View source for North Manitou Island

{{Short description|Island in Michigan}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox islands
|name = North Manitou Island
|image_name =
|image_caption =
| map = Michigan
| map_caption = 
|native_name =
|native_name_link =
|location = [[Lake Michigan]], [[Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore]]
|coordinates={{coord|45|07|10|N|86|01|01|W|type:isle_region:US-MI|display=inline,title}}
|archipelago =
|total_islands =
|major_islands =
|area_sqmi = 22.3
|coastline_mi =
|highest_mount =
|elevation_ft = 728
|country = United States
|country_admin_divisions_title = State
|country_admin_divisions = [[Michigan]]
|country1_admin_divisions_title = County
|country1_admin_divisions =[[Leelanau County, Michigan|Leelanau County]]
|country2_admin_divisions_title = Township
|country2_admin_divisions =[[Leland Township, Michigan|Leland Township]]
|population = Uninhabited
|population_as_of =
| density_sqmi =
|ethnic_groups =
}}
'''North Manitou Island''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|n|ə|t|u}} {{respell|MAN|ə|too}}) is located in [[Lake Michigan]], approximately {{convert|12|mi|km}} west-northwest of [[Leland, Michigan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Feature Detail Report for: North Manitou Island |url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:633609,North%20Manitou%20Island |website=USGNIS |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |access-date=24 December 2020}}</ref>  It is nearly eight miles long and more than four miles (6&nbsp;km) wide, with {{convert|20|mi|km}} of shoreline. It has a land area of 57.876&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (22.346 sq mi) and has no population. The smaller [[South Manitou Island]] lies to its southwest.

[[File:Dunes of North Manitou Island.jpg|thumb|North Manitou Island: southern dunes]]
[[File:North Manitou Island.jpg|thumb|North Manitou Island: southern end of the island looking south]]
[[File:Swenson's Barn.jpg|thumb|North Manitou Island: Swenson's Barn on the western side of the island]]
[[File:Sunset Manitou.jpg|thumb|North Manitou Island as seen from [[Glen Arbor Township, Michigan|Glen Arbor]] at dusk]]
[[File:Buildings on North Manitou Island.jpg|thumb|North Manitou Island: Rangers House on the eastern side of the island near the ferry dock]]

==Description==
North Manitou Island is shaped like an upside-down teardrop, with the now-forested body of the 'drop' surrounding Lake Manitou, and the tail of the drop narrowing into sandy, exposed [[North Manitou Island Light|Dimmick's Point]] on the island's southeastern extremity. The ferry dock and ranger station are on the island's central eastern shore, directly east of Lake Manitou.

The island is in [[Leelanau County, Michigan|Leelanau County]] and is part of the [[Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore]], although it is over {{convert|6|mi|km}} offshore. Park passes and camping fees are required. The island can be accessed by a ferry service from Leland; private watercraft are permitted with limited docking. No wheeled vehicles are allowed on the island other than those used by the [[National Park Service]] or to cart off a dead deer, or to move trash bags. No [[campfires]] are allowed on the island except at public firepits near the ranger station. Similarly there is only one water [[spigot]], and one [[outhouse]], in the same area.

==History==
{{see also|History of Northern Michigan}}

===Before 1900===
A legend attributed to the [[Ojibwe]] explains the origin of the Manitou Islands and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Long ago, the bear Mishe Mokwa and her two cubs sought to cross Lake Michigan from the Wisconsin shore to escape a great forest fire. The mother bear made it across, but her twin cubs, although they swam hard behind her, drowned in Lake Michigan. The great spirit covered them with sand to form the two Manitou islands. The mother bear lies and waits forever for her cubs to reach the shore - the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Most archeologists believe early habitation by Native Americans was only temporary due to the island's scarcity of natural resources and the abundance of resources on the mainland. Despite this, there are signs of activity by Native Americans and some of the earliest archeological sites ever found in Michigan are located there. This includes seven sites, mostly on the east side.<ref>Rita Hadra Rusco, North Manitou Island: [http://www.manitouislandlady.com/book.htm Between Sunrise and Sunset] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714030046/http://www.manitouislandlady.com/book.htm |date=2011-07-14 }} (Ravenna, MI: Rogers Printing, 1991)</ref>  These sites date back to between 8,000 and 600 BC. Items found include: stone and [[flint tools]], a copper awl, pottery and the remains of a canoe.<ref>George Weeks, Sleeping Bear: Yesterday and Today (Franklin, MI: A&M, 1990)</ref>

The initial European settlements were built by wood cutters supplying the fleet of the Great Lakes' wood-burning [[steamboat|steamers]] with [[firewood|cord wood]]. Nicholas Pickard was probably the first (between 1842 and 1846).  There is no record that Mr. Pickard owned any land on North Manitou when he began cutting wood there.  While the record is clear that a wood-cutting station was established first on South Manitou, many travelers who have left written accounts did not make it clear which island they visited. Over 150 years later it can be difficult, if not impossible, to tell whether some stories of visiting "the Manitous" refer to North or South. [[Margaret Fuller]]'s ''[[Summer on the Lakes|Summer on the Lakes, in 1843]]'', for example, very probably recounts a visit to South Manitou. Piers were constructed on the eastern and western sides of the island for the steamers to load wood while traveling up and down Lake Michigan.

===20th century===
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2024}}
After the passing of the wood-burning steamers, there were several more woodcutting eras on the island - for sawn boards and raw logs. Among others there was the Smith & Hull operation on the west side (1906 to 1917), Peter Stormer's east side and north end, a World War II era sawmill (near the site of the old dock in the Settlement), and The Lake Michigan Hardwood Company sawmill and later raw log cutting. Smith & Hull also operated a standard gauge logging railroad, the "Manitou Limited", running northeast 8 miles out of Crescent using two [[Shay locomotive]]s from July 12, 1909 until 1915 when the timber ran out.

Some island settlers turned to farming, growing apples and cherries; remnants of these orchards can still be seen. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, the William R. Angell Foundation, which owned most of the island, used the imported deer population as an economic resource, hosting hunters. The Foundation artificially supported an abundant deer population with commercial salt blocks and custom feed manufactured by [[Kellogg Company]]. The deer pruned the island's forests, giving an open, park-like feeling to even the deepest woods. A {{convert|4000|ft|m|adj=on}} lighted runway, now a field in "The Settlement" on the eastern side of the island, next to the designated camping grounds and firepits, was used to bring in the hunters.

A summer colony grew on the east side of the island starting in the late 19th century. A group of successful Chicago businessmen built cottages (some of which remain on "Cottage Row"). The National Park Service occupies the old US Life-Saving Station (later the US Coast Guard) grounds near where the Leland boat lands campers. At the south end of the island was a [[North Manitou Island Light|lighthouse]], built in 1896, automated in 1932, discontinued in 1938 and destroyed in 1942.

After the foundation sold most of the island to the United States government, the deer population declined due to the lack of artificial feed. The woods have grown up, many clearings are being obliterated; previously open space is rapidly being taken over by the woods. Now, after decades of regrowth, it is hard to spot any deer at all. All buildings built after the 1950s have been slated for demolition or have already been torn down.

Though at various times it was the less populated of the Manitou islands, apple and cherry orchards were planted during its settlement period. Now uninhabited except by the rotating National Park ranger and maintenance crews assigned there, the homesteads and most of the buildings of the island's former settlers lie in varying states of ruin. Various buildings are shored up during the summer months. There is a cemetery in the southeast of the island where some of the island’s former inhabitants are buried.

==Today==
The Manitou islands are surrounded by over 50 known shipwrecks; a few of these are popular (and protected) diving spots.

The island has a system of trails, the remnants of the island's unpaved roads. On the west side of the island one may still walk the "old grade" - the roadbed of the Smith & Hull logging railroad. Wilderness camping is permitted throughout the island, and there are several designated camping sites near the ranger station at the dock. Filtered water is available at the ranger station, with limited natural inland water sources.  There is one sizeable inland lake, Lake Manitou, suitable for fishing, and another, Tamarack Lake, which is now essentially a cedar swamp. The island is flanked by dunes on its northwest and southwest sides.

Island mammals include [[coyote]], [[beaver]], [[white-tailed deer]], and [[eastern chipmunk]]. The [[raccoon]] population died out due to disease shortly before 2002. Numerous songbirds and waterfowl can be seen; of particular note is the endangered [[piping plover]], which nests here.  Human disturbance of the nesting area (near Dimmick’s Point) is disastrous to successful reproduction. Therefore, the Dimmick’s Point area is <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/upload/nmi_brochure.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708024934/http://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/upload/nmi_brochure.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 8, 2014 |title= Sleeping Bear Dunes brochure |website=www.nps.gov |format=PDF|access-date=2019-06-15}}</ref> closed to hikers from May 1 through August 15 of each year. [[Bald eagle]]s are commonly seen, especially during spring and early summer nesting season. [[Garter snake]]s are abundant on the island. There is an annual deer hunting season to limit the size of the population.

== Climate ==
{|
|-
|{{climate chart
|  North Manitou Island
| -6| -4| 79
| -19| -7| 61
| -7| -3| 60
| -2| 1| 126
| 2| 4| 101
| 10| 11| 86
| 13| 16| 94
| 16| 18| 59
| 16| 17| 124
| 9| 9| 173
| 5| 7| 124
| 0| 5| 78
|float=left
|clear=left
|source = <ref name = "nasa">{{Cite web|url= http://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/dataset_index.php|title= NASA Earth Observations Data Set Index|access-date= 30 January 2016|publisher= NASA|archive-date= 7 April 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190407091601/https://neo.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/dataset_index.php|url-status= dead}}</ref>
}}
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*[https://www.census.gov North Manitou Island: Block 1101, Census 9703, Leelanau County, Michigan] United States Census Bureau
*Wakefield, Laurence and Lucille, "Sail & Rail, A Narrative History of Transportation in the Traverse City Region", 1980, L.M. Wakefield
*Tending a 'Comfortable Wilderness,' A History of Agricultural Landscapes on North Manitou Island, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan by Eric MacDonald and Arnold R. Alanen [U.S. Department of the Interior, Omaha, Nebraska: 2000]

==External links==
* [https://www.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/northmanitouisland.htm North Manitou Island, National Park]
* [http://www.leelanau.com/manitou/ Manitou Island Transit]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061107111200/http://www.manitouislandlady.com/ North Manitou Island maps, photos and history]
* [http://www.mwrems.nps.gov/slbe/planyourvisit/nmivillage.htm]{{dead link|date=June 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

{{Lake Michigan Islands}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Beaver Archipelago]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Leelanau County, Michigan]]
[[Category:Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore]]
[[Category:Islands of Lake Michigan in Michigan]]
[[Category:Islands of Leelanau County, Michigan]]
[[Category:Sacred islands]]