Page 6 - Volume 14 Number 8

The Great Sea
The native people of the upper Great Lakes region had an appropriately descriptive name for Lake Superior hundreds of years before any Europeans ever plied her waters. They called her, “Gitchigami,” which from their tongues loosely translates to “The Great Sea” or “Huge Water.” The first Europeans to explore the area called the lake, “lac Superieur” (French for “upper lake”) simply to identify it as the yet-to-be-explored body of water north and west of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. It was the famous 19th century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who popularized the lake and the native name for it (spelling it “Gitchy Gumme”) in his epic 35,000-word poem, The Song of Hiawatha published in 1855. In more modern times, the lake entered the lexicon of popular culture when folk singer Gordon Lightfoot popularized it in his 1976 hit, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
For native people, the lake sustained them with food and fresh water and by providing trade routes between various tribes and villagers living along its incredible 2,700-plus miles of shoreline. For them, it was a workplace, always demanding great respect and often exacting the ultimate toll on those who offered less. As one modern commercial fisherman said, “No matter how big you are or what kind of boat you’ve got ... the lake
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The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore boundary extends one- quarter mile into Lake Superior from the islands and the shore- line of the mainland section of the park. There are 22 islands in the archipelago, 21 of which are part of AINL.
is always the boss.” The reality of this has played out thousands of times. The Great Lakes contain over 6,000 known shipwrecks representing over 30,000 lives lost, with Lake Superior accounting for 550 of those sunken ships. Other than to blame the weather and storms, the lakes are well known for, the exact causes of most sinkings (including the loss of the 729-foot freighter Edmund Fitzgerald) remain mysteries to this day.
An evening view of Lake Superior from Bodin’s Bayfield Resort. The author and family chose a small cabin at this quaint resort for lodging. Located about halfway between Ashland and Bayfield, Wisconsin, along Highway 13, its central location was perfect for touring Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, several Wisconsin State Parks and Natural Areas, as well as the entire Bayfield Peninsula.
AUGUST 2020