Voyageur’s National Park Celebrates 35th Anniversary

On April 8, 1975, Voyageurs National Park was authorized as the nation’s 36th national park. This year marks the park’s 35th anniversary. Throughout the year the park and its partners are remembering the past and celebrating the future with an array of 35 special activities available to the public. These activities are for all ages and encourage visitors to come and experience Voyageurs National Park. 

Contact: Tawnya Schoewe – tawnya_schoewe@nps.gov   (218) 283-6670 

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The Talking Rocks of Voyageurs

The rocks of Voyageurs National Park tell amazing stories that stretch across time. The rocks tell of continent building and movement, mountain rising, ice ages and soil formation. One of the reasons Voyageurs National Park was established was because of the amazing geological features. 

In 1975, Voyageurs National Park was established “to preserve, for the inspiration and enjoyment of future generations, the outstanding scenery, geological conditions, and the waterway system which constituted part of the historic route of the Voyageurs who contributed significantly to the opening of the northwestern United States.” 

 The rocks of Voyageurs National Park are dated to be about half as old as the planet.  Nowhere else in North American parks can you see and touch extensive exposures of rocks this old.  The rocks of Voyageurs were created in the Precambrian Era, and are part of the Canadian Shield.  They are older than the schist at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. 

Visit Voyageurs National Park to see the story of gold and mica mining and hear the story of volcanoes erupting and the shifting of fault lines. We think you also will be amazed at the small amount of soil that supports the vast amount of life in this national park.  Park contact information:  Steve_Windels@nps.gov

Woodenfrog

 Who Was Chief Wooden Frog?  How did the campground and the islands on the western end of Kabetogama Lake get the name Wooden Frog?  Who was Chief Wooden Frog?  From about 1736 to 1941, four bands of the Bois Forte Ojibwe Indians made their homes in what is now Voyageurs National Park. Bois Forte is French for “strong wood,” or in the language of the Ojibwe, Sug-waun-dug-ah-win-e-wug, which translates as “men of the thick fir woods,” referring to the dense forests of northern Minnesota.

The John Woodenfrog family lived on what became known as Chief Wooden Frog’s Islands on Kabetogama Lake until about 1930. The islands are named for either John Woodenfrog or his father Jim Woodenfrog, or Me tigo mah kah keence, which translates as Tree Frog or Wood Frog. The Woodenfrogs were some of the last of the Ojibwe Indians to leave the area as children were being forced to attend school on the reservation established at Nett Lake.  Today, many descendents of families who once lived in the park now live on the Bois Forte Reservation at Nett Lake or in communities surrounding the park.  Park contact information:  Mary_Graves@nps.gov

 Prehistoric Fish, Oh My!

Voyageurs is home to one of the world’s oldest fish species- the Lake Sturgeon.  Lake Sturgeon can live to be more than 100 years old and do look prehistoric.  At first glance one may not believe the size of these fish but it is true they can grow to be more than 150 pounds!

The Ojibwe fished for sturgeon, years before Kettle Falls was built, as a staple in their food supply.  Over the years sturgeon have become a favorite of people as caviar. 

Today, the population of Lake Sturgeon in the park is stable, but threats to this living fossil persist.  A recent study was initiated by the National Park Service and partner agencies to study Lake Sturgeon in the Namakan Reservoir on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.  Movements and spawning behavior of sturgeon are being monitoring with state-of-the-art technology to aid in conservation of this amazing animal.  To learn more about this research contact Steve_Windels@nps.gov

 A Demand for Hats

The waterways of Voyageurs National Park include one of the most important segments of a 3,000-mile fur trade route of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The driving force behind the fur trade was a demand for hats—beaver hats desired by fashionable Europeans. When beaver could no longer be found in Europe, the demand shifted to North America.

As the fur trade expanded westward, it relied on the voyageurs, or French-Canadian canoemen, to muscle trade goods and furs between Montreal and the Canadian northwest.  Voyageur is a French word for “traveler.”

As a rule, the voyageurs are of French extraction, descendants of the trappers and traders of the old fur-companies, though by long intermarriage the blood of four nationalities mingles in their veins. Their grandfathers have been French-Canadians, their grandmothers Crow, English, and Cree, and Ojibway … Read more by H.M. Robinson, “A Voyage with the Voyageurs,” 1878

The lakes of Voyageurs National Park became a strategic relay and supply point along the fur trade route.  The route of the voyageurs shaped the international boundary and the legacy of the voyageurs inspired the naming of this national park.  Park contact information:  Mary_Graves@nps.gov

 The Story of I.W. Stevens

 Ingvald Walter Stevens was born in Vang, Valdres Norway in 1885 and immigrated to the U.S. at age 19.  In 1932 he purchased a 400-acre island in what is now Voyageurs National Park.  “Steve,” as he became known, lived alone year round on the island for nearly fifty years and became a symbol of self-sufficiency and independence.

I love solitude, I love the wilderness, I love the wildlife. I do not like crowds. I do not like the city, where even the snow is dirty. I like my own company. I don’t want to live if I can’t take care of myself.

 He heated his cabin with wood, grew his own vegetables, ground wheat and baked his own bread, read by gaslight, hauled water from the lake, in the winter chopping through thick ice. Civilization was 16 miles by boat or 4 miles on skis. An Associated Press article in 1977 made him a celebrity for awhile. A prolific writer, Stevens answered letters, wrote articles for outdoor magazines and kept a daily diary.  He left Namakan Lake in 1979 at the age of 94 and lived to be 104. Park contact information:  Mary_graves@nps.gov

 Voyageurs Watershed

Voyageurs National Park lies in the 14,900-square-mile Rainy Lake basin which forms the headwaters of the Winnipeg River, which flows into Hudson Bay.  This basin includes three watersheds that contribute to the park:  the Rainy Lake headwaters, Vermilion Lake, and Rainy Lake.  About 70% of the basin lies within Ontario and 30% in Minnesota. 

Lake levels in the park’s four largest lakes are controlled by a dam crossing the international border at Fort Frances and International Falls, as well as by small dams at Kettle Falls and Squirrel Falls on Namakan Lake.  Rainy Lake is controlled separately from the Namakan Reservoir, which is composed of Kabetogama, Namakan, Sand Point, Crane, and Little Vermilion Lakes.  The Namakan River, which enters Namakan Lake from the east, is the largest source of flow to the park. 

The direction of flow through the four main lakes in the park (Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, and Sand Point) is northwesterly.  Water leaving Rainy Lake flows to Rainy River then to Lake of the Woods, which in turns flows to the Hudson Bay via the Winnipeg River.  Park Contact information: Ryan_Maki@nps.gov

 Amazing Flora and Fauna

 Have you ever walked through a forest mixed with golden colored tamarack or under a canopy of aspens and maples displaying an amazing array of red, gold and yellow leaves?  Have you ever followed the smell of pine scents as you walk along rock covered ridges all while a fox scurries by and you spot signs of wolves along a trail?  That is just some of what lies within Voyageurs National Park.

 The park lies in a transition zone between the boreal forests to the north and deciduous forests to the south.  Nearly 700 species of plants have been identified within the park.  Boreal forest species are most abundant, occupying about 70% of the park.  Quaking aspen dominates with other species including birch, pines, spruces and balsam fir. 

Within this abundant diversity of the northern forest, wildlife abounds.  Many characteristic of the north woods are found here including moose, white-tailed deer, gray wolves, fox, coyotes, lynx, bobcats, black bears, ravens, and common loons.  A host of other animals can be found such as bald eagles, beavers, river otters, red squirrels, and small rodents.  Voyageurs also hosts more than 240 bird species who either live in or migrate through the park.  Park Contact:  Steve_Windels@nps.gov

Not a Sneeze on the Border!

Many centuries ago, Kettle Falls was a main artery of the travel route along the wilderness border region.  Native peoples gathered, hunted, and speared sturgeon at the falls, voyageurs paddled and portaged through the area carrying their goods and furs, and prospectors travelled to the picturesque stopping place on their way to the Rainy Lake gold mines. 

Around the time construction of the dams at Kettle Falls began in 1910, the Kettle Falls Hotel was built.  The stonecutters and masons who built the dams were early patrons of the hotel, followed by lumberjacks, commercial fisherman, trappers, and traders.  When the logging era came to an end and commercial fishing declined, tourism became the major industry and sports fishermen and families came to Kettle Falls.

In advertisements from the 1930s, the Kettle Falls Hotel was a “Hay Fever Victims Sanctuary” where sufferers found relief due to the purity of sun-washed pine scented air and there was “not a sneeze on the border”.  Located on the Minnesota – Canadian boundary at the eastern edge of the Kabetogama Peninsula, the historic hotel is still a destination of fishing enthusiasts and families and the air is still pine scented and pure. Park contact information:  Catherine_Crawdford@nsp.gov

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