Many know our wonderful Isle Royale National Park as a premier Lake Superior jewel, and as its season opens, we welcome new Superintendent Phyllis Green.

Something else is new at the island this year, a hopeful plan by families that span generations at Isle Royale. But more on that later, first let me give you a little island - and personal - history.

Since 1964, when I learned of a shipwreck lying in one of Isle Royale’s many channels, I have treasured my contacts with the island. As many of you might recall, I bought the sunken wreck of the America, which had foundered in 1928 after serving Isle Royale at least three times a week for some 25 years. A group of us tried - in vain - to float this fine vessel, but it still lies in the shadows of the North Gap.

While working on the America and in the years following, I got to know a number of the current generations of the original families who settled on Isle Royale after the Civil War. The history of people on the island goes back even further.

The first copper miners, landing some 3,500 years earlier, were long gone by the 1890s when the island became a choice Lake Superior destination. A study of their work shows efforts of at least 10,000 miners during 1,000 years.

Modern mining did not have as long a run. The Windigo Copper Mine, led by mine captain John F. Johns, failed in the 1870s. Turning to fishing as a means to survive, Johns started an influx of fishermen to the island. Their families followed.

Several Sivertson families soon joined the fishing endeavors. Other generations of families came with names like Merritt, Edisen, Gale, Holte and Anderson.

Civil War veteran and Duluth businessman George Barnum arrived in the 1890s, quickly falling in love with the southwestern end of Isle Royale. He bought and named “Barnum Island” from Captain Johns.

For five generations, the Barnum family has maintained its ties to the islands of Isle Royale, which, after years of effort, became a national park in 1940. Significant change followed the end of World War II in 1945 when the National Park Service officially took control.

Many families, considered “squatters” despite their long history with the island, were not welcomed back. Some homes were burned on their leaving. Other families were bought out and some were granted “leases” to continue visits.

Those granted the privilege of returning to their homes had mingled joys and fears every summer season, with the NPS “leases” often in question for the following year, says David Barnum, the latest Barnum to return each year to the island that carries his family’s name.

“As children, we all experienced beginning summer with the knowledge that we were going to ‘the island,’” David writes.

“Finally getting to our dock and seeing our aged cottage still standing from another harsh winter brought an overwhelming feeling of joy and relief among kids and adults alike.… As the summer passed and our days on the island dwindled, feelings of dread, sadness and pain came over us. We wondered, is this it, is this the last year?… This has become a painful and burdensome part of Isle Royale to many of us, but at the same time, we know that it has been a wonderful privilege to experience Isle Royale as we have.”

David Barnum, an airline pilot who spends his limited time each summer at Barnum Island maintaining the old buildings, has been granted another one-year extension to visit his family’s island home this summer. About a dozen “original” families retain this ability to return, some with longer permits.

Now David and others have united into the “Isle Royale Original Families Association.” They have new hope that their part of the island’s history has gained respect within the National Park Service and that they might be allowed to help to preserve it. Based in part on a NPS-commissioned study that encourages preservation of the irreplaceable connections that ancestral families have with the park and bolstered by the friendly overtures of the new Isle Royale superintendent, these families want to take an active part in saving their own stories and island culture … they hope to the benefit of the park and the people who visit it.

The association is still in its infancy, but growing a bit almost every day. David has created a Website with extremely vivid and interesting letters and photos. The site also includes the group’s mission statement, signed by David, that outlines the history and hopes of these tenacious Lake Superior families. With any luck, I’ll be privileged to see some of them this summer as we and they and other park visitors make our pilgrimage again to the beauty of Isle Royale and its many memories.

A selection of Jim Marshall’s columns of lake lore and his inland sea voyages has been published as Lake Superior Journal: Views from the Bridge by Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. Follow this link for more information.

Feedback: jrm@lakesuperior.com