Engadine, Michigan    Garfield Township    Mill Pond Benefit Form   

Subject: Engadine Mill Pond

    William A. Burt first surveyed the West Mackinac area around Engadine in 1841. On his map he made notations of Milakokia (Millecoquin) Lake and an Indian village at its South end. The area that would become the community of Engadine some 40 years later was distinguished on Burt’s survey map only by a small pond among the strands of hardwood and swamp. This pond would later play an important part in the development of the Village of Engadine. 

The pond as Burt saw it in 1841, was no doubt surrounded by virgin hardwood and pine trees. About a quarter of a mile in circumference, the pond probably measured about fifteen feet in depth and had a sand bottom. Many small springs below its surface caused movement along the sandy base. A small stream flowed from the east side of the pond which found its way to the Milakokia River. Wildlife, including fish, flourished in its waters.

When the Minneapolis-St. Paul /Sault Ste. Marie Railroad passed through the community in 1887, the Village of Engadine (called Kennedy Siding until 1893) saw increasing settlement. A number of sawmills began operating in various parts of the community. One of these sawmills was located near the banks of “Burt’s Pond”. 

The pond served the sawmill in two ways. Logs were put into the water to cleanse the sand and debris and facilitate their journey into the mill. The pond apparently served also as a depository for bark and sawdust.

When the Edwin-Bell Company, a large Corporation whose headquarters were in Pittsburgh and operated cooperate mills in several locations, considered locating a mill in Engadine in 1912, the need for a body of water close to the mill was an important consideration.

Thus, a short distance from the pond, a cooperage mill was built, employing many men and producing some 8,000 barrel heads a day. Engadine became a small, busy industrial town.

The pond again played the important part of serving as a holding place for the many logs that were first put into the waters and then transferred to the mill. When the Cooperage Mill burned in 1926, the company decided not to rebuild and moved its operations to Manistique, Michigan. The Village of Engadine became a virtual ghost town as many of the mill’s employees followed the company to Manistique. 

The “Mill Pond”, as it has become known, stopped receiving logs and became a deserted place. Small bushes and trees began growing along its shores. Its sandy bottom altered drastically. Where once clear water revealed its sandy bottom, mud and sawdust now covered its bottom. The bushes eventually grew so thick the small lake was obliterated from view. Except for children who skated on the pond’s ice in winter, the pond remained in seclusion. As years passed, the towns people virtually forgot a nice body of water once existed in their midst. 

In 1998, the Garfield Township Board began to consider ideas of how they might improve their community. As by this time they had purchased part of the land the pond existed upon, a recreation plan was developed whereby the pond might play an intregal part.

Garfield Township has begun development of this plan. A section of the bushes a small trees that blocked the view of the pond have been removed. Excavation of the mud and sawdust has begun revealing a sandy bottom. A beautiful body of water has once again been revealed. This could once again become the outstanding feature of our community should the project receive enough funding to be developed to its fullest.

Rod Carlson
Engadine, MI.