History
The Apostle Islands are a result of the glaciers that once covered North America. “Geologically they are originally part of the main land at the edge of the great riff or fault which formed the depression to which the waters of Lake Superior collected.” When the glaciers melted, waves from the waters of Lake Superior caused erosion that formed the islands. The islands are composed of mostly red sandstone because of the glacial shift.
It is widely assumed that Indians were the first to inhabit the island. “There is some evidence that they were seen and possibly visited sometime in the fourteenth century by Indians who were making their way to Isle Royale near the north shore of the land in search of copper.” Not long after, the islands were visited by Étienne Brûlé, a French explorer who, like many French Canadians, was trying to discover a new way to the East Indies. "Historians believe that the Jesuits named the islands the Apostle Islands according to their practice of giving holy names to new places." It is said that fur traders were the first explorers to settle in the area, building a village from the money they brought in.
United States Senator Gaylord Nelson sponsored the federal legislation that established the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Public Law 91-424 was signed by the President on September 26, 1970. It included 20 islands, a 12-mile (19 km) strip of the mainland, and approximately 1/4 mile of Lake Superior jurisdiction adjacent to each land unit.
Public Law 99-497 in 1986 added Long Island to the National Lakeshore and transferred ownership of all the light stations from the U.S. Coast Guard to the National Park Service.
After the National Park Service completed a wilderness study in 2004, and received overwhelming support from the public, Congress designated 80% of the land area of the national lakeshore as the Gaylord Nelson Wilderness on December 8, 2004. (Public Law 108-447, Division E, Section 140)
The National Park Travelers Club held its 2012 convention at the Apostle Islands.
Read more about this topic: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
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—Josiah Royce (1855–1916)