Alger, Michigan
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Moffatt Township. It lies in ZIP code area 48610. The Survey maps it on the Skidway Lake quadrangle. It stands 784 feet above sea level.
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1968 USGS Skidway Lake quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Houghton Lake quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
42 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Alger between 1992 and 2019, burning about 216 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 10 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 4 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 August 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 15 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 August 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 10 August 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 July 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ARENAC 33 |
| 3 June 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ARENAC #006 |
| 29 June 2015 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | OGEMAW 08 - BRUSH PILE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
14 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alger in 14 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 2 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2020 | Flood | Alger | $4,400,000 | Widespread areal flooding developed on the 18th, and persisted for several days. Most creeks and rivers in Arenac County rose out of their banks. Many roads across the county were closed at various times, including M-13 south of Standish. The Rifle River near Sterling reached a new record flood stage of 15.65 feet on the afternoon of the 19th. Some structures along the River River and Parmalee Creek were partially submerged. The Forest Lake area was evacuated due to rising water. Hundreds of homes were flooded in the Standish area. Flooding along the Lake Huron coastline was worsened by lakeshore flooding thanks to onshore winds. |
| March 2007 | Flood | Alger | $15,000 | The Rifle River near Sterling crested early on the morning of the 22nd at around 9.5 feet, above the estimated flood stage of 8 feet. The Au Gres River also rose out of its banks. A number of road closures resulted across the county, including parts of Santiago Road, Twining Road, Mackinaw Road, Hammel Beach Road, Court Street, Thaut Road, and Bessinger Road. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alger | $14,000 | Social media post from Alger Area Firefighter Station 15 to avoid Maple Ridge Rd between Melita Rd and M-33 due to downed trees, in the vicinity of Skidway Lake and Prescott. Additional reports of damage in the Forest Lake and north Clayton Twp/Mills Twp area. Comments also included a photo of a healthy fallen tree on top of a late-model SUV on a road. |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alger | $8,000 | Multiple reports of trees and powerlines down throughout the county. Roof blown off of a barn as well. |
| September 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alger | - | A few trees down. |
| May 2000 | Tornado (F0) | Alger | - | A tornado briefly touched down in far northeast Gladwin County and crossed into Arenac County lifting near interstate 75. |
| July 1995 | Tornado (F2) | Alger | - | A tornado was reported by a volunteer fireman near Alger. The tornado created a path five miles long near Forest Lake. Hundreds of trees, some several feet in diameter were uprooted. An estimated 40 to 50 homes were damaged along with several vehicles. |
| April 2008 | Flood | Alger | - | no account filed |
| September 2008 | Hail | Alger | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Alger | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Alger | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Alger | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Alger | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Alger | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melita | 6.1 miles | 10 | |
| Morres Junction | 8.0 miles | 10 | |
| Sterling | 8.2 miles | 10 | |
| Knights Mill | 9.0 miles | 11 | |
| Maple Ridge | 10.3 miles | 10 | |
| Standish | 13.1 miles | 10 | |
| Omer | 15.1 miles | 10 | |
| Pine River | 15.8 miles | 10 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Alger | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q124314080 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 619941. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




