Report 69 ‐ mountains2montreal – July 29, 2011

Canoe trip of 4,500 km from Crossing to Montreal – 130 days estimated duration.

After Day 89 – July 28, 2011 • Last reported SPOT location ‐ July 28 @ 15:20 PDT (47.99216/89.8472) – camped on the Canadian shore of the Pigeon River above Partridge Falls, La Verendrye Provincial Park at the entry to the Pigeon River • Estimated distance traveled since their last report July 26 ‐ 15 km. • Distance traveled since start May 1 – 3,335 km (estimated). • Distance to Montreal ‐ 1,165 km. (estimated).

Notes 1. m2m group had a day of two solid portages as they continue to progress eastward towards – assume a tough day – water levels in the river not known. 2. Uncertain as to the m2m plans for their exit route choice into Lake Superior. 3. Arrival at Fort Charlotte on the US side is the western terminus of The Grand Portage will identify selected route. 4. Still do not know which route option a) US – The Grand Portage or b) the Canadian route down the tough section of the Pigeon River will be followed 5. Historic importance of The Grand Portage is provided as a backgrounder today. 1. Weather – sunny and hot today, rain on Saturday with good weather following. 2. Next planned re‐supply/communications location is Thunder Bay with a projected arrival August 1 or 2 ‐ estimated distance – 145 km. 3. No or minimal communications expected until Thunder Bay. 4. Last blog posting from the m2m July 6 ‐ http://www.mountains2montreal.ca

Weather Details

1 Source: Environment Canada M2M – Distance Traveled Since Last Report July 28 ‐15 km.

Source: Natural Resources Canada – The Atlas of Canada

Regional Locator Map

Source: SPOT and Google Maps

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Backgrounder – The Grand Portage

Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern 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 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 , 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 and Saint Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean

History

As early as 2,000 years ago, Indian Nations probably used Gichi‐onigaming, or “the Great Carrying Place”, to travel from summer homes on Lake Superior to winter hunting grounds in the interior of Minnesota and . In 1729 Cree guide Auchagah drew a map for some of the first French fur traders, to show them how to reach the "western sea" of . In time, Grand Portage became the gateway into rich northern fur‐bearing country, where it connected remote interior outposts to lucrative international markets.

The Grand Portage trail is an 8½ mile trail connecting Grand Portage with Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River. Voyageurs from the interior of Canada would carry their furs by to Fort Charlotte, and portage the bundles of fur to Grand Portage. There they met traders from Montreal, and exchanged the

3 furs for trade goods and supplies. Each canoe "brigade" then returned to its starting place. The fur traders built Fort Charlotte as a trading fort at Grand Portage. There they built the Grand Hall in the French colonial style, which housed their meetings, a general store, and other facilities.[2] See (early).

Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall (Ontario) painted by Frances Anne Hopkins in 1869 In mid‐July 1802, partners of the , the most successful fur trade company in North America, met in their Grand Hall at Grand Portage. They voted to move their summer headquarters from the protected shores of Lake Superior’s Grand Portage Bay 50 miles (80 km) north to the mouth of the . Almost from the time the Anglo‐Scot Nor’Westers had organized at Grand Portage in the mid 1780s, an emerging United States wanted them to stop competing with Americans in this territory.

The July vote meant that the North West Company would tear down its 18 buildings and transport the materials north in company schooners for use in constructing the planned new Fort William, far from U.S. soil. The buildings were constructed from native squared spruce, pine and birch and were surrounded by more than 2,000 cedar pickets.

In 1951 the property was designated as the Grand Portage National Historic Site and opened for visitors. In 1958, it was designated a National Monument. The portage trail has also been separately designated a Minnesota State Historic Site.[3] The monument's 710 acres (2.9 km2) lie entirely within the boundaries of Grand Portage Ojibwe Indian Reservation. The depot was reconstructed to allow celebration of the fur trade and Ojibwe lifeways. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Attractions and events The portage trail exists in much the same location and condition as in historic times. Visitors can hike 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from Lake Superior to the Pigeon River. Volunteers and park staff at the monument dress in period attire. They staff the Kitchen, Canoe Warehouse and Great Hall in and around the Stockade, and explain and interpret what life was like at the trading fort at the turn of the 19th century. During the second week and weekend of August, the Grand Portage National Monument hosts a rendezvous re‐enactment. At the same time, the Grand Portage Ojibwa Indian Reservation holds a pow wow, which attracts many Indians and visitors. The Rendezvous and Pow Wow coincide with the Perseid meteor shower.

Opened in 2007, the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center features exhibit galleries about Ojibwe culture and the fur trade, a bookstore, multi‐media programs, park offices, archives and a classroom. The center is a collaboration between the and the Grand Portage Band. It overlooks the reconstructed fur trading post.

4 This section covers the voyageur route from Grand Portage westward to the juncture of the route from Fort William at Lac La Croix[4]. For background see Canadian canoe routes (early). The Pigeon River is about 3 miles directly north of the reconstructed fort. The Pigeon flows basically east and enters Lake Superior at a bay about 5 miles east northeast. The portage trail meets the Pigeon about 7 miles northwest at the former Fort Charlotte. It was this lower part of the Pigeon that had to be avoided. The canoe route then went west up the Pigeon past the mouth of the Arrow River to the east‐west Mountain Lake. The old Indian route went north, with a drop of 125 feet, to the east‐west Arrow Lake. The voyageurs, with their heavy freight , cut a new route that ran west over the Petit Neuf or Watape Portage to Watape Lake which is in the Arrow River drainage. Then through the Petit Detroit to Rove Lake and the Grand Neuf or Long Portage to Rose Lake at the west end of Arrow Lake. From Rose Lake up the Arrow to South Lake. From South Lake north over the 700‐yard Height of Land Portage to North Lake whose waters flow west to Lake Winnipeg. From here the route went west down the ? river through several lakes to Lac La Croix where the route from Fort William came in. Lac La Croix is about 100 miles west of Grand Portage and about 66 miles west of Height of Land Portage. For the route westward see Canadian canoe routes (early).

The Trail Today Beginning at the stockade on Grand Portage Bay of Lake Superior, the 8.5 miles (13.7 km) trail leads westward into the wilderness to a mid‐point on the Pigeon River. It passes numerous rapids and a variety of waterfalls. The most notable are Middle Falls and Pigeon Falls. Both are part of the Grand Portage State Park and are within the Rove Formation. Middle Falls is most easily seen from Pigeon River Provincial Park on the Canadian side of the border. To avoid numerous short portages, the Grand Portage was developed.[5]

Route Description The portage begins on Lake Superior, elevation 610 feet (190 m), rising as it moves westward through two notches in the Sawtooth Mountain range. It briefly levels off around 1,000 feet (300 m) after 2.6 miles (4.2 km). Another 1.5 miles (2.4 km) you reach the inland county highway. From here, the trail is more level, rising to 1,300 feet (400 m), the highest location on the trail, before dropping back to 1,260 feet (380 m) at Fort Charlotte on the Pigeon River.[5] The trail's high point is the head of a drainage flowing to the Pigeon River at Fort Charlotte. The headwaters has become a large beaver pond. The dam is located along the trail route and has used the raised boardwalk (added for modern visitors and it is not historic), as part of the dam.[5] Source Wikipedia

Grand Portage was a fur‐trade depot and route of the VOYAGEURS at the western extremity of Lake Superior. It was the first and most strenuous of the 29 PORTAGES from Lake Superior west to Lac La Croix, requiring that each voyageur carry 4 loads of 80 kg over some 14 km of rocky trails around the cascades of the Pigeon River. The Pigeon River route had long been used by native people and was opened to the FUR TRADE by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de LA VÉRENDRYE. Keywords

Canadian Encyclopedia on The Grand Portage

The NORTH WEST CO (NWC) established an extensive post at the mouth of the river, which by 1784 was the wilderness capital of the fur trade, providing a meeting place for the voyageurs bringing supplies from Montréal (PORKEATERS) and the traders bringing furs from the North West (winterers, see WINTERING PARTNER). Within the post, which was protected by a 5‐m high palisade, reinforced with a bastion and a heavy gate, were the Great Hall, living quarters, shops, warehouses and a stone powder magazine. Because the settling of the Canada‐US boundary left the post in American territory, the post was

5 abandoned in late 1802 and NWC activities were relocated the following year at FORT WILLIAM at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River. This route, which had been travelled by in 1688, was more arduous than Grand Portage, requiring a portage of Kakabeka Falls and a gruelling haul over the height of land to the Savanne River.

Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia

Prepared by Bruce Fountain – [email protected] /mobile 416‐571‐3095 ‐ These notes are intended for family/friends/followers of the m2m voyageurs and supplements the irregular postings by the group to their website. They are prepared based on the receipt of the group’s SPOT satellite location reports. Generally, they are daily SPOT reports but there will be occasions when the group does not get the signal off or weather and other conditions prevent transmission.

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