INTRODUCTION
Why Cheboygan?
The history and development of Cheboygan and Michigan, is tied to that of
the Mid-West, a region considered the first “great frontier” (Meinig, 1993:
p223) of the American nation. It was also a region where the primary
motivation for settlement was “profit-taking rather than home-making” (Meinig,
1993: p259). Although the historical geography of the Mid-West has been
discussed by Meinig’s (1993; 1998), “The Shaping of America”, the author himself
recognised that it was a generalization, providing an “orientation and point
of entry for innumerable investigations that cry out for attention” (Meinig,
1999: p8).
Cheboygan is not a well-known place, not even in Michigan itself.
In Dunbar & May’s (1970) “Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State”,
it is mentioned once, whilst it is ignored entirely in Catton’s (1976) “Michigan:
A Bicentennial History”. Yet, Cheboygan is a large, well-established
City by northern Michigan standards with European settlement dating back to
the 18th Century. A visit to the City Museum shows that Cheboygan was
once a ‘paper town’ (Lingerman, 1980), reliant on the lumber industry and
in the shadow of the much larger Duncan City. Today, Duncan City no
longer exists and Cheboygan is both the County Seat and the regional cultural
centre. It is also a City in the process of change. The Main Street
is being revamped and a new Marina built, whilst an old tourist attraction
- the ‘world’s largest sawduust pile’ (Olson & Turner, 1989) - has been
removed.
Consequently, this research draws on a land use survey, interviews and an
analysis of historical documents to establish both how Cheboygan has developed
and the geographical reasons for those changes. As Pacione suggests,
geography provides a “particular perspective on and insight into” (2001, p97)
the development and survival of towns and cities. It is hoped, therefore,
that the investigation will add to the local literature on Cheboygan’s history
and play a small part in Meinig’s desire that individuals and society at
large “have some reasoned sense of who they are, where they are, and how that
has come to be” (Meinig, 1999: p8).
Location of Study:
The State of Michigan is located in the Mid-Western United States and is
made up of two peninsulas separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which connect
Lakes Michigan and Huron (See Figures 1,2 & 3). The ‘Upper Peninsula’,
washed by Lake Superior, ranges from the swampland of the North East lakeshore
to the mountains of the West. The ‘Lower Peninsula’ has most of Michigan's
population and industries. The state capital is Lansing and the largest
city is Detroit (State of Michigan, 2002).
The City of Cheboygan (See Figures 2 and 3) is located on the shores of
Lake Huron in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula. The name
‘Cheboygan’ means ‘through passage' and probably refers to the nearby Cheboygan
River and network of inland lakes and streams (Olson & Turner, 1989).
Before the first European settlement in 1770, the region was populated by
the Ottawa and Chippewa tribes (Olson & Turner, 1989). Today, Cheboygan
and the surrounding County have a population of 26,448 (US Census Bureau,
2001) and many diversified industries, including gravel extraction, paper
and tourism.
Organisation of the Study:
This study is divided into six Chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the literature
associated with the historical-geography of the Mid-West and Michigan and
draws heavily on the work of Meinig (1993, 1998, 1999), Lingerman (1980),
Catton (1976) and Dunbar & May (1970) in an attempt to establish the context
in which Cheboygan developed. The Chapter will focus on Colonial development
and the fur trade, transportation, the rise and fall of the lumber industry
and the growth of a North-South divide within the State.
Chapter 2 describes how the research was undertaken and discusses the validity
of the methodology chosen. The research results, including a land use
survey, interviews and historical documents, are presented in Chapter 3.
The results are discussed in Chapter 4 with particular reference to recent
change. They are then compared with similar work undertaken in California
in an attempt to explain why “the economies and societies of each river town
evolved into locally specific juxtapositions” (Mahoney, 1990: p243).
Chapter 5 draws upon educational literature to explore the potential pedagogical
use of this study, particularly with reference to Sustainable Development,
and includes a 6-week Scheme of Work. The conclusion will discuss limitations
to the study and recommend further research. References and other documentation
are included in an Appendix following the Conclusion.