Old Mackinaw

In Short

W. P. Strickland’s Old Mackinaw is a sweeping nineteenth-century historical and geographic survey of the Great Lakes region, centered on the strategic waters of the Mackinac Straits. The narrative moves from early Native American spiritual traditions and French Jesuit missionary expeditions through military sieges to the bustling trade networks of the mid-nineteenth century. Strickland argues that this northern intersection of lakes is destined to become the great commercial hub of the continent. The work survives as a vivid primary-source reflection of American expansionist vision, regional industrial pride, and foundational Great Lakes lore.

The Story

The narrative begins by establishing the Great Lakes as an interconnected, three-thousand-mile inland water system, highlighting the natural vantage point where Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron meet. Strickland opens the historical account with the Indigenous peoples who first understood the strategic value of these waterways. Through eyewitness accounts and regional lore, he details Native American spiritual practices, such as the Chees-a-kee prophetic rituals used in times of war and winter scarcity to locate game, anticipate enemy movements, or predict the arrival of delayed supply ships.

From Native traditions, the book transitions to the era of French exploration and Catholic evangelization. Strickland follows Father Jacques Marquette on his final, grueling journey from his beloved mission at Mackinac to the upper waters of the Illinois River and back toward Lake Michigan. Suffering from a terminal illness, Marquette instructs the Kaskaskia people, erects altars in open prairies, and celebrates mass before embarking on a fatal canoe voyage along the lake's eastern shore, dying before he can reach his home chapel of St. Ignatius.

Military conflict forms the next major phase of the region's arc. Strickland chronicles the shifting fortunes of Fort Mackinac across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He detailing the surprise night landing of British and Indigenous forces on the northern ridge of Mackinac Island during the War of 1812, the capture of American cattle, the early morning cannon fire over the unapprised garrison, and the eventual restoration of the fort to the United States under the Treaty of Ghent.

The final portion of the book turns sharply toward the mid-nineteenth-century industrial present and future. Strickland surveys the vast pine forests stretching across Michigan and Wisconsin, the rich copper and iron deposits of Lake Superior, and the thriving commercial fisheries. He presents detailed shipping ledgers, timber yields, custom house records, and tonnage charts to demonstrate that Mackinac and its surrounding cities, such as Detroit, are poised to surpass older urban centers. Strickland concludes that geography dictates destiny: the narrow straits will forever govern the flow of Western timber, mineral wealth, and continental trade.

How It Unfolds

Sacred grounds and ancestral visions Strickland introduces the spiritual practices of the region's native inhabitants, recording first-person accounts of the Chees-a-kee prophets who fast, enter swaying lodges, call down spirits, and discern distant events to guide their tribes through war and starvation.

The missionary's final voyage Father Marquette preaches among the Kaskaskia Indians, erecting altars on the prairie before succumbing to a debilitating illness that forces him to embark on a desperate, final canoe journey up the Lake Michigan coast toward Mackinac.

The fall of Fort Mackinac British forces and Native allies land at night, haul artillery up the island's high knolls, and surprise the American garrison at dawn with a cannon shot, seizing the vital fort before the defenders even learn that the War of 1812 has begun.

The vast northern pine pineries The narrative moves into the dense virgin evergreen forests of Michigan and Wisconsin, describing massive canopy trees that shut out the sun and feed an emerging timber industry yielding hundreds of millions of feet of lumber.

Harvesting the inland seas Strickland examines the natural economy of the lakes, detailing the habits of the coveted whitefish, the seasonal rhythms of the fishing fleets, and the massive tonnage passing through the newly opened Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

The frontier becomes an empire The book closes with an expansive economic survey, using custom-house ledgers, railroad routes, and urban population tables to argue that Mackinac will become the commercial "Venice of the Lakes."

The People

• The Chees-a-kee Prophet: A Native seer who undergoes rigorous fasts to enter the holy lodge, invoke guardian spirits, locate game, and foresee military movements for his chief and community.
• Father Jacques Marquette: A devoted French Jesuit missionary whose deep love for the Huron, Ottawa, and Kaskaskia peoples compels him to preach and establish missions across the wilderness even as his physical health collapses.
• Michael Dousman: An island resident whose farm and livestock are secured by British troops during their covert night landing on Mackinac Island in 1812.
• Mr. and Mrs. Bacon: Early Protestant educators and missionaries who endure frozen winter travel and severe hardship in Detroit to study the Chippewa language and run a small local school.

In Its Own Voice

"Soon, the vision of my soul embraced a large extent of country, which I had never before seen--every object was plainly before me--our enemies were in their villages, unsuspicious of danger..."

A native spiritual leader describes the mental sight granted to him during a Chees-a-kee ceremony conducted during a time of war.

"The prospect from the City is beautiful, beyond description--the Battery at New York can only be compared to it, which is like it in its location."

Strickland reflects on the natural beauty and commanding physical elevation of the shorelines surrounding the Straits of Mackinac.

"Whitefish were a great favorite with the Indians. They would give many times their weight in trout or any other species in exchange for them."

The author notes the cultural and practical value of the region's most famous aquatic resource.

What It's Really About

Old Mackinaw explores how geography shapes human history, military strategy, and economic empire. Strickland argues that the Straits of Mackinac represent a natural, divine bottleneck on the North American continent that draws together disparate cultures—from Native tribes and French Jesuits to British soldiers and American industrialists. Underneath its historical timeline and financial ledgers lies a 19th-century vision of Manifest Destiny, where wilderness yields to commerce and natural waterways dictate the rise of great cities.

Why Read It Today

This book appeals to regional historians, Great Lakes enthusiasts, and readers fascinated by nineteenth-century frontier expansion. Strickland writes with the straightforward, earnest conviction of an author documenting a rapidly transforming world. The text captures a vivid transition period when living memory of early Indian prophets and frontier warfare overlapped with the rise of steamship tonnage, timber logging, and corporate railway networks.

Reading the book requires patience with its mid-nineteenth-century structure. The text alternates freely between dramatic narrative history, religious biography, and dense statistical reports. Modern readers will also encounter period terminology and typical nineteenth-century assumptions regarding Native American culture and industrial development. Yet, for those interested in the history of Michigan, Lake Michigan, or early American commerce, Old Mackinaw provides an invaluable, firsthand look at how the Great Lakes were viewed on the cusp of the industrial age.