Watersmeet Township, Michigan | |
---|---|
Township | |
Location within the state of Michigan | |
Coordinates: 46°15′32″N 89°15′57″W / 46.25889°N 89.26583°WCoordinates: 46°15′32″N 89°15′57″W / 46.25889°N 89.26583°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Michigan |
County | Gogebic |
Area | |
• Total | 277.8 sq mi (719.5 km2) |
• Land | 254.8 sq mi (659.8 km2) |
• Water | 23.1 sq mi (59.7 km2) |
Elevation | 1,736 ft (529 m) |
Population (2010) | |
• Total | 1,417 |
• Density | 5.8/sq mi (2.2/km2) |
Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
• Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
ZIP code | 49969 |
Area code(s) | 906 |
FIPS code | 26-84380 |
GNIS feature ID | 1627220 |
Watersmeet Township is a civil township of Gogebic County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,417 at the 2010 census, slightly down from 1,472 at the 2000 census. As the site of the Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation, the township has a high proportion of Chippewa in the community and schools. Chippewa students made up half of the student body and winning high school basketball team in the early 2000s. It was featured in the 2007 documentary Nimrod Nation, shown on The Sundance Channel.
The Lac Vieux Desert Indian Reservation was established by treaty under the United States in 1854. This band of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians, a large and decentralized group of Anishinaabe bands, had occupied this territory since the 17th century.
The unincorporated community of Watersmeet is within the township on the middle branch of the Ontonagon River near the junction of U.S. Highway 2 and U.S. Highway 45 at 46°16′04″N 89°10′40″W / 46.26778°N 89.17778°W. The European-American community of Watersmeet was platted in 1884, designated as a station of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways.