On Beaver Island there are six beautiful little lakes. Lakes
Genessarett, Fox Lake, Green Lake. These lakes are near the head of the
Island, while the other three, Font, Long and Round Lakes, are near the
harbor. Font Lake is where the Mormons baptized their people, and also
held their yearly feasts. It is a pretty spot with a long narrow point
reaching out into the Lake. This lovely lake is about half a mile
distant from the harbor. Long Lake is just a short distance beyond.
That, too, is a beautiful spot. Its high land on one side is covered
with heavy hardwood timber and great quantities of fish are in Long
Lake. Just a short distance from Long Lake is "Mount Pisgah," a high
sand mountain. One can look down into the harbor from its top. That,
too, has beautiful scenery all about it.
The group of islands near Beaver Island can be seen from "Mount Pisgah."
High Island, Trout Island, Squaw Island, which now has a fine lighthouse
erected upon it. Rabbit Island and Garden Island, with Hog Island off
nine miles to the east. All these Islands show from this mountain, and
on a clear day it is a beautiful sight to look upon. Lake Michigan, with
its dark blue waters, with so many pretty islands covered with green
trees, and the white pebbly and sandy beaches, where the white sea gulls
are constantly soaring about or resting upon the water. The island was
very beautiful when the Mormons first went there. At that time no timber
had been cut off. One can appreciate its beauty only by going out into
its center and among its pretty lakes. When my people first came there
to live there were still traces left of the "Beaver dams" where the busy
beavers had made their homes about the little lakes. This is why the
island was named "Beaver Island," and sometimes the whole group comes
under the one name of the "Beaver Islands."