Pirates on Lake Michigan?

Pirates On Lake Michigan? Yes, we did have pirates on the Great Lakes. They generally stalked the Great Lakes in the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. It's true, on Lake Michigan, we had some of the most fearsome and burly pirates. These pirates ruled the fresh waters of the Great Lakes and made their living sailing and searching for treasures. Unlike the pirates that you see in the movies, our Great Lakes pirates were mostly clean cut and normal looking. Their treasures were mostly lumber, illegal alcohol, and wild-game meat. Some pirates were known as Timber Pirates, moving illegal cut lumber from the Upper Peninsula to the eastern states. It was a rough time on the Great Lakes where you didn't want to be confronted by one of these fearsome swashbucklers.