Two to two and a half centuries ago, the main source of income in this region was the fur trade. The town where I grew up, Prairie du Chien, was one of the main hubs of this trade. Even today, the annual Rendezvous along the shore of the Mississippi River celebrates the traders and trappers who gathered there for decades to seek their fortune. All of those furs eventually made their way by canoe to Mackinac Island, and from there to the east coast and Europe. Probably since high school I’ve wanted to visit Mackinac and explore that fur trading connection. This became the year.
Friday morning I awoke in my tent along the western shore of Lake Michigan’s Green Bay, at Wells State Park (Michigan DNR).
A few hours later I stopped at a roadside park for a quick breakfast with waves lapping along the Lake Michigan shore just a few feet away. If I was traveling by canoe it would probably have been almost a day’s journey.
I joined the crowd at the ferry dock in St. Ignace. Soon we approached Mackinac Island and Fort Mackinac was prominently draped along the top of the bluff.
Before ascending to the fort, I visited the American Fur Company Store & Dr. Beaumont Museum. Dr. William Beaumont did medical research on digestion at Fort Mackinac and also Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien.
A plaque overlooking the parade ground inside the fort commemorates the work of Dr. Beaumont.
Overlooking Lake Huron, with the Mackinac Bridge in the far distance.
The cannon firing and the military drill demonstration drew lots of attention from the crowd.
I sat on a bench to eat my lunch and soon realized I had a dining companion under the bench.
The next time I come to Mackinac Island I think I’ll stay here.
One of the last stops was the blacksmith shop where I learned that many of the horses pulling the wagons on Mackinac Island are retired Amish farm horses. The Amish want lively young stock and the island prefers more docile animals, a win-win.
From Mackinac I headed north to the shores of Lake Superior.
The lower Tahquamenon Falls
The Upper Tahquamenon Falls, after Niagara probably the largest water fall east of the Mississippi River.
Final stop of the weekend, on the way home, Horicon Marsh, where the birds of a feather were flocked together.
RADIOSCRIBE 