MENOMINEE

also spelled Menomini Algonkian-speaking North American Indian tribe who lived along the Menominee River, now the eastern portion of the boundary between Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan, when first reported by the missionary-voyageur Jean Nicolet in 1639. The sedentary Menominee lived in villages of dome-shaped houses. Their economy was based on gathering wild rice and other plants; a limited amount of cultivation of corn (maize), squash, beans, and tobacco; fishing; and some hunting. They were divided into exogamous clans, which were grouped into two major divisions, or phratries. Their social organization changed, however, as a result of the fur trade, when the Menominee scattered in mobile bands over a wide territory, particularly for winter hunts. In a series of treaties in the 19th century, the Menominee sold their rights in lands to the United States. In 1852 the U.S. government moved some 2,000 members of the tribe to a reservation on the upper Wolf and Oconto rivers in Wisconsin. Beginning in 1872 a tribally owned lumber mill operated under government supervision, providing jobs and income. In 1961 the reservation was terminated; the area became a county of the state of Wisconsin, and a corporation, Menominee Enterprises, Inc., was created to hold and administer tribal assets. Soon after termination the Indians became concerned about the loss of such services as a free hospital (leaving them with no hospital and no resident physician) and a development project involving the sale of lands, which some Menominee feared as a step toward increasing white control. Agitation began for restoration of reservation status, and this was done (by Congress) in December 1973. The tribe began to organize a government and to cope with internal divisions and with growing antipathy from nearby whites. city, seat (1864) of Menominee county and the southernmost city in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S.; it is located on Green Bay at the mouth of the Menominee River opposite Marinette, Wis., with which it is connected by a bridge. In 1796 a fur-trading post was established there. Lumbering began in 1832, reached its peak in the 1890s, and ended in 1930. Manufactures include paper products, furniture, electrical equipment, and helicopters. Dairying (notably cheese production) is important. Menominee (Indian for wild rice, once gathered along the riverbanks) is also a hunting resort and fishing port. Inc. 1883. Pop. (1990) 9,398.