From looking at a map, it appears that the upper peninsula of Michigan
should be part of Wisconsin. Is there some history of the area which
explains that? Was it ever an issue?

Dear billbu,

The Upper Peninsula is part of Michigan today as the result of a
dispute for a strip of land on the southern border of Michigan, the
Toledo Strip.

What is the State of Michigan today originally was an unorganized part
of the huge Northwest Territory created by the Continental Congress in
1787. Knox County, established in 1790, included most of the Lower
Peninsula of Michigan, but only the easternmost tip of the Upper
Peninsula. It was the part closest to the Lower Peninsula.

In the following years, organizational structures in the region were
often re-arranged. Michigan Territory, established in 1805, included
the Lower Peninsula and the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula. When
Illinois and Indiana became states in 1816-1819, the unincorporated
land from their territories, plus several townships, were made part of
Michigan. This included the western part of the Upper Peninsula. In
1834, all of the lands that were still unallocated and lay east of the
Missouri River (generally, the Dakotas, Iowa and the western half of
Minnesota) were attached to Michigan Territory. At this point,
Michigan Territory stretched far to the west and included what is now
the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and a large portion
of the Dakotas.

In 1836, Wisconsin Territory was separated from Michigan Territory,
and Michigan Territory shrunk immensely, losing also the entire Upper
Peninsula to the new territory. So at this point, the Upper Peninsula
was indeed completely part of Wisconsin Territory.

But in 1837, Michigan Territory had to hand over the densely-populated
Toledo Strip in the south to Ohio as the result of a dispute
concerning the ownership of that area, known as the Toledo Strip
Dispute or "Toledo War". As compensation for the loss, the entire
Upper Peninsula as far west as the Montreal River was taken away from
Wisconsin Territory and assigned to the new State of Michigan the same
year.

So that is the reason why the Upper Peninsula, although seperated by
water from the rest of the state, belongs to Michigan and not to
Wisconsin: It was a consolation for the loss of Toledo.

If you are interested in learning more about the backgrounds of the
"Toledo War" (which was indeed rather close to an actual war) that
resulted in the transfer of Upper Peninsula from Wisonsin to Michigan,
you may want to read this two-part article provided by the
Professional Surveyor Archives, "Ohio-Michigan Boundary War":
http://www.profsurv.com/ps_scripts/article.idc?id=1253
http://www.profsurv.com/ps_scripts/article.idc?id=1265


Hope this answers your question!
Regards,
Scriptor



Additional Sources:

Wikipedia: Michigan Territory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Territory

Wikipedia: Toledo War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War

Wikipedia: Toledo Strip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_Strip

The Upper Michigan Informer: The Upper Peninsula Historical Page
http://www.geocities.com/lukefisk.geo/history.html


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