LTBB Master Land Use Plan - Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa ...

The basic structure of this document begins with a presentation and analysis of area
demographics. This includes information presented in the Emmet County Master
Plan and more recent information assembled by Tribal staff.
Next, the physical features and development infrastructure are discussed. Existing
land use, zoning, soil capabilities and other development limitations are analyzed.
This will then result in a third component of the Plan, Development Sustainability
Indicators.
Finally, these elements will be compared with the extensive public input gathered in
meetings across the State, from Tribal Commissions, and from Program Directors
in the Government.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NON-TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREA, FROM A NON-
TRIBAL PERSPECTIVE 1
“Emmet County is at the top of the Michigan mitten. Its northern tip bumps into the Straits of Mackinac and
Lake Michigan outlines its western boundary. At first, Ottawa Indians, … occupied the lakeshore rim. Beyond the
water's edge there was only the forest, the lakes, the streams, and some swamps dismal enough to discourage a traveling
bear. Its strategic location on the great lakes waterways, however, marked it for early discovery by white men and the
point of control for the whole upper great lakes territory. By the time Michigan became a state, well over one hundred
years of … history was already behind it.
Recorded history started about 1715, the year the French built Fort Michilimackinac on the Straits, at present
day Mackinaw City. The history of the area revolved around this fort for the next 66 years. For the first 46 years,
until 1761, the French were in control. The Indians were generally [loyal] to them. They agreeably [returned with]
…the furs, and just as agreeably sent war parties far distances to harass the British forces at war with the French.
France lost this final aspect of the struggle to get control of the fur trade, called the French and Indian War, and by
treaty provisions, the vast great lakes country. British forces moved into Fort Michilimackinac when the French moved
out in 1761. With the exception of one little set back, they were there until 1781.
The setback occurred on June 2, 1763 …by an efficient massacre of most of the garrison. This was the most
blood-curdling episode in the territorial period of the county's history. It took about two years after the massacre for the
British to reestablish themselves at the Fort. They were there when the Revolutionary War was fought. Two years before
the end of that historic struggle the Fort Commandant had a new fort built on the more Gibraltar-like Mackinac
Island. Old Fort Michilimackinac was abandoned in 1781 and the beehive center of the fur trading, military and
political doings shifted from the mainland to that island.
The Indian settlement on the western lake shore rim of the county, however, continued to flourish. In 1840, the
year Emmet achieved shape and form as a county of the State of Michigan; Indian villages were almost continuous
along the shore line from today's Harbor Springs to Cross Village. The area was still a wilderness, the Indians, by
treaty provision with the U.S. Government, having the right to occupy the land. The county continued to be mostly
Indian reservation until 1875. In that period of time it was used pretty much as a political football and went through
numerous changes in shape and size.
In 1840 the State Legislature, wishing to take the basic steps necessary to insure proper development of the whole
state, passed Act No. 119 laying off and outlining the boundaries of certain northern counties. These counties were
unorganized, or prospective only. Section 28 of that Act described the boundaries of Emmet County as that portion of
1 Abridged from the official Emmet County website, compiled by Harriet Kilborn, Emmet County Clerk, 1967-1980.
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