CONCLUSION
This aim of this research was to identify the geographical reasons for change
in Cheboygan between 1844 and the present day. The results demonstrate
that the Cheboygan River and the nearby lakes have been an important factor
throughout this period. However, it is the way in which they have been
used and the people that have used them, that have been the real ‘agents of
change’. Initially they allowed access to the interior of Michigan,
just as the St. Lawrence River gave the French a passage into the heart of
the American continent. They provided a home for beavers and the means
of trading and shipping their furs. Later, they were used by the lumber
industry to power sawmills, transport logs downstream and to export products
to the markets in the Eastern and Western United States. The decline
of the lumber industry saw Cheboygan’s rivers and lakes become places of recreation
and important to the city’s ‘quality of life’. Land speculators, lumber
barons and the railroads were the “major agents of change” (Meinig, ibid)
in the 19th Century. The profit motive drove initial growth and change,
whilst the railroad companies invested in the tourist industry when the lumber
industry declined. Tourism prompted the building of north-south highways
and the Mackinac Bridge, which in turn improved access to both the region
and City. As with the canals and railroads, the highway brought Cheboygan
closer to the rest of Michigan. Since the 1960s, ‘boosters’, such as
the Area Chamber of Commerce, have worked to create a diversified industrial
base in Cheboygan. ‘Quality of life’ has been seen as the key to success
and led to the restoration of the Opera House, the Streetscape Project and
a new Marina. In other words, change has been governed by the interaction
of these factors and has not been determined by just one.
Change in Cheboygan must also be seen in the context of the wider society
of both Michigan and the United States. The United States has experienced
many social changes in the last 150 years and Cheboygan would have been affected
by business and political decisions that were at the time, incidental to Cheboygan.
The westward migration of the 19th Century, the growth of timber as a commodity,
new markets in the West, available investment capital, the placement of railroads
and highways, the importance of the car, increased leisure time, supermarkets,
greater disposable income and more leisure time have all helped to change
the nature of Cheboygan. It is this wider change, coupled with remote
decision-making, which provide the greatest limitations on this study.
Many of the decisions that have most affected Cheboygan were taken many miles
away and probably without Cheboygan in mind. Some were taken by politicians
in the State Capital, Lansing or in Washington, DC, whilst others were taken
by businessmen in the boardrooms of Chicago, Detroit and elsewhere.
Within the limits of the research, it has been difficult to find how far
Cheboygan’s ‘boosters’ were able to influence these decisions or to establish
whether they were seen as positive by the residents.
The majority of work produced on Cheboygan has been historical rather than
geographical in nature. This research, however, has attempted to be
a ‘historical-geography’ of the City and has tried to identify the geographical
reasons for change in Cheboygan. Further historical-geographical research
on Cheboygan’s development, addressing the issues outlined above should be
undertaken. The Streetscape and Marina projects documented by this study
are now complete. Research is needed to find out how successful they
have been in improving both ‘quality of life’ and the way in which residents,
businesses and visitors feel about Cheboygan. Finally, research should
be undertaken to establish if the completed projects have led to any changes
in land use along Main Street.
Cheboygan’s story also has educational implications. Whilst the City
could be used as a case study on the nature and uses of rivers, sustainable
development provides the most interesting topic. The Cheboygan area
has suffered twice from the poor management of resources, whilst today its
forests and lakes are integral to the success of tourism. The fur trade
and lumber industry attitude of “take what there is, take all of it, and take
it as fast as you can” (Catton, 1976: p102) ultimately saw their demise.
If tourism is to survive, Cheboygan must learn from the past and manage the
environment sustainably.
Cheboygan’s history reflects the experience of many cities on the American
Frontier. Its future is no less interesting or representative as it
meets the challenges of the 21st Century. What is certain is that Cheboygan
will continue to change. As Nelson (ibid) suggests, “the forces of change
are not likely to subside when the project is done”. It is hoped that
this study will add to both the historical and contemporary literature on
the region, and go some way in helping the people of Cheboygan to “have
some reasoned sense of who they are, where they are, and how that has come
to be” (Meinig, ibid).