The Sault Tribe and Bay Mills: sovereign nations of the eastern U.P.

If you’re new to Chippewa County, it’s worth understanding that two sovereign Native nations are based here, governing alongside the county, the townships, and the city. They are not historical footnotes — they are functioning governments with thousands of citizens, their own land, courts, police, schools, health systems, and businesses.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, headquartered in Sault Ste. Marie, is the largest federally recognized tribe in Michigan, with tens of thousands of enrolled members. Its land and services are spread across the eastern Upper Peninsula — in and around the Sault, on Sugar Island, in Kinross, and well beyond — and the tribe is one of the region’s largest employers, operating health centers, cultural programs, and the Kewadin Casinos. The tribe traces its presence directly to Bahweting, the ancient gathering place at the rapids, and was federally recognized as a distinct nation in the 1970s.

The Bay Mills Indian Community, based near Brimley on the shore of Whitefish Bay west of the Sault, is a separate sovereign tribe — one of the historic Sault-area Ojibwe bands — with its own reservation, government, and enterprises, including Bay Mills Community College, one of the country’s tribal colleges. Both nations hold hunting, fishing, and gathering rights affirmed in 1800s treaties and upheld in modern courts — rights that remain a living part of how the land and waters here are used. For anyone wanting to learn more, the best sources are the tribes themselves; both maintain websites describing their history, government, and community on their own terms.