Star Island: Cass Lake's Treasure Island
By Barry W. Babcock
“In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is.” Gertrude Stein
There is arguably no island in Minnesota as famous for its human history and natural history as Star Island of Cass Lake. The numerous unique features of this island, both to Native Americans and white history, are unrivaled in North Central Minnesota.
Star Island is located on the western half of Cass Lake. Cass Lake is approximately 25 square miles, about ten miles long and seven miles wide or roughly 16,000 acres and has a maximum depth of 100 feet. The water clarity allows seeing the bottom at depths up to ten feet. The original Ojibwe name of this great lake is "Gaa-miskwaawaakokaag" meaning "place of many red cedars." The lake lies within both Cass and Beltrami Counties, Chippewa National Forest, and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
Three other islands call Cass Lake home. Cedar Island and the two Potato islands are also accessible, but Star Island is the largest of the four with 980 acres and over eight miles of shoreline. The crown jewel of Star Island is Windigo Lake, which is itself 199 acres in size with a maximum depth of 25 feet and provides excellent panfishing. This unique feature brought it mention in “Ripleys Believe It or Not” as a place where you can fish on a lake, on an island, on a lake.
Star Island abounds in diversity and other unique features. The high banks of Inspiration Point, the old growth pines, hardwood forests of oak, sugar maple, and basswood, eagle nests, O’Neils Point, great campsites, over six miles of pristine hiking trails, and great opportunities to canoe or kayak. A little over three-fourths of Star Island is Chippewa National Forest land, the remainder is private. Maps of Star Island are available at the USFS Headquarters in Cass Lake.
There are three portages into Star Island, on the north, south, and east sides of the island. The shortest is on the north side and is hardly thirty yards. The longest, most scenic portage is on the south side. This portage is about a half mile in length but worth it as it is in a beautiful stand of mature red and white pine.
Star Island has been well documented and savored over the ages. Charles Duncan Gilfillan wrote “The large island in the lake was anciently called Gamisquawako miniss, or island of red cedars. It is now called Kitchi miniss, or Great Island.” Early white fur traders called it Grand Island. When Henry Rowe Schoolcraft arrived at Cass Lake in 1832 on his expedition to the Headwaters of the Mississippi, he named the island, “Colcaspi.” He concocted that name by combining syllables from the names of himself, Lewis Cass, and Zebulon Pike, (the three assumed discoverers of Cass Lake) in order of last to first.
Unfortunately, Schoolcraft, like so many other presumptive explorers, failed to mention that Native Americans had been residing here for thousands of years.
Just recently, a friend and I paddled to Star Island. We took out on O’Neils Point and examined the area surrounding the two designated canoe stops. A friend and former USFS employee told me Oziwindib’s rice pits were still evident in this area. We found old depressions that may have been the ancient pits. It was a windy day which had dampened the boat traffic and the only sound aside from the birds was the waves crashing on the shore.
We lingered at one of the camps where someone had recently erected an Indian frame for a wigwam. For a few minutes, while eating our lunch, time seemed to have taken us back to 1832 when Schoolcraft and his entourage were guided by Oziwindib to his home on Star Island.
Schoolcraft noted in his journal Narrative of an Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake, the Actual Source of This River; “We halted a few minutes, to allow the hindmost canoes to come up, so as to enter the Lake together [Cass Lake]. Oza Windib, or Yellow head, our Chippewa guide, has preceded the party a little, as he often did, to get the first glance of little bays and inlets, where waterfowl are usually found. He had put his canoe ashore behind a small point, where he met a party of the Cass Lake band. Of this he kept us ignorant till turning the same point, that he might surprise us with an unexpected salute. The Indi
ans then approached in their canoes in a body, with a welcome, which could hardly have been more cordial, had we been old friends. They represented their residence to be on a large island, bearing southwest from the entrance…We were upwards of an hour in reaching the island, which is called Grand Island, or Colcaspi [Star Island.] On approaching it, a number of Indians were observed, running across an elevation [O’Neils Point], and pointing, with wild gestures, to a bay beyond. It was the best place of landing…the town of Oza Windib, situated nearly a mile from the spot of our landing, to which he was welcomed, on his return, by groups of men, women, and children. The total population, as counted during our stay, was 157, and it does not, probably, at any time, exceed 200 or 250…The hunting grounds of Yellow Head’s band, embrace the extreme sources of the Mississippi, and his village is the last fixed location in the ascent [to the headwaters of the Mississippi.]”
Experiencing Star Island is more than making contact with the beauty of Headwaters Country, it is also spanning the great frontier of time and linking our lives to those of the many that preceded us.
READER COMMENTS:
"My father and his family traveled from Emerado, ND to Star Island in the early 30's for a vacation. He still talked about this special place when he was in his eighties and we were never able to get him back there. Thanks for posting this. It's the first time I had seen a photo." - Carolyn King
“In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is.” Gertrude Stein
There is arguably no island in Minnesota as famous for its human history and natural history as Star Island of Cass Lake. The numerous unique features of this island, both to Native Americans and white history, are unrivaled in North Central Minnesota.
Star Island is located on the western half of Cass Lake. Cass Lake is approximately 25 square miles, about ten miles long and seven miles wide or roughly 16,000 acres and has a maximum depth of 100 feet. The water clarity allows seeing the bottom at depths up to ten feet. The original Ojibwe name of this great lake is "Gaa-miskwaawaakokaag" meaning "place of many red cedars." The lake lies within both Cass and Beltrami Counties, Chippewa National Forest, and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
Three other islands call Cass Lake home. Cedar Island and the two Potato islands are also accessible, but Star Island is the largest of the four with 980 acres and over eight miles of shoreline. The crown jewel of Star Island is Windigo Lake, which is itself 199 acres in size with a maximum depth of 25 feet and provides excellent panfishing. This unique feature brought it mention in “Ripleys Believe It or Not” as a place where you can fish on a lake, on an island, on a lake.
Star Island abounds in diversity and other unique features. The high banks of Inspiration Point, the old growth pines, hardwood forests of oak, sugar maple, and basswood, eagle nests, O’Neils Point, great campsites, over six miles of pristine hiking trails, and great opportunities to canoe or kayak. A little over three-fourths of Star Island is Chippewa National Forest land, the remainder is private. Maps of Star Island are available at the USFS Headquarters in Cass Lake.
There are three portages into Star Island, on the north, south, and east sides of the island. The shortest is on the north side and is hardly thirty yards. The longest, most scenic portage is on the south side. This portage is about a half mile in length but worth it as it is in a beautiful stand of mature red and white pine.
Star Island has been well documented and savored over the ages. Charles Duncan Gilfillan wrote “The large island in the lake was anciently called Gamisquawako miniss, or island of red cedars. It is now called Kitchi miniss, or Great Island.” Early white fur traders called it Grand Island. When Henry Rowe Schoolcraft arrived at Cass Lake in 1832 on his expedition to the Headwaters of the Mississippi, he named the island, “Colcaspi.” He concocted that name by combining syllables from the names of himself, Lewis Cass, and Zebulon Pike, (the three assumed discoverers of Cass Lake) in order of last to first.
Unfortunately, Schoolcraft, like so many other presumptive explorers, failed to mention that Native Americans had been residing here for thousands of years.
Just recently, a friend and I paddled to Star Island. We took out on O’Neils Point and examined the area surrounding the two designated canoe stops. A friend and former USFS employee told me Oziwindib’s rice pits were still evident in this area. We found old depressions that may have been the ancient pits. It was a windy day which had dampened the boat traffic and the only sound aside from the birds was the waves crashing on the shore.
We lingered at one of the camps where someone had recently erected an Indian frame for a wigwam. For a few minutes, while eating our lunch, time seemed to have taken us back to 1832 when Schoolcraft and his entourage were guided by Oziwindib to his home on Star Island.
Schoolcraft noted in his journal Narrative of an Expedition Through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake, the Actual Source of This River; “We halted a few minutes, to allow the hindmost canoes to come up, so as to enter the Lake together [Cass Lake]. Oza Windib, or Yellow head, our Chippewa guide, has preceded the party a little, as he often did, to get the first glance of little bays and inlets, where waterfowl are usually found. He had put his canoe ashore behind a small point, where he met a party of the Cass Lake band. Of this he kept us ignorant till turning the same point, that he might surprise us with an unexpected salute. The Indi
ans then approached in their canoes in a body, with a welcome, which could hardly have been more cordial, had we been old friends. They represented their residence to be on a large island, bearing southwest from the entrance…We were upwards of an hour in reaching the island, which is called Grand Island, or Colcaspi [Star Island.] On approaching it, a number of Indians were observed, running across an elevation [O’Neils Point], and pointing, with wild gestures, to a bay beyond. It was the best place of landing…the town of Oza Windib, situated nearly a mile from the spot of our landing, to which he was welcomed, on his return, by groups of men, women, and children. The total population, as counted during our stay, was 157, and it does not, probably, at any time, exceed 200 or 250…The hunting grounds of Yellow Head’s band, embrace the extreme sources of the Mississippi, and his village is the last fixed location in the ascent [to the headwaters of the Mississippi.]”Experiencing Star Island is more than making contact with the beauty of Headwaters Country, it is also spanning the great frontier of time and linking our lives to those of the many that preceded us.
READER COMMENTS:"My father and his family traveled from Emerado, ND to Star Island in the early 30's for a vacation. He still talked about this special place when he was in his eighties and we were never able to get him back there. Thanks for posting this. It's the first time I had seen a photo." - Carolyn King
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