Traveling the Seven Fires--Madeline Island

We arrived on a stormy day. Glad we had a very big canoe.

Madeline Island is a bit controversial for multiple reasons. Located on the southern shore of Lake Superior, it exists in the protection of Chaumegon Bay and actually has way more than just 12 islands. From the shore at Bayfield, it looms on the horizon. Choosing it as a stopping place makes a lot of sense if the southern shores belonged to the Dakota people for there is a deep channel separating the island from the shores. Just Madeline Island alone is large enough to host a large group of people. Manhattan Island is 22 square miles yet Madeline island is double that at 42 square miles. With fishing and hunting plentiful, it made a great staging area.

The first controversy is the sequence of stopping. Stopping places 1-5 are pretty orthodox, but some historians claim the Anishinaabe went along the northern shore, stopped at Spirit Island of Duluth, and then migrated to spot #7. Another version tells of a migration from Sault Ste. Marie (which is the route Julie and I took) to arrive in the island cluster in the 1600s. Those who call it Stopping Place #6 often have disagreement about the interpreation of the 7th stopping place, but we'll talk about that in the next blog.

Another controversy (for me) is the naming of the island. Madeline Island's Ojibwe name is Mooniinwanekaaning, which means "At [the Place] Abundant with Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker" or "Place of the Golden-Breasted Flicker Woodpecker". That's great. However, the "modern" name for it is Madeline, and here's where I stumbled across a bit of odd history. According to "the historians," a fur trader by the name of Michael Cadotte (1764-1837) named the island after his wife. That' so romantic, right? He was real. She was real. However...

I most recently visited Madeline Island in 2024.

When I was working on my research about Pierre-Charles LeSueur, I learned about the early days of its fur trading history. My man Pierre-Charles LeSueur worked there, Danny Graysolon (Mr. Duluth) worked there, and Nicholas Perrot worked there. Ah! Perrot happened to have a wife named...Madeline. It was her island first. (But nobody really cares).

The last controversy likely caused Joseph Nicollet to investigate the island. Between Perrot's time in the 1690s and Nicollet's visit in the 1830s, the Anishinaabe People had abandoned the island for the wild rice fields of Minnesota. Yet there were strange rumors about the days prior to the departure. William Warren, an Ojibwe historian, recorded harrowing tales of cannibalism by a small group upon the island. This foul deed turned into rumors that ghosts haunted the island. Not sure if this is true or not, but the island was largely uninhabited after being the hub of a thriving society.

Today, Madeline island is a popular tourist location. A ferry crosses the channel hourly, and you can drive all over the island. At the docks, you will find modern amenities and also historical exhibits about the fur trading days of LaPointe.

The small town of Bayfield is worth a visit and has many cute shops and great places to eat. On the southern shore of the bay, you'll find Ashland, where my son attended college.

Returning to Bayfield.