Ellis Island the region. The oyster beds remained a major source of food for nearly three centuries. Landfilling to build the railyards of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey eventually obliterated the oyster beds, engulfed one island, and brought the shoreline much closer to the others. During the colonial period, Little Oyster Island was known as Dyre's, then Bucking Island. In the 1760s, after some pirates were hanged from one of the island's scrubby trees, it became known as Gibbet Island. It was acquired by Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker and merchant possibly from Wales, around
US 31–Island Lake Outlet Bridge part of the National Highway System. Island Lake Outlet, also known as the Pine River Channel, was dredged in 1870 to connect Lake Michigan to Lake Charlevoix through Round Lake. A total of five bridges have crossed the channel at this location; the first was a small footbridge built in 1869. The current bridge replaced a swing truss bridge built by the city of Charlevoix in 1901. The US 31–Island Lake Outlet Bridge was designed by the bridge division of the Michigan State Highway Department, led by George M. Foster, and by consulting engineers Haslett and Erdal. Plans were prepared