The Big Water: A History of Michigan’s Lower Au Sable River

by Thomas A. Buhr

As one of the country’s most popular recreational streams — with an international reputation for fly fishing — the Au Sable River is a crown jewel of Michigan waterways. However, underneath its surface lies a history of controversy and conflict. For 12,000 years its sylvan banks and clear waters have attracted everyone from the First People of North America to European explorers and American settlers. They came to trap, lumber, hunt, fish, canoe, and lately, to conserve.The Big A History of Michigan’s Lower Au Sable River is an up-to-date, comprehensive, and unified account of the region’s history, from pre-European times through French and English exploitation, American Manifest Destiny, resource extraction and redemption, the rise of outdoor recreation, and the legacy of pollution from modernization. The Big Water is a tale of the Wild West ways of early industrialization that flows hopefully towards a future where we try to live in harmony with wild places._____________

Tom Buhr’s The Big Water is the epitome of what René Decartes meant when he said that in reading history we live with men of an earlier age as if we are traveling in foreign lands. Once I waded in, I kept wading all the way.The Big Water is the product of prodigious research, incisive analysis, and a storyteller’s on-spot ear for a good tale. One of the book’s many strengths is how the author ties local history to larger state, national, and international events and movements beyond the Lower Au Sable. This book will be read for a long time by all who love the Au Sable in all of its personalities, and by those who love history, especially the many jewels that comprise the collective natural treasure of our glorious state. —Joseph Heywood, author of The Snowfly, Covered Tempests of A Nomadic Trouter, The Berkut, and the Grady Service Woods Cop mystery seriesThe Big Water, by Thomas Buhr, is a deeply felt narrative of the history of a particular stretch of the Au Sable river, fed by the “holy waters.” It is at once a flowing ride through its indigenous history up through and into the recent past, as well as a record of those who have been loving stewards of the river, and those who have not. Read these beautiful chapters and come to know this big water more intimately, and know you are getting a spectacular view told from the grassroots and from the “grasstops.” This book is a living reminder that rivers are the blood of our landscape. —Michael Delp, author of The Mad Angler Poems, and co-editor emeritus of the Made in Michigan book series from Wayne State University Press _____________

Thomas A. Buhr is a native Michigander and lifelong fisherman, chasing everything from bluegills and bass to snappers and snook. As a fourteen-year-old, he moved to Boca Raton — a place nobody had heard of yet — and fell in love with Old Florida. Watching "progress" steal away this magical land also spawned an interest in conservation.While working his way through the academic thicket with degrees from the University of Miami, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Michigan, Buhr found time for freelance writing. Over thirty years, he has written scores of articles for magazines, including Field & Stream, Florida Game & Fish, The Fisherman, Michigan Out of Doors, and Midwest Fly Fishing, as well as several pieces for academic journals.

308 pages, Paperback

Published January 18, 2024

About the author

I am a native Michigander and a lifelong fishing enthusiast chasing everything from bluegills and bass to snappers and snook. At 14 years old, I moved to Boca Raton – a place nobody had heard of yet – and fell in love with Old Florida. Watching "progress" steal away this magical land also spawned an interest in conservation.
While working my way through the academic thicket with degrees from Miami (FL), Central Florida, and University of Michigan, I found time for freelance writing. In over 30 years, I have written scores of articles in magazines, including Field & Stream, Florida Game & Fish, The Fisherman, Michigan Out of Doors, Midwest Fly Fishing, and several pieces for academic journals. I was an editor of The Riverwatch and won an Award for Conservation Journalism from The Sierra Club in 2011.
I founded the Au Sable Big Water Preservation Association in 2007 and have been a member of several Michigan-based conservation organizations, often serving on the board. When not fishing, writing, or protecting wild places, I cheer for my favorite sports teams: Leicester City Foxes, Michigan Wolverines, and Miami Dolphins.

Reviews

[Michael Vandenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great dive into Michigan history, conservation, hunting and fishing, logging, vacationing, etc.

[Matthew Graves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written but i struggled to get into this book.