L'Anse Township, Michigan | |
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L'Anse Township Hall in the village of L'Anse | |
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Coordinates: 46°43′41″N88°22′18″W / 46.72806°N 88.37167°W | |
Country | ![]() |
State | ![]() |
County | ![]() |
Area | |
• Total | 269.0 sq mi (696.8 km2) |
• Land | 247.4 sq mi (640.8 km2) |
• Water | 21.6 sq mi (56.0 km2) |
Elevation | 1,365 ft (416 m) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 3,551 |
• Density | 16/sq mi (6.0/km2) |
Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
ZIP code | 49946 |
Area code | 906 |
FIPS code | 26-45560 [1] |
GNIS feature ID | 1626587 [2] |
Website | Official website |
L'Anse Township is a civil township of Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 3,551. [3] The township contains Mount Arvon and Mount Curwood, Michigans highest and second-highest points, as well as the village of L'Anse.
The earliest written history of the area now comprising L'Anse Township dates to October 15, 1660, with the arrival of the first European on record, French Jesuit priest René Menard. Menard spent the winter in what is presently known as Pequaming on Keweenaw Bay, and left the area for Fond du Lac the following spring, never to be heard from again. He was followed by Father Claude in 1666.
Over the next 200 years, the Chippewa tribe populated the area, and attracted the attention of trappers and traders throughout the Great Lakes. The American Fur Company established a trading post at Assinins by a man known only as Dubay. The Hudson's Bay Company had established a post near Zeba in 1836, which operated for about 15 years. Other early settlers included trappers and missionaries.
The first mission in the area was established in 1833 by a Chippewa who had converted to Methodism and taken the name of John Sunday. The first mission was located on the east side of the bay north of L'Anse at Zeba, with a second opened at Ottawa Lake in 1835. In 1834, Daniel Meeker Chandler left Sault Ste. Marie and headed west on Lake Superior by canoe. He arrived at his destination, called "Ke-Wa-We-Non", on September 3, and began mission work for the Methodist Church on the east side of Keweenaw Bay. The following summer, Chandler began cutting timber for a proposed Native American village known today as Zeba.
In 1836, a Canadian named Peter (Pierre) Crebassa was appointed as representative trader by the American Fur Company, and moved the post from its original location on the west side of the bay to a site north of L'Anse at the present day Township Park. Crebassa married a Chippewa girl, Nancy, and they were instrumental in convincing Father Frederic Baraga to establish a Catholic mission, which he founded at Assinins on the west side of Keweenaw Bay in 1843.
When Michigan became the 26th state in 1837, the western two-thirds of the Upper Peninsula were included as a compromise (Ohio received the "Toledo Strip"). In March 1843, the legislature divided the Upper Peninsula into several counties. Three years later, in 1846, the act was amended to make all that part of the state "embraced between the north boundary of township 49, the line between ranges 37 and 38 west and Lake Superior, together with islands in said lake west of the county of Schoolcraft, shall be laid off as a separate county, to be known and designated as the County of Houghton." The new county included the present-day Keweenaw and Baraga counties, and was organized into three election precincts (townships) at Eagle Harbor, Houghton, and L'Anse. The following year, the area was reorganized into the townships of Copper Harbor, Eagle Harbor, Houghton, Portage, Algonquin, and L'Anse, and the first election took place in July 1848.
The coming of railroads spurred growth of the village of L'Anse in 1871, which prospered for a couple of years until the Panic of 1873.
Algonquin and L'Anse townships combined in 1875 to form Baraga County, and created the townships of Arvon, Baraga, Covington, Spurr and L'Anse.
In 1896, the village of L'Anse burned to the ground, but gradually rebuilt itself into a lumber town with the arrival of the Ford Motor Company in the early 20th century.
According to the United States Census Bureau, L'Anse Township has a total area of 269.0 square miles (696.8 km2), of which 247.4 square miles (640.8 km2) is land and 21.6 square miles (56.0 km2), or 8.03%, is water. [4]
Climate data for Herman, Michigan (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1968–present) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 54 (12) | 61 (16) | 78 (26) | 91 (33) | 93 (34) | 96 (36) | 96 (36) | 95 (35) | 95 (35) | 86 (30) | 73 (23) | 58 (14) | 96 (36) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 19.1 (−7.2) | 23.3 (−4.8) | 34.2 (1.2) | 46.7 (8.2) | 62.1 (16.7) | 70.8 (21.6) | 74.8 (23.8) | 72.8 (22.7) | 64.5 (18.1) | 50.4 (10.2) | 35.6 (2.0) | 24.2 (−4.3) | 48.2 (9.0) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 12.9 (−10.6) | 15.0 (−9.4) | 24.1 (−4.4) | 36.5 (2.5) | 50.7 (10.4) | 60.0 (15.6) | 64.2 (17.9) | 62.4 (16.9) | 55.1 (12.8) | 42.7 (5.9) | 29.3 (−1.5) | 18.6 (−7.4) | 39.3 (4.1) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 6.7 (−14.1) | 6.7 (−14.1) | 14.0 (−10.0) | 26.4 (−3.1) | 39.4 (4.1) | 49.2 (9.6) | 53.5 (11.9) | 52.0 (11.1) | 45.8 (7.7) | 35.0 (1.7) | 23.0 (−5.0) | 13.0 (−10.6) | 30.4 (−0.9) |
Record low °F (°C) | −36 (−38) | −40 (−40) | −35 (−37) | −17 (−27) | 12 (−11) | 22 (−6) | 26 (−3) | 27 (−3) | 11 (−12) | 1 (−17) | −18 (−28) | −37 (−38) | −40 (−40) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 2.21 (56) | 1.82 (46) | 2.28 (58) | 2.87 (73) | 3.40 (86) | 3.50 (89) | 4.58 (116) | 3.29 (84) | 4.19 (106) | 4.39 (112) | 3.00 (76) | 2.73 (69) | 38.26 (972) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 47.8 (121) | 35.0 (89) | 27.8 (71) | 16.4 (42) | 2.2 (5.6) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.2 (0.51) | 8.0 (20) | 28.7 (73) | 41.7 (106) | 207.8 (528) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 18.2 | 13.7 | 12.7 | 12.6 | 13.2 | 12.4 | 13.1 | 12.3 | 14.4 | 16.4 | 16.8 | 17.9 | 173.7 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 19.2 | 15.0 | 10.8 | 6.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 3.4 | 12.1 | 17.9 | 86.1 |
Source: NOAA [5] [6] |
The village of L'Anse is the only incorporated municipality in the township. There are some unincorporated communities and historic locales:
At the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 3,551. [3]
Marquette County is a county located in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,017. The county seat is Marquette. The county is named for Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary. It was set off in 1843 and organized in 1851. Marquette County is the largest county in land area in Michigan, and the most populous county in the Upper Peninsula.
Keweenaw County is a county in the western Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 2,046, making it Michigan's least populous county. It is also the state's largest county by total area, including the waters of Lake Superior, as well as the state's northernmost county. The county seat is Eagle River.
Houghton County is a county in the Upper Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,361. The county seat and largest city is Houghton. Both the county and the city were named for Michigan State geologist and Detroit Mayor Douglass Houghton.
Baraga County is a county in the Upper Peninsula in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,158, making it Michigan's fifth-least populous county. The county seat is L'Anse. The county is named after Bishop Frederic Baraga, a Catholic missionary who ministered to the Ojibwa Indians in the Michigan Territory.
Arvon Township is a civil township of Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 492. Despite its name, Mount Arvon, the highest point in Michigan, is located just south of the township, in neighboring L'Anse Township.
Baraga is a village in Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,883 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Bishop Frederic Baraga.
Baraga Township is a civil township of Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 3,478. The village of Baraga is located in the southeast corner of the township.
L'Anse is a village and the county seat of Baraga County, Michigan. The population was 1,874 at the 2020 census. The village is located within L'Anse Township in the Upper Peninsula, and partially inside the L'Anse Indian Reservation.
Mount Arvon at 1,979 feet (603 m), is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in L'Anse Township, Baraga County, Mount Arvon is part of the Huron Mountains. It rises about eight miles (13 km) south of Lake Superior. On the list of highest natural points in each U.S. state, Mount Arvon ranks 38th. It is the highest natural point in the East North Central states.
Mount Curwood, elevation 1,978 feet (603 m), in L'Anse Township, Baraga County, is the second highest point in the U.S. state of Michigan. Mount Curwood is a part of the Huron Mountains range.
The L'Anse Indian Reservation is the land base of the federally recognized Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the historic Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians.. The reservation is located primarily in two non-contiguous sections on either side of the Keweenaw Bay in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Keweenaw Bay Community also manages the separate Ontonagon Indian Reservation.
Eagle Harbor is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located on the north side of the Keweenaw Peninsula within Eagle Harbor Township, Keweenaw County in the U.S. State of Michigan. Its population was 69 as of the 2020 census. M-26 passes through this community. This hamlet was especially popular with the sailors in days past, as it had a good steamboat landing and is about equally distant from Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, and Duluth, Minnesota. It was the first stop for supplies for the many boats on Lake Superior.
Skanee is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The CDP had a population of 102 at the 2020 census. Skanee is located in Arvon Township on the shore of Huron Bay, a bay of Lake Superior.
Aura is a small unincorporated community in Arvon Township of Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The area is approximately 12 miles (19 km) northeast of L'Anse and four miles (6 km) east of Pequaming.
Pequaming is an unincorporated community in L'Anse Township of Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located on a narrow point of land that juts into Keweenaw Bay. Although still partially inhabited, Pequaming is one of the largest ghost towns in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Assinins is a historic district consisting of several buildings that were originally a school and orphanage, located in Assinins, Michigan. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Zeba is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The CDP had a population of 397 at the 2020 census. The community is located near the southern end of the Keweenaw Bay just north of the village of L'Anse within L'Anse Township.
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, many of whom reside on the Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation, located near Watersmeet, Michigan. It is approximately 45 miles southeast of Ironwood, Michigan in Gogebic County.
Keweenaw Bay is an arm of Lake Superior in North America. It is located adjacent to the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, to the southeast of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Keweenaw Bay is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide at the mouth. The head of the bay sits within the reservation of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. It is also the name of a small community near the bay.
The Huron River is a 7.6-mile-long (12.2 km) river in the northern Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. Locally, it is commonly called the Big Huron River to distinguish it from the nearby Little Huron River. Another much larger Huron River is in Southeast Michigan.