Grand Portage State Park

Before Grand Portage State Park was established in 1989, the then Minnesota Parks & Trails Council & Foundation had already begun efforts to protect critical land along the Pigeon River, including Pigeon Falls (also called High Falls), the highest waterfall in the state. Late in 1987, the Council & Foundation initiated a fundraising campaign, which became the "Sigurd F. Olson Fund for a Park at Pigeon Falls," to raise money for land acquisition and initial operating costs for establishing a new state park. As part of this effort, the Minnesota Parks and Trails Council & Foundation purchased 178 acres for $250,000 and received an additional 82 acres in donations from the property's owner Lloyd K. Johnson. The parcels included river frontage at both Pigeon and Middle Falls. Johnson also donated a 48-acre life estate to the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians in 1988. In 1990, the state purchased the lands and incorporated them into Grand Portage State Park.

In December 1998, The Parks & Trails Council also purchased 22 acres along Middle Falls on the Canadian side of the border. The parcel was sold a few years later, with a slight donation, to the Canadian government, to be part of their Middle Falls Provincial Park. The parcel is not only a valuable asset to the provincial park, but it also helps protect a view vital to the integrity of Grand Portage State Park. The park is the only state park not actually owned by the State of Minnesota. The land is leased from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which holds it in trust for the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians.

Created by the great inland sea, modified and eroded by volcanic action, glacial erosion and water, Grand Portage State Park has a rugged and beautiful landscape.