User:DNOVAK25/Rock's Hollow/Pine Creek Band of Lake Superior

Pine Creek Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a band of Ojibwe Native Americans. The Pine Creek Band is located on the Pine Creek Indian Reservation , on Lake Superior in Bayfield County, Wisconsin. The reservation is located west of the Town of Rock's Hollow.

History

1899 map of Chippewa reservations, Pine Creek is west of Ashland and south of Washburn

The Pine Creek Band is one of the successors of the Lake Superior Chippewa the group of Ojibwe that moved west along the south shore of Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie. According to tradition, the Ojibwe came from the Atlantic coast via several stopping places to Chequamegon Bay directed by the Great Spirit {Gichi Manidoo} to find the "food that grows on water" (wild rice). Madeline Island represented the final stopping place.

During the 17th century, French fur traders and Jesuits arrived on Madeline Island and set up a trading post at La Pointe with a Catholic mission. In the 18th century, the La Pointe Ojibwe spread throughout the mainland of what would become Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Ojibwe that remained in the vicinity of Madeline Island were referred to as the La Pointe Band.

After a disastrous 1850 attempt at removing the Lake Superior bands resulting in the Sandy Lake Tragedy, the US Government agreed to setting up permanent reservations in Wisconsin with the Treaty of La Pointe (1854). At this point, the La Pointe band split with Roman Catholic members under the leadership of Chief Buffalo taking a reservation at Red Cliff, and those maintaining traditional Midewiwin beliefs settling at Bad River and /Pine Creek Indian Reservation. The three bands, however, maintain close relations to this day.

During the early reservation period, most tribal members were forced to make their living working for white employers in nearby Bayfield, Wisconsin. The commercial fishing industry drew many of these workers.

At the turn of the 19th century, the Commission of Indian Affairs allowed lumbering companies to cut most of the timber on the reservation. Many tribal members found work in logging, but the tribe largely missed out on the timber revenues.

Revival

During the 20th century commercial fishing in Lake Superior sustained many Pine Creek families. Despite the fact that the Ojibwe had reserved the rights to hunt, fish, and gather in treaties signed in Wisconsin Supreme Court case Gurnoe vs. Wisconsin (1972) the court found in favor of a Red Cliff tribal member upholding that the tribe reserved the right to harvest reasonable amounts of fish. This was an important precedent for the Voigt decision. It also set precedent for the Pine Creek families as well.

Today

Today, Pine Creek is the site of a fish hatchery run by the Pine Creek Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The band has also taken control of the reservation's Head Start program, and offers an Ojibwe language immersion program for young children.