Arvon Township ( ) is a

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a County (United States), county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England town, Ne ...

of Baraga County in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 492. Despite its name,

Mount Arvon Mount Arvon ( ) at , is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in L'Anse Township, Baraga County, Mount Arvon is part of the Huron Mountains. It rises about south of Lake Superior (elevation ). On the list of highes ...

, the highest point in Michigan, is located just south of the township, in neighboring L'Anse Township. Arvon Township's name is derived from that of the district of Carnarvon in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, famous for its

slate industry The slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a ''slate quarry'' or reached by tunneling in a ''slate mine''. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring ma ...

, because of the deposits of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

in the township which were once the site of a failed

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

operation.

Communities

* Arvon, named after the township in 1872, began as a slate quarry village. A post office operated from June 8, 1874, until November 18, 1879, and again from May 18, 1882, until October 14, 1893. * Aura is located at the base of the Point Abbaye peninsula on the northern side of

Huron Bay Huron Bay is a long, narrow bay long, located in Baraga County, Michigan, on the northern shore of the Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan. The bay, oriented in a northeast-southwest direction, is bounded by the Huron Mountains on its east ...

. *Huron Bay is a community located on Huron Bay a few miles southwest of Skanee. Here there is a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

and a

tavern A tavern is a type of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that ...

. Huron Bay was formerly the terminus of the Iron Range and Huron Bay Railroad, built to carry

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

from

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

to Huron Bay. A post office was in operation from July 29, 1892, until January 31, 1894. *McComb Corner is an unincorporated community in the township. * Skanee is an unincorporated community and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) within the township. *St. Cyr is an unincorporated community in the township, lying on Huron Bay.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 5.62%, is water. Arvon Township includes the

Abbaye Peninsula The Abbaye Peninsula is a peninsula located within Baraga County on the northern shore of the Upper Peninsula within the U.S. state of Michigan. It is bounded by Keweenaw Bay on the west and Huron Bay on the east. Description The peninsula rema ...

, which projects into

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

to form Huron Bay. The bay is long and narrow so its waters are significantly more protected than those of the open lake. Much of the shoreline, particularly around the tip of the peninsula at Point Abbaye, is rocky, although there are some stretches of sandy

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

. Much of the land in Arvon Township is

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

with mixed

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

and

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

trees. There are also

jack pine Jack pine (''Pinus banksiana''), also known as grey pine or scrub pine, is a North American pine. Distribution and habitat Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories t ...

barrens and

eastern arborvitae ''Thuja occidentalis'', also known as northern white-cedar, eastern white-cedar, or arborvitae, is an evergreen coniferous tree, in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is native to eastern Canada and much of the north-central and northeastern ...

swamps. In settled areas, there are many wild

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

trees which now form a significant food source for

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

. Arvon Township has a number of

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, including the

Huron River The Huron River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed November 7, 2011 river in southeast Michigan, southeastern Michigan, rising out of the Huron Swamp in Springfie ...

, which flow into Lake Superior. Because of these factors, the primary economic activities in Arvon Township are related to

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckstourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, particularly

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 482 people, 222 households, and 150 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 623 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 93.36%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.11% Native American, 0.41% Asian, and 3.11% from two or more races. Among its population, 17.8% were of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, 16.3%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 14.8% Finnish, 7.8%

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, 7.5% Irish and 6.6% Norwegian ancestry. By 2020, its population was 492. In 2000, the median income for a household in the township was $31,705, and the median income for a family was $39,545. Males had a median income of $26,786 versus $22,292 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the township was $19,800. About 3.8% of families and 8.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 18.9% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over. The 2021 census estimates determined its median household income was $52,500.

References

{{authority control Townships in Baraga County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Michigan populated places on Lake Superior Populated places established in 1871 1871 establishments in Michigan