 Amid the Great Depression of the 1930s, a sharp increase in unemployment among workers in the mining and timber industries caused a pivot to potato production.For a brief time in the 1930s and 1940s, the region became a major exporter of potatoes within the United States.In June 2018, a major flash flood caused sinkholes and washouts in the towns of Chassell, Houghton, Ripley, Lake Linden, and Hubbell.