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.
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
Big Bay Point Light Stationlisted 1988
Huron Islands Lighthouselisted 1975
Population over time
3 figuresBig 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 265 | |
| 2010 | 319 | +54 (+20%) |
| 2020 | 257 | -62 (-19%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 12 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 Big Bay quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Big Bay quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Marquette quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
Fires near this place
12 since 1993Regional 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | POWELL TOWNSHIP FD 2020017 - 2020 |
| 12 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SALMON TROUT |
| 10 September 2008 | Natural | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | SULLIVAN CREEK |
| 9 August 2005 | Natural | 2.2 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 August 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 2 August 1993 | Natural | 3.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 August 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 4 July 1995 | Natural | 6.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnum Iron Mine | Iron | Past Producer | ||
| Clear Creek Slate Quarry | Granite | Past Producer | ||
| Kona Dolomite | Copper | Producer | Chalcocite, Pyrite, Malachite, Chalcopyrite, Bornite |
Storms near this place
15 since 1997Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2006 | Flood | Big Bay | $100,000 | no account filed |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | $2,000 | Multiple 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 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | $2,000 | There 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 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | $1,000 | There 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 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | $1,000 | A few 4-5 inch diameter trees down. |
| May 2022 | Hail | Big Bay | - | This was a MPING report from Big Bay of penny-sized hail. |
| September 2022 | Hail | Big Bay | - | A thunderstorm dropped penny-sized hail just northwest of Big Bay in the early morning of the 21st. |
| September 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big 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 2012 | Heavy Rain | Big Bay | - | Locations from Michigamme northwest to Big Bay measured between 1.5 and 2.0 inches of storm total rainfall. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | - | The wind gust was measured at the Big Bay GLOS site. |
| June 2005 | Hail | Big Bay | - | Hail lasted for 20 minutes. |
| September 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | - | Large tree branches were broken off. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | - | 70 mph wind gust. |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Big Bay | - | 12 inch diameter tree downed. |
| July 1999 | Hail | Big Bay | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burns Landing | 0.8 miles | 12 | |
| Alder | 2.5 miles | 12 | |
| Homeier | 3.9 miles | 12 | |
| Gillet Landing | 4.6 miles | 13 | |
| Antlers | 5.7 miles | 12 | |
| Dodge City | 8.1 miles | 13 | |
| Huron Mountain | 8.8 miles | 12 | |
| Birch | 11.4 miles | 12 |
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 Bay | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3316630 | 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 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.






