• 12 reviews of Lac Vieux Desert Resort & Casino 'So apparently the hotel been upgraded since previous reviews. That said, it's still middle of the road. The bed was fine, and bedding decent.
• Northern Waters Casino Resort US 45, Watersmeet, MI 49969. Proudly owned and operated by the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake.

Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (or the Gete-gitigaaniwininiwag in the Anishinaabe language) is a band of the Lake Superior Chippewa, many of whom reside on the Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation, located near Watersmeet, Michigan. It is approximately 45 miles southeast of Ironwood, Michigan in Gogebic County.

Northern Waters Casino Resort - N5384 US-45, Watersmeet, Michigan 49969 - Rated 3.8 based on 285 Reviews 'If I could rate this place a zero I would!!

Early history[edit]

As the Ojibwe Nation divided into two and expanded westward from the Sault Ste. Marie region, the southern branch of Ojibwe came to the area now known as Lac Vieux Desert. The Lake Superior Band of Chippewa included twelve bands in historic times.

This lake, known as Gete-gitigaani-zaaga'igan ('Lake of the old garden') in the Anishinaabe language, is located near several major watershed boundaries. It served as an ideal travel/trade hub connecting major waterways and trails to Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Wisconsin River. The Lac Vieux Desert Band was one of three in Michigan. The other nine bands of Lake Superior Chippewa resided in what became organized as Wisconsin and Minnesota under the United States rule.

All twelve bands were signatory to several treaties with the United States. Chiefs of the Lac Vieux Desert Band signed the Treaty of St. Peters of 1837, Treaty of La Pointe of 1842, and Treaty of La Pointe of 1854, by which they ceded tribal communal land in Michigan to the United States. The second La Pointe Treaty of 1854, added to include a band newly included in US territory because of international boundary changes, also established the Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation. It is known as Gete-gitigaaning in the Anishinaabe language.

Under the federal Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which otherwise encouraged tribes to re-established self-government, the Lac Vieux Desert Band lost their independent federal recognition. Together with the formerly independent L'Anse and Ontonogon bands, they were classified as members of the newly named Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. But they continued to reside separately in the Watersmeet area.

Independent federal recognition[edit]

Indian activism was on the rise in the 1960s, as tribes organized to assert their rights and sovereignty. Beginning then and for nearly 20 years, the Band worked to regain independent federal recognition as a self-governing group. They had had an independent, historic relationship with the federal government, as documented by their many treaties and their separate reservation. The band finally achieved recognition through a Congressional bill: on September 8, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the 'Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Act' (H.R. 3697) that officially recognized the Band as a separate and distinct tribe apart from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

The Lac Vieux Desert Band independently joined the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc. in 1988. It was formed in 1966 to represent tribes in Michigan, share management resources, and gain funding through joint programs. As the tribes have grown and developed more of their own programs, the council has transferred functions to them.

Economic development[edit]

The tribe owns and operates the Northern Waters Casino Resort on its reservation in Watersmeet, Michigan. The resort includes the Dancing Eagles Hotel and the Lac Vieux Desert golf course. Seasonal events include ice fishing competitions in winter.

Watersmeet Casino Buffet

The tribe has established an online, short-term installment loans business to serve underbanked Americans. The business has brought new employment opportunities and had generated financial support for other tribal business ventures and social programs for the reservation.^[1] The tribe established Big Picture Loans (https://www.bigpictureloans.com) in late 2016, which is based on the reservation in Watersmeet. The loans are available only online and the maximum loan value is $3,500, according to the company website.

In August of 2015, the Lac Vieux Desert community opened a state-of-the-art medical complex, Lac Vieux Desert Health Center, which is available to the entire population of the Western Upper Peninsula. The medical complex offers care for the entire family, is open to the public, and accepts all insurance.

In 2015 the tribe was awarded a historic preservation grant from the National Park Service to survey the ancient Lac Vieux Desert to L'Anse Trail, a more than 80-mile path long used by the Ojibwe before the 17th century between this area and L'Anse. The Ojibwe continued to use this trail into the 1940s. As part of management plan of the Ottawa National Forest, which occupies land near them, the tribe wants to identify and preserve the historically significant trail. It passes through Baraga, Houghton, Iron and Gogebic counties.^[2]

References[edit]

1. ^'Lac Vieux Desert purchase lending business'.
2. ^'Lac Vieux Desert to L'Anse Trail'. Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Retrieved December 28, 2015.

External links[edit]

Lac Vieux Desert is a lake in the United States divided between Gogebic County, Michigan, and Vilas County, Wisconsin.^[1] Fed primarily by springs in the surrounding swamps, it is the source of the Wisconsin River, which flows out of its southwest corner. The lake contains a number of small islands, especially in its northeastern lobe, including Draper Island in Michigan and Duck Island, in Wisconsin.^[2]

Lac Vieux Desert has a surface elevation 1,680 ft (510 m)^[3] above sea level, and a maximum depth of about 40 ft (12 m). The surface area is 4,260 acres (17.24 km²; 6.66 sq mi), of which approximately two-thirds is in Wisconsin and one third in Michigan.

Located in the Lake District of northern Wisconsin, the lake is a popular boating and fishing resort.

The lake was named by French fur trappers, who were some of the first Europeans in the region. They translated the name into French from the term used by the Ojibwe of the area: Gete-gitigaani-zaaga'igan, meaning 'Lake of the Old Clearing', or 'Old Garden.' At the time of European colonization, the Ojibwe (also known in the US as Chippewa) occupied extensive territory around Lake Superior, in what are now the jurisdictions of northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the United States, and northern Ontario through southeastern Manitoba in Canada.

The Michigan shore of Lac Vieux Desert is the only part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that is part of the drainage or watershed of the Mississippi River. With southwest Bertrand Township and southeast Galien Township (of Berrien County) on the Indiana state line, it is one of two such areas in the state.

Local activities and attractions[edit]

Lac View Desert Casino Watersmeet Michigan Weather

• Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation, owns and operates a gaming casino

Northern Waters Casino Watersmeet Mi

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Lac Vieux Desert, Gogebic County, Watersmeet Michigan Fishing
2. ^Wisconsin Historical Society. 'Lac Vieux Desert, Vilas Co'. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
3. ^U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lac Vieux Desert

External links[edit]

• 'Michigan DNR map of Lac Vieux Desert'(PDF).(343 KiB)