An Introduction to Michipicoten Island
Subtitle: Lake Superior's Wild Heart
Edition: Revised Edition
Publisher: David C. Whyte
Published: August 2025
Place of publication: Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9798293324026
Copyright date: 2025
First sentence: Hewn from rugged, volcanic rock, sheathed in a veneer of dense forest and swamp, protected by a formidable moat of perpetually frigid water, Ontario's Michipicoten Island lies in seclusion in the northeast corner of Lake Superior.
Description: Wild and rugged, Ontario’s Michipicoten Island lies secluded in the northeast corner of Lake Superior. The island’s volcanic origin, isolation, and exposure to the vacillating moods of the surrounding lake have combined to create a landscape of austere natural beauty. Over time, the island's physical features and natural setting became entwined with human endeavour and imagination, yielding a rich tapestry of legends, shipwrecks, wild surf, precipitous cliffs, shattered dreams, and mysterious deaths. Today, the island remains much as humans first encountered it: untamed and unpopulated, veiled in distance, mist and forgotten history.

Comprising 26 chapters, six appendices, and over 100 illustrations, this book illuminates an obscure corner of the Canadian hinterland. Various facets of the island's biology, geology, physical features and history are presented, seasoned with brief sketches of some of the more colourful members of the diverse, intermittent succession of foragers, explorers, prospectors, miners, fishermen, trappers, lightkeepers and adventurers who arrived on its shores.

Specific topics include the island's legends, the origins of its name, early explorations, detailed histories of its three failed copper mines, and its former role in supporting commercial fishing, trapping and early Lake Superior shipping. Other chapters focus on the island's lighthouses, shipwrecks, its past and present role as a tourist destination, and the interactions between its fluctuating wildlife populations. Obscure, tenuous connections between the island and the greater flow of human history are also revealed. A journal from the author’s 12-day, solo, circumnavigation of the island by sea kayak is included, as inspiration (or a cautionary tale) for would-be visitors.
Notes: This revised edition has been substantially expanded. While the entirety of the 2001 work has been retained (with minor revisions), more than 20,000 words have been added. The bibliography has been augmented, and there are many new illustrations.
Table of contents: title: Preface to the 2025 Edition  xi; title: Acknowledgements   xi; title: A Word to the Wise  xii; title: Disclaimer  xii; title: Dedication (from the 2001 Edition)  xiii; title: INTRODUCTION  1; title: THE NAME  2; title: Sand, Mushrooms and Rainy Days  2; title: Ile de Maurepas  3; title: Micibigwadunk?  4; title: CREATIVE CARTOGRAPHY  5; title: MICHIPICOTEN LEGENDS  8; title: A Spirit of Amazing Size  8; title: Evil Spirit of the North Wind  8; title: An Icy Death  9; title: Nanibojou and the Memogovissioois  10; title: A Floating Island  10; title: An Island in a Lake  11; title: PHYSICAL FEATURES  12; title: A Rugged Landscape  12; title: Offshore Islands  18; title: Scenic Highlights  19; title: Overland Travel  21; title: VEGETATION  24; title: A Tale of Two Forests  24; title: Arctic Vegetation  25; title: A Botanist’s Enthusiasm  25; title: WILDLIFE  27; title: Omnipresent Beavers  27; title: Woodland Caribou  29; title: The Wolves’ Rise and Fall  33; title: The Great Michipicoten “Moose lift”  34; title: Birds  35; title: Fish  36; title: Biting Insects  37; title: WEATHER AND CLIMATE  39; title: Summer  39; title: Fall, Winter and Spring  41; title: WAVES AND CURRENTS  42; title: GEOLOGY  44; title: Andesite  44; title: Rhyolite  45; title: Basalt  46; title: Metals  46; title: Agates  47; title: Amethyst  48; title: Other Michipicoten Island “Gems”  49; title: Petroleum  49; title: Natural “Glass”  50; title: The Michipicoten Island Meteor  50; title: The Cold War Connection  51; title: THE QUEST FOR COPPER  53; title: Mining Prior to the European Contact  54; title: The Explorations of Victor Louis Orry  54; title: The Royal Charter of Louis Denys de la Ronde  55; title: The Explorations of Alexander Henry  56; title: Quebec and Lake Superior Mining Association  57; title: The Robinson Treaty and the Michipicoten “War”  60; title: Continued Optimism  62; title: Standard Oil’s 1898 “Invasion”  62; title: The Shrewd Toronto Lawyers  63; title: The End of Exploratory Mining  64; title: The Rush of 1907  66; title: The Rush of 1955-1956  66; title: Later 20th Century Action  67; title: LIFE AND DEATH AT THE MINES  68; title: Rickety Ladders and Foul Air  69; title: Beer and Hard Liquor  70; title: King of the Miners  72; title: MICHIPICOTEN’S MONEY PITS  74; title: The Quebec Mine  74; title: The Philipps Mine  87; title: The Bonner Mine  87; title: A Long Dance in the Fog  91; title: COMMERCIAL FISHING  93; title: The Fishing Stations  93; title: Life as an Island Fisherman  99; title: A Secret Recipe  100; title: A Dangerous Career  101; title: The Decline of the Fishery  103; title: LOGGING  106; title: A Shocking Waste!  107; title: TRAPPING  108; title: A Business Proposition  108; title: Starvation Diet  109; title: Grappling with Poachers  110; title: Cree Trappers  111; title: AGRICULTURE  113; title: Quebec Mine Farm  113; title: Agriculture at Quebec Harbour  114; title: MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND POST OFFICE  116; title: SHIPPING  118; title: The Magnificent Landlocked Bay  119; title: Improved Charts for Quebec Harbour  122; title: The Versatile Chicora  123; title: Ice!  124; title: Later Years  125; title: THE EARLY TOURISTS  128; title: A Girl with a Temper  129; title: Meeting the Locals  130; title: The Ten-Dollar Cure  130; title: A Receding Fame  131; title: THE LIGHTHOUSES  133; title: East End Light  133; title: The Ordeal of William Sherlock  135; title: Radio Beacon  138; title: The Quebec Harbour Lights  138; title: Hope’s Purgatory  139; title: Upgrading the Harbour Lights  141; title: West End Light  143; title: The Duties of a Lightkeeper  144; title: SHIPWRECKS  148; title: Jim, Billy and Hiram: The Harbour Wrecks  148; title: Aground Again: The Collingwood’s Misery  153; title: A Tremendous Crash: The Grounding of the Manitoba  154; title: Hauled off and Sank: The Antelope  156; title: Gone to Pieces: The City of Montreal  157; title: The Stranding of Wilkes-Barre  157; title: Strathmore: Pummelled and Burned  157; title: The Grounding of the Neepawah  158; title: Chicago on the Rocks  159; title: The Mystery of the Bannockburn  162; title: Ashbay: The Wreck that Wasn’t  163; title: Sailors' Bones  164; title: Miraculous Survival  168; title: Not a Shipwreck: The Saga of Prince, the Wonder Dog  169; title: Three Years Marooned: Fact or Fiction?  169; title: ECHOES OF THE PAST  172; title: Buildings at Quebec Harbour  172; title: Mining and Prospecting Relics  173; title: Trappers’ Cabins  178; title: Roads and Trails  179; title: MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND PROVINCIAL PARK  181; title: GETTING TO THE ISLAND  182; title: WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID  184; title: A FINAL WORD  188; title: APPENDIX 1 - KAYAKING MICHIPICOTEN  189; title: APPENDIX 2 - MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND BIRD LIST  227; title: APPENDIX 3 - MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND ANIMALS  231; title: APPENDIX 4 - MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND PLANTS  232; title: APPENDIX 5 - LIST OF SCENIC LOCATIONS  239; title: APPENDIX 6 - THE MICHIPICOTEN ISLAND QUIZ  245; title: BIBLIOGRAPHY  248; title: MAPS  280