Most people familiar with the Gunflint Trail would probably consider it an important part of Cook County’s history. On Tuesday, May 31, 2011, the county board voted to enter a contract for a study of the 63-mile road that could lead to it ending up on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Gunflint Trail is also called County State Aid Highway 12, designating it as a roadway the State of Minnesota helps pay to maintain. When projects are undertaken, a determination must be made regarding whether they will affect any significant historic sites. A study on the entire road will eliminate the need to make those determinations in piecemeal fashion.
The contract for the study, an agreement among the Minnesota Commissioner of Transportation, Cook County, and Gemini Research of Morris, Minnesota, says, “State and the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office have been operating under the assumption that Gunflint Trail is eligible for the National Register, but there has been no formal inventory of the road to characterize its resources….”
The study, which will include a report to be delivered by the end of the year, has a not-to-exceed limit of $33,929 of which 80 percent will be paid by the state. The other 20 percent, up to $6,785.80, will be Cook County’s responsibility, although state aid funds will be used to pay that.
According to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places website, an evaluation answers questions about a property’s age, integrity, and significance: “Is the property old enough to be considered historic (generally at least 50 years old), and does it still look much the way it did in the past? Is the property associated with events, activities, or developments that were important in the past? …with the lives of people who were important in the past? …with significant architectural history, landscape history, or engineering achievements? Does it have the potential to yield information through archeological investigation about our past?”
Nominations can be submitted to state historic preservation offices by property owners, historical societies, governmental agencies, and other groups or individuals. State historic preservation offices notify affected property owners and local governments and solicit public comment. Nominations are also reviewed by state-level National Register review boards. Recommendations are sent to the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. for review and listing by the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson asked county Highway Engineer David Betts if being registered would limit the county’s freedom to alter the Gunflint Trail. Betts answered the question with a question: “Are you letting the fox into the henhouse?” Perhaps, was the answer, but obtaining federal aid for future projects would require this evaluation anyway.
Commissioner Martinson also asked where exactly the Gunflint Trail starts. Betts said all the records his department has been able to find show it starting at the bottom of Fifth Avenue West in Grand Marais – not where the Gunflint Trail bear and voyageur icons are on Second Street West outside the Grand Marais Public Library. Of course, the new Gunflint Trail section, the section that winds down past the Law Enforcement Center to where the Gunflint Trail North Shore Scenic Byways cairn sign stands, adds new mystery to the question.
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