LAKE MICHIGAN - BEAVER ISLAND

We woke up early on Tuesday morning and headed out of Mackinac City under a cloudy orange sky.  There was a breeze and I was immediately concerned that the National Whatever Service had done it again - or not done it as the case may be.  The forecast was pretty good for the 36 mile passage we were about to undertake.  Our destination for the day is St. James on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.  It is part of our plan to travel down the west coast of Lake Michigan and visit the coast of Wisconsin.

The Mackinac Bridge is the third longest suspension bridge in the world.  It cost almost $100 million to build nearly 40 years ago. 

This is a shot of our chart plotter screen showing us in the Staits of Mackinac leaving Lake Huron and entering Lake Michigan.

It was pretty amazing to go under the Mighty Mack Bridge with the sun on the stern, full steam ahead, seemingly running from the sunrise.  Of course, the sun caught up with us, and so did the errors of the National Whatever Service.  It got quite stinky out there as we headed west, south west.  The 1 foot waves were more like 3's and 4's and the 7-9 knots of wind was more like 15 to 20.  Nevertheless, the invenerable Abreojos handled it all like a champ and we just pounded along.  This was one of those trips where the windshield wipers are not in use due to rain, if you know what I mean. 

You might think this is somewhere in the Carribean.  Nope.  It's right here in northern Lake Michigan.

St. James on Beaver Island was only 36 nm away and we got an early start because the weather promised to get real bad later in the day.  It did.  But, by the time the weather really got sucky, we were already tied up snug as a bug in a rug at an old wooden dock in an older marina. 

Beaver Island is a pretty cool place to be.  It is the most remote inhabited island in the Great Lakes.  About 650 folks live here full time.  There are 11 lighthouses on this island. A lot of folks come here to hunt Coyote.  The docks we are tied up at are a little on the rustic side, but the 30 amp works and there is plenty of water.  We are right across the street from a very nice little grocery store, as opposed to the glorified 7-11 we found in Mackinac City.    So, it's all good.

This is the old jail.  Interesting.  There is an old jail, but there is not a stop sign on the island.

We are learning more about this island, but what we have learned so far is that there is a substantial Irish flavor to this island because of the history of Irish settlement here.  Trapping, fishing, and cutting wood for the passing steamers allowed men to earn a living here in the early part of the 19th century. By the 1840s, there were two flourishing trading posts.  In fact, Beaver Island became more significant than Mackinac Island at the time because of Beaver's good fishing, thick forests, and a much better harbor.  In 1850, there were 100 people living in a growing community at Whiskey Point.  They were unaware, however, that the few Mormons who arrived there around 1848, were planning to overwhelm the island and force them to leave.

A rather strange dude named James Strang is said to have created America's only kingdom on Beaver Island.  Although he failed in his career as a lawyer, he found God, so to speak when, in 1844, he met the big Mormon himself, Joseph Smith, and thus converted to this new evangelical religion.  Smith was impressed with Strang and assigned him to establish a branch in Wisconsin.  While Strang was gone, Smith was killed.  Well of course, Strang shortly thereafter "produced" a letter naming him Smith's chosen heir.  The even bigger Mormon, Brigham Young, challenged this.  Young was rather well entrenched by this time, so Strang packed himself up and led his followers through parts of Illinois and then Wisconsin before settling on Beaver Island where he claims God wanted him to bring his flock.  Once there, Strang managed to form a colony after managing to dig up a number of "mysterious" brass plates from the ground purportedly containing directives from God directly to him. 

Over the next couple years, the Strang colony grew and by 1850, most of the non-mormons left the island.  It is said that this degree of absolute power went to Strang's head.  He crowned himself King and took on additional wives.  Some of his former followers tried to oust him legally, but failed.  Finally, Strang was assasinated, by his own people.  Now, the Mormons were without a leader.  At the same time, an unruly mob of Irishmen was assembling on Mackinac Island, planning to oust all the Mormons from Beaver Island.  They succeeded, and by the end of 1856, all the Mormons had been driven from the island.

While the Mormons were here, they managed to change the Island from a wilderness to a moderate outpost of civilization.  The Irish who tossed them out, however, enjoyed some of the best fishing grounds in the world.  Now that the Mormons were gone, Irish fishermen came in droves from Gull Island, Mackinac Island, various port cities on the mainland, and County Donegal in Ireland. Once they settled in, they wrote to their families and friends about "America's Emerald Isle."  And, over the next 30 years, the Irish on Beaver Island developed their very own and rather unique identity, due in large part to their relative isolation.  The Catholic Church even held its services in Gaelic.

The fisherman caused a lot of trouble for themselves, however.  First, they declared as their own, the waters around the island and tried to exclude all others.  This pissed off the fishermen from the mainland.  Moreover, they were accused of over fishing as the supply of fish in Lake Michigan was suddenly declining.  The local law on the mainland tried to impose a fishing moratoreum, but the Irish fishermen ignored this proclamation.  A large controversey ensued which resulted in lots of gunfire and cannon fire in a display of aggression that became known as the Battle of the Beavers in 1897.

The Irish could never be run off the way the Mormons were, and they continued (and continue) to live on the island engaging in farming, logging, trapping, and other economic endeavors.

Interestingly, the "improvements" being implemented in other communities in the early part of the 20th Century came late to Beaver Island. It wasn't until 1905 that the Island was connected to the mainland by telegraph. Regular winter mail service did not happen until 1926.  The first power plant and thus electricity came in 1939.  Perhaps because of this backwardness, the Island was always a popular destination for those tourists who were willing to rough it. Tracts of beach on the Island's east side were turned into lots for vacation cottages in the 1920s and 30s.

Despite this seeming boost, the Island's economy was still dependent on commercial fishing.  But, when the lamprey eel began to decimate the trout and whitefish population in the 1940s, the Island was in trouble.  The once-thriving community of well over 1,000 residents dwindled to less than 200.  Fortunately, during the late 1970s as the economy of Michigan improved, more people discovered Beaver Island, fell in love with it, and bought property or a home.  Today, construction is the dominant industry, with carpenters as plentiful as fishermen once were.

We are stuck here for bad weather.....again.....but we will have a chance to check this place out.  The island is quite beautiful and very colorful.

More later.

Boy oh boy did the wind blow today!  It blew at 25-35 knots all day long.  The thing that really sucked about it was that, our boat is docked with our stern out to the bay.  The wind was from the south east which basically put it right on our transome.  So, all day and most of the evening, it was real "herky jerky" with 2-3 foot wind waves slamming into the back of the boat.  We have plenty of lines out so we weren't moving any place, but it was simply loud and uncomfortable.  Eventually, we left the boat and found a place down the road called The Shamrock.  Consistent with this island's heritage, it was an Irish Pub and Grill.

We enjoyed some nice conversation with the bartender who actually has family in Ventura County.  His uncle lives in Faria Beach.  This guy was interesting because he is actually a 4th generation islander.  His great grandfather and great grandmother came to Beaver Island with the Irish wave that arrived here at about the time the Mormons were kicked off the island.  His family were not fishermen, but rather farmers who grew wheat and corn, and, believe it or not, hemp (yes, MJ, Buddy Green, Sticky, etc) for making rope products.  There were apparently vast fields of the stuff.  It's long gone now, but that was something I had not heard before.  Anyways, his Grandfather and Grandmother then went off to Chicago and started a construction company.  His father followed in those footsteps, but eventually returned to the island with his wife, also an original islander, to retire.  Today, his father is in his early 80's and, in fine Irish tradition, is still drinkin's whiskey, kickin' ass and takin' names. 

We also enjoyed conversation with a nice couple from Chicago who are here celebrating their anniversary.  They managed to rent a house on the other side of the island and brought their two dogs for a little time away. 

Ultimately, we got back to the boat, had dinner and then watched movies.  The wind has calmed down now, but the water is still too big to leave today.  So, we'll hole up one more day.  We might rent a car (it's pretty cheap through the marina) and drive around the island.  It's supposed to be really cool.  Tomorrow, we leave.  Either we will go to Manistique, MI, or to Washington Island, WI.  We'll see.

More later.

The marina where we are staying is also the local rental car agency.  They offered us a car for 4 hours for 30 bucks so we could drive around the island.  So, we did.  We had today to do it, and decided it was worth it insofar as it is not every day you get to stay at a beautiful island in northern Lake Michigan.

The car was a little Geo Tracker.  It was perfect for the job.  We took off a little after noon and were back by 1600 and had a great time viewing all the beautiful places on this beautiful Emerals Isle.  Here are some of the photos.  Enjoy.  Tomorrow we are off again.  Not sure where to, but moving.