When copper mining left an Ojibwe teenager to die on Michigan’s Isle Royale

Angelique’s Frozen Nightmare on Isle Royale

Isle Royale National Park holds the story of seventeen-year-old Angelique, who survived one of the most brutal winters in Great Lakes history.

In 1845, she and her husband Charlie Mott were hired to guard copper ore she had discovered, but supply boats never came. Their canoe was destroyed, their fishing net fell apart, and starvation set in.

Charlie went mad and threatened to kill and eat her before dying himself.

Angelique spent months alone with his corpse, surviving on poplar bark and rabbits caught with snares made from her own hair. Here’s how this Ojibwe woman endured her winter of hell using traditional survival knowledge.

A Copper Discovery Led to an Awful Nightmare

In July 1845, Angelique and her husband Charlie Mott lived at La Pointe, Wisconsin when Detroit prospectors arrived on the schooner Algonquin.

They came looking for copper on Isle Royale in Lake Superior.

Angelique, a 17-year-old Ojibwe woman, spotted a large copper piece shining in the water along the island’s beach. The prospectors hired the couple to guard their find.

Charlie got $25 monthly while Angelique received just $5.

Cyrus Mendenhall, the expedition leader, talked them out of buying supplies, claiming he had plenty of food waiting.

Their Promised Supplies Never Came

The couple landed on Isle Royale with barely enough food for a few weeks: half a barrel of flour, six pounds of butter, and some beans.

Mendenhall gave them a birch bark canoe and a fishing net, promising a supply boat would return within three months. At first, Angelique and Charlie lived well by fishing and gathering summer berries.

As days turned to weeks, they kept watching for the supply ship. The promised boat never came, and their small supplies ran low as summer changed to fall.

Their Survival Tools Broke

A strong fall storm hit the island and wrecked their birch bark canoe, ending any chance of leaving. Their fishing net, their main food source, fell apart from heavy use.

With winter coming and no way to catch fish, Angelique got creative. She used strands of her own hair to make rabbit snares.

The couple now had to rely on their stored supplies and whatever Angelique could catch or find. Each day, their situation grew worse as the island’s summer food vanished with the changing season.

Cold and Hunger Stayed With Them

Weeks turned into months with no sign of the supply ship. The summer plants that once gave berries became buried under deep snow.

Temperatures dropped, making their small cabin feel like an ice box. Both Angelique and Charlie started getting fevers, likely from poor food and cold.

Each morning they looked across the frozen lake for help, but saw only ice stretching far away. Their troubles grew daily as winter gripped Isle Royale, testing how badly they wanted to live.

Hunger Changed Their Bodies and Minds

Food ran low despite careful saving. Angelique, who was larger when they first landed, lost a lot of weight.

Both she and Charlie grew weaker each day, their bodies using themselves for food. They went through spells of fever that came and went, making their struggle harder.

The effects of hunger showed in their sunken eyes and bones sticking out. Their minds changed too, with hunger filling every thought and talk.

Winter seemed endless as they fought against growing weakness.

Charlie Turned On His Young Wife

Things got worse when Charlie sharpened a butcher knife during one of his fever spells. Looking at his wife with crazy, hungry eyes, he called Angelique a "sheep" and said he would kill and eat her.

Hunger had driven him mad. Angelique, just 17 years old, now faced a scary new threat from the man who should have kept her safe.

She stayed alert, watching her husband while fighting her own battle against hunger and cold. The small cabin that once kept them safe now felt like a trap.

Death Took Her Husband But Left Angelique

Charlie finally died from hunger, his body too weak to go on. His body showed clear signs of starvation, not violence.

Angelique became a widow at 17, all alone on a frozen island in Lake Superior. The cabin now held her husband’s dead body, which she couldn’t bury in the frozen ground.

Staying with Charlie’s remains became too much for her mind.

Angelique made the hard choice to leave his body in their cabin, forcing her to find another place to live on the island.

She Built a New Life Away From Death

Angelique built a brush shelter for herself away from the cabin and Charlie’s body. She used traditional Anishinaabe survival skills she learned as a child.

The young woman lived by eating bitter but healthy poplar bark, a Native survival food. She kept catching some rabbits with her hair snares, giving her rare meat to keep her going.

The brush shelter barely kept out the cold, but it gave her space away from the reminder of death. Her knowledge of the forest helped her stay alive.

Traditional Knowledge Kept Her Alive

The survival skills passed down through many Ojibwe families became Angelique’s lifeline. She knew which tree barks had food value and how to get it.

The poplar bark she gathered had just enough calories to keep her alive. She kept her rabbit snares, checking them daily hoping to catch something.

The harsh Lake Superior winter tested her body and mind through months alone.

She lived through temperatures that often dropped below zero, with only her brush shelter and forest knowledge between her and death.

Rescuers Found a Woman Barely Alive

Help finally came in May 1846 when the schooner Algonquin returned to Isle Royale. The crew found Angelique barely alive, very thin but somehow still breathing.

When asked about the promised supply boat, Mendenhall claimed one had been sent. The crewmen quickly showed this was a lie.

The men looked at Charlie’s body in the cabin and confirmed he died from hunger.

Angelique had lived nearly ten months on the island, including the brutal winter months completely alone. Her will to live proved stronger than the forces against her.

Her Story Almost Vanished From History

The crew took Angelique back to her mother at Sault Ste. Marie, where she slowly recovered from her ordeal.

She lived another 30 years, passing away in 1874. Her remarkable story of survival against impossible odds nearly disappeared from history, preserved only as a footnote in Ralph D. Williams’ 1907 book about the region.

The tale demonstrates the extraordinary strength and knowledge of Indigenous women. Angelique’s use of traditional Ojibwe survival techniques saved her life when modern provisions failed.

Her story stands as testament to human resilience and the value of cultural knowledge passed through generations.

Visiting Isle Royale National Park, Michigan

Isle Royale National Park is only reachable by ferry from Copper Harbor or Houghton, Michigan, or seaplane from Hancock. The park costs $7 daily for visitors over 16 and stays open April 16 through October 31.

You can learn about Angelique Mott’s survival story at Rock Harbor Visitor Center’s ranger programs. No cars are allowed, so you’ll travel by foot, boat, or canoe.

Stay at Rock Harbor Lodge or Windigo’s camper cabins.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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