Day 13: Grand Portage

North Shore Scenic Highway

Grand Portage

Grand Portage was a very interesting stop on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  The Grand Portage was a portage between Lake Superior and Fort Charlotte, the North West Company's smaller storage depot.  It took voyageurs a few hours to carry two 90 pound packs the 8 1/2 miles!  This picture shows the inside of the fur trade depot looking out towards Pete's Island also know as Grand Portage Island.

Great Hall - the site of the annual Rendezvous.  Rendezvous is when trappers and traders exchange goods; it's like a huge party with lots of food, drink, and dancing.

Three Sisters Garden - do you know who the three sisters are?  Corn, squash, and beans!

Birch bark canoes hang inside the warehouse.  This building is just outside the palisades.  When we arrived a man dressed in period costume was making the metal strapping for a bucket and he gave us a tiny paddle he'd carved!

Kitchen on the left and Great Hall on right.

Outside kitchen...

Looking back at the kitchen from outside the palisade.  

I thought it was very interesting how the wall was built.  It was designed mainly to secure storage of the company's goods rather than for defense against attack.  This is near the entrance that leads to the Grand Portage trail.

Ashley, our tour guide, telling Scott about the Great Hall, a dining room with 2 bedrooms at each end of the hall.  Notice the table settings.  The partners sat at the far table with the very best dishes.  The closer table is set (in order) for clerks, voyageurs, and Ojibwe guides.

Trade goods...  Often guns were given to the Native Americans to keep them coming back to the company to buy ammunition.  Blankets were the most prized trade good by the Ojibwe.

Many different pelts were traded - the stack of circular pelts are beaver.  Can you tell which pelt is skunk?

 

Partners bedroom

Desk area in bedroom for conducting business.

Supplies were brought by ship, dropped off at Pete's Island, and then picked up in birch bark canoes by the Ojibwe.  This photo is taken from the canoe dock.