exploring the forests and sharing stories of the forests and the people who have called them home.About Rob

history nature

All Episodes

49:06

A North Country Veteran: Dud Foster's D-Day Experience

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/11/10

In this bonus episode of the North Country History with Rob Burg podcast, I am presenting the story of my late uncle, Dudley Foster and his experiences as a sailor in the U.S. Navy at the Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. Dud and his wife Ang, my dad's older sister, retired to their own North Country retreat on the banks of the AuSable River just outside of Grayling, Michigan in the mid-1970s and lived out the remainder of their lives along the river. Dud kept a diary of sorts of his ...

en-us

19:54

The Origin of the Lumberjack Breakfast

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/11/03

In 2014-2015 long before I became a podcaster I briefly had a blog called "A Taste of the North Country." In it I explored the food found in the North, both historic and contemporary. At the time I was only working as a freelance historical presenter and writer, so I was doing as much economizing with food as possible, including foraging wild food (mostly wild berries), and doing my own canning. I was looking at this with the eye of the historical perspective. It also got me to think about so...

en-us

60:01

The Passenger Pigeon

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/10/06

One of the greatest extinction events happened in the forests of the Great Lakes region and Eastern North America: the Passenger Pigeon. Kyle Bagnall, the Park Naturalist for the Mackinac State Historic Parks joins me as my guest to talk about this bird, that was once the most populous bird species on the planet and how it came to being extinct in the early 20th Century. Kyle, a fellow environmental historian, and I discuss the life and history of the Passenger Pigeon, its impact on the...

en-us

75:35

Recounting my 2025 Podcast Tour

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/09/08

From July 31-August 16 I went on my first official North Country History Podcast Tour to the Northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Northern Wisconsin, and Northeastern Minnesota. I visited numerous places, learned a lot of new information and met many great people. In this final episode of the second season of the podcast, I recount my tour, visiting the numerous places that I stopped at. Many of the places that I visited and the information that I learned will b...

en-us

74:31

The Labor of Logging, Part 3: Saw Mills and Milltowns

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/09/01

Happy Labor Day! To conclude this three part series on the Labor of Logging, we look into the work at the saw mills and in the milltowns. In 1885 it was reported that there were 50,000 men working in the lumber industry in Michigan, with 20,000 employed in saw mills. As I like to say about the lumber industry, it was to Michigan in the 19th century as what the automobile industry was to the state in the 20th century. It was the major industry that drove the state's economy. And it was the ind...

en-us

65:02

The Labor of Logging, Part 2: River Driving and Boom...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/08/25

In this second part of the Labor of Logging, I look at the labor involved with the Spring River Drives and the use of Boom Companies. The labor was the most important part of the log drives, without the men working the rivers, the logs would have never made it down the rivers to the sawmills. The drives could be very dangerous, with many men seriously injured or killed. I share a first-person account of Elmer Nolan about the danger of breaking rollways and river driving on the Tittabawasee Ri...

en-us

50:06

The Labor of Logging, Part 1: In an Upper Michigan...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/08/18

In this first of two parts episodes in honor of Labor Day, we learn about the work that was done in the woods through the memories of John J. Heilala, who was a sixteen year-old boy who went to work in an Upper Peninsula logging camp, Ferguson's Camp 33, in 1904. John Heilala shared these memories 48 years later in an article of the same title in the March 1952 issue of Michigan History magazine. We hear of some of the work that was done through this first person account. John Heilala w...

en-us

24:36

What the Heck is a Hodag?

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/08/11

Like Paul Bunyan and his companion, Babe the Blue Ox, agropelters, side hill gougers, and squonks, the Hodag was a mythical being found in the forests of the North Country. The Hodag was "discovered" by Eugene Shepard of Rhinelander, Wisconsin in 1896 and aided in its creation by Luke "Lakeshore" Kearney, a skilled woodcarver and storyteller. Like many of these tall tales and mythical beasts, the hodag was ferocious and always hungry. And in Rhinelander, much beloved. I encountered my first s...

en-us

16:05

The Spirit of the North Country

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/08/09

This episode is an opinion piece on where do you think "Up North" begins. Is it a geographic location or where you start to feel that you are "Up North." I will tell you where I think "Up North" begins in Michigan. I don't have an opinion on Wisconsin or Minnesota, but if you are from these states or vacation in them, then you know. Same if you live in Michigan, my "Up North" is not necessarily your "Up North"; but guess what? We're all correct. Think about how "Up North" makes you feel...

en-us

47:16

The Evolution of the Sawmill

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/07/28

The lumber boom of the second half of the 19th Century in the Great Lakes Region was fueld by the demand for more lumber due to the fast growth in the United States after the Civil War. This included the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and the opening of places like the Great Plains for new settlement. To meet this growing demand, new technology was introduced and perfected to aid in the greater harvesting of the forests and to increase the supply of wood products to the con...

en-us

50:31

Railroad Logging

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/07/21

In the post-Civil War era there was great growth in the United States. The Transcontinental railroad was completed linking the Pacific Coast with the East and opening the Great Plains and the West to settlement. Industrialization led to increased wealth and an influx of immigration to the country. All of this meant that cities, towns, and farms all grew. This growth demanded more lumber. The lumbermen in the Great Lakes had experimented with a number of different ways to move the raw ma...

en-us

53:37

Fire Follows the Axe: Logging, Wildfires and Climate...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/07/14

Climate change is not new. The Great Lakes experienced a change to the climate after the 19th century lumber industry resulting in wildfires and other significant events. This episode covers how this happened and how it was able to be reversed over time. The 19th century lumber industry in the Great Lakes region was an economic boom that created wealth and encouraged settlement and the development of communities, but left the former timberlands a wasteland. Without the moderating forest canop...

en-us

39:30

Logging in the Northeast, Part 3: Penn's Woods

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/07/07

In this episode I conclude the miniseries on Logging in the Northeast by visiting Pennsylvania and exploring it's lumber history. During the mid-1800s, Pennsylvania led the nation in white pine lumber production until it was eclipsed by Michigan. Pennsylvania's lumber industry was dominated by two major river systems, the Susquehanna River flowing to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Allegheny River that flowed to the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, then to the Mississippi River in the west. ...

en-us

45:27

Logging in the Northeast, Part 2: The Adirondacks

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/06/30

Part 2 of my "Logging in the Northeast" miniseries has me exploring the forest history of the Adirondack Mountains in New York state. New York's Adirondack Mountains is the largest state park in the United States, protecting 6,000 square miles of land. Created in 1892, it is larger than many National Parks. It is a unique public-private partnership where many people live in numerous communities within the park. Where it is now a place of recreation, featuring 42 mountain peaks over 4,000 feet...

en-us

43:49

Logging in the Northeast, Part 1: Maine-the Birth of...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/06/23

Long before the lumber industry made it to the Great Lakes region, logging was an important industry along the Atlantic Coast and specifically in the Northeast of what became the United States. The first region to be impacted by this boom was Maine. Maine, at the time a part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and later the state of Massachusetts until its own statehood in 1820, was one of the first regions where lumber would be the most important economic industry. Like in the Great Lakes...

en-us

60:51

The Civilian Conservation Corps, Part 2: Big...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/06/16

On this week's episode of North Country History with Rob Burg, I am joined by Bill Jamerson, an award winning documentary filmmaker turned author and performer, to discuss the life and experiences of CCC Boy Michael Rataj. Mike came from poverty in Detroit and came of age in the wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where the CCC changed his life. Both Bill and I knew Mike and heard his numerous stories over the years, and we share some of our own stories and thoughts on Mike. Michael Rat...

en-us

66:24

The Civilian Conservation Corps, Part 1: The New...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/06/09

Conservation and Reforestation in the North Country was of great importance in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, several states had their own programs to bring back forests, and the United States Forest Service was created to replant forests across the country. These programs did some good, early work, but the most important impact was made in the wake of the Great Depression. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was innaugurated as the 32nd president in 1933 he offered up his "New Deal" to put t...

en-us

44:54

Introducing Season 2 & Recapping Season 1

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/06/02

This episodes marks the beginning of Season 2 of the North Country History with Rob Burg podcast. We look at what will be coming up on Season 2 airing from June through August, 2025. But first we recap Season 1 as a refresher and also an introduction for new listeners. Season 2 will bring new guests to the podcast, take a look at the origins of the lumber industry in the United States in the Northeastern states of Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania, explore some new topics in forest hist...

en-us

33:45

Woodsmen go to War: The 10th and 20th Regiments of...

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/05/29

In 1917 with the United States of America's declaration of war against Germany, a call went out for volunteers to serve in the expanding U.S. Armed Forces. Not only were soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines needed, but so were lumberjacks, foresters, sawmill employees, and others who did work related to the lumber and forestry industries. These men were important support troops that were part of the unsung elements of all armies that go to war, the engineers. As mentioned in episode 1...

en-us

51:11

Edward Hartwick-Soldier and Lumberman

North Country History with Rob Burg ·

2025/05/26

In this bonus episode of the North Country History podcast we commemorate Memorial Day today with a feature about Edward Hartwick. Most people know of Edward Hartwick as the man who Hartwick Pines State Park is named for, but what do most people know about Edward Hartwick? Edward Hartwick, a native of Grayling, Michigan was a professional soldier who attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Hartwick graduated from West Point in 1893 and received his commissio...

en-us

33 results

Similar Podcasts

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai

Madonna - Audio Biography

Inception Point Ai