Native Americans | Page 14

Cecil W. Shirk and Paul LaGarde at the site of Fort Charlotte

Minnesota Historical Society Field Secretary Cecil W. Shirk and guide Paul LaGarde (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) stand on the foundations of a building at the site of Fort Charlotte, July 10, 1922. Fort Charlotte was the depot at the western end of the Grand Portage trail, on the south shore of the Pigeon River. Shirk (at right) stands in the remains of a cellar, and LaGarde (left) stands on foundation remains. The image is from a 1922 expedition initiated by MNHS director Solon Buck to retrace and recover the trail, which was threatened by private landowners. Publicity from the expedition sparked interest amongst white Minnesotans in preserving the trail and depot sites.

Grand Portage National Monument

The Grand Portage National Monument in far northeastern Minnesota was established in 1960, after the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe) ceded nearly 710 acres of their land to the US government. A unit of the National Park Service (NPS), it consists of the eight-and-a-half-mile Grand Portage trail and two trading depot sites—one on the shoreline of Lake Superior and one inland, at Pigeon River. A partially reconstructed depot sits at the Lake Superior site.

Ojibwe families building canoes

Ojibwe families building canoes on Sandy Point in Shagawa Lake (outside present-day Ely), ca. 1900. In 1909, the site became part of the Superior National Forest. Public domain.

Bois Forte Ojibwe birch-bark sap bucket

Birch-bark bucket used to collect sap from maple trees. Created by citizens of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, ca. 1880. The Bois Forte as well as the Grand Portage Chippewa (Ojibwe) reserve the right to hunt, fish, collect sap for maple sugar, and harvest wild rice in their traditional homelands inside the Superior National Forest.

Ginwaajiwanaang (Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung)

Ginwaajiwanaang (Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung), The Place of the Long Rapids, also called Long Sault Rapids, in Franz Jevne State Park. Photo by Marjorie Savage, 2021. Used with the permission of Marjorie Savage.

Ginwaajiwanaang (Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung)

Ginwaajiwanaang (Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung), The Place of the Long Rapids, also called Long Sault Rapids, in Franz Jevne State Park. Photo by Marjorie Savage, 2021. Used with the permission of Marjorie Savage.

Franz Jevne State Park

Franz Jevne State Park is Minnesota’s smallest state park, consisting of about 120 acres of hardwood forest and wetlands. Stretching along the southern shoreline of the Rainy River in Koochiching County, the park represents the combination of natural resources and social history that built Minnesota’s far north. It shares a rich culture with the Manitou Burial Mounds, a National Historic Site of Canada, on the river’s northern bank.