Grand Portage National Monument Summer VIP
(Volunteer in Park)

By Dave Reiter

A view from Mt. Rose looking down on the Northwest Stockade, Great Hall, and Kitchen.

There are over 391 areas in our National Park system, and many are quite small and operate on even smaller budgets. These small gems of historic sites, monuments and parks offer the greatest opportunity for volunteers to get involved in a worthwhile interesting endeavor. My interest is in history interpretation, but many other positions are available, including research, park maintenance and office and computer management. 

Such was my experience this past summer at the Grand Portage National Monument in Eastern Minnesota. The monument is located in a Chippewa (Ojibwa) Reservation located one hundred and fifty miles northeast of Duluth, MN. Fifty miles further northeast on Highway 61 lies Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Ojibwa reservation covers fifteen square miles with a population of around five hundred Native Americans. The reservation is quite beautiful and pristine, containing many lakes and forests, bordered by the Pigeon River Boundary Waters and the Lake Superior shore line.

This past summer I, along with three volunteer couples, camped on the shore of Grand Portage Bay on Lake Superior. One volunteer couple used a small popup camper, another had a pickup camper, and the third couple lived full time in large fifth wheel trailer. I lived in a 27- foot travel trailer, towed by a Chevy pickup.

The breeze from the lake kept the insects to a minimum, and the temperature differential between the lake front and 10 miles inland was always 10 to 20 degrees. A small motel ajoining us provided housing for the six seasonal rangers. We had a key to the motel facilities which included a laundry. Also, we were right at the dock where the boat motored to another National Park located twenty two miles out in Lake Superior called Isle Royale National Park.

Two gentlemen, partners in the Northwest Company, confer in the Great Hall.

Classes for our assignment started on May 15 and went on for four weeks. Many training days were spent outside. We hiked the Grand Portage Trail, paddled the large Montreal canoe in the bay, and we qualified to shoot and maintain the Northwest Trade Gun. We also searched for two exciting eighteenth century voyager outfits and one gentleman’s suit, and investigated all the historic buildings on the site. We heard talks and anecdotes from the park archaeologist, botanist, tribal elders and leaders, superintendent, and every ranger in the park.

In addition to historical background, we had to learn all the safety procedures, park rules and regulations, as well as first aid, and resuscitation courses. By June 15, we were ready to meet the summer visitors in a third person setting. We did not use first person living history, because of the difficulty with answering questions that ranged outside of 1790 historiography.

The Grand Portage is an eight and a half mile trail that enabled the French Canadian Voyagers to bypass the three falls, rapids, and other impediments to canoe navigation on the last twenty one miles of the Pigeon River. No canoes were portaged as two different types of canoes were used. A large thirty to forty foot canoe was used on the Great Lakes, and a smaller twenty foot canoe was used on the boundary waters. 

So, the voyagers carried the trade goods from the stockade in ninety pound bales over the portage to the Pigeon River, and returned with packs of furs brought in over the boundary waters from the one hundred plus fur trading posts located in the interior of western Canada and the United States. In 1793 over 186,000 furs were portaged. The furs were canoed back to Montreal, loaded on sailing ships and sold in the London fur auction. Native American tribes throughout Canada and upper United States trapped the animals and traded their furs for kettles, India block prints, China silks, copper and brass kettles, flints and steels, tobacco, whiskey, guns hatchets, and other iron utensils.

My experience varied from day to day, during our three-day work week. One day we would be assigned to the Great Hall interpreting the annual rendezvous, where the partners of the Northwest Company would meet and decide whether future expansions of the company were in order. They also decided who should be a partner, who should be removed from the company, how to outdo Hudson Bay Company, and other decisions that had to be made by the Scots who ran the company. The tables were made up with the fine china for the multi-course dinners served in the hall. Other tables held furs and trade goods. Visitors could try on the clothing of the day, and take pictures.

Quebec Voyagers practice shooting with the Northwest Trade Gun.

The next day on the schedule, I was assigned to the kitchen where fish were cooked over the open fire and bread was baked in the outside oven. Still another day was spent in the canoe warehouse where the different types of canoes were on display along with the cargo. The warehouse was always a good place to give your prepared talk on trade subjects. My talk covered the exploits of David Thompson, one of the partners of Northwest and a surveyor who covered fifty thousand miles and mapped it all during his thirty year career. Parts of his maps were stolen by London mapmakers and sold as their own.

Another area to interpret was the voyager encampment outside the walls of the stockade where two thousand voyagers camped, partied and fought during the rendezvous. The Ojibwa village was right next door, where visitors leaned about the many types of wigwams and tools used by the friendly Native Americans who lived close to the stockade. 

Finally, this year after fifty years of waiting, the monument dedicated a new Heritage Center where visitors could check out exhibits on display year round, and volunteers had full use of the library, and audio visual rooms, when they had a break from the front desk.

The park is located in a resort area so there are plenty of opportunities to hike, bike, canoe, kayak, and visit the state parks, and provincial parks of Canada in the neighborhood. Did I mention the weather? When St. Louis is sweltering at the 100-degree level, Grand Portage is 70 degrees with bright blue skies and water, very energizing. The only downside was the deer hit that totaled my poor Chevy truck.

It was a summer to remember, and I hope to return in a few years, but not before searching out other gems in the National Park System. If you are interested go to www.volunteer.gov and look over the many opportunities for exploration or call the volunteer coordinator in any park you want to visit and work in. Locate the coordinator at www.NPS.gov.