The Grand Portage National Monument in Grand Portage, MN, celebrates the fur trade and the French Voyagers who were instrumental in transporting furs and goods across a 8.5 mile strip of land between Canada and Minnesota. The bundles of furs that the Voyagers carried via a strap across their forehead weighed approximately 90 pounds. Goods were traded each spring/summer and the furs were transported back east through the Great Lakes and the Hudson Bay. There was a great partnership between the North West Company and the Ojibwe Indian tribes. The European and eastern American obsession with beaver fur top hats is what made this operation necessary and successful. The Ojibwe and French trappers would trap the beavers and then trade them to the North West Company for manufactured goods such as metal tools or cooking pots, cloth, and other ready made goods. The heyday of the Grand Portage ended when the United States and Canada decided to set a border between the two countries. The Grand Portage site ended up just south of the Canadian border and the North West company was a Canadian company. So if they wanted to continue to use the Grand Portage area, they would have to pay taxes to the US government. They did not want to pay these taxes and found another portage area on the Canadian side of the border; although, this portage was much more difficult.
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| French Voyager transporting furs and good across the strip of land known as Grand Portage. |
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| Fur press, used to make bundles out of the furs, making them easier to transport. |
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