Lac Vieux Desert has a surface elevation 1,680ft (510m)[3] above sea level, and a maximum depth of about 40ft (12m). The surface area is 4,260 acres (17.24km2; 6.66sqmi), of which approximately two-thirds is in Wisconsin and one third in Michigan.
Located in the Lake District of northern Wisconsin, the lake is a popular boating and fishing resort.
The lake was named by French fur trappers, who were some of the first Europeans in the region. They translated the name into French from the term used by the Ojibwe of the area: Gete-gitigaani-zaaga'igan, meaning "Lake of the Old Clearing", or "Old Garden." At the time of European colonization, the Ojibwe (also known in the US as Chippewa) occupied extensive territory around Lake Superior, in what are now the jurisdictions of northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the United States, and northern Ontario through southeastern Manitoba in Canada.
The Michigan shore of Lac Vieux Desert is in the largest of the few small areas of Michigan that are part of the drainage or watershed of the Mississippi River. There are three such areas along the Wisconsin border with Gogebic County and a bit of Iron County in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and two areas along the Indiana border with Berrien County in southern Michigan.[4]
Recreation
There are multiple resorts and campgrounds on the lake. Most of the shoreline on the Wisconsin side of the lake is developed, however dense forest surrounds many of the properties.
Fishing
On July 16, 1919, a tiger muskellunge claimed by both Wisconsin[5] and Michigan[6] as a state record and by the International Game Fish Association as the all-tackle world record was caught in Lac Vieux Desert. It was 54.0 inches (137cm) long[5][6] and weighed 23.21 kilograms (51lb 3oz).[5][7] The record has stood longer than any other fishing record in either state.
The muskellunge, often shortened to muskie,musky, ski, or lunge, is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae.
Vilas County is a county in the state of Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,047. Its county seat is Eagle River. The county partly overlaps the reservation of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
Gogebic County is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,380. The county seat is Bessemer. Gogebic County is the westernmost county in Michigan, and is one of four Michigan counties within the Central Time Zone. Gogebic County borders Wisconsin to the south, and has a shoreline on Lake Superior to the north.
Watersmeet Township is a civil township of Gogebic County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,456 in 2020.
The Ojibwe are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and throughout the northeastern woodlands. Ojibweg, being Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and of the subarctic, are known by several names, including Ojibway or Chippewa. As a large ethnic group, several distinct nations also understand themselves to be Ojibwe as well, including the Saulteaux, Nipissings, and Oji-Cree.
The Wisconsin Walleye War became the name for late 20th-century events in Wisconsin in protest of Ojibwe (Chippewa) hunting and fishing rights. In a 1975 case, the tribes challenged state efforts to regulate their hunting and fishing off the reservations, based on their rights in the treaties of St. Peters (1837) and La Pointe (1842). On August 21, 1987, U.S. District Court judge Barbara Crabb ruled that six Ojibwe tribal governments had the right under these treaties for hunting and fishing throughout their former territory.
The tiger muskellunge, commonly called tiger muskie, is a carnivorous fish, and is the usually sterile, hybrid offspring of the true muskellunge and the northern pike. It lives in fresh water and its range extends to Canada, the Northeast, and the Midwest United States. It grows quickly; in one study, tiger muskie grew 1.5 times as fast as muskellunge. Like other hybrid species, tiger muskie are said to have "hybrid vigor," meaning they grow faster and stronger than the parent fish, and are also less susceptible to disease. Trophy specimens weigh about 14 kg (30 lb). Its main diet is fish and small birds. The tiger muskie and the muskie are called the fish of 10,000 casts due to the challenge involved in catching them.
Chippewa is an alternate term for the Ojibwe tribe of North America.
The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a federally recognized Ojibwa Native American tribe. It had 3,415 enrolled members as of 2010. The Lac du Flambeau Indian Reservation lies mostly in the Town of Lac du Flambeau in south-western Vilas County, and in the Town of Sherman in south-eastern Iron County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It has a land area of 107.1 square miles (277.4 km2) and a 2020 census resident population of 3,518. Its major settlement is the unincorporated Lac du Flambeau, which had a population of 1,845.
The Treaty of La Pointe may refer to either of two treaties made and signed in La Pointe, Wisconsin between the United States and the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Native American peoples. In addition, the Isle Royale Agreement, an adhesion to the first Treaty of La Pointe, was made at La Pointe.
The Ottawa National Forest is a national forest that covers 993,010 acres (401,860 ha) in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It includes much of Gogebic and Ontonagon counties, as well as slices of Iron, Houghton, Baraga, and Marquette counties. The forest is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service.
The Ontonagon Indian Reservation is the homeland of a branch of the Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe. Its twelve bands were located throughout Michigan and the Upper Midwest.
The Sandy Lake Tragedy was the culmination in 1850 of a series of events centered in Big Sandy Lake, Minnesota that resulted in the deaths of several hundred Lake Superior Chippewa. Officials of the Zachary Taylor Administration and Minnesota Territory sought to relocate several bands of the tribe to areas west of the Mississippi River. By changing the location for fall annuity payments, the officials intended the Chippewa to stay at the new site for the winter, hoping to lower their resistance to relocation. Due to delayed and inadequate payments of annuities and lack of promised supplies, about 400 Ojibwe, mostly men and 12% of the tribe, died of disease, starvation and cold. The outrage increased Ojibwe resistance to removal. The bands effectively gained widespread public support to achieve permanent reservations in their traditional territories.
The Lake Superior Chippewa are a large number of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) bands living around Lake Superior; this territory is considered part of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. They migrated into the area by the seventeenth century, encroaching on the Eastern Dakota people who had historically occupied the area. The Ojibwe defeated the Eastern Dakota, who migrated west into the Great Plains after the final battle in 1745. While they share a common culture including the Anishinaabe language, this highly decentralized group of Ojibwe includes at least twelve independent bands in the region.
Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation located in Watersmeet Township of southeastern Gogebic County, in the western part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It is the landbase for the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2020, the reservation has a land area of 0.419 square miles. The reservation consists of two sections in eastern Watersmeet Township. There were 221 people living on the reservation in the 2020 census.
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a federally recognized 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.
The Gogebic Range is an elongated area of iron ore deposits located within a range of hills in northern Michigan and Wisconsin just south of Lake Superior. It extends from Lake Namakagon in Wisconsin eastward to Lake Gogebic in Michigan, or almost 80 miles. Though long, it is only about a half mile wide and forms a crescent concave to the southeast. The Gogebic Range includes the communities of Ironwood in Michigan, plus Mellen and Hurley in Wisconsin.
Treaty of St. Peters may be one of two treaties conducted between the United States and Native American peoples, conducted at the confluence of the Minnesota River with the Mississippi River, in what today is Mendota, Minnesota.
The Turtle-Flambeau Flowage is a 12,942 acres (52.37 km2) lake in Iron County, Wisconsin. It has a maximum depth of 15 meters and is the seventh largest lake in the state of Wisconsin by surface area. The flowage is home to unique wetland patterns and plant species as well as several species of sport and game fish, including musky, panfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye and sturgeon. The lake's water clarity is low, but can vary in different locations. Fishing, camping, boating, and hunting are popular activities on the flowage, and Ojibwe people traditionally harvest fish and game on the lake. Environmental concerns on the flowage include mercury contamination, algal blooms, and several types of invasive species.
Rice Bay, on the Michigan side of Lac Vieux Desert, contains a significant stand of wild rice traditionally managed and harvested by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. The availability of wild rice, and the annual rice harvest, played a central role in Ojibwe migration to the area and led to the establishment of a seasonal, and later permanent, settlement in this location. The area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
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