The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and Mason County

Long before there were townships and county lines, this land was home to the Ottawa, or Odawa, people. Their villages stood along the rivers, including the Pere Marquette, and they fished, hunted, and traded across the whole region for generations.

In a treaty signed in 1855, the federal government set aside a reservation for the bands who became the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and it included Custer and Eden townships right here in Mason County. The bands built a community known as Indian Town on the Pere Marquette, near present-day Custer. But the promises around that land were tangled and never made secure, and over the years many families lost their footing here, with some returning north to the Manistee River and others following the lumber camps even farther away.

The story didn’t end there. In 1994 the United States once again recognized the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians as a sovereign nation, and the tribe, now based just up the road in Manistee, has been reclaiming land and rebuilding its community ever since. It’s a reminder that the history of this county runs much deeper than its farm towns and lumber mills. You can learn more from the tribe itself at lrboi-nsn.gov.