CRANE STORY
The Ojibwe during their travels from the east stopped at the straights of Mackinac where they split into three groups. The first group remained and was called the Odawa, which means "the people who trade". The second group, the Potawatomi or "Keepers of the fire", moved along the shore of Lake Michigan in the western part of the state. The third group, the Ojibwe, or "The People of the Pictographs", moved to Bowating or Sault Saint Marie. All three groups remained banded together for protection and trade forming the Council of the Three Fires, which is still active today.
Photo courtesy of:
The Judge Joseph Steere Room at Bayliss Public Library
A legend told by the Ojibwe from generation to generation goes like this. The Great Spirit (Gchi-Manido) once made a bird and sent it down from the skies to make its abode on earth. The bird came and when it reached halfway down among the clouds it sent forth a loud and far sounding cry. When the bird reached within sight of the earth, it circled choosing for a resting-place a hill overlooking Bowating, (or the rapids). Pleased with the numerous whitefish that gleamed and swam in the clear waters and sparkling foam of the rapids, the bird sent forth its loud but solitary cry again. The bear clan, the catfish, loon, moose and martin all gathered at its call. A large town soon congregated and the bird (the Crane) that the Great Spirit sent presided over all.
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