BlockBefore

Big Bay, Michigan

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Powell Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49808. The Survey maps it on the Big Bay quadrangle. 257 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 682 feet above sea level.

Big Bay within Marquette County

On record in Big Bay

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

3 figures

Big Bay fell from 265 to 257 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2000265
2010319+54 (+20%)
2020257-62 (-19%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

12 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Big Bay between 1993 and 2020, burning about 81 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 1 was 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
Natural4
Debris and open burning3
Missing data/not specified/undetermined3
Arson/incendiarism1
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
3 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPOWELL TOWNSHIP FD 2020017 - 2020
12 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesSALMON TROUT
10 September 2008Naturalunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesSULLIVAN CREEK
9 August 2005Natural2.2 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 August 2007Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 August 1993Natural3.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 August 2007Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
4 July 1995Natural6.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Marquette County

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Big Bay: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Copper, Granite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Barnum Iron MineIronPast Producer
Clear Creek Slate QuarryGranitePast Producer
Kona DolomiteCopperProducerChalcocite, Pyrite, Malachite, Chalcopyrite, Bornite

Every working recorded in Marquette County

Storms near this place

15 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Big Bay in 15 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 9 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 1 flood, 1 heavy rain. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2006FloodBig Bay$100,000no account filed
August 2024Thunderstorm WindBig Bay$2,000Multiple power outages reported north of Halfway Village and in Big Bay as noted on the utility outage map. Time of the report was estimated from radar.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindBig Bay$2,000There was a report of a pontoon boat pushed over and a dock flung up onshore on Lake Independence. The time of the delayed report was estimated from radar.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindBig Bay$1,000There was a public report from a campground in Big Bay of lots of broken tents and awnings, downed branches and small trees. Most branches were 4 inches in diameter. The largest one was 12 feet long and 12 inches in diameter. Time of the damage was estimated from radar.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindBig Bay$1,000A few 4-5 inch diameter trees down.
May 2022HailBig Bay-This was a MPING report from Big Bay of penny-sized hail.
September 2022HailBig Bay-A thunderstorm dropped penny-sized hail just northwest of Big Bay in the early morning of the 21st.
September 2020Thunderstorm WindBig Bay-The Big Bay Lighthouse GLOS station measured sustained thunderstorm winds to 47 mph for 15 minutes with a peak wind gust to 62 mph.
June 2012Heavy RainBig Bay-Locations from Michigamme northwest to Big Bay measured between 1.5 and 2.0 inches of storm total rainfall.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindBig Bay-The wind gust was measured at the Big Bay GLOS site.
June 2005HailBig Bay-Hail lasted for 20 minutes.
September 2002Thunderstorm WindBig Bay-Large tree branches were broken off.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindBig Bay-70 mph wind gust.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindBig Bay-12 inch diameter tree downed.
July 1999HailBig Bay-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marquette County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Burns Landing0.8 miles12
Alder2.5 miles12
Homeier3.9 miles12
Gillet Landing4.6 miles13
Antlers5.7 miles12
Dodge City8.1 miles13
Huron Mountain8.8 miles12
Birch11.4 miles12

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 Big BayAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3316630The 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 621285. 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.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.