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Following a request made over a year ago, on Friday, November 18, the State of Minnesota formally returned a small two-acre parcel of land east of Grand Marais to the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in a ceremony held at the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino event center.
The Stonebridge Singers’ drums and the dramatic entrance of the Veteran Honor Guard kicked off the ceremony. Master of Ceremony Steve Standingcloud introduced all the speakers, including Chairman Robert (Bobby) Deschampe, John Morrin, Staci Drouillard, Ann Sullivan, MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger, former Commissioner for the Department of Transportation Margaret Anderson-Kelliher, and Billy Blackwell.
After the signing ceremony, a buffet luncheon was provided to the over 200 attendees.
The property conveyed was part of the former Chippewa City, which was made famous by Staci Douillard’s 2019 book “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe.
This was the first time the state had conveyed land to a tribal entity off-reservation, said Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who was a guest speaker at the deed signing.
The two-acre beach and former gravel pit were culturally significant to the Band because, in the early 1900s, it is estimated that about 100 families lived in Chippewa City. All of those folks are now gone; the last families and individuals dispersed in the 1930s because of adverse federal policies and white developments that moved in.
Today all that remains is the St. Francis Xavier Church and a graveyard.
Chippewa City had several people who went on to fame. The late artist George Morrison, who recently had U.S. Postage stamps produced with his artwork, John Beargrease, the mail carrier, has a sled dog race named after him, and Ruth Myers, is known as the grandmother of Indian education in Minnesota. Staci Douillard is a descendent of Chippewa City.
Private land borders the 160 feet of beach and property known locally as “Passion Pit.” Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, visitors and residents began using the beach in far greater numbers than before. This was followed by complaints from neighbors of parking issues, litter, loud noise, and trespassing.
In June 2020, a local property owner brought those concerns to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He expressed his worries about noise, traffic, litter, and other impacts experienced by exceedingly high levels of public use early on during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were competing uses between public and private interests, quiet enjoyment of private property and use of the public space by Lake Superior, along with the importance of the preservation of this historic area which connected with the St. Francis Xavier Church (managed by the Cook County Historical Society) along with its identification in its connection with former Chippewa City.
A task force was formed to prepare a report which would frame all of the relevant issues so that the County Board could consider whether to establish a longer-term “visioning” committee concerning the disposition and oversight of the Passion Pit area and properties. The task force’s consensus was to develop a more formalized committee to proceed with a longer term vision of the site, including input from the public and all interested parties. Early on, Chairman Deschampe made clear that Grand Portage was in serious conversation with MnDOT in hopes this parcel would be returned to the Band. In addition, Levi Brown, tribal liaison with MnDOT, was in regular communication with the tribal chair.
In early 2021, the Passion Pit Committee was formed after a selection of individuals through an application process. That process resulted in the formation of a group including one county commissioner (to serve as the chairperson), an ex-officio member from the county to provide parcel information and run Zoom meetings, and other members, including representatives from Parks and Trails, the City of Grand Marais, the Cook County Historical Society, the neighboring public, descendants of Chippewa City, at-large community members, and the Grand Portage Tribal Chair. The group was to meet for no longer than one year and began its work by learning about the true history of Grand Portage, including information from Walking the Old Road.
After much public engagement, review of the use, and the addition of signage, a trash bin, a pet waste station, and slight improvements to the parking area, the committee recommended a name change, as they found “Passion Pit” to be disrespectful. It was felt Grand Portage should decide the name, which is “Nishwaakwaansing” translated as “at the edge of the forest” or “where the standing forest begins,” depending on where one is looking from. Erik Redix (newly elected to the ISD 166 School Board) and Staci Drouillard (local author) both worked to clarify the name.
The committee gathered support for the conveyance back to Grand Portage from the Cook County Historical Society, the City of Grand Marais, and the Cook County Board. In addition, letters of support were sent to MnDOT in hopes of increasing the chance of the request by the RTC and Tribal Chair Deschampe for this parcel to be returned. After eight long months of waiting, word finally came that MnDOT was returning the land to the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
This was a historic event, as it was the first time land outside the boundaries of a reservation had been returned to a band.
Chairman Deschampe is working with North House Folk School in Grand Marais to design something small and simple to place on the site and desires this to continue as a place for the public to experience Lake Superior. It will be a place where everyone is welcome!
Duane Hill, the MnDOT district engineer for northeast Minnesota, said that when the conversations started on how to manage the land for public use, Grand Portage came forward and said they had a cultural connection to the property. The response from the community was strongly in favor of Grand Portage taking back the land. The process took so long because the state had to figure out a way to transfer the land at little or no cost. The county had the property valued at $283,000 but in the end the state didn’t charge anything for the land to be returned to Grand Portage.
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