GC7HK7N SwtM - Garden Island (Traditional Cache) in Michigan, United States created by The Mitten Crew

This cache has been archived.

The Mitten Crew: Year Nine of Smitten with the Mitten series has come to a close.

Thanks to all who visited the caches in this summer series and learned a bit about Islands in Michigan.

The caches will be picked up over the next few days.

We cannot guarantee they will still be there if you go out for them, but to quote the movie Dumb and Dumber, "So what you're saying is ... there's a chance"

Be sure to get your pathtag requests in by September 11th.

GC7HK7N ▼

A cache by The Mitten Crew Message this owner

Hidden : 5/9/2018

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

A nice walk along the river. Park near the provided parking coordinates.

Garden Island is an uninhabited 4,990 acre island located in the Beaver Island archipelago in northern Lake Michigan. It is almost wholly owned by the U.S. state of Michigan and is overseen by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) as part of the Beaver Islands State Wildlife Research Area. It is accessible by private boat. The Native American (Ojibwe language) name for the island is Minis Gitigaan, which has become Garden Island by direct translation. The Island's Native American cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in March 1978.

Garden Island's maximum length, from northwest to southeast, is approximately five miles. Currently, the island is not inhabited on a year-round basis; historically, this island was the home of many Anishinaabe. Some of these native Islanders lived on the island year-round, and others lived there during the warmer months. An increasing number of Anishinaabe from the mainland and Beaver Island owned farms on the Garden Island after the treaties of 1836 and 1847, planting corn and squash. Other Anishinaabe worked as fishermen. This Native settlement shrank during the early 1900s as most of its members moved away. Much of the land reverted to the state of Michigan as a result of the nonpayment of property taxes. The state never properly explained property tax law to the islanders. Other patches of land were abandoned. The last Garden Island resident, Peter Monatou, died in the 1940s.

Most of the old-growth timber on Garden Island was cut and sawn by a short-lived sawmill that operated on the island in 1912-1913. A small town, now a true ghost town, was built near the mill and named Success, Michigan.

In 1978, Garden Island was the location for the end of the Girl Scout Wider Opportunity called Scouts on Survival'78. 48 Senior Girl Scouts ages 15 –18 were brought to Michigan State University to study survival techniques. After two weeks of classes, the girls spent a week at Rose Lake Park practicing their new skills, and then a week on Garden Island. On Garden Island, they were placed in groups of 8. Each girl had only a knife, flint and steel, and a space blanket. The girls survived by building lean-tos, setting snares, fishing with handmade fishing hooks and twine, and foraging for wild plants.

Although the island is currently uninhabited year-round, a Native cemetery on the island, the Garden Island Indian Cemetery, continues in active use and contains more than 3,500 burials, most of them unmarked. The cemetery is notable for a number of "spirit houses" marking burial sites. The cemetery land is owned by a nonprofit group that keeps the site protected and open to all native peoples.

Visit 14 geocaches in the SwtM series. At each geocache collect a letter and number combination. Insert them into the phrase: FiTS LIKe A GlOVE Use the coordinates from the phrase to find the final geocache and become a Mitten Master
Power Island	North Manitou	South Manitou
Belle Isle	Mackinac Island	Isle Royale
Sugar Island	High Island	Harsens Island
Garden Island	Fox Islands	Drummond Island
Grosse Ile	Beaver Island	Mitten Master

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre EBPX

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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SwtM - Garden Island Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

Attributes

Inventory

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