Les Cheneaux

By Helen Shoberg484-2626 mink@cedarville.net

Fifth grade students at Les Cheneaux Community Schools are home after an exciting time in Chicago. They worked hard for several years earning the money for this educational trip, seeing many of the sights of the big city. Each year the fifth grade travels by bus to a distant destination. For many years it was Greenfield Village in the Detroit area. The past few years it has been Chicago. Regardless of where it is, it is a wonderful experience for many of these children.

"The Water Guardian Program" is being initiated in the Les Cheneaux area. Dusty King and Wendy Wagoner will teach older adults in the Eastern Upper Peninsula to serve as leaders in monitoring and protecting water quality. The focus will be on training volunteers that serve as knowledgeable resource persons.

The program should benefit public beaches and other recreational areas and our drinking water. To get involved, call Dusty King at 635-1278 or Wendy at the Les Cheneaux Watershed Council office in Cedarville, 484-3031.

The annual Frog Fest in Cedarville and Hessel is May 20 through May 22. Activities include field trips through the woods, along creek beds and the lakeshore, and through some of the marshes. Lecture subjects are how development affects fish, a Native American village, lizards, and rain gardens. Children activities include games, an ice cream social, art projects, and a "Frog Hop" dance.

The Les Cheneaux Historical Museum is gathering the Les Cheneaux history of the early tourist families of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many historic changes took place with the advent of these families. They not only helped the economy of the area, they brought a taste of city culture and a knowledge of the "outside" world to many of our people. In those days, many had very little knowledge of city life and the world beyond their own environment. This should prove to be a nice addition to our community's history.

Annegret Goehring is asking that some of the schoolchildren bring in family artifacts that can be displayed at the museum, creating more interest for the young people in the community to visit and learn of their past.

An interesting bit of news came to me again from Bruce Patrick, who said that when his grandfather came here from Ontario in 1850, there were absolutely no deer in this part of Michigan. When his grandfather lived in Ontario, they were allowed to sell deer meat and so they bought venison. They missed it when they came here and one time, about four years after they arrived here, a man came to their lumber camp with some venison they were able to buy.

Deer live in relatively young forests, where low vegetation and grasses are available. In the mature, virgin forests of the mid-1800s, deer would have found little to eat. After the big trees were cut, new vegetation sprang up and the deer followed.

Despite cold nights, the weather is warming up and it's nice to see many of our "snowbirds" coming back. There are also several summer families who have arrived for the season. A big welcome to all. It is nice to see these familiar faces again.

Another remembrance sent to me: "As children, we were always outside playing. We would leave home in the morning and play all day (with a lunch break) as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day, and we were okay.

Imagine, no television, Internet games, or cell phones."