From its humble beginnings as a trading route for Native Americans, Northern Michigan's Inland Route has become one of the most scenic and memorable voyages anywhere in America. As a series of interconnected lakes and rivers from Cheboygan to Conway, the Inland Route touches several Northern Michigan communities and links them through her winding rivers and vast lakes. After improvements to the waterway in the 1870s, bigger boats and log booms started drifting down the route; but what once was a necessity for fur traders and lumbermen, the meandering waterway soon blossomed with dozens of tourist boats, hotels, resorts, and cottages. The result was a memorable voyage filled with natural beauty, recreation, and socialization.

In the fall of 1844, an entrepreneur named Alexander McLeod made his way up a shallow river in far northern Michigan with the idea of building a lumber mill. He discovered that the region around the Cheboygan River would be a suitable location. McLeod built a small cabin for himself, and the following spring the first permanent settler, Jacob Sammons, arrived. McLeod's employees and other businessmen followed with their families. The settlers improved the river, and Cheboygan became a booming lumber town. Along with the growth came grocers, bankers, saloonkeepers, laborers, doctors, and other pioneers. Colorful characters and beautiful buildings graced Cheboygan's bustling downtown. When the lumber ran out and the mills closed, residents sought a new identity. Tourism and industry led the way, and Cheboygan is enjoyed throughout the year. This collection of images of Cheboygan and the surrounding area highlights its birth and growth from boomtown to vacation destination.

Founded as a lumbering town in the mid-1800s, Cheboygan has transformed over the years to be something much less simplistic and much more dynamic; so, too, have its people. While some of Cheboygan's residents played important roles in business or commerce, others made their mark through philanthropic work, service to the community, or just by their demeanor. History is as much about people as it is about events--people like Gordon "Scoop" Turner, who came to Cheboygan for a few months but ended up staying for a lifetime. There are businessmen like Millard D. Olds, who became one of the most successful lumbermen at a time when others were leaving town, and George M. Humphrey, the 55th treasurer of the United States. An eye towards the community has also made some residents legendary, such as Joyce and Quincy Leslie. And, of course, there are those whose history is shrouded in controversy, including Sheriff Fred Ming, under whose authority a Native American village was burned to the ground. Whatever their story, these locals have contributed to the character and history of Cheboygan.

Age 3+. A small bear who hates the cold at the North Pole stows away on Santas annual journey until he gets to Hawaii, where the climate and the way of life seem like just what he wants.

What we think of today as Aloha or Aloha-Reedville in Washington County, Oregon, was once a collection of small villages that developed near rivers and established overland routes. Bridgeport, later Farmington on the Tualatin River, was settled in 1845. Nearby, homesteads emerged along the lower slope of Cooper Mountain and the Plains-Falls Road, an official route of the territorial government of Oregon. The 1850s donation land claim era brought additional settlement and increased agricultural production. Throughout the 1860s, farmers and entrepreneurs scrambled for an effective means of transporting surplus products for export from the prolific Tualatin Valley to Portland, San Francisco, and beyond. A railroad line, completed in 1872, established Reedville as a commercial center, and by the early 1900s, passenger depots were built at Huber, Tobias, and Aloha on the interurban Red Electric railway. Today, the suburban community of Aloha, once part of Oregon's oldest agricultural centers, maintains a significant role in the development of the Portland metropolitan region.