Bad River Band of The Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians - History

History

According to Anishinaabe prophecy, Gichi Manidoo, the Great Spirit, told the Anishinaabe people to move west from the Atlantic coast until they found the "food that grows on water." After a series of stops and divisions, the branch of Anishinaabe known as the Lake Superior Chippewa found the food that grows on water, wild rice, near the Chequamegon Bay on the south shore of Lake Superior at the site of the present day Bad River Reservation, and found their final stopping place at nearby Madeline Island.

After the 17th century, Anishinaabe people settled throughout northern Wisconsin into lands formerly disputed with the Dakota Sioux and the Meskwaki. Those that remained near the trading post of La Pointe on Madeline Island were known collectively as the La Pointe Band and engaged in the fur trade with neighboring French settlers. They also pursued other seasonal occupations such as berry picking, harvesting maple sugar, fishing, ricing, hunting, and gathering medicinal plants. After a disastrous attempt at removing the Lake Superior Bands, resulting in the Sandy Lake Tragedy, the US government agreed to set up permanent reservations in Wisconsin. At this point, the La Pointe band split with Roman Catholic members under the leadership of Kechewaishke (Chief Buffalo), taking a reservation at Red Cliff. Those who maintained traditional Midewiwin beliefs settled at Bad River. The two bands, however, maintain close relations to this day.

The reservation land was set aside for the Bad River Band in the Treaty of La Pointe, made with the United States and signed on Madeline Island on 30 September 1854. The treaty land included almost 200 acres (0.8 km²) on Madeline Island, which is the center of the Ojibwe Nation. The band is one of six in Wisconsin that are federally recognized.

During the late 19th century, an order of Franciscan sisters set up St. Mary's School in Odanah, an Indian boarding school used to convert and assimilate tribal members. During this period, timber companies on the reservation cheated and destroyed the land the tribe cherished. During the Allotment period, the tribe lost almost half its land base, which originally covered all the area of modern day Ashland, Wisconsin.