page_title: Madeline Island
hierarchical_section_title: Madeline Island
caption_attribution_description: Snippet of map showing Chippewa reservations in Wisconsin, compiled for congress by American Bureau of Ethnology Smithsonian Institution.
context_page_description: Madeline Island is an island in Lake Superior. Now part of Ashland County, Wisconsin, it was long a spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Although the largest of the Apostle Islands, it is not included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the only island in the Apostle Island chain open to commercial development and private ownership.
  The community of La Pointe, located on the western edge of the island and established by French colonists as a fur trading post, was one of the earliest European settlements in the area. It has a population of 302, with a higher population during the summer tourist season. The island can be accessed by ferry from nearby Bayfield.
context_section_description: Madeline Island is an island in Lake Superior. Now part of Ashland County, Wisconsin, it was long a spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Although the largest of the Apostle Islands, it is not included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the only island in the Apostle Island chain open to commercial development and private ownership. 
  The community of La Pointe, located on the western edge of the island and established by French colonists as a fur trading post, was one of the earliest European settlements in the area. It has a population of 302, with a higher population during the summer tourist season. The island can be accessed by ferry from nearby Bayfield.
caption: An early map of Chequamegon Bay.
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