Native American Trails in Oakland County and Rose Township

Indigenous People used trails in Michigan for thousands of years. Paleo and Archaic people traveled in pursuit of game and ripening fruits. Later the Anishinaabek used footpaths to travel to hunting and fishing grounds and between seasonal camps. Two major trails that went through Oakland County were the Saginaw Trail and Shiawassee Trail. The Shiawassee Trail ran to the southwest of Rose Township and the Saginaw Trail ran to the northeast of Rose Township. The network of trails started as well-worn footpaths, but later they became the routes which were used by early settlers. Over time some of the footpaths became rugged wagon-wide sized dirt roads. Some of the trails exist today as dirt roads, paved roads, and highways.

A smaller unnamed Native American Trail that ran through Rose Township was situated between the larger Shiawassee Trail (to the southwest) and Saginaw Trail (to the northeast). This local trail began in an area near Cass Lake and Orchard Lake and ran northwestward toward Shiawassee County (Byron, Michigan). In Shiawassee County this trail connected with another trail that led to Saginaw Bay. Later this unnamed trail was referred to as the White Lake Road Trail after it changed from a footpath to a dirt road. This trail still exists today as Rose Center Road (and Milford Road where Rose Center and Milford Road run together near Rose Center) as it traverses the township. Portions of this trail (road) outside of Rose Township are known as White Lake Road and Silver Lake Road. Early settlers used this trail to come to the township and small settlements grew along this trail.

Early Survey Maps Showing Trails

The early surveyors from the General Land Office trekked across the Michigan Territory (including all of Oakland County) all the while making notes as to the types of habitats and species they encountered in each section. Trees were listed in order of prevalence. They made notes as to the locations of lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands. The surveyors noted Native American trails, roads, and settlements if there were any. These notations are the reason it is known that certain roads that exist today were once Native American trails. Below is one such example of a surveyor making note of one of the main trails (Saginaw Trail) going through Waterford Township by using a dotted line.

On the Bela Hubbard map (1838-1840) showing Rose Township (below), Hubbard made note of topography and habitat types such as undulating timbered openings, heavily timbered openings (chiefly oak), and plains. He delineated where there were lines of timber or lines of plains. He described soil and geologic features and noted sand and gravel and numerous boulders. Lakes, the Shiawassee River and its tributaries, such as the Little Shiawassee, were drawn on the map. Hubbard noted trails and roads.

The roads and trails noted on the Bela Hubbard map, which would have been the first early roads in the township, have been highlighted on the map below. The solid red line is the known Native American trail in Rose Township. By the time Hubbard created his survey map, this local trail had likely already changed from a footpath to a wagon-sized dirt road as some of the early settlers were already in the area.

This trail exists today as Rose Center Road. The solid blue lines are roads existing at that time that were built by early settlers. The straight blue horizontal line at the northernmost end of the map exists today as Fenton Road. The blue horizontal line below this road exists today as Davisburg Road. The blue vertical line on the western side of the map exists today as Hickory Ridge Road. The blue vertical line on the eastern side of the map exists today only in part as a small section of Milford Road in the south and Oakwood Road more toward the north. The dotted red line road that branched off of the Native American trail toward Fenton is a bit of a fascination and mystery. This trail mostly no longer exists today (except for a very small section of Buckhorn Lake Road), but it had characteristics similar to the known Native American trail. The possibility this was another locally used Native American trail is explored below.

Characteristics of Native American Trails

To provide a different perspective, the known Native American trail and the other “possible” trail were superimposed on a map created by scientists from the Michigan State University Extension - Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI). The MNFI scientists (ecologists and botanists) used notes from early surveys and their collective knowledge to recreate a map showing the distribution of natural communities found in the Michigan Territory around 1800. The MNFI map for Rose Township with the trails superimposed is shown below.

The known unnamed Native American trail is marked with a solid black line on this map. Starting in the south, the trail traversed northwesterly through Black Oak Barrens (tan color). It skirted by a couple of lakes and along the edge of wet prairie (purple color). It continued through Oak-Hickory Forest (pink color). The trail in question is marked with a dotted black on this map. Starting in the south, it branched off the known Native American trail at an area of Black Oak Barrens (tan color). It headed in a northwesterly direction and traversed through a narrow point in a wet prairie area (purple color). The trail meandered by and between several small lakes as it continued its way through oak-hickory forest (pink color) and then connected with a straight road heading toward Fenton.

The known trail in the township (solid black line) and the possible trail (dotted black line) both had characteristics typical of Native American trails.

• Native American trails tended to be located on higher and drier land. Both of these trails traveled through oak barrens and oak-hickory forests. Oak barrens occured on well-drained dry soils often on undulating sandy glacial outwash. Oak and hickory trees tolerate a range of soil types, but they tend to grow best on uplands with moist, well-drained, loamy soils. Both of these trails were located in types of habitats considered to be “higher and/or drier”.

• Native American trails tended to follow a path of least resistance geography-wise to make travel easier. The main features of the oak barrens habitat are widely spaced oak trees with an open grassy ground cover. Mature oak-hickory forests tend to have only a moderate amount of small trees and shrubs as an understory. Both of these trails went through habitats which offered paths which would have been easily traversed and offered a path of least resistance.

• Native American trails tended to avoid crossing through swamps, other wetlands, or streams and/or rivers when possible. When crossings couldn’t be avoided, they took place at narrow or shallow points. Both of these trails crossed wet areas at the narrow points.

• Native American trails tended to have a meandering quality. Larger major trails tended to link settlements or traveled to areas where trading took place. Smaller trails were often used for traveling to special hunting or fishing grounds, or near wetlands which were rich with usable resources (such as wild rice which still grows in the township), or to seasonal camps (such as spring maple sugaring camps). The known trail (solid black line) connected the area near Cass and Orchard Lakes to Shiawassee County (Byron, Michigan) where it connected with another trail that led to Saginaw Bay. The possible trail (dotted black line) headed toward Fenton where a number of Native American trails converged.

For additional perspective, in addition to the “trails” discussed above, all of the earliest roads in the township noted by Hubbard have been superimposed and highlighted with a solid black line on the MNFI map below.

All of the roads, whether or not they had been Native American trails, were significant enough for Hubbard to have made note of them on his survey map. The early roads that were built by settlers that were not formally Native American trails tended to be straight and did not meander. The only two early meandering roads in the township were the known Native American trail and the other possible trail.

The dotted lines on the map below show the trail and early roads that do not exist today. A trail or road that had sections in wetter areas may have been able to support foot traffic or light wagon traffic, but likely become extremely rutted and impassable with more heavy use as more settlers came to the area. Over time these roads were abandoned and let to “disappear”.

Features Supporting the Township having had Another Native American Trail

• The dotted line trail was significant enough for Hubbard to have made note of it on his survey

• It existed early in township history but “disappeared” supporting the notion it likely supported foot traffic, but not heavy wagon traffic.

• It has the same northwesterly direction as the known Native American trail

• It had several features typical of Native American trails

  • • • It followed a path of least resistance geography-wise

      • It was somewhat meandering to and between several small lakes (as if traveling to fishing grounds or to seasonal camps).

      • It traveled close to wetlands which were rich with usable resources (such as wild rice)

• The trail appeared to head toward Fenton where a number of Native American trails converged

• The first roads built by the early settlers were primarily straight. The known Native American trail and this trail in question are the only two non-straight early roads in the township at that time.

The trail in question certainly had a number of features supporting it having been another locally used Native American trail. It may have “disappeared”, but it is not lost to history.

Copyright © Maura Jung and Carol Egbo-Bacak. The content on this page is released with the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 License