BARBEAU

Region: Les Cheneaux Islands, Drummond Island & the St. Mary's River

A hamlet consisting of resorts and vacation homes, a convenience store, and a restaurant is on the St. Mary's River near the Neebish Island ferry. On the state highway map, the inland dot for Barbeau marks the location of the post office at an isolated rural intersection.
Born in 1800 in Quebec, Pierre Barbeau had come to the Sault at 17 to work in the fur trade, according to the Find A Grave Memorial website. In 1842 he became a clerk on Mackinac Island in John Jacob Astor's American Fur Trade, as the Great Lakes fur trade was declining. Barbeau soon quit to open a general store at the Sault. He got into lumber, sold it to the western Upper Peninsula's new mines, established a large Whitefish Bay fishery, and continued to invest in land and lumber. Meanwhile, in Sault Ste. Marie he became a civil leader and state legislator who backed building the locks.

From the Barbeau ferry dock, if boaters and ferry passengers look south they can see the sheer limestone rock of "THE ROCK CUT" or "The Cut." (They can also park by the ferry dock sit on the Cozy Corners' deck to catch any passing freighter traffic.) The Corps of Engineers first created The Cut in 1910 to open up a second shipping channel. It has been widened to accommodate longer and longer freighters. The original channel was on Neebish Island's east side. It handles only the upbound traffic today. Downbound traffic is on its western side.

Return to Les Cheneaux Islands, Drummond Island & the St. Mary's River

PLACES AROUND BARBEAU TO

Eat Sleep Camp