Mackinac Straits

Mackinac Straits is a Michigan historical marker in Mackinac County, dedicated 1958.

Mackinac County · dedicated 1958 · I-75 Rest Area and Visitors Center, St. Ignace

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Nicolet passed through the straits in 1634 seeking a route to the Orient. Soon it became a crossroads where Indian, missionary, trapper, and soldier met. From the 1600s through the War of 1812 first Frenchman and Englishman, then Briton and American fought to control this strategic waterway. In 1679 the Griffon was the first sailing vessel to ply these waters. The railroad reached the straits in 1882. Until the Mackinac Bridge was opened in 1957, ferries linked the north and south.

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University of Michigan Library

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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Mackinac Straits

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