Editing Mackinac Island (section)

===Prehistoric===

Archaeologists have excavated prehistoric fishing camps on Mackinac Island and in the surrounding areas. Fishhooks, pottery, and other artifacts establish a Native American presence at least 700 years before European exploration, around [[Anno Domini|AD]]&nbsp;900. The island is a sacred place in the tradition of some of its earliest known inhabitants, the [[Anishinaabe]] peoples. They consider it to be home of the [[Gitche Manitou]], or the "Great Spirit." According to legend, Mackinac Island was created by the Great Hare, [[Nanabozho|Michabou]], and was the first land to appear after the [[outburst flood|Great Flood]] receded.<ref>{{cite web|last=Zacharias |first=Pat |title=The breathtaking Mackinac Bridge |work=Detroit News |url=http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=156&category=locations |access-date=July 18, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20040508183849/http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=156&category=locations |archive-date=May 8, 2004 }}</ref> The island was a gathering place for the local tribes, who made offerings to Gitche Manitou. It became the burial place of tribal chiefs.<ref name=".orgHistory"/>

The first European likely to have seen Mackinac Island is [[Jean Nicolet]], a French-Canadian [[coureur des bois]], during his 1634 explorations. The [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] priest [[Claude Dablon]] founded a mission for the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] on Mackinac Island in 1670, and stayed over the winter of 1670–71. The missionary and explorer [[Jacques Marquette]] succeeded him, moving the mission to St. Ignace soon after his arrival in the region in the fall of 1671.<ref name="Hamilton">{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Raphael N., S.J |title=Father Marquette |year=1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/fathermarquette0000unse |url-access=registration |publisher=William B. Eerdmans |location=Grand Rapids |page=[https://archive.org/details/fathermarquette0000unse/page/43 43]}}</ref><ref name="Boynton">{{cite book |last=Boynton |first=James, S.J. |title=Fishers of Men: The Jesuit Mission at Mackinac, 1670–1765 |publisher=Ste. Anne's Church |year=1996 |location=Mackinac Island |pages=14–15}}</ref> With the mission as a focus, the Straits of Mackinac quickly became an important French fur trading location. The British took control of the Straits after the [[French and Indian War]] and Major [[Patrick Sinclair]] chose the bluffs of the island for [[Fort Mackinac]] in 1780.<ref name="High Cliffs">{{cite web |last=Petersen |first=Eugene T |title=High Cliffs |publisher=Mackinac.com |url=http://www.mackinac.com/content/general/history_highcliffes.html |access-date=March 4, 2007 |archive-date=February 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213164009/http://www.mackinac.com/content/general/history_highcliffes.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=".orgHistory">{{cite web |last=Slevin |first=Mary McGuire |title=History |publisher=MackinacIsland.org |url=http://www.mackinacisland.org/history.html |access-date=March 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070123150236/http://www.mackinacisland.org/history.html <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=January 23, 2007}}</ref>

''[[The Jesuit Relations]]'' (1671) contains a long description of Mackinac Island:

{{blockquote|its fisheries, its phenomena of wind and tide, and the tribes who, now and in the past, have made it their abode. A favorite resort for all the Algonkin tribes, many are returning to it since the peace with the Iroquois. On this account, the Jesuits have begun a new mission, opposite Mackinac, called St. Ignace. Thither have fled the [[Huron people|Huron]]s, driven from [[Chequamegon Bay]] by fear of the Sioux, "the Iroquois of the West."<ref name=jesuitrelations1671>{{cite report|url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_55.html |title=Jesuit Relations |year=1671 |page=12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321002351/http://www.puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_55.html |archive-date=March 21, 2016 }}</ref>}}

[[File:Dwightwood Spring, on Mackinac Island's eastern shore.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A white, flat-roofed gazebo over a spring, with a plaque located on a rock next to the spring. A short, wide wooden walkway leads from the road to the gazebo.|Dwightwood Spring, on Mackinac Island's eastern shore]]

The ''Relations'' also indicate the tremendous strategic importance of Michilimackinac/Mackinac Island as 
<blockquote>"the central point for all travel on the upper Great Lakes, and for a vast extent of wilderness and half-settled country beyond" to First Nations and Europeans (prior to the arrival of [[railroads]]). The tribes which had inhabited Mackinac Island had been driven away by the Iroquois, leaving the island practically deserted until 1670. The Huron people from Lake Superior, in fear of the Sioux, retreated to the shore north of Mackinac Island. Here Marquette continued his missionary labors with them at the site of the present St. Ignace. The 1688 memoir of [[Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville]], claimed that the French had inhabited the area since 1648. A small French garrison was sent there some time between 1679 and 1683.<ref>{{cite book |title=Documents relative to the colonial history of the state of New York |year=1855 |publisher=Weed, Parsons, and Co. |location=Albany, New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ09brod/page/383 383] |url=https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ09brod |editor=O'Callaghan, E.B. |access-date=October 19, 2013 |volume=9}}</ref></blockquote>

The name of [[Michilimackinac]] (later abbreviated to Mackinac) was applied generally to the entire vicinity, as well as specifically to the post at St. Ignace. Later still it was applied to the fort and mission established on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac.<ref name=Bailey1896 /><ref name=jesuitrelations1671 /><ref>{{cite book |last=Thwaites |first=Reuben Gold |title=The Story of Mackinac |year=1898 |publisher=State Historical Society of Wisconsin |pages=1–16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Samuel F. |title=Mackinaw in History |year=1895 |publisher=Robert Smith and Co. |location=Lansing, Michigan |url=https://archive.org/details/mackinawinhisto00bailgoog}}</ref>

Although the British built Fort Mackinac to protect their settlement from attack by French-Canadians and native tribes, the fort was never attacked during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The entire Straits area was officially acquired by the United States through the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]]. However, Britain kept forces in the Great Lakes area until after 1794, when the [[Jay Treaty]] between the nations established U.S. sovereignty over the [[Northwest Territory]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Brinkley |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Brinkley |title=American History: A Survey |year=2003 |edition=11 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education |location=New York |isbn=0-07-242436-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanhistory00alan/page/141 141, 173] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/americanhistory00alan/page/141 }}</ref>

[[Freemasonry]] came to the Great Lakes region in the 1700s, with the earliest documented Lodge west of the Allegheny Mountains being [[Zion Lodge No. 1 F&AM|Lodge #1 at Detroit (now Zion #1)]] warranted in April 1764<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zion Lodge #1 F. & A.M. |url=https://1-mi.ourlodgepage.com/ |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=1-mi.ourlodgepage.com}}</ref> Mackinac Island was home to the third Masonic lodge in Michigan, St. John's Lodge No. 15 (1782–1813), warranted on 15 November 1782 by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec.<ref>{{Cite press release |last=Berry |first=Wesley |title=Mysterious Freemason Celebrates 250th Anniversary in Michigan |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mysterious-freemason-celebrates-250th-anniversary-in-michigan-254266941.html |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=www.prnewswire.com |language=en}}</ref> As a Military Lodge, St. John’s #15 meetings were held in [[Fort Mackinac]]'s [[Blockhouse|West Blockhouse]],<ref> {{Cite web |title=Lane's Masonic Records 1717-1894 |url=https://www.dhi.ac.uk/lane/record.php?ID=1308 |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=www.dhi.ac.uk}}</ref> and a room in the Officers Stone Quarters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=John Ross |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DE85AQAAMAAJ&pg=270 |title=The History of Freemasonry in Canada: From Its Introduction in 1749; Compiled and Written from Official Records and from Mss. Covering the Period 1749-1858, in the Possession of the Author |date=1900 |publisher=G. N. Morang |language=en}}</ref> Few records exist of this lodge, membership, or activities, but the purported membership included prominent military and community members, such as [[Daniel Robertson (British Army officer)|Capt. Daniel Robertson]], Lt. George Clowes, Dr. David Mitchell,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography – MITCHELL, DAVID – Volume VI (1821-1835) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mitchell_david_6E.html |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=www.biographi.ca}}</ref> George Meldrum,<ref>Frontier Freemasons: Masonic Networks Linking The Great Lakes To The Atlantic World, 1750–1820 by Kevin H. Nichols|https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3499&context=oa_dissertations</ref> Josiah Bleakley,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography – BLEAKLEY, JOSIAH – Volume VI (1821-1835) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bleakley_josiah_6E.html |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=www.biographi.ca}}</ref> Benjamin Lyon, and [[George McBeath]]. St. John’s #15 was erased from the British rolls in 1813, following the [[War of 1812]] and the departure of the British military from the island. {{Relevance inline|paragraph|date=October 2024|discuss=Relevance of Freemasonry content?|reason=Undue weight given to this subject of Mackinac's history, making article bloated.}}