Grand Portage National Monument

GLO Record of the Week for October 2, 2022

General Land Office Story Map

This week's GLO Record features a survey plat that depicts Grand Portage National Monument! Located on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Northeastern Minnesota, this monument lies within the homeland of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (Ojibwe).

Grand Portage National Monument protects an overland trade route, known as the Grand Portage, that was historically used by the Anishinaabe Tribe and later by European fur traders. The trail was also called Gitchi Onigamiing, an Ojibwe term meaning the Great Carrying Place.

Gichi-onigamiing (name place) | The Ojibwe People's Dictionary

Many of the words in the Ojibwe People's Dictionary have related resources. Click through to the full dictionary entry to hear audio recordings, see images, read documents and watch videos. Here's a key to resource icons.

https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu

The North West Company was established in Montreal, Canada, between 1779 and 1784, and soon rose to prominence during the fur trade. The 8.5-mile Grand Portage Trail connected two historic North West Company trading depots. Traders used the trail to carry goods from the company's main depot on Lake Superior to the site of historic Fort Charlotte, located farther inland on the Pigeon River.

The survey plat for T. 63 N., R. 6 E., 4th PM, Minnesota, was approved on October 5, 1893, by Surveyor General James Compton. The Grand Portage Trail route is depicted in section 4 of the survey plat.

Use the zoom tools and the slide bar to switch between seeing the map and the plat.

In the 1840s, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to delineate the boundary between the two countries. Under the terms of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, use of the Grand Portage Trail remains free and open to citizens of the United States and Canada.