NAMEKAGON
COURT OREILLES PORTAGE
Still visible here. is the southeast terminus of the 21/2 mile portage that linked the St. Croix and Chippewa River systems. Indians, explorers, missionaries and fur-traders all used this "carrying place" to move their birch bark canoes back and forth between the two great water routes connecting Lake Superior and the Mississippi. In 1784 Michel Cadotte established a fur-trading post at the northwest end of the portage to control the trade at this pivotal point. From such interior locations as Lac Court Oreilles the Chippewa Indians carried over here on their trips to the south and west to gather rice and berries
and on their war excursions against the Sioux.
Erected 1956