Minnesota [antikvár]

Far up on the North Shore of Laké Superior, near the tip of Minnesota's Arrowhead Country, lies the Indián village of Grand Portage. To reach it by land you must wind your way down a narrow dirt road to a small bay on the laké shore. In the 1790s it was the busiest, most exciting place in all of Minnesota. This now deserted fur trading post was the doorway to riches. Once, vast fortunes in furs went through it, the gold of the Northwest, for which men risked their lives winter after dreary winter in the wilderness west of Laké Superior. In George Washington's time the name Grand Portage, a mere spot in an untamed land, was known in Europe, while St. Paul and Chicago were not even listed on the map. That was long before Minnesota became a part of the United States or was settled at all. "Grand Portage" or "the great carrying place," got its name because the falls and rapids in the Pigeon River made it necessary to carry canoes and supplies overland to Laké Superior. The trail was nine miles long, the second-longest portage on the entire route from Montreal to the Rockies. The flags of Great Britain, Francé and the United States have waved over it. Until 1762 it was used largely by the French, then the British and, finally, as a result of the War of 1812, by the United States. The fur trading post on Laké Superior was a meeting place for men from the North West Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, the XY Company and John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. From 1783 until 1803 it was considered this country's greatest fur depót. Dániel Hármon, a partner in the North West Company, visited Grand Portage for the first time in June, 1800. He wrote in his journal: 'Within the fort, there is a considerable number of dwelling houses, shops and stores The houses are surrounded by palisades sunk nearly three feet in the ground and rise about fifteen feet above it This is the Head Quarters for all who trade in this part of the world; and therefore, every summer, the greater part (of the men) who have spent the winter in the Interior come here with the furs which they have been able to collect, during the preceding season The people who come from Montreal with the goods on their return take down the furs etc from the north." The men who spent their winters in the wilds north and west of Grand Portage were known as "winterers" or "Nor'westers." They looked down on the "pork-eaters", men who came from Montreal to Grand Portage and ventured no further. The pork-eaters brought guns, trade goods, blankets, knives and other supplies from Montreal and took back the pelts of bea ver, muskrat, martén, mink and racoon. The pork-eaters' canoe was large and took from ten to fourteen men to paddle, while the canoe used by the Nor-westers was smaller, lighter and better suited to the irtland lakes. The pork-eaters didn't just surreptitiously slip into Grand Portage each summer. Grace Lee Nute wrote: "Before Hat Point was turnéd, these voyageurs must prepare for the grand flourish with which every canoe was expected to enter the bay and approach the fort. On somé rocky point the men doffed their workaday clothes and donned the colourful dress of voyageurs The bright sash that encircled the waist several times and the great capote, whose hood was a boon when clouds of mosquitoes attacked the hard-working paddlers or when snow squalls made them shiver. Bathed, shaven, and tricked out in holiday dress, the voyageurs entered their canoes once more and came up the bay swinging red-bladed paddles, a stroke every second, and chanting one of their canoe songs." The great hall at Grand Portage was the scene of much merriment and fighting. On July 4,1800, Dániel Hármon described the day's activities: "In the daytime the (Indians) were permitted to dance in the fort, In the evening the gentlemen of the place dressed and we had a famous ball in the dining room. For musick, we had the bag-pipe, the violin and the flute." The men had Indián maidens for dancing partners, and Hármon was surprised that they conducted themselves "with so much propriety and danced so well." The feasts consisted of "bread, salt pork, beef, hams, fish and venison, butter, peas, Indián corn, potatoes, tea, spirits, wine, etc., and plenty of milk." The North West Company and the others eventually mo ved to Fort Williams. A port remained at Grand Portage until after the War of 1812, but weeds grew up over the trail and fort. The days of glory for the frontier trading metropolis were over. Grand Portage, part of the Arrowhead region in northeastern Minnesota, rims the world's largest freshwater laké, Laké Superior. In Duluth, from the famous Aerial Lift Bridge, visitors watch giant ships wave the flags of dozens of nations as they enter the Laké Superior port. Mines have alsó brought fame to the Arrowhead region. The world's largest open-pit iron ore mine is in Hibbing. Way up north, almost to the Canadian bordér, is International Falls, called the "ice box of the nation." International Falls' sub-zero temperatures are often quoted in Florida, to entice vacationers to stay longer. The frigid city is located on the south bank of Rainy River. Rainy Laké, with its 3,500 miles of shoreline and more than 3,000 islands, is just north of the city. The United States Hockey Hall of Fame is in Eveleth; Ely is the gateway to the federally protected Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness