Near Sagola is a mill owned by Louisiana-Pacific that makes oriented strand board. The surrounding forest lands near the highway provide trees for the mill. Sagola was formed, when in about 1885, five Chicago men formed the Sagola Lumber Company to harvest pine timber in the area. The name was derived from the local Indian word for "welcome". A post office was first established there in 1889. North of Sagola is the community of Channing which began as a railroad junction called "Fort Siding". In 1892, a post office was established named Channing, after John Parke Channing, a mining engineer who surveyed the area.