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Isle Royale in Michigan is one of the most remote and pristine of all the U.S. national parks, and it is the site of the world’s longest-running predator–prey study. Every summer, Jeffrey M. Holden leads groups of citizen scientists on week-long expeditions to search for dead moose. Those intrepid enough to join him backpacking off trail in Isle Royale’s rugged beauty face challenges from treacherous weather conditions, to wildlife, primitive backcountry camping, traveling through swamps and wetlands, and backpacks that grow heavier with bones every time a new dead moose is found. Sometimes the moose they find are long dead, with only a scattering of bones remaining. Sometimes they are freshly departed, rotted, stinking, and covered with thousands of bloodthirsty ticks. Scientists use the bones, photos, and data they collect to reconstruct the moose population through the years, correlating it against other data on wolves, weather, and ticks. This book provides a fascinating look into the day-to-day realities of backpacking in the wilderness, while featuring the extraordinary scientific discoveries of the Wolf-Moose Project itself and highlighting the role and rewards for volunteers in this extraordinary endeavor. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in off-trail hiking, becoming a citizen scientist, or exploring America’s least-visited national park.

Isle Royale and the counties that line the northwest coast of Michigan's Upper Peninsula are called Copper Country because of the rich deposits of native copper there. In the nineteenth century, explorers and miners discovered evidence of prehistoric copper mining in this region. They used those "ancient diggings" as a guide to establishing their own, much larger mines, and in the process, destroyed the archaeological record left by the prehistoric miners. Using mining reports, newspaper accounts, personal letters, and other sources, this book reconstructs what these nineteenth-century discoverers found, how they interpreted the material remains of prehistoric activity, and what they did with the stone, wood, and copper tools they found at the prehistoric sites.   "This volume represents an exhaustive compilation of the early written and published accounts of mines and mining in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It will prove a valuable resource to current and future scholars. Through these early historic accounts of prospectors and miners, Halsey provides a vivid picture of what once could be seen." —John M. O'Shea, curator of Great Lakes Archaeology, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology

First published in 1968, this engrossing and beautiful picture book about wildlife on Isle Royale is available again

Isle Royale, “the big island” of this book, is a wilderness national park in Lake Superior and home to a unique and fascinating ecosystem of animals, most notably the iconic wolf and majestic moose. Here is author Julian May’s story about the island’s beginning, the kinds of animals that came to populate it, and their effects on the pristine landscape. Among them were the moose, who swam to the island from the distant shore to fend off starvation. The moose found conditions on Isle Royale so favorable that they reproduced quickly—but then faced another food shortage. The wolves arrived by floating to the island on an ice floe in winter and soon became important to the island’s ecology as successful predators of the moose. 

Complementing this fascinating text, John Schoenherr’s magnificent illustrations convey the strength of these animals and the beauty of the island that is their home.

First published in 1968, and reprinted here with a new note by renowned wolf expert L. David Mech, The Big Island is an enchanting introduction to the wilderness and wildlife of Isle Royale. 

Shipwreck stories from along Minnesota’s north shore of Lake Superior and Isle Royale

Against the backdrop of the extraordinary history of Great Lakes shipping, Too Much Sea for Their Decks chronicles shipwrecked schooners, wooden freighters, early steel-hulled steamers, whalebacks, and bulk carriers—some well-known, some unknown or forgotten—all lost in the frigid waters of Lake Superior.

Included are compelling accounts of vessels destined for infamy, such as that of the Stranger, a slender wooden schooner swallowed by the lake in 1875, the sailors’ bodies never recovered nor the wreckage ever found; an account of the whaleback Wilson, rammed by a large commercial freighter in broad daylight and in calm seas, sinking before many on board could escape; and the mysterious loss of the Kamloops, a package freighter that went down in a storm and whose sailors were found on the Isle Royale the following spring, having escaped the wreck only to die of exposure on the island. Then there is the ill-fated Steinbrenner, plagued by bad luck from the time of her construction, when she was nearly destroyed by fire, to her eventual (and tragic) sinking in 1953. These tales and more represent loss of life and property—and are haunting stories of brave and heroic crews.

Arranged chronologically and presented in three sections covering Minnesota's North Shore, Isle Royale, and the three biggest storms in Minnesota’s Great Lakes history (the 1905 Mataafa storm, the 1913 hurricane on the lakes, and the 1940 Armistice Day storm), each shipwreck documented within these pages provides a piece to the history of shipping on Lake Superior.