Grand Portage National Monument marks the site of a famous trail crossing and fur-trading center during the 1700’s. It is in the town of Grand Portage, Minn., just south of the United States-Canadian boundary, on the shore of Lake Superior. The monument was authorized in 1958 and established in 1960. See National Park System (table: National monuments) .
In the 1700’s, fur traders and voyageurs (canoeists) carried their canoes and goods overland at this point to avoid falls and rapids in the Pigeon River. This 9-mile (14-kilometer) portage was the longest in the canoe route from Montreal to the Rocky Mountains.
The North West Company established a headquarters in Grand Portage in the 1780’s. Each summer, brigades of canoes brought goods and supplies from Montreal. Fur traders brought their collection of pelts from the Canadian wilderness. Grand Portage remained an important canoe route and fur-trading center until the United States took possession of the territory in the early 1800’s.
