The Place of the Pike

The Place of the Pike (Gnoozhekaaning)
Charles E Cleland

This was an excellent book!! It is the history of the Bay Mills Indians from the begining, until present day. It was extremely well written, you got a feel for the people and what their lives were like.. not just a bunch of facts. Really gave me the insite I was looking for about the tribe. It talks about the early days when white settlers first came.. and the many treatys that each took more from the Indians. The hardships of the 1900's bacsically from the beginning on... Starting with losing their land, and their ability to hunt & fish to survive. Through extreme poverty and battles for recognition and help.
In the end they now have a stable community which is able to help its people. Money from gambling helps to support that.. but there were many other things. Bay Mills are the tribe that got the gil netting law changed. I have heard about this since I was a child.. but had never heard their side of the story. Also they were able to get the government to release the funds set aside for restitution for the land swindles of the 1800's. In 1997 more than 160 years after the wrong.. the money was finally released.
The author of the book is Prof. Emeritus of Anthropolgy at Michigan State. I found out about the book from information on the website It took me a while to find the book, but it was well worth it. Some of the information is particualar to this tribe and the area they live. But I imagine much of their story is the same as many other Indian tribes faced over the past 200 years.