Everything about Isle Royale totally explained
Isle Royale is an
island of the Great Lakes, located in the northwest of
Lake Superior. The island and the surrounding smaller islands and waters make up
Isle Royale National Park. It is, with a long I in Isle and the accent on the first syllable of Royale, not the second. In French, "Isle" is now spelled
Île.
The island is long and wide, with an area of, making it the largest natural island in Lake Superior, the second largest island in the
Great Lakes after
Manitoulin Island, and the
32nd largest island in the United States. It is defined by the
United States Census Bureau as
Census Tract 9603 of
Keweenaw County, Michigan. As of the
2000 census there was no permanent population. After the island was made a national park, some existing residents were allowed to stay; and a few leases are still in effect. Ferries from Michigan and Minnesota land at
Rock Harbor on the eastern end of the island; this has a lodge, campground, and information center. Ferries from Minnesota also run to
Windigo on the western end, which has a visitor center and campground.
Isle Royale is
United States territory (even though it's closer to the Canadian coastline) and is part of the state of
Michigan (though it's much closer to
Minnesota). In 1875, Isle Royale was set off from
Keweenaw County as a separate county, "Isle Royale County". In 1897, the county was dissolved, and the island was reincorporated into Keweenaw County. The highest point on the island is
Mount Desor at, or about above lake level.
Isle Royale is within about of the
Canadian shore of the lake, near the city of
Thunder Bay, Ontario, and is from the Michigan shore, on the
Keweenaw Peninsula. There are seasonal passenger ferry services to the island from
Grand Portage, Minnesota;
Copper Harbor, Michigan; and
Houghton, Michigan. There is also a seasonal sea plane service. There are no roads on the island, and, in fact, no wheeled vehicles or devices, other than wheelchairs, are permitted.
History
The island was a common hunting ground for native peoples from nearby Minnesota/Ontario. A canoe voyage of only a few miles was necessary to reach the island's west end from the mainland.
In prehistoric times, large quantities of copper were mined on Isle Royale and the nearby
Keweenaw Peninsula. The region is scarred by ancient mine pits and trenches up to 20 feet deep. Carbon-14 testing of wood remains found in sockets of copper artifacts indicates that they're at least 5700 years old. In "Prehistoric Copper Mining in the Lake Superior Region," published in 1961, Drier and Du Temple estimated that over 1.5 billion pounds of copper had been mined from the region. However, David Johnson contends that their estimate was based on exaggerated assumptions.
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The ancient miners may have used the following technique: (1) Fires were built atop the copper-bearing rock. (2) The heated rock was doused with water, and fractured from the rapid cooling. (3) Stone hammers were used to break the copper free from the fractured rock.
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In the mid 1840s, the first modern copper mines were opened in the area. Evidence of the earlier mining efforts was everywhere, in the form of many stone hammers, some copper artifacts, and places where copper had been partially worked out of the rock but left in place. The ancient pits and trenches led to the discovery of many of the copper deposits that were mined in the 19th century.
(External Link) The remoteness of the island, combined with the small veins of copper, caused most of the 19th century mines to fail quickly. Between the miners and commercial loggers, much of the island was deforested during the late 19th century. Once the island became a National Park, logging and other exploitive activities ended, and the forest began to regenerate.
The island was once the site of several
lake trout and
whitefish fisheries, as well as a few resorts. Today it has no permanent inhabitants; the small communities of Scandinavian fishermen were removed by the United States Park Service after the island became a national park in the 1930s. There are still a few families that claim Isle Royale as their heritage and several descendant fishermen still fish the Isle Royale waters commercially.
Geography and geology
The island is composed largely of ridges, running roughly southwest-to-northeast. The main ridge, Greenstone Ridge, is over in many places. According to the National Park Service, the North sides of the ridges tend to be steeper than the South sides. Coastal areas were once submerged beneath prehistoric lake waters, and contain many tumbled boulders and other large rocks. Topsoil tends to be thin, which favors trees that have horizontal root patterns such as
Balsam Fir,
White Spruce,
Black Spruce, and Shell Bark Spruce.
The ancient bedrock contained minor deposits of
native copper, few of which proved profitable to 19th century mining companies.
Interior lakes
The presence of islands in Siskiwit Lake results in islands in lakes within an island within a lake.
Recreational activities
Isle Royale is primarily known for
hiking,
fishing, boating, sailing and observing nature. The island is covered in wilderness trails, some of which are quite challenging, with steep grades. There are numerous campgrounds, many of which are only accessible by water. There are only two small settlements on the island proper: Rock Harbor, which has a resort and basic amenities, and Windigo, a smaller facility on the far western end of the island. Both have pay showers and food available.
When visiting Isle Royale, one is likely to encounter groups of
Boy Scouts. The island is a convenient spot to earn the 50-mile backpacking
merit badge. The badge can be had in a week here, though it's a tough trek across the island to earn it.
A typical National Park Service campground consists of a small number of shelters (cabin-like structures with one wall consisting of mosquito-proof screen; campers sleep on a wood floor inside), individual tent sites with picnic table, and group camping sites. There are one or more
pit toilets at each facility. Campgrounds along the shore have a boat dock, and overnight boaters are a common sight at some campgrounds. Of course, waterfront locations also attract
canoeists and
kayakers. No wells are available, thus all water must be filtered or thoroughly boiled to prevent infection by parasites & bacteria.
Ecology
A number of habitats exist on the island, the primary being
Boreal Forest, similar to neighboring Ontario and Minnesota. Upland areas along some of the ridges are effectively "balds" with exposed bedrock and a few scrubby trees, blueberry bushes, and hardy grasses. Occasional marshes exist, which are typically the by-product of
beaver activities. There are also several lakes, often with wooded or marshy shores. The climate, especially in lowland areas, is heavily influenced by the cold waters of
Lake Superior.
The island is well known among
ecologists as the site of a long-term study of a
predator-prey system, between
moose and
wolves. There is a cyclical relationship between the two animals: as the moose increase in population, the wolves do also. Eventually, the wolves kill too many moose and begin to starve/lower reproductive rates. However, the introduction of
canine parvovirus by a guest's (illegal) dog to the wolf population led to steep declines in the early 1980s. Another concern is the gradual aging of the ecosystems on Isle Royale. The boreal forest is maturing, leading to a decrease in the types of plants most favored by moose. Park management suppresses the natural fire-cycle which would otherwise renew sections of habitat to be more favorable for moose.
Before the self-introduction of wolves to the island (crossing winter ice from Ontario),
coyotes were the primary predators for a time. Prior to that, the
lynx dominated, preying on
caribou and
snowshoe hares. Human activities wiped out both the lynx and caribou, but some hares remain. Other common mammals are
red foxes,
beavers,
red squirrels. Some foxes are quite used to human contact, and can be seen prowling the campgrounds at dawn, looking for stray scraps left by unwary campers. For its part, the
wolf is an elusive species which avoids human interaction. Few documented cases of direct wolf/human contact exist.
Travel to Isle Royale
The island is accessible by private boat, seaplane, National Park Service ferry service from
Houghton, Michigan (the Ranger III), ferry service from
Copper Harbor, Michigan (Isle Royale Queen IV), and ferry service from
Grand Portage, Minnesota. In 2008, visitors will be given the option to embark/depart the NPS ship Ranger III at Windigo, on the far western end of the island. This will provide an opportunity for those parking in Houghton to hike the length of the island one-way without the added expense of travel on the Voyageur, a smaller vessel that circumnavigates the Island, stopping at various harbors along the way.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Isle Royale'.
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