Northern Michigan University's Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center is featuring a landmark exhibition titled “Claiming Michigan: The 1820 Expedition of Lewis Cass.” The governor of the Michigan territory and 35 companions traveled from Detroit to what would become Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The exhibit includes a 30-foot replica voyageur canoe on loan from La Compagnie Historical Society of Minnesota, dozens of images, journal excerpts, detailed narrative information and large-format maps.
Cass' party traveled territory already seen by the region's Indigenous people and early European explorers. The point of the expedition was not to discover but to claim the region for America and make their presence known during America's weak hold on the region after the War of 1812. With the assistance of their Anishinaabe guides, they studied the landscape to determine what resources might benefit the U.S. in the future, which continue to have a lasting impact on the Great Lakes region.
Other individuals involved in the expedition included Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, David Bates Douglass, Ozhaguscodaywayquay (Susan Johnston), Charles Trowbridge and Shingabowossin, the Chief of the Ojibwe at Bahweting.
The NMU Swimming and Diving team assisted in carrying the canoe into the Beaumier Center gallery.
Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, until 8 p.m. on Thursdays and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
