Grand Portage in Cook County, Minnesota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
The North West Company
Photographed by Connor Olson, September 5, 2019
1. The North West Company Marker
Inscription.
The North West Company. . Inside the Historic Depot in front of you are three of the sixteen buildings that once comprised the summertime headquarters of the North West Company. The depot was not a fort but instead a secure transshipment point for valuable furs and trade goods. The North West Company was dominant, but other companies also were based here. From Grand Portage, goods from Europe and the Far East were sent to interior posts where they were traded for beaver and other furs trapped by Native Americans. Indians also traded food, pitch, canoes, and birch bark, all essential to company operations in the Northwest. The Indians traded for things that made their lives easier or gave them advantages with rivals, such as wool blankets, tools, kettles, and guns.
Inside the Historic Depot in front of you are three of the sixteen buildings that once comprised the summertime headquarters of the North West Company. The depot was not a fort but instead a secure transshipment point for valuable furs and trade goods. The North West Company was dominant, but other companies also were based here. From Grand Portage, goods from Europe and the Far East were sent to interior posts where they were traded for beaver and other furs trapped by Native Americans. Indians also traded food, pitch, canoes, and birch bark, all essential to company operations in the Northwest. The Indians traded for things that made their lives easier or gave them advantages with rivals, such as wool blankets, tools, kettles, and guns.
Location. 47° 57.725′ N, 89° 41.128′ W. Marker is in Grand Portage, Minnesota, in Cook County. It can be reached from Mill Creek Road 0.2 miles
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south of Store Road. Located at the Grand Portage National Monument. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 112 Mill Creek Rd, Grand Portage MN 55605, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in the Arrowhead Region, in the Iron Range, and in the North Shore. It is also in the American Midwest, on the Great Lakes, and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, in the Great North Woods, on Lake Superiors North Shore, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France, Ruperts Land, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Credits. This page was last revised on July 19, 2020. It was originally submitted on July 17, 2020, by Connor Olson of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. This page has been viewed 281 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on July 17, 2020, by Connor Olson of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. 2. submitted on July 19, 2020, by Connor Olson of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.
