Saginaw Bay

Saginaw Bay reaches southwest from Lake Huron into the wooded country of Michigan. At its head the Saginaw River gathers the waters of an extensive river valley, opening a route from the lake into the interior. The Saginaw, Swan Creek and Black River bands of Ojibwe Anishinaabeg drew on the country around the bay for fish and game, as well as wild rice and maple sugar.

The fur trade brought new traffic to the river mouth. Around 1792, Léon Tromblé established a trading post there, and in 1815 the Detroit merchant Louis Campau came to Saginaw as a fur trader. In 1819 the Ojibwe and other Indigenous leaders signed the Treaty of Saginaw with the United States, ceding a large tract of land while retaining certain hunting and fishing rights. The agreement opened the way for growing American settlement in the valley.