Separate Truth From Falsehood With Fort de Buade Museum

To the Editor:

In response to the letter about Fort de Buade Museum by Charles Adams, I would like to clarify truth from falsehood.

There may be two innocent reasons why this person may have been misinformed: It may be that he lives too far away to adequately research the situation; It may be he received false information from sources affiliated with a minor dissident group in this area, thought to be the source of the malicious and threatening e-mails to tribal members. A not-so-innocent reason is to promote false information and attack certain individuals as a means of political gain, with the Fort de Buade Museum in the middle.

I tend to think the last reason is the true object. Especially after reading this article by Jack Storey published in The Evening News: "On the phone last week, Adams confirmed that the museum objections are just the opening salvo of an assault on the current tribal board. He also confirmed his intention to take a place in the middle of the campaign but not from faraway Nevada. Originally from Cheboygan, Adams said he is moving back to Michigan to do political battle in the upcoming off-year electoral process. He acknowledged his public opposition to the museum purchase has political intent. Asked if his group of dissidents has a name, Adams said the associated group does not go by any particular name. 'Most of them are local, in St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, and the Cedarville area,' he said. There are 10 to 12 people working together to move forward our agenda. There are lots more who support what we're trying to do,' he said."

Mr. Adams' attack on Fort de Buade is laden with fallacy. I personally cannot imagine how one can think that this sort of campaign will be successful. People need to trust their leaders.

This group was unable to come up with even 100 legitimate signatures out of a tribal membership of 30,000 for their petition against Fort de Buade. The petition failed, as many signatures were disqualified. Your support is very minimal, not numerous, as you said. Twelve people? Is that a lot? Less than 100 out of 30,000?

The Tribal board voted 8-3 to approve the Fort de Buade resolution. Even if you were somehow able to gain two seats on that board, as you projected, you would need more than that to change that majority vote for Fort de Buade.

We also know that it is not in the best interest for either the municipality or the Tribe to break agreements with each other. The Tribe has a timehonored reputation for keeping their agreements, and so does the city, regardless of who their board or council members are; it is high priority to keep faith and trust in agreements.

I, too, had gone to the museum several times. I went back several times because there are so many artifacts in there it takes more than one trip to see them, over 2,000 in fact. But I never really understood the significance of them until I spent several years in college studying cultures and history.

Thus, I have spent the last year doing my best to save that heritage and teach people what it truly is, to make them aware of it. It exceeds, by far, any other museum in the world that deals with this time and place.

The real information has been made available to the public. From the beginning, when the resolution was approved, we brought copies of the inventory, appraisal, and photographs of the artifacts to the Unit III Tribal meeting in St. Ignace, after which we have kept them at the museum for anyone who wanted to investigate the facts. Many people have come there, gone through the museum, and looked at the information, including tribal board members.

This museum is called the "Fort de Buade Indian Museum" for a reason. The entire history of this area is from the point of view of Native American peoples that lived here and remain, despite all that happened. To explain history here, Dr. Donald Benson chose to portray it through the eyes of the Native American people.

It starts in the first hallway with the pre-contact period. That is the time when the first Woodland Indians lived here more than 2,000 years ago. They were not the Anishnabe, but Natives, nevertheless, and a part of the history here. We should not forget them. The museum then walks you through the time when the Anishnabe migrated here from the east coast. It portrays the tribes to which they made contact as allies and as enemies, and then it begins to examine the first explorers, what they used in trade, how they mapped this place out, and how relations turned both good and sour as a result. It covers the fur trade, the Jesuit missionaries, exploration, and expansion.

Michilimackinac was the center of trade because this is where people could all meet easily. This is where the Great Lakes met. And the lakes were the only highways back then. Our ancestors traversed this place for hundreds and hundreds of years. The Europeans did not discover it. Our ancestors did not live in stationary houses with picket fences. They moved, everywhere from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi to the Canadian Northwest. You will find your relatives in all of these places. It was a vast trade network that existed long before the fur trade came here. St. Ignace and the Soo were the places that were central to that trade for hundreds of years.

This museum shows, through visual artifacts, the story of what happened to the Anishnabe through contact from other nations. Thus, about 1,000 of the artifacts are non-native, but they are all quite necessary and appropriate to tell that story.

It shows the French involvement in the fur trade, how the French lost the war, the process of the British takeover, and eventually the American conquest.

Throughout all of this are the Native American people, and Native artifacts are distributed throughout these different eras of conquest to show the effect contact had on them.

That is one of the reasons people get the impression that there are few artifacts. Many are interspersed throughout the museum and placed in the French, British, and American eras.

At the end of the museum is a gathering of Native items which are arranged to show the great difference in artistry and culture after so much contact.

On one side, one sees the incredible artistry of a beautiful culture, and on the other it is evident that the culture was broken to bits. There are old rags for dresses, cheap materials, and photos of a people living in horrible poverty. People assume that this section of the museum houses all the Native American artifacts. But only about half of them are in that section. There are many more.

Here are the facts:

1. The City of St. Ignace is the only entity that is to received payments.

2. The Michilimackinac Historical Society is involved only to preserve, interpret, safeguard, and operate the museum. The City of St. Ignace will own it.

3. There are over 2,000 artifacts crammed into a space of 6,700 square feet. Over 1,200 of these are Native American. A minimal amount of these are from tribes that either were enemies or allies of the Chippewa and Ottawa, and are there to show their relations with them. This includes Huron, Dakota Sioux, and Iroquois.

For instance, there is an Iroquois dugout canoe, which expresses the story of how difficult it was for the Iroquois to succeed against the Anishnabe when the Anishnabe had the superior birch bark canoe. A significant part of our history is that, twice, the Anishnabe people massacred the Iroquois right here in the U.P. when the Iroquois, the most ferocious tribe in America, came to attack us: Once at Grahams Point here in St. Ignace (which was once called Iroquois Point) and once at Iroquois Point near Whitefish Bay. That is a significant part of history. The Iroquois dugout canoe is there for a purpose, and tells a story, just as all the other artifacts do.

4. There are no violations occurring at all. Everything has been done in accordance with the law.

5. There are few items that may be considered as "sacred" and that fit with the Repatriation Act. Most of the items are baskets, beadwork, and tools. There are, of course, no bones in that museum.

6. The Little Bear Arena was also set up in the same manner as Fort de Buade, between the city and the tribe. The Little Bear Arena was not a governmental service, either. It is a hockey rink where children and adults skate and play. The Michigan government did not object to Little Bear. The Sault Tribe is a sovereign nation and exercises certain autonomy in making decisions about what is a community service. Little Bear was not illegal, nor is Fort de Buade.

Mr. Adams, I hope you are reading this. You know what the good way is. I will not try to judge how you have come to your conclusions about the manner in which you have chosen to fight for what you believe is right.

I will try to inform you of what is real, and to inform the public of the true facts concerning Fort de Buade because they are being twisted in such a manner that it surely looks like something completely different than what it is. If you must use something for "just the opening salvo of an assault on the current tribal board," it may be a good idea to research your base of opposition so that it has some resemblance to the truth. Otherwise, you appear to be acting in the self-same manner as that which you claim you oppose.

If you can, Mr. Adams, please come to St. Ignace and investigate these truths. I ask you to at least see this museum, find out the facts, discover the truth of what I have said, before you use this very precious thing, and irreplaceable part of your history and past, for a vehicle to appropriate whatever plans you have for your own future.

Again, if anyone has any questions at all about this, or wants to see the appraisals, the inventory, or the museum, the number of the museum is 643-6622 and my home phone is 643-8740 if you cannot reach me at the museum. We are cleaning now, so the museum is closed, but I will be happy to meet you there and talk to you, to answer any questions or concerns that you have.

Judi A. Engle

St. Ignace

Editor's Note: Ms. Engle is president of the Michilimackinac Historical Society and manager of the Fort de Buade Museum.