Height of Land Portage | |
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Location | Cook County, Minnesota / Thunder Bay District, Ontario |
Nearest city | Grand Marais, Minnesota |
Coordinates | 48°6′6″N 90°34′2″W / 48.10167°N 90.56722°W |
Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
Governing body | Federal |
Designated | October 18, 1974 |
Reference no. | 74001012[1] Search in MN for Height of Land; this is the one located in Cook County. |
Height of Land Portage is a portage along the historic Boundary Waters route between Canada and the United States. Located at the border of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, the path is a relatively easy crossing of the Laurentian Divide separating the Hudson Bay and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watersheds.
The portage was used for centuries by Indigenous peoples for canoe travel, teaching it to European voyageurs and coureurs des bois who used it to access the fur trading posts in Rupert's Land. For many years the portage was part of an important route from Lower Canada to the interior of the North American continent. It became part of the boundary between British North America and the United States following the American Revolution and treaties delineating the border. In recognition of this history, the portage is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, and is a Minnesota State Historic Site.[2]
Located in La Verendrye Provincial Park and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the unspoiled country along the international boundary, the portage retains its traditional use, but for recreational wilderness canoe trips rather than trade.