Madeline Island

Madeline Island is an island of the U.S. state of Wisconsin located in Lake Superior approximately two miles southeast of Bayfield, Wisconsin and connected to that town seasonally by a ferry line or an ice road. It is the largest of the Apostle Islands, although it is not included within the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the only island open to commercial development.

Madeline Island is the traditional spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa, and was one of the earliest settlements in the area. Anishinaabe legend tells that Great Spirit Gitche Manitou told the people to travel West to the place where the "food grows upon the water", which led them to the wild rice that grew in the marshes in nearby Chequamegon Bay. Madeline Island was also the home of Chief Buffalo, who was instrumental in resisting the efforts of the U.S. Government to remove the Chippewa and in securing permanent reservations under the Treaty of La Pointe of 1854 that remain today. The bulk of the Ojibway on Madeline Island resettled to the Bad River Reservation east of Ashland, however, Chief Buffalo was granted a tract for his family on the mainland just west of Madeline Island in what is now know as the Red Cliff Indian Reservation. The island was originally called "Mooningwanekaaning" ("Place full of Yellow-shafted Flickers"). The first white settlers were French fur traders, who in 1693 founded the fort that eventually became the community of La Pointe. In the 19th century La Pointe became the site of an important post of the American Fur Company under Michel Cadotte whose wife Ikwesewe (Madeline) is the island's namesake. The island's fur trading history has been preserved in the Madeline Island Historical Museum.

The unincorporated community of La Pointe, which is the main settlement within the town of La Pointe, is located on the southwestern tip of the island, with Grant’s Point being the southeastern most point. Aside from its proximity to the Federally managed National Lakeshore, Madeline Island also contains the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources's Big Bay State Park, a convert|2350|acre|km2|sing=on park on the southcentral shore of the island. It is sometimes called Eagles' Nest for the bald eagles that make their nests in the tall pine trees on the cliffs. It encloses a large lagoon and a unique bog/dune ecosystem. There is another, smaller park on the island called Big Bay Town Park that is closer to town, offers camping, and is free to the public. It has access to the longest beach on the island, and adjoins the state park. With help from the summer's sun, the surface water temperature in the sheltered bay can rise to convert|70|°F|°C|abbr=on while the water just off shore might remain a frigid 50 degrees.

The island itself is fourteen miles (21 km) long and three miles (5 km) wide. It is the only developed island of all the Apostle islands, although there are lighthouses on many of the islands and small, preserved fishing communities on a few (such as Stockton Island, Raspberry Island and Manitou Island). The 2000 U.S. Census reported the permanent population of the island as two hundred forty-six, but does not include the large number of visitors and seasonal residents. Madeline island has a school that typically hosts children up through 5th grade. Middle and high school-age children attend school in Bayfield.

The island is a popular vacation spot for people from all over the Midwest. The golf club sports a course designed by Robert Trent Jones that features double greens.

The island can only be reached by ferry during the summer months; in the winter, ice usually becomes too thick for ferry traffic. The last ferry runs of the season are typically some time in mid-to-late January, though in recent years the ferry has run well in to February, and in 2006 ran the entire winter. When ice conditions allow, the "ice road" officially opens to vehicle traffic from Bayfield across the frozen surface to Madeline Island. The ice road is traditionally marked by Christmas trees and is officially an extension of County Highway H. If ice is too thin for automobile traffic, but too thick for ferry traffic, access to the island is by airplane, snowmobile and windsled only. The windsled often operates in early winter and spring.

On the eastern end of the island is an exclave of the Bad River Indian Reservation of approximately convert|195|acre|km2.

External links

* [http://www.madelineisland.com Madeline Island Chamber of Commerce]
* [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/madelineisland Madeline Island] from Wisconsin Historical Society
* [http://www.madferry.com/ferry.html Madeline Island Ferry Line] for schedules and fares.
* [http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/bigbay Big Bay State Park]
* [http://www.windsled.com Windsled Transportation Company]
* [http://www.madelineislandvacations.com Madeline Island Vacations for places to stay]