Editing Isle Royale National Park (section)

==History==

===Prehistory===
The island was a common hunting ground for native people from nearby Minnesota and Ontario. A canoe voyage of thirteen miles is necessary to reach the island's west end from the mainland.

Large quantities of [[copper]] artifacts found in [[indian mound]]s and settlements, some dating back to 3000 [[Anno Domini|B.C.]], were most likely [[Copper mining in Michigan|mined]] on Isle Royale and the nearby [[Keweenaw Peninsula]]. The island has hundreds of pits and trenches up to 65 feet (20 m) deep from these [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples]], with most in the McCargoe Cove area. [[Carbon-14]] testing of wood remains found in sockets of copper artifacts indicates that they are at least 6500 years old.<ref name="EOS-Rosen-2014">{{cite web |last1=Rosen |first1=Julia |date=24 Dec 2014 |title=Miners Left a Pollution Trail in the Great Lakes 6000 Years Ago |publisher=EOS |doi=10.1029/2014EO021147 |doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |url=https://eos.org/articles/miners-left-pollution-trail-great-lakes-6000-years-ago |access-date=25 February 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807173548/https://eos.org/articles/miners-left-pollution-trail-great-lakes-6000-years-ago |archive-date=August 7, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pompeani |first1=David P |display-authors=etal |date=February 2015 |title=Copper mining on Isle Royale 6500–5400 years ago identified using sediment geochemistry from McCargoe Cove, Lake Superior |journal=The Holocene |bibcode=2015Holoc..25..253P |doi=10.1177/0959683614557574 |s2cid=14686891 |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=253}}</ref>[[File:MineShaftIR.jpg|thumb|upright=0.667|An abandoned copper mine shaft]]In ''Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region'', Drier and Du Temple estimated that over 750,000 tons of copper had been mined from the region. However, David Johnson and Susan Martin contend that their estimate was based on exaggerated and inaccurate assumptions.<ref name=Johnson3>{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=David |date=November 9, 2009 |title=North America's First Metal Miners & Metal Artisans |work=The Old Copper Complex |url=http://copperculture.homestead.com/ |access-date=November 17, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010419070939/http://copperculture.homestead.com/ |archive-date=April 19, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=Susan R. |year=1995 |title=The State of Our Knowledge About Ancient Copper Mining in Michigan |journal=The Michigan Archaeologist |volume=41 |issue=2–3 |pages=119–138}}</ref> The [[Jesuit missionary]] Dablon published an account in 1669–70 of "an island called ''Menong'', celebrated for its copper." ''Menong'', or ''Minong'', was the native term for the island, and is the basis for Minong Ridge. [[Prospecting]] began in earnest when the [[Chippewas]] relinquished their claims to the island in 1843, starting with many of the original native pits. This activity had ended by 1855, when no economic deposits were found. The [[Minong Mine Historic District|Minong Mine]] and Island Mine were the result of renewed but short-lived activity from 1873 to 1881.<ref name=Huber>{{cite book |last1=Huber |first1=N. King |date=1975 |title=The Geologic Story of Isle Royale National Park, USGS Bulletin 1309 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington |doi=10.3133/b1309 |lccn=75-619126 |pages=2–3}}</ref>

Isle Royale was given to the United States by the 1783 [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|treaty with Great Britain]] (formerly part of the [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian Reserve]] disputed by the United States) but the British remained in control until after the [[War of 1812]], and the [[Ojibwa]] peoples considered the island to be their territory.  The Ojibwas ceded the island to the U.S. in the 1842 [[Treaty of La Pointe]], with the [[Grand Portage Band]] unaware that neither they nor Isle Royale were in British territory. With the clarification to the Ojibwas of the 1842 [[Webster–Ashburton Treaty]] that was signed before the Treaty of La Pointe, the Ojibwas re-affirmed the 1842 Treaty of La Pointe in the 1844 [[Isle Royale Agreement]], with the Grand Portage Band signing the agreement as an addendum to the 1842 treaty.

In the mid-1840s, a report by [[Douglass Houghton]], Michigan's first state [[geologist]], set off a copper boom in the state, and the first modern copper mines were opened on the island.<ref name=harris2>{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Ann G. |year=2004 |title=Geology of National Parks |edition=6th |publisher=Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co |isbn=0-7872-9970-7 |page=308}}</ref> Evidence of the earlier mining efforts was everywhere, in the form of many stone hammers, some copper artifacts, and places where copper had been partially worked out of the rock but left in place. The ancient pits and trenches led to the discovery of many of the copper deposits that were mined in the 19th century.<ref name="Johnson3"/> The remoteness of the island, combined with the small veins of copper, caused most of the 19th-century mines to fail quickly.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lawrence |first=Olivia |date=2023-07-02 |title=Explore Untouched Beauty of Isle Royale National Park |language=en-AU |website=www.nationalparkblog.com |url=https://www.nationalparkblog.com/isle-royale-national-park |access-date=2023-07-01}}</ref> Between the miners and commercial loggers, much of the island was [[deforestation|deforested]] during the late 19th century. Once the island became a national park in 1940, logging and other exploitive activities ended, and the forest began to regenerate.

The island was once the site of several [[lake trout]] and [[Coregonus|whitefish]] fisheries, as well as a few resorts. The fishing industry has declined considerably, but continues at [[Edisen Fishery]]. Today, it has no permanent inhabitants; the small communities of Scandinavian fishermen were removed by the United States National Park Service after the island became a national park in the 1940s. About 12 families still have lifetime leases for their cabins and claim Isle Royale as their heritage, and several descendant fishermen fish the Isle Royale waters commercially.<ref name=families2>{{cite web |last=Barnum |first=David C. |date=April 2002 |title=About Us |publisher=Isle Royale Families and Friends Association |url=http://www.isleroyalefamilies.org/aboutus.htm |access-date=December 9, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080111050302/http://www.isleroyalefamilies.org/aboutus.htm |archive-date=January 11, 2008}}</ref>

Because numerous small islands surround Isle Royale, ships were once guided through the area by [[lighthouse]]s at [[Passage Island Light|Passage Island]], [[Rock Harbor Light|Rock Harbor]], [[Rock of Ages Light|Rock of Ages]], and [[Isle Royale Light]]house on Menagerie Island. The western tip of the island is home to several shipwrecks that are very popular with scuba divers, including the [[SS America (1898)|SS ''America'']].<ref>{{cite web |last=Merryman |first=Ken |title=SS America Shipwreck |publisher=Superior Trips |url=http://www.superiortrips.com/America_Shipwreck.htm |access-date=April 4, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050825205934/http://www.superiortrips.com/America_Shipwreck.htm |archive-date=August 25, 2005}}</ref> The NPS [[Submerged Resources Center]] mapped the 10 most famous of the [[List of shipwrecks of Isle Royale|shipwrecks contained within the park]], and published ''Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park; The Archeological Survey'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Lenihan |first=Daniel |year=1994 |title=Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park: The archeological survey |publisher=Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc. |location=Duluth, MN |isbn=0-942235-18-5}}</ref> which gives an overview of the maritime history of the area. The area's notoriously harsh weather, dramatic underwater topography, the island's central location on historic shipping routes, and the cold, fresh water have resulted in largely intact, well preserved wrecks throughout the park.

In January 2019, the entire island chain was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the federal government. On the Register it is called 'the Minong Traditional Cultural Property.'<ref name="QSWN-Seitz-Mar019">{{cite web |last=Seitz |first=Greg |date=22 March 2019 |title=Prehistoric copper mines and long human history earns Isle Royale national historic designation |website=Quetico Superior Wilderness News |publisher=Quetico Superior Foundation |url=https://queticosuperior.org/blog/prehistoric-copper-mines-and-long-human-history-earns-isle-royale-national-historic-designation/ |access-date=25 February 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309120156/https://queticosuperior.org/blog/prehistoric-copper-mines-and-long-human-history-earns-isle-royale-national-historic-designation |archive-date=March 9, 2021}}</ref>

===Angelique Mott===
In 1845, an [[Ojibwe]] woman named Angelique and her [[Voyageurs|voyageur]] husband Charles Mott were left on Isle Royale, as hires for Cyrus Mendenhall<ref>{{cite web |title=An interesting pioneer of the copper district |language=en-US |website=mininggazette.com |url=https://www.mininggazette.com/news/features/2018/04/an-interesting-pioneer-of-the-copper-district/ |access-date=2020-10-21 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210807173549/https://www.mininggazette.com/news/features/2018/04/an-interesting-pioneer-of-the-copper-district/ |archive-date=August 7, 2021}}</ref> and the Lake Superior Copper Company. They were hired and carried to Isle Royale by Mendenhall's schooner, the ''Algonquin'', first to scout for copper. Angelique found a large mass of copper ore.  She and her husband were hired to stay and guard it until a barge could come to retrieve it, promised in no more than 3 months' time. They were dropped off in July and were left stranded there until the following spring. They were left with minimal provisions, which consisted of a half-barrel of flour, six pounds of butter, and some beans. A supply boat was promised to arrive after the first few weeks, but it was never sent out.

The full events were chronicled in a footnote as told by Angelique, in the first printing of a book called "The Honorable Peter White" by Ralph D. Williams in 1907; Angelique's story was pulled from the subsequent printing, thus making it the only written record that survives. Humans have not normally settled year-round on Isle Royale. For about three thousand years, Native Americans used the land for copper and fish. These Native Americans usually limited their visits to the island in the summer. Americans in the nineteenth century did likewise.