Qualla: Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians

Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Introduction

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:, CC BY-SA 3.0. Every August, canoes glide through the sloughs along Lake Superior's south shore as Ojibwe people from across the continent gather for the manoomin harvest. Wild rice -- manoomin, the good berry -- is not merely a crop here. It is the reason this place exists. Centuries ago, the Anishinaabe followed a prophetic migration from the Atlantic coast, told to travel west until they found food that grows on water. They found it in the marshes near Chequamegon Bay, in the shallow waters where the Bad River empties into Lake Superior. The band that settled these wetlands became the Bad River LaPointe Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and the wild rice marshes they protect today are the only remaining extensive coastal wild rice ecosystem in the entire Great Lakes region.

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Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Madeline Island and the Fur Trade

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Derivative work by john2690. Other authors listed on source image page., CC BY-SA 3.0. The story of the Bad River Band begins on Madeline Island, considered the spiritual center of the Ojibwe Nation. After the 17th century, Anishinaabe people settled throughout northern Wisconsin, moving into lands long disputed with the Dakota Sioux and the Meskwaki. Those who sta...

Image: Derivative work by john2690. Other authors listed on source image page. | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians: A Band Divided by Faith

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:, CC BY-SA 3.0. The 19th century brought catastrophe. The federal government attempted to remove the Lake Superior Bands from Wisconsin, a policy that culminated in the Sandy Lake Tragedy, when hundreds of Ojibwe summoned to a distant Minnesota agency were left stranded through winter without ad...

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Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Timber, Schools, and Lost Land

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:, CC BY-SA 3.0. The reservation's original boundaries encompassed all of what is now Ashland, Wisconsin. That territory shrank dramatically. During the Allotment era, the tribe leased nearly half its land base. Timber companies leased reservation forests for logging, then cheated the tribe on fe...

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Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Spearfishing Wars and Railroad Blockades

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Bad River Band spent the 20th century fighting to reclaim what treaties had guaranteed. As Lake Superior Ojibwe, the band retains hunting, fishing, and gathering rights across ceded territory in northern Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. When tribal members resumed traditio...

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Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians: Guardians of the Rice Marsh

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Matt O'Claire[1], Public domain. The Bad River Reservation stretches along Lake Superior's south shore, a landscape of dense forest, scattered lakes, and the vast wetland complex where wild rice still thrives. It is the largest Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin and the second-largest Indian reservation in the stat...

Image: Matt O'Claire[1] | Public domain