Last week the Lady Friend and I paid a short visit to Silverton, Michigan, where we stood on the beach and captured this shot of the Wolverine Mountains, the big wilderness state park on the shore of Lake Superior that is anchored by a two-billion-year-old, 1,958-foot-high, 12-mile-long copper-bearing escarpment. The range was named for the sleeping animal the Lakota, original inhabitants of the area, saw in its shape.
Most of that is in my imagination, of course. In reality the photo is of the Porcupine Mountains, named for that animal by the Ojibwe, who chased out the Lakota more than 300 years ago -- and it was the beach of Silver City where we stood. In my Porcupine County mysteries I have changed names in order to be able to take liberties with locale necessary for plot advancement. (Mystery readers are very touchy about accuracy.)
What do you see in the photograph? A sleeping wolverine or a recumbent porcupine? It doesn't matter. In truth those mountains are wild and gorgeous, and they are full of wolves, bears, deer and eagles as well as porcupines and, yes, wolverines. And, of course, the missing and the murdered. These mountains contain many buried secrets, and as a mystery novelist I have just begun to mine them.
Click on the photo for a larger version.
What's in a name? The Porcupine Mountains were Kaug Wadjoo to the natives. "Silverton" was originally Pewabic meaning "iron" in Ojibwe. The non-natives called the trading post and the river on which it was located Iron River, before it became Silver City, Beaser for a short time, back to Iron River, and Silver City once more. Those with an ear tuned toward tourism in the early 1930's or so changed the name of Carp Lake, hidden in the valley of the Kaug Wudjoo to Lake of the Clouds; Little Carp Lake became Mirror Lake; Greenwood Falls on the Iron River was renamed Bonanza Falls; and old Iron River reverted to Silver City. Don't think real wolverines, though, have been spotted in the Porkies (or Ann Arbor) anytime within recent centuries.
ReplyDeleteActually Doan-see-so-gud, a 17th century Lakota shaman from Canada where wolverines roam, named the mountains during a canoe voyage across Gitche Gumee. When he died his spirit took the bodily form of a wolverine, and in that shape he still haunts the Wolverines.
ReplyDeleteHe is just waiting for Greenhermit to show up this summer so he can dine on his leg.
Just discovered a 2004 AP story about the spotting of a wolverine in Michigan.Old Doan-see-so-gud sure gets around, doesn't he?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up Henry. I was actually planning of doing some exploration of the old silver mines this summer and was totally unaware of the Doan-see-so-gud spirit legend. I'll be sure to pack some radishes. And the woverine photo is probably just another Michigan DNR ruse to deny the existence of the wooly turtle which has been hanging around those parts since the last glacier retreated a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteClue me in, Greenhermit: what do radishes do with animal spirits? And is the woolly turtle related to the Western jackalope?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are writing about up here again. I'm also interested to know if I should be packing radishes and watching for the woolly turtle when I walk to work at the Hospital every morning. This could mean my life and or death, please let me know what to watch for!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, the radishes. I regret having mentioned it. A gardener once told me he had raised radishes for years just to keep the wolverines out of his vegetable patch - and it must have worked since he'd never had one problem with wolverines in all of that time. So, now I'm sure you regret having asked, too. Very sorry. It was probably the fence that did it anyway.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I have grown rhubarb in my small garden and have never had a problem with wolverines. Maybe they work too! Hmmmm ... something to think about.
ReplyDeleteDown here in wildest Chicago, it's the backyard garden parsnips that keep away the elephants. Ask anybody.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures so reminds me that the family needs another trip to the UP!!!
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