Little Bay de Noc is a bay in the

Upper Peninsula The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The bay opens into

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

's Green Bay. The bay, consisting of approximately 30,000 acres (120 km²), is enclosed by Delta County. The cities of

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula. The population was 12,616 at the 2010 census, making it the third-largest city i ...

and

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

are on the west side of the bay and the

Stonington Peninsula Stonington may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Stonington Island, Marguerite Bay ;United States * Stonington, Connecticut (town) **Stonington (borough), Connecticut (incorporated borough) *Stonington, Illinois *Stonington, Indiana * Stonington, Main ...

is on the east side. The bay's name comes from the

Noquet The Noquet were a group of Native Americans who lived on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. They spoke an Algonquian language. They are thought to have been most closely related to the Menominee Indians The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak ...

(or ''Noc'') Native American people (thought to have been related to the

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

of the Algonquian language group), who once lived along the shores.

Douglass Houghton Douglass Houghton (September 21, 1809 – October 13, 1845) was an American geologist and physician, primarily known for his exploration of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. It was the site of a copper boom and extensive copper mining beginnin ...

came to Sand Point (in Escanaba) in 1844 with his party of government surveyors to chart the land to the north. Escanaba has a deep harbor, which made it a lumbering center. The first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

was built there in 1836. The bay also shipped iron ore from the rich iron ranges in Michigan's upper peninsula, with the first ore dock built at Escanaba in 1864. Escanaba was incorporated in 1866. A bit further north, Gladstone was founded in 1887 by

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, William D. Washburn, to serve as a rail-lake terminal for lumber products. The

Days A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two s ...

, Tacoosh,

Rapid Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

, and Whitefish rivers all drain into the bay. Rapid River marks the mouth of the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

river and the head of the bay.

References

External links

Bays de Noc Convention and Visitors Bureau
{{Authority control Bodies of water of Delta County, Michigan Bays of Michigan Bays of Lake Michigan