Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritage.
The Grand Portage is an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) (2720 rod) footpath which bypasses a set of waterfalls and rapids on the last 20 miles (32 km) of the Pigeon River before it flows into Lake Superior. This path is part of the historic trade route of the French-Canadian Voyageurs and Coureur des bois between their wintering grounds and their depots to the east.
Composed of the Pigeon River and other strategic interior waterways, as well as the Grand Portage and many other important land portages, this route was of enormous importance in pre-industrial times. It provided quick water access from Canada's settled areas and Atlantic ports to the fur-rich NorthWest. Some 50 miles (80 km) upstream from Lake Superior, this trade route crosses the Height of Land Portage, located in the Rove Formation. The portage connected South Lake on the Pigeon River watershed with North Lake of the Rainy River watershed. This portage crosses the Northern Continental divide; it thus provides passage between the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean and that of the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean.
Read more about Grand Portage National Monument: History, Attractions and Events, Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center, Archeology, The Route West, Image Gallery
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