History Of Mackinac Island

Location has determined much of Mackinac Island's history. Eleven thousand years ago in primitive times not long after the retreat of the last glacier.  Original natives stood on the mainland shore.  Seem out over the Straits between two newly formed great lakes and saw an island with unusually high bluffs. They considered that it resembled a large reptile and called it mish-la-mack-in-naw or big turtle. When they explored it, they marveled at its unusual natural limestone formations and buried their dead in the Island's caves.

Mackinac Island formerly served as a critical distribution center for the 19th-century fur trade in North America.  Mackinac Island, a green gemstone in the blue band of waters between Lakes Huron and Michigan, has been a tourist destination for more than a century.  Other than this it was historic even then, a stronghold where empires clashed in the colonial wars of France and Britain, in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812; a way-station of the voyageurs; a site sacred to the Ojibwa nation.The Americans were never in danger, the British fort during the American Revolution and following the revolution obtained the Straits area by treaty.  Though, problems with the British in nearby Canada led to the War of 1812.  In July of 1812 a British force landed in secret on the far north end of Mackinac Island and forced the United States to surrender Fort Mackinac in the first engagement of that conflict.

In 1822 Fort Mackinaw’s post surgeon William Beaumont saved the life of Alexis St. Martin after an accidental shotgun blast tore a hole in the young voyageur's stomach. When the gap never completely healed, the physician observed first hand what happens when food is digested in the stomach. His published trial made medical history.In the 1860 Mackinac Island processed barrels of whitefish and lake trout destined for eastern markets.  Every spring local Irish fishermen, coopers, net makers and dray men cleaned, salted, dried and packed the succulent fish which were carried on lake boats to Canadian and New York markets. This thriving industry replaced Astor's diminishing fur trade which had now moved to the northwest states.

The British in 1781 completely made Mackinac Island a center of their military and fur-trade activity.  The Mackinac Island was later captured by the Americans in 1796. It became the hub of Astor’s fur empire after 1817.  Mackinac was already becoming a popular resort when fur trading declined during the 1830’s.

In the 17th century Mackinac Island was the center of a flourishing fur industry which lasted into the early 19th century. The French controlled the island from Nicole’s arrival in 1634 until the end of the French and Indian War when possession of the island was given to the British. Through the American Revolution Fort Mackinac was built on the bluffs of the island in preparation for an attack by the American forces, this attack never came, and yet the British were forced to relinquish control of the fort to the United States in 1796, because of a treaty. The fort eventually saw battle during the War of 1812 when the British recaptured it, and then again as the American forces tried to regain control.

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