Grand Portage National Monument

Grand Portage National Monument is a memorial of the type of National Monuments on Lake Superior in Cook County in the extreme northeast of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It houses a traffic historically significant place in the Great Lakes and important base of the fur trade with the interior of present-day Canada.

The memorial was reconstructed in the 1930s, in part, dedicated in 1960 as a National Monument and is managed by the National Park Service.

Description

Grand Portage is called after a Portage, a section must be carried in the canoes, the Pigeon River, which flows just east into Lake Superior. The river is part of a connection via the Laurentianische watershed to Lake of the Woods and on to Lake Winnipeg in the interior of Canada. Its lower course is navigable by several waterfalls for canoes. About 14 km of the canoes and all goods had to be carried from the lake, to the usable flow was achieved.

History

Knew the Anishinabe Indians of the region and used the route since ancient times, as well as the neighboring peoples. 1679 for the first time reached a Franco- burly white fur traders detectable northwestern shore of Lake Superior. Shortly thereafter, Indians showed the whites their traffic route into the interior of the country. The fur trade was dominated by the rivalry between the French and the English pioneers of the Hudson's Bay Company, which was founded only in 1670 but very strong capital base. 1713 the French had under the Treaty of Utrecht from the northeast to the Hudson Bay retreat and focused more on the Great Lakes. Was first mentioned in writing in Grand Portage in 1722 by a French officer. At both ends of the support section, the dealer put on small bearings.

After the French and Indian War in 1763, France lost all possessions in the north-east of the UK, the French fur traders either went to New Orleans and the Louisiana colony or operated as independent dealers under the British Government from Montreal. It was only in 1783 founded the predominantly French -born merchant, the North West Company, which wanted to open up in competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, the North West of the country now called Canada and use. Almost all of their business they transacted over the Lake Superior and the Portage of the Pigeon River and built their base of.

At both ends of the Portage fortified warehouse were built. By the lake a large enclosed by palisades area with several buildings, the river, the small Fort Caroline. As of 1787 the North West Company moved its headquarters each summer half of Montreal in their base on Lake Superior and set up for this purpose the Great Hall as the administrative headquarters. From here, Alexander MacKenzie met before on behalf of the Company to the outpost Fort Chipewyan, when he in 1793 as the first white man crossed the North American continent and reached the Pacific Ocean.

As part of the American Revolutionary War, the British military in 1779 it had to retreat, which is part of Lake Superior came under American influence. 1803, the borders between the United States and British Canada were established and Grand Portage was now American. The North West Company moved its post around 50 km towards north to Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay ) at a portage at the mouth of Kaministiquia River. As of 1804, the buildings fell into ruin in Grand Portage.

Shortly before 1840, opened the American Fur Company of John Jacob Astor once a short-lived trade and supply items at the Grand Portage, but withdrew in the final decline of the fur trade in 1843 back again.

1922 began the Minnesota Historical Society, a scientific society, history, researching the history of Grand Portage in the course of their employment with the fur trade. As part of the New Deal were used from 1936 to 1940 workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps for the reconstruction of the support point.

The National Monument

The memorial includes the riparian area on Lake Superior with the palisade, the buildings in the enclosed area and a warehouse outside the 14 km long, narrow footpath and the former site of Fort Caroline on the Pigeon River. It forms an enclave in the Grand Portage Indian Reservation of the Anishinabe. The river and the waterfalls are at Grand Portage State Park, which is not the only state park in the possession of the State of Minnesota, but was leased in 1989 by the Indians.

1969 burned down in 1940, reconstructed Great Hall, only in 1980 were funds available in order to build true to the originals according to recent findings. There is also a memorial from the attached kitchen building, a gate tower and stockade, as well as a warehouse outside.

The main building is the visitor center of the memorial, the warehouse outside the palisade and the adjacent Heritage Center, which is operated by the Indians, both museums on the history of the indigenous people and the fur traders. During the summer months a historic Indian village with tents is reconstructed. Within the stockade a garden with historic crops is created.

Visitors can find the 14 -km actual Portage for Pigeon River hike, during the summer living history demonstrations and tours are offered in replica canoes.