GRAND PORTAGE Administrative History

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

In July 1935, Edward A. Hummel, National Park Service Assistant Regional Historian in Omaha, submitted his observations and study on a fact-finding trip to the area. Grand Portage, Fort Charlotte, and the portage which connected them, Hummel reported, possessed "sufficient national historic interest to be recommended for a national monument." [1]

On the advice of the NPS Director, the Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments investigated Grand Portage and concurred. In 1936, it declared that Grand Portage was nationally significant "because of its important association with the fur trade and exploration and colonization of the Northwest." The Advisory Board also noted Grand Portage was a historic and geographic link between the United States and Canada and represented an "excellent state of preservation in a semi-wilderness setting." [2]

While the cooperative agreement was in effect between the Indian Service and the MHS to do the excavation and reconstruction work, the NPS did not involve itself directly at Grand Portage.

The April 3, 1940, establishment of Isle Royale National Park gave added significance to the Grand Portage area. A mere 22 miles from Isle Royale, Grand Portage afforded the closest mainland port to the new national park. Isle Royale's mainland headquarters were at Houghton, Michigan, an inconvenient 60 miles across a heavily traveled channel. Evaluating the pros and cons of moving the NPS Isle Royale headquarters to Grand Portage, a 1941 memorandum accounted why the two sites could not be coordinated. First, Grand Portage Bay was too shallow to accommodate large vessels. An Army Corps of Engineers estimate showed that $100,000 in harbor improvements would have to be made. Second, the new route of Highway 61 had not been determined. Grand Portage was still largely inaccessible to the huge urban population to the south. Finally, any such relocation to Grand Portage would require an agreement with the Indians to acquire the land (an Act of Congress) and to build the proper support facilities. [3]

Three days before Pearl Harbor, the Park Service contacted the Office of Indian Affairs in regard to a joint effort to devise a master plan for the Grand Portage area. A meeting was scheduled for early 1942 to discuss the proposed State highway route, parking for visitors departing for Isle Royale, and the dock. [4] But with the country at war, governmental priorities shifted away from the secluded northeastern tip of Minnesota. An area master plan would not be prepared until the late 1960s.

On June 9, 1950, the Grand Portage Band, tired of seeing the economic potential of Grand Portage go unrealized, passed a resolution inviting NPS representatives to a tribal executive committee meeting to discuss the possibility of acquiring national historic site status under the Historic Sites Act of 1935. [5] This marked the first time that such talks with the NPS, which had begun as early as 1935, were placed on an official level.

Two representatives from the Region II office in Omaha were dispatched by Regional Director Lawrence Merriam to the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. Regional Historian Merrill J. Mattes and landscape Architect George Ingalls were sent to negotiate with the Grand Portage Tribal Council and attempt to secure a signed agreement to establish a national historic site owned and operated by the Indians, not the Federal Government.

Mattes and Ingalls met with the tribal council for three days and two nights and presented a list of promises and principles upon which the National Park Service was willing to agree. The Indians raised numerous and objections during the discussions. Mattes typed six different draft agreements on an old portage typewriter he had brought along to the remote village. The final draft they produced provided for the Secretary of the Interior to declare a national historic site within narrow boundaries enveloping the portage and both termini, although excluding the Indian settlement adjacent to the Grand Portage depot site. In turn, the Indians promised not only to operate the new national historic site for the benefit of the American people, but to provide for visitors by building a facility to house and feed the anticipated influx of tourists.

The agreement was signed by the tribal council members, but not Mattes or Ingalls. They packed the document away for the return trip to Omaha and the subsequent signing by the Region II Director and the NPS Director. Before the men left, however, they made the long trek up the historic portage to Fort Charlotte "to lay eyes on what we were committing the Government to." [6]

Grand Portage was in a sad state of disrepair. No maintenance of the existing reconstructions had taken place since 1940. Neither the CCHS or MHS were in a position to dedicate the large financial expenditures required to rehabilitate Grand Portage. The same applied to the NPS. An appeal to the Park Service to rearrange and relabel the CCHS museum exhibits in the Great Hall was vetoed for lack of funds, but in reality the NPS lacked any legal authority to help Grand Portage. The NPS determined that it "does not have the primary authority for development of the museum." [7] Under the cooperative agreement signed by the Secretary of the Interior, the Tribe, and the Band in mid-1951,the historic site remained under Indian control and ownership while the NPS provided technical assistance limited by available funding.

Dedication ceremonies for Grand Portage National Historic Site were held August 9, 1951. President Harry S Truman approved the agreement between the Indians and the Federal Government to protect the trail and fur post sites as a national historic site. A message from the President was read at the dedication where the Premier of Ontario and the Chief of the Minnesota Chippewas spoke of the importance of Grand Portage to the development of the U.S. and Canada. The MHS was praised for its extensive involvement with the historic site. [8] The NPS was represented by Associate Director Ronald F. Lee. Dr. Grace Lee Nute, MHS researcher and primary authority on Grand Portage history, was the featured speaker. The Indians dressed in their ancestral clothing, provided native dancing and singing, and served a dinner of lake trout and blueberry pie. [8]

The Designation Order was issued by the Secretary of the Interior on September 15, 1951.

According to Historian Merrill J. Mattes, the motivating force behind the drive to establish Grand Portage National Historic Site were the conservationists, in particular the Wilderness Society and its staunch Minnesota advocate, Sigurd "Sig" Olson of Ely. The Wilderness Society pressed the Park Service to establish the national historic site in northern Minnesota in order to secure a foothold or anchor in the region. Once the Government had established a presence there, it was hoped that other historic or wilderness areas would fall under the umbrella of Federal protection in the form of a wilderness reserve along the international border. Mattes recalled:

....the background of this... wasn't given to me at the time. The background is that the conservationists, led by a gentleman by the name of Sig Olson, a prime mover in the Wilderness Society, were anxious to establish a National Wilderness Park along the international boundary. They wanted to do this because the hunters and the fishermen and others were making so many inroads against the wilderness area, disturbing the serenity of the scene. I didn't realize it till later, but I realized it before long that the main thrust for establishing Grand Portage National Historic Site was an anchor. The National Park Service would get a toehold up in that part of the country and then they'd be in a better position to go to work on the wilderness project. By way of proof of that has been the establishment within the last ten years or so of the Voyageurs National Park. [9]

In early 1952, a Memorandum of Agreement between the Secretary of the Interior and the Indians pledged that the National Park Service would erect two bronze national historic site markers, publish literature for distribution to visitors, and cooperate with the Indians for the site's preservation within the limits of appropriations.

In response to a letter from Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, National Park Service Director Conrad L. Wirth spelled out the Park Service's role at Grand Portage. Effective administration, Wirth explained, required that the Park Service obtain the title to the land. Since the Indians had refused to relinquish the property, the National Park Service role there could only be minimal. Wirth informed Humphrey that President Truman, when he approved the national historic site designation, specified, that not more than $2,200 per year could be spent by the Department of the Interior on any project there. Like any loosely associated site, the Park Service's purpose at Grand Portage was "focusing public attention on the site and giving technical guidance in preservation and use." [10]

Dissatisfied with the limited amount of financial assistance the NPS could provide, on June 8, 1953, the Tribe's executive body agreed that it was "highly desirable to create Grand Portage National Monument in lieu of Grand Portage National Historic Site." The Indians for the first time indicated their willingness to sell their allotments to the Federal Government following Congressional action. In exchange for preferential employment privileges and other rights, the same boundaries, plus additional acreage at the Grand Portage depot, would be adopted. [11] Negotiating and formulating the necessary legislation did not end until 1958.

In the meantime, a 1956 NPS report on Grand Portage revealed the deteriorated condition of the complex. No maintenance had taken place since construction in the late 1930s. Sections of the palisade were falling over. Many post butts were rotted from standing in water-filled trenches. The Great Hall, weatherbeaten and neglected, was structurally sound, but had one leak near a chimney where lightning, had once struck. The exhibits were deteriorating because those that were not enclosed in glass cases were handled indiscriminately by visitors. The only major repair that the Park Service financed was a $500 project on the 250 foot dock which was damaged in an ice storm. One thousand dollars was approved in 1954 to clear the Grand Portage and to rebuild some of its foot bridges.

Visitors to Grand Portage were provided with no interpreters or guides. Automobiles damaged the site and detracted from the historic scene by being permitted to park within the stockade just feet away from the Great Hall itself. The Indians obviously could not financially maintain Grand Portage. Under their control it would only continue to deteriorate. The 1956 report recommended that the site was worthy of preservation, and that it was incumbent on the National Park Service to restore it.

State and local government agencies could offer no financial help. Government relief funding ended in 1942 as the economy of the area was tooled primarily to the war effort. Already hard pressed during the Depression, economic hardship continued on the North Shore which depended on tourism for its livelihood. With the wartime rationing of tires, gas, and cars, few people visited the reconstructed fur post on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation.

Following World War II and into the early 1950s, the MHS was in the slow process of rebuilding itself from the debilitating budget reductions imposed on it by the Minnesota Legislature. Unfortunately, no funds could be diverted away from the Society's basic programs to help Grand Portage. The Cook County Historical Society, a lively group of local citizens with a negligible budget, also could not stop the sad deterioration of the fur depot. They were vocal, however, in promoting the site through local and State media, and to congressional representatives.

It was becoming clear to many in the 1950s that the only real assistance for Grand Portage could come from the Federal Government. [12]

GRAND PORTAGE NATIONAL MONUMENT 1960-1969

Ceding land back to the Federal Government once it is set aside as an Indian Reservation guaranteed by treaty is a rare occurrence. It is the principal reason why congressional action on Grand Portage did not take place until 1958. Prior to this action, debates raged within the local Reservation Business Committee (RBC) and the Minnesota Chippewa's Tribal Executive Committee (TEC) on whether to approve the national monument and thereby relinquish reservation land to the Government.

Bitter opposition to the measure was in large part overcome by three local individuals: Judge C. R. Magney (Shroeder), a State Judge from Cook County; Mrs. Effie McLean (Hovland), President of the Cook County Historical Society (CCHS); and Alton Bramer (Grand Marais), member and business agent of the Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Another lobbyist was a private citizen from Ely, Minnesota, Sigurd F. Olson, who had ties with the Wilderness Society. These community leaders were trusted and respected figures who engaged in impassioned debates before the various Indian councils arguing the merits of establishing the national monument. Backed by the CCHS, MHS, and 8th District Minnesota Representative John Blatnik from Duluth, these lobbyists succeeded in obtaining the RBC and TEC's concurrence.

The final agreement was submitted to the 85th Congress and approved on September 2, 1958, as Public Law 85-910. Under the dictates of the legislation, the national monument was not established until the land allotments were acquired by the Federal Government. Within the proposed boundaries, acreage of the Grand Portage Band amounted to 258, while Minnesota Chippewa tribal lands totaled 50 acres. Nineteen months later, when the trust lands were relinquished from all but the private allottees, the Secretary of the Interior revoked the 1951 order designating the national historic site. On March 31, 1960, the Federal Register carried the Secretary's Notice of Establishment of Grand Portage National Monument (See Appendix B). [13]

The enormous task of restoring the fur trade depot lay ahead. In July 1960, the CCHS gave the National Park Service the Crawford Log Cabin, located within the stockade, as well as all the exhibits in the Great Hall's museum. The CCHS also offered its cooperation in the future development of the national monument. The donated displays consisted of 258 items, 8 glass cases, and several boxes of artifacts from the 1937 expedition. Additional items given the National Park Service were snow shoes, two large and three small birch bark canoes, and photostatic copies of original Hudson's Bay Company documents. The donation was a valuable head start in the NPS interpretive effort. [14]

Since the 1940 establishment of Isle Royale National Park, the Superintendent of that NPS reserve kept an unofficial "close eye" on Grand Portage. The main reason for this interest was because an Isle Royale embarkation point was at the Grand Portage dock. Additionally, since the Advisory Board indicated interest in the site as early as 1936, the Park Service had payed increased attention to this potential future accession.

On August 21, 1960, Isle Royale's unofficial "supervision" ended when Eliot Davis, Grand Portage's first Superintendent, began his duties at an office in Grand Marais, 40 miles to the south. Davis was charged with the responsibility of supervising major restoration projects to transform the monument to its appearance 200 years ago. He was immediately confronted with a problem which every one of his successors has since realized: the confines of the monument's boundaries and the need for more space. Davis pledged himself to keep the Indians informed about all major policy decisions and to work closely with them to create an atmosphere of friendship and trust. [15]

In 1961, the Indians drew up their own list of seven priorities for overall economic development: 1) Preserve wilderness and historic values while maintaining the native timber industry; 2) Provide employment for the Band; 3) Demonstrate that the community can develop and sustain a self-sufficient economy; 4) Uplift living standards, health, and general welfare; 5) Work "effectively and harmoniously" with the Government to develop the community; 6) "Pursue prudent and productive practices in the utilization of natural resources;" and 7) Make the reservation and monument "one of the most outstanding historic and recreational areas in the United States." [16]

Fulfilling a requirement of Public Law 85-910, the Park Service published A Recreation Land Use Plan for the reservation in 1961. Authorizing the study, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior wrote:

... the best interests of the United States and the Indians would be to produce an overall land use plan for the orderly recreation development of the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and other Indian lands in the vicinity, including Pigeon Point. Since these lands belong to the Indians or are being held in trust by the United States for the Indians, it seems best that the Indians arrange (in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs working with the National Park Service) for the development of an overall land use plan for these lands. The advisory capacity of the National Park Service can include review and suggestions on the adequacy and suitability of the land use plan as it is being prepared. It would be particularly advisable for the Grand Portage Indian Council to withhold any recreation leases and development until such plan is completed.

In developing the land use plan, factors to be considered should include the preservation of outstanding scenic and public recreation features, circulation systems, logical and beneficial locations for resort and commercial development, logical and suitable locations for future expansion of residential development and the relationship of Grand Portage National Monument to the future use and development of this whole area. [17]

The 1961 plan details the recreational advantages of the area and focuses on development extending along the coastal North Shore Drive of the reservation. Because the lakeshore was logged-off in the early part of the century, future lumbering activities could be concentrated in the upland interior without adversely affecting the natural beauty of the area. Modernization of the village on the east side of U.S. 61 was proposed by NPS planners and included community buildings, a trading post, schoolgrounds, playground, and residential subdivisions. Sanitary water and sewer systems for the village, monument, and the proposed Pigeon Point Indian Park were planned to "consolidate utilities into a relatively economical unit." [18]

Utilizing members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, work projects in 1963 included reconstructing the Mount Rose Trail and signs, replacing the Great Hall's roof, preparing pickets, shoreline cleanup, and landscaping the former parking area in front of the Great Hall which was covered with sod the year before. [19]

In 1964, an Interpretive Prospectus was prepared by Park Historian Robert J. Riley who admitted that the Park Service's progress since 1960 to develop an interpretive program at Grand Portage was "poor." More research was needed before a well-developed interpretive program could be adopted. The lack of historical data on Grand Portage, coupled with reliance on only "superficial and secondary" sources, hampered effective interpretation. He recommended continued archeological excavations at Grand Portage and Fort Charlotte. Riley called the existing visitor facilities "minimal" adding:

Today the persons visiting Grand Portage National Monument come away with only a meager, possibly distorted, and certainly fragmentary knowledge of this historically significant area. [20]

The single interpretive facility was the Great Hall in which a concession operation conflicted with the presentation of the scant and inadequate museum displays. The exhibits provided

... little, if any, excitement about seeing the area and its significance.... The existing interpretive signs and markers, although adequate per se mean little to the visitor who has not first been given the chance to get a glimpse into the drama, color and deep human interest of the Grand Portage story, and its significance to the history of our country. [21]

Another serious problem entailed that a large percentage of the portage and the entire Fort Charlotte site remained in non-Federal ownership. These inholdings were held by private Indian and non-Indian allottees as well as the Grand Portage Band's own trust lands. No land acquisition program, as called for by Public Law 85-910, had yet begun. Until it did, "the full potential of the monument's resources cannot be realized nor can an adequate program be established." Close cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) would speed the process of the acquisitions which were completed by 1970.

Close work with the BIA was also recommended in the 1964 Interpretive Prospectus to formulate design plans for a joint administrative facility. An NPS/BIA facility on "Agency Reserve Lands" would be "the most suitable location for an interpretive facility within the entire Grand Portage area." Grand Portage, the prospectus noted, "sorely needs" an administrative headquarters building to incorporate public restrooms and orientation services as well as interpretive areas for films and displays to "make the past live" and the visit "meaningful and enjoyable." Within the proposed NPS section would be a lobby, information desk, a view terrace, color film presentation room, prize object display rooms, library and study collection rooms, and, administrative offices. [22]

To enjoy and appreciate the monument, the Interpretive Prospectus stated that the interpretive center was vital to the visitor traveling on U.S. 61 between Duluth and Thunder Bay. Guided tours would also support the overall effect of Grand Portage with trips to the North West Company post reconstruction, beach sites, a half-mile walk along the portage, and the roundtrip walk on the scenic Mount Rose Trail. Future trips might include area boat excursions on the coast and overnight hikes along the entire Grand Portage. The new interpretive program "places heavy dependence on attractive, well-written, and accurate publications to cover the many facets of the park story too difficult to present by visual means." The only NPS publication available was a 24-page folder published in 1964. Printing a low-cost historical handbook was suggested. [23]

The completion of a two-year project to replace the stockade was accomplished in 1966. The palisade picket butts had rotted and fallen over in several sections because of the poor drainage in the depot area. MHS archeological excavations in the early 1960s resulted in the reconstruction of the elevated Gatehouse and two sets of heavy double gates by 1966. Regular guided tours around the stockade commenced that summer, conducted by a seasonal Ranger-Historian. Additionally, Grand Portage National Monument joined the Eastern National Park and Monument Association (ENP & MA), a support organization which helps fund projects and provides items for sale to tourists. [24]

The year 1967 saw a dramatic increase in visitation to the monument. Annual visitation figures reached a record-high 103,458 compared to 27,585 in 1961 (the first year statistics were kept) and 75,082 in 1966. The reason for this surge was due to the Canadian centennial celebration, Expo '67. Grand Portage greeted the influx of thousands of Canadians who were retracing the route of the voyageurs (See Appendix F for annual visitation figures).

In the mid-1960s, public and private figures, concerned that the rapid spread of commercial development might destroy the scenic beauty of the North Shore, revived the idea of establishing an Indian park in the Grand Portage-Pigeon Point area. A March 25, 1967, statement drafted by the Grand Portage Reservation Business Committee (RBC) declared:

The Committee is fully aware of the probable economic impact of the Indian Park on this community. We know also that the Indian Park can produce a situation in which our children can prosper and improve their way of life. In short, we need no one to convince us of the value and the desirability of the Park concept as we now know it.

However, we are dealing with the last remaining small possession of many of the Indian people of our community. We are obligating and dedicating this last possession, this land, to certain purposes which are sure to conflict with traditional Indian usage. In order to justify the inevitable restrictions, we must be able to produce positive assurances that the land itself will not be lost and that our people will be given every opportunity to derive maximum benefits from the Indian Park.

To do less than this would constitute callous indifference to the wishes of a majority of the Grand Portage Band and would expose the Reservation and its people to the uncertain attitudes and policies of changing federal administrations.

We want this Park very badly, but if we are to have it at all it must come on terms that we and our children can live with. [25]

So popular was support for an Indian park that State Representative J. William Trygg (62nd District of Minnesota) released a study in 1968 in which he called for the establishment of a "national recreation area" within the reservation to be managed by the NPS, BIA, and the Grand Portage Band. The "Grand Portage-Voyageurs National Park" would "help preserve the area from random development" and "preserve the scenic beauty" of the region. Representative Trygg reasoned that northeast Minnesota was surrounded by public recreation areas—Pigeon River Park (Ontario), Isle Royale National Park, Kabetogama State Forest, and Superior National Forest—and so protecting the region's core (Grand Portage) would only benefit the other areas. [26] The proposal was never translated into legislation.

To study the effects of a future Indian park on the national monument, the Secretary of the Interior authorized the formation of a special task force on May 26, 1965. Agencies participating in the task force included the Department of the Interior (BIA, NPS, and Program Support Staff); the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Public Health Service); State of Minnesota (Minnesota Conservation Department); and the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and the Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewas. The task force recommended that a park managed by the Indians and the National Park Service be established with administrative and public use facilities outside, but adjacent to, the monument's boundaries. The proposed park would encompass an economically depressed area. Federal assistance would be required to establish any park, as the local economy could never support such development.

Another task force mandate was to resolve the differences between two planning reports—the NPS land use report (1961) and one by private consulting firm Aguar, Jyring, and Whiteman, Planning Associates of Duluth, Minnesota (1963). The major differences in the two proposals concerned the location of a major resort complex on Wauswaugoning Bay and timber harvesting within recreational areas. The NPS condemned both points of contention as an intrusion on the area's natural beauty. [27]

In addressing itself to the effects of an Indian park on Grand Portage National Monument, the task force reported that:

The Indian people are faced with increasing economic pressure to develop, lease, or sell their lands for commercial exploitation. Though it is true that the National Park Service will preserve, within the 700 [sic] acre monument boundary, the reconstructed stockade, the portage, and the site of Fort Charlotte, it must be realized that these features are small parts of a scenic and historic mosaic encompassing the entire reservation; if the surrounding terrain is not preserved, the very purpose of the National Monument could be destroyed. [28]

Inability to acquire lands because of the lack of funds was creating problems for the NPS land acquisition program at Grand Portage. Of the 770 acres authorized in Public law 85-910, 375 acres—nearly half of the national monument—still remained unpurchased because of the lack of congressional appropriations, a fact which had soured Indian-NPS relations. Location of the portage route caused many headaches since its winding route "severs allotted land and leaves small, isolated tracts with little or no residual value to the original owner." The task force recommended that:

...the Grand Portage National Monument legislation be modified to permit the National Park Service, where necessary and desirable, to acquire entire tracts of land and to give severed balances to the Grand Portage Band or the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, whichever happens to be the contiguous landowner. [29]

Another amendment to Public Law 85-910 that the task force suggested involved the relinquishment by the Indians of road rights-of-way. It stated that since the monument was created, "development has been minor" with large cash outlays of only $125,273 spent on the reconstructed stockade and Gatehouse. It observed that "full development has not been possible because the legislation establishing the monument did not authorize acquisition of existing roads within the boundaries. These roads effectively divide the North West Fur Company area, making efficient management impossible." [30]

The lack of space within the monument's boundaries for a headquarters/visitor center, administrative offices, utility buildings, and parking areas also blocked full development. The task force recommended that NPS, BIA, and any future Indian park headquarters be combined. Building the complex, maintenance and storage facilities, and employee housing would cost an estimated $1,628,100. A new sewage disposal system would also be required to service the area. Such large investment of capital into the reservation would be a tremendous impetus to the local economy. [31]

A concluding recommendation to the NPS concerned the portage crossing at U.S. 61 at which several hundred feet of the historic portage was destroyed by the highway fill. The grade at the crossing point is steep and the speed of cars fast, resulting in hazards to hikers. The task force asked that the Minnesota Highway Commission participate in the restoration of the Grand Portage, construct an underpass on U.S. 61, and erect lowered speed limit and caution signs for motorists. [32]

Differing opinions between the various groups involved in the proposed Indian park have relegated it to the planner's table. To date, while there are some who still dream of a future park to preserve the region's natural beauty, no such entity has been established.

FIRE AT THE GREAT HALL

On July 15, 1969, an exceptionally bright flash of lightning ripped through the pre-dawn skies of Grand Portage, followed by a deafening report of thunder. Within minutes flames rose above the reconstructed Great Hall. Two hours later, the structure was in ruins. No adequate fire prevention system was available to fight the blaze. Local residents and NPS personnel watched helplessly as the building burned. They scored a major victory, however, by ensuring that the flames did not spread to the reconstructed east gate and palisades. By the time the fire was finally extinguished, the national monument was left without its key attraction and interpretive center.

The only items recovered from the Great Hall were some flags and a small amount of craft supplies located near the front entrance where Maintenance Foreman Gordon LeGarde was able to grab them. The lost exhibits, mostly Chippewa materials made by the Grand Portage Band dating to 1938, included three birch bark canoes, decorative baskets, deerskin clothing and accessories, MHS artifacts and specimens of voyageur trade goods, and two muskets used in firing demonstrations. ENP & MA cash and stock totaling $474 and $2,500 in new interpretive panels were also lost. Along with the museum, the coffee shop concession operated by the Grand Portage Band was gone. The small restaurant in 1968 had grossed $12,500 (mostly from serving breakfast to Isle Royale travelers and souvenir sales) and employed five to eight Indians. The Great Hall fire represented a total loss of $68,719. [33]

An NPS investigative team from the Midwest Regional Office was dispatched to survey the damage. Regional Chief of Maintenance J.L. Dunning observed:

It appears that the building was struck by lightning which ignited the building from within. One of the chimneys has a small spalled area at the top and a large crack down one side, which could very well be lightning caused. It is difficult to be certain since there is so little remaining of the building and the intense heat has caused breaking and spalling of the rock used in construction of the chimney. The damage to the chimney is such that it appears no salvage is possible and it will be necessary to tear these two chimneys down before any reconstruction is attempted.

Dunning's main concern was the absence of sanitary facilities. Another problem was that until normal business operations could resume, the Grand Portage Band was without a major source of income. To remedy the situation, Dunning recommended that an unused, State-owned house near the Mount Maud Lookout Tower be moved to Grand Portage to serve as a temporary cafe/curio shop. (The building was moved to the site in September). A temporary information and publication sales office was set up in the Crawford Log Cabin. To provide for visitor interest, cultural demonstrators from the Grand Portage Band erected a large birch bark wigwam within the stockade where they sat and worked on handicrafts.

Estimated costs to reconstruct the Great Hall were set at $50,000 for the exhibits and $250,000 for the main structure. Plans and photographs from the MHS reconstruction project in 1938-40 would be relied upon to form the foundation of a new reconstruction effort. [34]

GRAND PORTAGE NATIONAL MONUMENT, 1970-1982

A historic structure report for the Great Hall was compiled in 1970 by Erwin N. Thompson. He laboriously analyzed the construction of fur trade structures in the United States and Canada, particularly Grand Portage's successor, Fort William, to ascertain a conjectural picture of the Great Hall's appearance 200 years ago. The first reconstruction effort was not primarily concerned with historical accuracy. While tragic, the 1969 fire was also viewed as a blessing in disguise. Thompson wrote:

Students of fur trading posts already had recognized ways in which that reconstruction [1938-40] could have been more accurately done. Although the fire was by no means welcome—it destroyed many artifacts along with a useful building—one result of it was a fresh opportunity to rebuild the Great Hall in a more authentic manner. [35]

A pronounced emphasis on authenticity was placed on the second reconstruction of the Great Hall. The Park Service once again commissioned Alan R. Woolworth of the MHS to conduct an archeological excavation of the Great Hall and the surrounding area. The foundation of the burned building was removed as excavators searched and found the outlines of a large porch which graced the front of the Great Hall. Woolworth's team found the site of a 35 by 27-foot structure which had once stood immediately behind it. From the wealth of artifacts it was determined that the Kitchen of the Great Hall had been found. In addition, the site of the Canoe Warehouse, which was discovered in 1963 and excavated in 1964, was investigated further.

When the archeologists completed their investigation, reconstruction began in 1971. Through an agreement with the Band, the timbers were cut from the reservation. According to Superintendent Richard S. Tousley,

Erwin Thompson's meticulous research cannot be overstated. The present Great Hall was built by the Service with its own Chippewa day labor crews. While a heavy-duty woodworking shop was erected and furnished for the purpose, there was a great deal of hand work required to maintain authenticity.... The crew accepted a tremendous challenge and took quiet pride in its work. The building is a monument to the crew's skill and dedication. [36]

Three years later Grand Portage once again had a Great Hall, however scantily furnished. Superintendent Sherman W. Perry wrote:

We did not have much to show in the Great Hall as the furnishings plan had not been completed nor furnishings purchased. However, we were able to build and display tables of the type that were used by clerks and lesser members of the North West Company. Also the park had some temporary exhibits in the Great Hall, such as a flintlock musket, powderhorn, a lacrosse set, and some skins of beaver, bear, muskrat, mink, and marten. We had an exhibit of toys that children, primarily Indian, would have used during the period that the North West Company in operation. [37]

Interpretation was aided by the presentation of three films shown at various times during the day. Outside, the metal figures of a voyageur, Indian, and North West Company partner were on display. Also within the stockade were a carved seal and map detailing the voyageur's route. The display was positioned in front of a row of seats where a Ranger presented hourly talks.

Superintendent Perry was worried about the destruction of the wilderness setting of Grand Portage by the increasing threat of timber farming near the monument's boundaries, a problem which to date has not been resolved. Perry commented:

We lack the 5,000 contiguous acres needed to be classified as a wilderness area, but do consider the park land north of Highway 61 as wild land. It contains the flora and fuma [sic] indigenous to such country, including our own timber wolves, moose, and pine marten. With this in mind, we mention the increased foot travel over the Grand Portage Trail that led to the overuse of the back country campsite at Fort Charlotte. Remarking the park boundary north of Highway 61 continues a pressing need because of Grand Portage Reservation timber sales continue and there are cutting operations adjacent to park lands. [38]

Crime is a problem which every Superintendent has to consider. A three-year low in the number of reported thefts was noted at the monument in 1972, principally in the nearby visitor's Isle Royale parking lot. The reported losses from visitors' cars were reduced 4,000 percent thanks to a change in the parking lot concession. Thefts dropped dramatically when a new contract was signed with the Grand Portage Band to charge daily parking fees and employ an Indian manager-security officer. [39]

The "Rendezvous Days" commemoration was inaugurated in the summer of 1972. Participants from the Grand Portage Band, NPS, Old Fort William (Ontario), and area enthusiasts all dressed in fur trade garb and engaged in canoe races and games of skill dating to the days of the voyageur. The event was patterned to be a small-scale modern reenactment of the annual Rendezvous of the North West Company. The local popularity of the festival has made Rendezvous Days an annual celebration at Grand Portage National Monument. [40]

An event of profound importance to the local economy took place on August 26, 1973, with the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Hilton Hotel complex. Built on the reservation, the hotel is the first such large-scale development to be undertaken at Grand Portage. The groundbreaking festivities were held at the Great Hall because the location on Grand Portage Bay was too swampy and mosquito-infested. The Grand Portage Development Corporation headed the estimated $1.6 million RBC project. The 100-room Hilton Hotel project signalled that investors were confident that the area's beauty and the popularity of the national monument were strong drawing cards to merit the construction of a major development. [41]

Before the project was completed, however, Hilton Hotels, Inc., pulled out of the deal and was soon replaced by Radisson Hotels, Inc. The managerial association with Radisson ended in 1980, and the hotel, now called the Grand Portage Lodge and Conference Center, is owned and managed by the Grand Portage Band of Minnesota Chippewas.

Interpretation was augmented at the monument in 1973 when the newly-reconstructed Canoe Warehouse opened to the public. Seasonals were on hand that year to interpret the exhibits which consisted of two birch bark canoes, barrels, kegs, gun cases, and a shaving horse. There is no furnishing plan for the warehouse, and visitor access is only with an interpreter on a conducted tour basis. Four temporary exhibits were on view in the Great Hall in 1973 depicting the archeological excavations at the site, and an audio station was added to the continental map exhibit. [42]

In 1973, a historic structure report on the Kitchen, prepared by Erwin N. Thompson, recognized that it was "essential to the Great Hall's role." He recommended that the building be reconstructed in the Canadian style and patterned after similar extant structures like the Chateau de Ramezay (Montreal) and the Big House, Lower Fort Garry (Manitoba). A simple covered walkway was designed to join the conjectural Kitchen to the Great Hall. [43]

A master plan for Grand Portage was completed in 1973, replacing an earlier 1970 plan. The master plan's forecast was for increasing visitation, thanks to the completion of the Canadian highway link to the Lake Superior Circle route. Conditions which limited development of Grand Portage's potential and management, however, were a lack of suitable land, legislative requirements, and an incomplete archeological study. The need to establish a Park Service headquarters, maintenance, and interpretive complex on the lakefront and abandon the Grand Marais location was seen as a requirement for future development. The new facilities would help "bring alive" the monument's original and reconstructed physical resources. Interpretation would also improve if reconstructions were undertaken east of Grand Portage Creek on the sites of the X Y Post, Boucher's Fort, and the voyageur camping area—although none were considered "essential." A pressing need was to recreate the historic scene of 1800 by relying on architects, historians, and archeologists, and to remove modern roads, power lines, and docks. [44]

(According to documents in the central files of the Midwest Regional Office, the 1973 Master Plan was reclassified in the mid-1970s to a "resource document" because it lacked an Environmental Impact Statement).

The last NPS Regional boundary alignment to date occurred in 1974 when Grand Portage National Monument, under the jurisdiction of the Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia) Regional Office for several years, reverted back to the Midwest Regional Office in Omaha. [45] As a national historic site, Grand Portage first came under the jurisdiction of the Midwest Region, then known as Region II, in 1951. In July 1955, it was transferred to the authority of the Philadelphia Office (then designated Region V) for five years until the new national monument was shifted back to Omaha in July 1960. After the fire at the Great Hall, Grand Portage was administered for a short period in 1972 by the North Atlantic Regional Office in Boston and then by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Office. In early 1974, Grand Portage National Monument was once again under the authority of the Midwest Regional Office at Omaha. The change marked the fifth time in 23 years that Grand Portage had been shuffled between NPS Regions.

Park improvements in 1974 included an exhibit which permitted the visitor to handle beaver tricorns and top hats, beaver hides, and other skins. The positioning of new water and sewer lines the years before resulted in the relocation of the public restroom facility outside the stockade where a new building was erected in 1978. [46] The Great Hall was made accessible to the handicapped in 1974 with the construction of a wheelchair ramp.

The opening of the restaurant at the Grand Portage Radisson Inn in 1975 resulted in the monument's food concession to the Grand Portage Band being eliminated. The old Mount Maud Lookout building, which previously served as the coffee shop, was converted in 1976 to a temporary visitor center where pamphlets are now distributed and ENP & MA items are sold. An audio visual center was arranged there in 1977 and an array of films are aired at scheduled times during the day. The removal of these activities from the Great Hall has improved its historic scene and accuracy.

Another major improvement, stone retaining walls erected on the Mount Rose Trail in 1975, has ensured a higher level of safety on the more dangerous sections of the steep trail. Several wooden bridges were also fabricated for this purpose on the Grand Portage. [47]

A Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program was initiated at Grand Portage during the summer of 1976 under contract to the George Williams College of Chicago to provide a camp director and work crew leaders. The nonresident, coeducational camp accommodated 14 enrollees from the Grand Marais area. YCC workers cleaned the creek, landscaped the stockade, built trail bridges, improved the campground, and cleared trails. Superintendent Ivan D. Miller termed the program less than successful for a variety of reasons. He observed:

We elected not to have a YCC camp for the next season, recommending to others in situations similar to ours to consider using residential camps where possible, recruit enrollees on a statewide basis, and if a contract is used, insist on personnel and organizations with experience in YCC. [48]

Events which transpired in that same summer manifested the need for permanent administrative offices. The lease on the rented Grand Marais headquarters expired, forcing the NPS personnel to relocate for two months in cramped quarters at the local U.S. Coast Guard building. The large collection of artifacts was stored at the U.S. Customs facilities on the international border. In November 1976, a new "temporary headquarters" was occupied west of Grand Marais, where the park Superintendent's Office is still located. [49]

Devastating rainstorms in September 1977, resulted in heavy run-off from Mount Rose and Grand Portage Creek overflowing its banks. This, coupled with an elevated water level of Lake Superior, exacerbated an already serious shoreline erosion problem. The portage and foot bridges were badly damaged. Major shoreline stabilization, particularly near the stockade, was necessary. [50] Following a 1978 environmental review by the Division of Environmental Quality and Compliance, NPS maintenance experts were able to stabilize the creek banks which had threatened the east palisade wall. [51]

The floods also damaged the North West Company depot at Old Fort William, Ontario, and brought about a cooperative effort between the Park Service and the Canadian Ministry of Culture and Recreation Superintendent Miller recorded:

Grand Portage maintained its good relationship with the monument's Canadian counterpart throughout the year. The Old Fort Williams staff has been most accommodating in inviting the Grand Portage staff to their training and in sharing information regarding the furnishings, costuming, and historic preservation. Through the suggestion of Grand Portage, the National Park Service was able to assist Old Fort William after the disastrous flooding of September. The Harper's Ferry Center sent two museum conservation specialists to aid them in their salvage and preservation activities. [52]

Most of the furniture called for in the Great Hall's furnishing plan (Ralph H. Lewis, Harper's Ferry Center, 1972) arrived in late October 1977. Another park improvement involved directional, informational, and safety-oriented signs for the Great Hall and park. The monument's sign program underwent an examination. Five thousand dollars was appropriated for the project, which also called for new entrance signs.

A new interpretive program, called "Try-It-On" was initiated in the same year. Costumes of the fur trade purchased from the ENP & MA were available for tourists to wear and pose for photographs in an effort to personalize and "bring home" the experience of Grand Portage to the visitor. [53]

In April 1976, Thomas P. Busch, Historical Architect in the Midwest Regional Office, compiled a nomination for Grand Portage to the National Register of Historic Places. The boundaries and reconstructions of the national monument were all included in the nomination. On September 14, 1977, the Keeper of the National Register accepted Grand Portage National Monument to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [54]

In 1978, the Cultural Demonstration Program was moved into the Crawford Log Cabin which was refurbished and decorated with native motifs and exhibits. Eight Chippewa women were hired to make handicraft items for sale to the public.

Park improvements were numerous in 1978. The Kitchen was finally completed and opened, but it appeared "sterile" without furnishings. Hikers on the Grand Portage could now be provided with a one-page informational pamphlet which included a valuable directional map. Fire protection was enhanced by the installation of a Halon fire suppression system in the Great Hall and Kitchen. [55]

There has been no development at the Fort Charlotte site of the national monument. Other than relocation of nearby Pigeon River Campgrounds every other season and some offshore MHS underwater archeological expeditions, little activity and no reconstruction exist where only mounds, furrows, and foundation depressions remain to mark the once bustling North West Company depot. Compared to the thousands who visit the Grand Portage depot each year, few people visit the western terminus of the portage. Only hardy hikers and canoeists journey to this wilderness and most would have no appreciation for their historic surroundings if the site were not demarcated by NPS signs.

The first scientific investigation since Dewey Albinson's 1922 survey took place in 1978 when NPS archeologists and scholars from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, contracted by the NPS Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC), conducted a magnetic survey of Fort Charlotte. Using a proton magnetometer, the archeologists surveyed a two block area (40 by 40 meters) which allegedly included the sites of the North West and X Y Company depots. Utilizing the 1922 maps drawn by Albinson, 12 transit maps of surface features were made to form a composite of the compound area. They discovered that "the similarity of the 1979 map to Albinson's 1922 version is striking, and while several structures in the earlier map appear to be somewhat idealized in their regularity, the accuracy of Albinson's work is still quite impressive." Only a few discrepancies from the 1922 map were ascertained. Footpaths in the area had eradicated surface evidence of the outer western palisade and above grade traces of small walls of other presumed structures have disappeared.

All of the transit mapping in the immediate Fort Charlotte vicinity has been completed, as well as the area south of Snow Creek. The immediate results of the 1979 survey enabled MWAC to flag a 20-meter wide buffer zone around the perimeter of the North West Company site so that campground and comfort stations could he harmlessly placed outside the boundaries. The magnetic survey team found that an earlier pit toilet had actually been excavated into archeological features. [56]

The area outside Fort Charlotte, including much of the monument area has not been surveyed and evaluated as called for in Executive Order 11593. Very few National Park Service areas have received total survey coverage and Grand Portage is, therefore, not unique in regard to its limited survey coverage.

In May 1979, news that an impending agreement between the Grand Portage Band and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a 250-berth marina on Grand Portage Bay sent NPS and MHS officials scrambling to block the project. Acting Midwest Regional Director Randall Pope wrote the Corps of Engineers Director of the St. Paul District saying that the NPS was "overwhelmed" and that the mission of two national parks would be destroyed if the project was carried through. If the proposed marina operated any-where near its capacity, the adverse effect on Isle Royale National Park would be catastrophic. The influx of water motor craft would jam the small harbors and the noise pollution would destroy the wilderness solitude. The spectacle of an obtrusive marina breakwater extending out into Grand Portage Bay and the din of scores of boats would obliterate any sense of the Grand Portage historic setting. The total economic loss to the Grand Portage community would negate any possible benefits. [57]

A meeting between NPS and Corps of Engineers officials in September 1979 revealed the Corps had revised its project down to a 125 to 150-berth marina which was still considered to be too large. To preserve the historic setting, Superintendent Ivan Miller insisted that any such facility should be on a small-scale and located at the hotel. The Park Service would be free to move the Isle Royale embarkation point to the new facility and then remove the present dock at the monument. [58] The uproar from the NPS and a few phone calls to congressional representatives by MHS officials effectively killed the grandiose Corps of Engineers project. Today, while some local people still lobby for a large facility, only a small dock operates at the Grand Portage Lodge.

Film projection at the temporary visitor center was supplemented in 1980 when all reel films were recorded on video tape and shown in the Great Hall. The eight different presentations were shown in the 25-seat Audio Visual room a total of 848 times during 1980 to an estimated 6,000 people. The new video equipment made the display more dependable and easier to present. [59] Schools, organizations, and other groups can borrow 16mm films with viewing guides free of charge throughout the year from the film library at the Superintendent's Office. Nine films are currently available titled "Northwest Passage—The Story of Grand Portage," "The Voyageurs," "Alexander MacKenzie—Lord of the North," "David Thompson—The Great Mapmaker," "From the Bottom Up," "The Birch Canoe Builder," "The Fishermen of Isle Royale," "The Pace of the Seasons at Voyageurs National Park," and "Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes." [60]

Beginning in 1980, NPS personnel at Grand Portage National Monument were certified to assist the U.S. Customs Services by inspecting boats which crossed the international border and docked at the stockade. The verbal agreement, which has never become a formal, written agreement, underlines the close cooperation between the two government agencies.

Major improvements at Grand Portage were underway in 1981. A general realignment of stockade posts and supports was accomplished as well as the laying of black asphalt in the parking lot and temporary visitor center areas. Sixteen bridges on the portage were either repaired or replaced. A cooperative agreement was negotiated with the Grand Portage Band to construct a 100,000 gallon water storage tank on reservation land. The new tank now supplies the village and monument with an adequate supply of water and has improved fire protection.

The Fourth North American Fur Trade Conference was held at Grand Portage Lodge and Old Fort William from September 30 to October 4, 1981. Hosted by the two historic sites, MHS, NPS, and a score of other groups, 200 participants listened to academic papers, attended a reception and viewed fur trade exhibits at the Great Rail, and hiked on the portage to Fort Charlotte. [61]

In response to a Washington directive that all NPS areas prepare a Resources Management Plan (RMP), an RMP was completed and approved for Grand Portage in 1981. The RMP identified 11 natural resource and 6 cultural resource problems that require resolution before management objectives can be achieved. [62]

In 1981, a new Interpretive Prospectus was approved for the monument which set forth the following NPS interpretive objectives:

To provide potential visitors with trip planning information designed to suggest enjoyable and well balanced educational experiences in the northern Minnesota/Lake Superior region, and more specifically, at Grand Portage National Monument.

To give the visitor a better understanding and appreciation for the people who were and are involved with activities at Grand Portage, including the resident Chippewa Indians.

To explain to the visitor the physical, socio-political, and other environmental conditions conducive to the exploration of North America and the development of the fur trade industry with particular emphasis on the period 1730-1804.

To provide the visitor with an understanding of the importance of Grand Portage to the fur trade, what happened to Grand Portage after 1804, and the importance of Grand Portage to our nation today.

To provide the visitor with an understanding of the changing face of northern Minnesota due to the continued interaction of socio-political and technological developments from the days of the fur trade to the present. [63]

The monument is classified as a "developing park," according to the 1981 Interpretive Prospectus and the interpretive program has reflected this lack of development. The situation allows for a high degree of experimentation and changeability, but suffers from a lack of long-term direction and cohesiveness. [64]

The report called for the construction of a "Visitor Contact Station" to be at the present Isle Royale parking lot. The temporary visitor station will then be removed and the parking lot obliterated with the ground being reseeded with native vegetation. The facility differs little from the one first proposed in the 1964 Interpretive Prospectus. It would include an information area, a park interpreter's office, a library to house the monument's 900 volumes, and a multipurpose room to accommodate 50 people. A museum storage room is also planned to be environmentally controlled and large enough to contain all the artifacts from the mid-1930s excavations which may someday be returned by the MHS. ("Grand Portage is the appropriate depository for all Grand Portage-related artifacts.") [65] Currently, the NPS artifact collection of 1,000 items is stored in an 11 by 11-foot room at the Superintendent's Office which lacks any environmental controls. Other options include a small museum and an administrative office for the Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

A Chippewa Handicraft Demonstration/Exhibit Boom will also he included in the Visitor Contact Station to house the cultural demonstrators and their handicrafts. The room will be patterned after the sales room at Pipestone National Monument. This will allow for the removal of the Crawford Log Cabin from the stockade area to provide for a more historically accurate setting. According to the Interpretive Prospectus:

immediately inside the gate an exhibit should describe the historic conditions within the Stockade. As presently maintained, the large mowed open area gives the visitor a misleading impression. In it heyday, the Stockade was cluttered with 16 buildings. Short of actual reconstruction of these buildings, the National Park Service should help the visitor imagine the historic scene. Utilizing archeological evidence, the sites of structures, should be located and designated. Differential mowing practices, stones, or logs are some possibilities for depicting building sites. [66]

Another major concern of the 1981 report is in regard to the area which includes the Voyageur's Camp, Boucher's Fort, the X Y Company Post, the Indian Sites, and the Fur Trade Ford. To be coordinated and interpreted as an Historic Sites Area, modern intrusions such as roads and the NPS maintenance area would be removed to restore the area's historical integrity. Presently there is no interpretation of this area to the visitor. With a series of signs, the Historic Sites Area should become an important element in the NPS interpretive program. [67]

In 1975, Alan R. and Nancy L. Woolworth of the MHS were contracted by the NPS to complete the inventory and evaluation of archeological resources at Grand Portage. The 225-page report titled, Grand Portage National Monument, An Historical Overview and An Inventory of Its Cultural Resources, was completed in late 1982. The report is thorough, abstracting and compiling more than 20 years of reports. It lists 110 structures and sites within the monument's boundaries, complete with descriptions, excavation information, historical significance statements, and recommendations. [68] The Woolworths' report is the most important document ever prepared for the monument. It is designed to assist in the more efficient management of Grand Portage's cultural resources.