On my way up US-23, I stopped at a ghost town of sorts. Alabaster was first homesteaded in 1860. Two men from Bay City ended up trading for the land with the original occupant for a shotgun, two quarts of whiskey and a dog. It was later bought by two men from Detroit for $20,000. They built a saw mill, dock, store and some houses.
In 1899, a track was built from here to Tawas. It was used to move the gypsum from the mine to there. From there, it was picked up by ship.
In 1928, this dock was built. There was a tramway that went from the shore to this building which is about 1.3 miles out. It was owned by the US Gypsum company (who still has a gypsum mine there). It operated until the 1990's. There is a similar building about 3 miles to the north.
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