This cache is part of the Emmet County History Quest Geo-Trail. When discovering the historic places in Emmet County as you travel from cache to cache, you will need to answer a specific question on your passport. Information and the passport can be downloaded from the Emmet County web site http://www.emmetcounty.org/geocache/
Once you have completed 20 of the caches in this tour, take your passport to Emmet County Building, Suite 178 or mail the passport to Beth Piehl, Emmet County Building, Suite 178, 200 Division St., Petoskey, MI 49770 to receive a collectable souvenir tag for this series.
Chi-sin has been used as a visual aid-to-navigation since at least 1615. Hundreds of years ago, the Big Rock was under water. Through the centuries, it has been used as a marker to determine the rise and fall of water levels in the lake. It was described in a letter sent back to France in 1749 as being at times, high and dry, and at other times, completely submerged. That led the letter-writer to conclude that the water in the Straits of Mackinac rose and fell by as much as 8 feet.
This large rock is approximately 33.8 feet in horizontal circumference and 37 feet in vertical circumference. It is about 9 feet tall. An estimate weight puts it around 54 tons. Recently, this rock was featured in the Boston Globe and Detroit Free Press. Which rock is bigger and more important – Plymouth Rock or Chi-Sin? You be the judge.