JULY 30, 2014
MACKINAC, MICHIGAN

Some spell it Mackinaw, others Mackinac.  Either way, it comes from Michilimackinac.  Anyway, tourist, such as us, can quickly become confused with the history of this area.  But, I believe, after some effort, that I finally understand what is here. 

For starters, the area was originally inhabited by Native American's.  They believed the island, Mackinac, was where all life began on this earth - it was their "Garden of Eden".  They said the island was once "A Great Turtle" that swam into Lake.

The French were the first white men that came to the area in the 1700's.  They built what is now know as Colonial Michilimackinac in 1715.  The community was fortified on the shores of what is now called Lake Michigan.  It was a busy, key fur trading center for the northwest.  In 1761 the British took control of the fort following their conquest of French Canada.  Then, in 1780, fearing an attack by American rebels, they literally disassembled the fort and moved it across the frozen lake (now lake Huron) to Mackinaw Island.  What was left of the original fort on the mainland was burned.

In 1959 archaeologist began excavating the remains of the original fort and then started reconstructing the fort to what they believe it looked like in 1770.

Today, we toured the reconstructed fort on the mainland.  What grabbed me today that I had not even thought about previously is that as you look north at the Mackinac Bridge lake Michigan lies to the left and Lake Huron to the right.  The bridge has become the boundary line dividing the two lakes.

While Lake Superior is larger than lake Michigan, Huron and Erie all put together, Lake Michigan is big - it makes the lakes we frequent in Virginia look like small puddles.  When we visited Colonial Michilimackinac the wind was blowing in from the north.  There were white-capped waves at the shore just like the ocean.

Besides visiting Colonial Michilimackinac, we went to Historic Mill Creek.  There we learned that Robert Campbell constructed a sawmill to provide lumber for the fast growing settlement on Mackinac Island in 1790.  No trees were cut on the island for lumber so everything came from the mainland.  Mackinac Mill was the first and only sawmill in Michigan at that time.  Campbell quickly became a very wealthy man from the sale of lumber.  An operating reconstructed mill now sits on the original location as part of the 600 acre Mill Creek State Park.

If history bores you I apologize.  But, visiting all of the places we have been recently has made much of our history really meaningful to both Nancy and me.  Reading about it is one thing.  Seeing and retracing the paths of our ancestors is something else.  Life was really hard and great suffering was expended creating what we now enjoy.

Tomorrow morning we leave Mackinac for Shipshewana, Indiana.  Another long drive of about 350 miles.  We will go through Lansing, Michigan, on the way.  Shipshewana is right in the heart of the Amish community.  As time allows I will write about our experiences there and share photographs.  Check back here frequently to see what we may have added.

Randy, Nancy and Oscar

 Lake Huron is on the right side of the bridge.......

 .......and Lake Michigan is on the Left side of the bridge.

 White capped waves beginning to form on the shore of Lake Michigan.  It is all fresh, inland water, but it looks like the Atlantic Ocean.

Walking up to the stockade style fort surrounding Colonial Michilimackinac.

 One of the reconstructed buildings (lodgings) inside the fort of Colonial Michilimackinac.

 The residents of Colonial Michilimackinac.were mostly Catholic.  This is the sanctuary of the Church.  I doubt that anyone fell asleep on the pew benches.

Student volunteers still carefully sift the soil inside
Colonial Michilimackinac.looking for artifacts and remains of original structures.

Inside the working, reconstructed sawmill at Mill Creek.  This mill used a straight reciprocating blade moved by a water wheel with a Pittman arm. This was the style of the period pit saws run by two men - one on top pulling the blade up, the other in a pit dug in the ground pulling down.  The mill could cut 10 boards in the same amount of time two men could cut just one.  More efficient circular blades had yet to become common when this one was built.

I was totally fascinated by the innovation, construction and operation of the mill.  The number of man-hours expended to build such a mill in 1790 with no power tools or equipment is mind boggling.

The small pond at Mill Creek that provided water to power the mill.  The dam was actually made of wood cribbing and boards.

The water from the pond to the mill was routed along a wooden sluice.  A door opened by a wooden wheel would dump the water on the paddle wheel for the saw blade.