Wisconsin
http://www.sokaogonchippewa.com/
The Sokogon Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is a proud member of the Lake Superior Chippewas. The Sokagon Chippewa Community is also known as the Mole Lake Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa. The tribe is presently settled on the Mole Lake Indian Reservation which is an Indain Reservation allotted to the tribe by the federal government. The reservation is situated in the Forest County, in Wisconsin which is near the Crandon area. The tribal reservation area, this Mole Lake Indian Reservation encompasses not less than 4,904.2 acres of land area. The tribal land also includes the Rice Lake, the Bishop Lake and that of the Mole Lake. It is said that there are an approximate of five hundred members who are currently living on the reservation. Aside from this number, an additional one thousand members of the community are living outside of the reservation boundaries. The tribe is one of the few tribes who take pride and activeness in the harvest of the wild rice. Wild rice primarily roots from the swampy areas which are found either on or off of the tribal reservation. It was in the year 1983 when the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh circuit in the Lac Courte Oreilles v. Lester B. Voigt case which is more popularly known as the Voigt decision was signed. The decision reaffirmed that the Sokoagon as well as other Chippewa Tribes located in the northern Wisconsin are to be allowed to work out their treaty rights are granted to them. Their treaty rights could be used even if they are out of the reservation area. The decision was good news to the Sokaogon people since it meant that the tribe could harvest more wild rice even on the areas which are not covered by their tribal territory. It meant that they could gather the wild rice in the lands which are not even their property. The Mole Lake is the location of one of Wisconsin's oldest log cabins. The place is now labeled as the Dinesen Log house which has now become an important landmark in the tribal lands. The place is special in its own right that it was built in the late 1860's but is still around and in full operation today. However, it is in the list on the National registry of Historic Properties in 2005 being a protected property. It was during the sixties when a metallic ore deposit was found near the Mole Lake. The deposit enthralled many white settlers who wanted to use it for their own purposes. However, the proposed mining of the site started controversies during the last three decades of its discovery. The tribe, on the other hand, has bought the Crandon mine at the price of sixteen and a half million so as to prevent the reopening of the other mining place. There is no mining planned for either of the lands and so the tribe is to set forth on a journey to find the best suitable enterprise for the land.
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