Environment | Page 12

Ojibwe man on Grand Portage trail

An Ojibwe man (possibly Paul LaGarde) standing on the Grand Portage trail on July 10, 1922, during an expedition initiated by Minnesota Historical Society director Solon Buck. The man is identified as a guide who helped MNHS Field Secretary Cecil Shirk and Minneapolis journalist Paul Bliss retrace the trail, which was threatened by private landowners. Publicity from the expedition sparked interest amongst white Minnesotans in preserving the trail and depot sites.

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.