This article was originally published in the Petoskey News Review and Yahoo News.
NORTHERN MICHIGAN — A new book by Petoskey historian and retired history teacher Richard Wiles shines a light on a long-buried chapter in the history of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
The Burt Lake Band, also historically known as the Cheboiganing Band, traditionally lived in the area around Burt Lake in Emmet and Cheboygan counties. It is federally recognized by the United States government.
Wiles, who served as the band’s historian for the past 10 years, said he wrote “A Cloud Over the Land: The Tragic Story of the Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians” because he “wanted scholars to read it and take it to be a serious look at what happened.”
The village’s men were away collecting paychecks in Cheboygan. While they were gone, a group of men led by Sheriff Fred Ming and banker John McGinn rode into the village and set the buildings on fire. The burnout forced the village’s 19 families from their homes. A Catholic church was the only structure not damaged. All of the tribal members fled, with several of them relocating to Cross Village.
At the time, band members thought that their village on the shore of Burt Lake had been given to them in treaty negotiations. However, local officials thought otherwise. It fell into foreclosure from supposed non-payment of taxes.
A timber speculator then purchased the parcels in exchange for the back taxes and recruited the Cheboygan County Sheriff to enforce a court order to have the tribal members removed.
Wiles said he was first made aware of the incident when a Native American homeschool coordinator who also happened to be a Burt Lake Band member took him aside one day to share something that “most white people have no idea happened.”
“All the Native people of the north know about the Burt Lake burnout, but very few other people because it was never talked about. It was sort of our dirty little secret that you just didn’t talk about,” Wiles said. “From then on, I started incorporating it into the American History class in Petoskey. I taught there for 35 years.”
“A Cloud Over the Land” explores the details of the tragic day when the village was reduced to ashes, rendering families homeless and stripping them of their ancestral lands.
Wiles provides a timeline of the acts that left the once-thriving village in ruins and also sheds light on the subsequent stripping of treaty rights, which further compounded the hardships faced by the Burt Lake Band.
Wiles is as an honorary member of the Burt Lake Band. He said all sales of his book are a donation. “A Cloud Over the Land” is available to purchase on the Burt Lake Band’s website.
Renee Tanner with Greenwood Cemetery, a former Petoskey New-Review employee, provided visual contributions to the book.
— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Burned to the ground: New book highlights dark day in Burt Lake Band history