Tribal nation in Gogebic County
Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians Reservation
- County
- Gogebic County
The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (Gete-gitigaaning) is a federally recognized Ojibwe tribe near Watersmeet in southeastern Gogebic County, Michigan's western Upper Peninsula, restored to independent recognition apart from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community when President Reagan signed the Lac Vieux Desert Band Act on September 8, 1988. Its federal reservation land base is small (about 0.419 square miles / 268 acres) and held 221 residents in the 2020 Census, but the band's reach is large: it governs through an elected Tribal Council chaired by James Williams Jr. and runs the Northern Waters Casino Resort, the Lac Vieux Desert Health Center, Big Picture Loans, and the Wild Glow Cannabis Company. The band's namesake, Lac Vieux Desert lake, straddles Michigan and Wisconsin and is the headwaters of the Wisconsin River, and the band's signature annual event is the Traditional Getegitigaaning Powwow held the second weekend of August.
What the records show
- Gogebic County holds 291 named lakes and flowages via prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com
- Name: Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians via lvd-nsn.gov
- Ojibwe: Gete-gitigaaning via en.wikipedia.org
- Type: federally recognized 1988 (H.R. 3697) via en.wikipedia.org
- Kbic: restored as independent tribe (formerly under Keweenaw Bay Indian Community) via en.wikipedia.org
- County: Gogebic County, Michigan (Watersmeet Township) via en.wikipedia.org
- Coords: 46.269, -89.178 via en.wikipedia.org
- Area: 0.419 via en.wikipedia.org
Every figure here traces to a primary public record, linked at the fact. We gather and cite; we do not author. See something off? Tell us.