Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: grand portage

In the "warehouse" outside the stockade at Grand Portage National Monument in northern Minnesota. These are (real) birch canoes, and the larger ones are in the fashion of those used by the Voyageurs to navigate the Great Lakes. One of the canoes is sixty years old, which is apparently ancient for this technology. Not sure how often it gets used, though evidently these all get into the water occasionally. The park interpreter in this building was discussing the Voyageurs, and the portage, and Alexander Mackenzie's discovery of a route to the Pacific. Although the post was not in Canada, it was staffed by Canadians and the interpreters tend to have Canadian viewpoints. Refreshing, really, in an American National Park.

Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in far northern Minnesota. Like the Voyageurs, the natives lived in a village outside the stockade. The reconstruction features several quite different lodges, a native garden, and examples of native crafts. One striking thing about the display is that the interpreters are not Native American, despite the monument's location in the midst of a large Indian reservation. I'm told that native interpreters are hired with some regularity, but visitors are prone to insulting them, so they rarely stay more than a few weeks. Sad.

If you grew up in the Midwest, you learned about the Voyageurs in elementary school..... The North West Company's operations required moving freight between Montreal and the great wilderness. Much of this commerce travelled by large canoe; these canoes were propelled by legendary masters of the wilderness called Voyageurs. I'm sure the job seemed intolerable to those who paddled those canoes, but to this young Michigander it seemed incredibly romantic. At Grand Portage, the Voyageurs lived in a tent village outside the stockade. This small display represents that village.

Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in far northern Minnesota. Furs were the North West Company's lifeblood. While they traded all kinds of goods, the company's main business was furs, and when the demand for furs died, the company's fortunes faltered.

The interior of the reconstruction of the Great Hall; Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. ======================= Why Reconstructed Places Have Gone Out of Fashion One of the problems with historical landmark reconstruction is the gaps in the information. The folks who built and decorated the Great Hall at Grand Portage likely had some drawings and other documentation, but those typically leave out essential details. These museums are generally a cross between things which are clearly known, things which are believed to be typical, and the occasional WAG . I don't know the exact mix, here; on the whole, the place is convincing. But I've spent enough time researching easier subjects to know the limitations of historical research. Then there are pedagogical issues. The present display includes table settings, trade goods, maps, and furs; this is more to give the enactors who inhabit the place something to point at as they explain things than any pretense of historical accuracy. That is to say, I'm sure the display is "accurate" at some level, but I'm also quite certain that when the trading headquarters was active you'd never find the place looking even vaguely like this photo shows. Nonetheless, I love the place. Perhaps in a decade or so I'll find my way there yet again.

That's a Beaver Hat, and that's the North West Company story. The company traded goods for furs, and the furs became hats. On that basis, they built a global business. Fashion changed, eventually, and the company collapsed. The partners met in Grand Portage, and the Company maintained rooms for their use. The last few photographs were taken in what the Parks Service believes to be a representation of a partner's quarters. Not fancy, but far more shelter than was provided for the voyageurs, the trappers, the traders, and the natives--most of whom camped outside the stockade.

Taken from the porch of the Great Hall at Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. The logs in the corner mark the site of an original building, and the edges of the archeological dig which located it.

Better LARGE . Menu by the kitchen door at Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in extreme northern Minnesota. We're supposed to imagine that the cook was preparing a meal for 100 guests, to be served in the great hall. She had one planked fish done when we visited, and was working on the Rhubarb Crisp.

Late eighteenth-century kitchen tools beside the cooking fire at Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. It was quite clear to us that the friendly lady overseeing the kitchen could explain and demonstrate every one of these.

The stockade, the roof of the Great Hall, and the "voyageur campground" show in this view from the dock at Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. That's Joan, of course, walking on the dock. The dock, of course, is not part of the reconstruction. It is, however, the boarding point for two of the Isle Royale ferries.

Another view of the Pigeon River's tall waterfall; extreme northern Minnesota (part of this photo shows Canada). I've really nothing to add to the note I wrote a few days back ....

Explored #268 (8/15/2013). Thanks! The Pigeon River defines the border between the United States and Canada at the western end of Lake Superior. The Pigeon's rapids, including this waterfall, are the reason most everything in this part of Minnesota--the local Indian reservation, a national monument, the state park which follows the border--is called Grand Portage; you had to portage this area to reach the calmer waters the fur traders used for transportation. This fall's at least 100 feet; some sources report it as 120....

One last view of Grand Portage National Monument, on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota.

Another view of the North West Company's Great Hall at Grand Portage. Apparently all the partners would gather here to make corporate policy. It was pretty near the center of a coast-to-coast operation, so that sort of makes sense; on the other hand, transportation to remote Lake Superior must have been quite a project for the Montreal-based partners in the late 1700s, when this outpost was flourishing.

It's 1802, and the flag of the North West Co, a Canadian fur-trading company with a British charter, is still operating its remote headquarters at Grand Portage at the western end of Lake Superior. We sometimes call this "The willing suspension of disbelief." Grand Portage National Monument in northern Minnesota. That's Lake Superior beyond the stockade.

Grand Portage National Monument, far northern Minnesota.

This pretty much reverses yesterday's Grand Portage photo; I was standing about where that guy was, and this photo was taken from between the Great Hall and the kitchen. The stockade and the boathouse show in this pic. Looks like I'll be doing these daily for a bit....

Reconstructed North West Company trading headquarters in extreme northeastern Minnesota. Since the NWC was a Canadian firm, it wasn't particularly welcome at this location, and moved north in 1802. This reconstruction dates from the 1950s. Reconstructions of historic buildings are not currently fashionable, so this complex is a bit of an anomoly within the National Parks system. It's a little misleading; there's the stockade, three buildings, logs marking the locations of a couple more structures, and a couple gardens; outside the fence there are mockups of voyageur and Indian settlements which are much smaller than the originals they are standing in for. The overall effect is rather parklike, and pleasant, but it lacks the bustle and interest of what was certainly a small village within the stockade; there were nearly twenty buildings in the place in the late eighteenth century. What is there is absolutely delightful. Where Colonial Michilimackinac, a similar place, overwhelms you with buildings and explanations, this monument maximizes its impact by concentrating on getting some crucial details just right. Reenactors serve as hosts and move comfortably between their historical personas and their modern selves, and the buildings house some carefully selected artifacts, arranged pretty much as you'd expect them to be arranged in a real trading post. The larger building, on the right, is the great hall; the smaller building is the kitchen which fed the traders and company officers when they were at the headquarters. The third building, a boat house, is outside the stockade.