A Small, Thriving Community Drive through the town of Grand Marais and right as you are leaving, just as the speed limit picks back up to 60, you’re there.  At what remains of Chippewa City. Chippewa City was a thriving little village founded in the 1880s. By the 1890s it was home to about 100 families and growing. There are a few well-known residents of Chippewa City that North Shore visitors will likely recognize the names of. John Beargrease, made famous for his mail delivery route and subsequent sled dog race that bears his name, lived here with his family [...]

Mineral Center, Cook County Minnesota Before the logging rush of the 1940s, the area experienced the Mineral Rush at the turn of the century. In the 1880s and 1890s settlers were attracted to the areas along Lake Superior’s shoreline. The communities now known as French River and Knife River were developed during this time. Then, the passage of the Nelson Act in 1889 opened up areas of the Grand Portage Indian Reservation to white settlers. The Mineral Rush moved north. One of the most well-known settlements that were born during the mineral rush along the North Shore was Mineral Center. [...]

Sawbill Landing, Lake County Minnesota It turns out, Forest Center was not the only community to spring up deep in the Northwoods during the 1940s lumber boom. There were more than half a dozen logging camps that dotted the northland during this time.  Sawbill Landing is another one that was founded in the late 1940s, thrived for two decades, then vanished. The Birth of Sawbill Landing In the case of Sawbill Landing, however, the community was not built by a lumber company. Rather, it was built by families who chose to create their own, independent town.  They chose the landing [...]

Forest Center, Lake County Minnesota In 1949 the Tomahawk Timber Company created the town of Forest Center along the southern shore of Lake Isabella in Lake County. The town was built to house employees and their families working the nearby logging operation and lumber mill. At its peak, the community was home to 250 residents and over 50 homes.  The company also built a school, a restaurant, a coffee shop, a recreation hall, a general store, two churches, and a post office. An Isolated Community Located about 40 miles from Ely, the community was isolated from the rest of the [...]