Listen! Can you hear echoes from the 1930s, when 200 men of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) used picks and shovels to construct the Cascade River Overlook?
The Overlook, where you stand today, is part of the 118-acre Cascade . . . — — Map (db m203021) HM
An Indian community of about 200 people was located in this area about 1915. An ancient Indian cemetery is located about two blocks northeast of this historic church — — Map (db m203254) HM
In 1906 this community was named in honor of Colonel William Colvill, commander of the First Minnesota Regiment.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, this regiment was ordered to charge and advance of Confederates twenty times their . . . — — Map (db m232203) HM
When Newton H. Winchell, Minnesota's state geologist, and, Ulysses S. Grant II (the president’s son) surveyed this area in the 1890s, they concluded that a peak in the Misquah Hills was the state's highest point. Using an aneroid barometer, . . . — — Map (db m151362) HM
Native peoples harvested Lake Superior fish for thousands of years prior to 1835, when John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company established a commercial fishing post in Grand Marais. The company employed these same Native peoples, as well as former . . . — — Map (db m267409) HM
In the winter of 1936-37, James Scott and his son, Roger, built the NeeGee — a commercial fishing tug used in the deep waters of Lake Superior. Grand Marais had a commercial harbor for many years, and the Scotts were among the earliest . . . — — Map (db m267412) HM
The rocks of the North Shore of Lake Superior record the last period of volcanic activity in Minnesota. This volcanism occurred 1.1 billion years ago when the North American continent began to rupture along a great rift valley, which extended from . . . — — Map (db m203069) HM
The harbor of Grand Marais is the result of unequal weathering or erosion of two types of rock. One of these, called diabase, resulted from the cooling of molten material which was forced between two earlier lava flows. The dark, massive diabase, . . . — — Map (db m203155) HM
“I seek the power of the rock, the magic of the water, the religion of the tree, the color of the wind, and the enigma of the horizon.” ~George Morrison George Morrison was a visionary, modern artist from the North Shore. He was given two . . . — — Map (db m267438) HM
Lake Superior Indians recognized the unique nature of this bay long ago, naming it "Kitchi-Bitobig", meaning "double body of water." When white man first settled around this bay, in 1854, a few Indian families lived in tepees and cabins around the . . . — — Map (db m203151) HM
Henry Mayhew, explorer, prospector, entrepreneur and county commissioner, was credited with developing Gunflint Trail and Grand Marais. Capitalizing on the North Shore's well-established commercial fishing and tourism industries, he constructed the . . . — — Map (db m203209) HM
Ancient Volcanoes
1.1 billion years ago, 500 million years before invertebrates appeared, a giant volcanic rift began to open where Lake Superior now lies. Huge lava flows erupted from the rift, spreading over hundreds of square miles . . . — — Map (db m203225) HM
Or “Friend” in Ojibwe, was built at Grand Marais in 1936 by the Scott Family. While other fishing tugs fished from this harbor, only the Neegee was built here. A typical Lake Superior fishing tug, the Neegee was intended to fish off shore. In the . . . — — Map (db m267430) HM
Welcome!
The Point is a broad tombolo which defines the two natural harbors that have made Grand Marais an important spot on Lake Superior's shore for centuries. The 8.4 acre Point was conveyed to the federal government in 1942, and is part . . . — — Map (db m203216) HM
In 1972 Consolidated Papers, Inc., of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., ended long distance rafting of pulpwood across Lake Superior. From 1923–1972, Consolidated rafted over two million cords of pulpwood from Minnesota and Canada to Ashland, Wis. Minnesota . . . — — Map (db m203083) HM
From the 1700s until the early 1900s, itinerant missionaries braved extreme hardships to minister sporadically to North Shore settlers. In 1855, Jesuit missionaries from Fort Williams, Ontario, served Chippewa City, an Ojibwe community of about 100 . . . — — Map (db m200626) HM
Built in the 1940s in Colvill, Minnesota by John and Randolph Samskar and donated to the Cook County Historical Society by the Randolph Samskar Estate. A number of fishermen along the North Shore had similar, but often smaller, smokehouses. Most . . . — — Map (db m267435) HM
Hedstrom Lumber Mill
This 6 acre site, bounded by the Gunflint Trail, County Road 60, and the Devil Track River, was home to the Hedstrom Lumber mill and office from 1914 to 1994. The 4 acre eastern portion, once boulder filled and rough, . . . — — Map (db m231483) HM
