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20-531: The Kettle Falls Historic District encompasses a remote pocket of early-20th-century industrial and commercial activity deep in the Boundary Waters , in what is now Voyageurs National Park in the U.S. state of Minnesota . Kettle Falls is the outlet from Namakan Lake into Rainy Lake on the Canada–United States border . The portage between the two lakes served as a key gathering point from

40-468: A mixed conifer-hardwood forest known as the North Woods , a transition province between the northern boreal forest and deciduous forests to the south. While the forest is dominated by Conifers that include several varieties of pine , fir , and spruce trees, principal deciduous species such as mountain ash , maple , aspen and paper birch are also rather common, note the paper birch, one of

60-547: A pit latrine and a fire grate, and no permits or fees. Additionally, dispersed camping is permitted anywhere on undeveloped public land without permit or fee. An exception is made for the designated wilderness of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which requires special permits for entrance. Tofte Ranger District In January 2023, the Biden administration set a 20-year moratorium on mining in 225,000 acres of

80-542: Is a popular destination for recreationalists pursuing camping , canoeing , and fishing as well as for those simply looking for natural scenery and relaxation. The area is one of several distinct regions of Minnesota . The following communities are located anywhere from two to twenty miles from the boundary waters: Ely , Cook , Grand Marais , and Tofte in Minnesota and Atikokan in Ontario. Protected areas in

100-704: Is about 20 feet (6.1 m) high, with four sluiceways, divided into a section called the American Dam and another on the Canadian channel called the International Dam. It featured fish ladders , though they are no longer operational. Boundary Waters The Boundary Waters , also called the Quetico-Superior Country , is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota , in

120-724: Is located in Cook , Lake , and Saint Louis counties in northeastern Minnesota. Forest headquarters are located in Duluth , outside the boundaries of the forest. There are local ranger district offices in Aurora , Cook , Ely , Grand Marais , and Tofte . The forest covers 3.9 million acres (6,100 mi or 16,000 km ), and has over 445,000 acres (1,800 km ) of water. Its waters include some 2,000 lakes and rivers, more than 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of cold water streams, and 950 miles (1,530 km) of warm water streams. Many of

140-435: Is not the deposition of glacial drift (unlike most of the rest of Minnesota), but the remodeling of the landscape by the scraping away of softer surfaces down to bare hard rock. The land therefore is raw, with many outcroppings of ancient bedrock, overlain in places by thin layers of gravelly soil and, in the west, silts deposited by Glacial Lake Agassiz . The forest contains a small slice of true boreal forest ( taiga ), and

160-744: The Misquah Hills including Eagle Mountain , the state's highest point, and other uplands along the Laurentian Divide separating the watershed of the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean from that of Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Despite the presence of dramatic cliffs and other local differences in elevation, the area is essentially flat, as it is part of an old peneplain eroded by weathering, water, and especially glaciers. The principal surficial result of recent glaciation

180-697: The bald eagle and other raptors , the ubiquitous common loon , and northern waterfowl . The Superior National Forest features a long segment of the 4,800-mile North Country National Scenic Trail [1] from just south of Burntside Lake by Ely to just south of Temperance River State Park near Schroeder. This segment includes (from West to East) the Kekekabic Trail, Border Route Trail, and Superior Hiking Trail. The Superior National Forest maintains developed fee campgrounds with amenities like drinking water and garbage disposal, rustic campgrounds without drinking water or fees, and backcountry campsites with only

200-723: The Boundary Waters region in Minnesota include Superior National Forest , Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness , Voyageurs National Park and Grand Portage National Monument . Protected areas in Ontario include Quetico and La Verendrye provincial parks . Superior National Forest Under the administration of the United States Forest Service , the Superior National Forest comprises over 3,900,000 acres (6,100 mi or 16,000 km ) of woods and waters. The majority of

220-515: The Boundary Waters. The name "Boundary Waters" is often used in the U.S. to refer specifically to the U.S. Wilderness Area protecting its southern extent, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness . The Boundary Waters region is characterized by a vast network of waterways and bogs within a glacially -carved landscape of Precambrian bedrock covered in thin soils and boreal forests . The Boundary Waters

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240-556: The Kettle Falls Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its local significance in the themes of commerce, engineering, industry, and transportation. It was nominated for its history as an isolated nexus of industry and tourism in the Boundary Waters wilderness. The portage, initially known as the portage de Chaudière or the portage neuf , was frequented by

260-556: The area just west of Lake Superior . While "Boundary Waters" is a common name for this region, the two nations also share extensive boundary waters along their border, beyond this region. This region is part of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota, and in Canada it includes La Verendrye and Quetico Provincial Parks in Ontario. Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota may also be considered part of

280-560: The forest is multiple-use, including both logging and recreational activities such as camping, boating, and fishing. Slightly over a quarter of the forest is set aside as a wilderness reserve known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), where canoers can travel along interconnected fresh waters near land as well as over historic portages once used by Native American tribes and First Nations people, but later also by European explorers and traders. The forest

300-671: The forest that are upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The moratorium protects the waters of the Rainy River watershed from pollution and blocks the proposed Twin Metals mine . [REDACTED] Media related to Superior National Forest at Wikimedia Commons Parts of this article were taken from the Forest Service website. As a work of the U.S. federal government ,

320-475: The fur trading voyageurs, following an established trail that later became the path of the Canada–U.S. border. An 1890s gold rush brought miners through the area. Illegal liquor was smuggled over the border from Canada starting about 1910. The Kettle Falls area was later used by fishermen and lumbermen, with commercial fish camps operating 1913–1920. In the 1930s lumbering operations were the chief activity. The dam

340-622: The lakes are located in depressions formed by the differential erosion of tilted layers of bedded rock; these depressions were given their final form by glacial scouring during recent ice ages . The forest is located on part of the Canadian Shield . The area is on a low plateau which is part of the Superior Upland . High points include the Sawtooth Mountains , a range of hills along the shore of Lake Superior ,

360-508: The largest population of gray wolves in the lower 48 states, with approximately 300-400 wolves within the boundaries of this forest. Ely's International Wolf Center protects all North American gray wolves from extinction. Located at the northern edge of the range of the hummingbird and near the southern edge of the range of the Canada jay , this forest has 163 nesting species of birds, the largest number of any national forest. Species include

380-474: The most numerous trees in the forest. Characteristic aquatic plants include water lilies and wild rice . Fish species such as walleye , northern pike , smallmouth bass , lake trout , brook trout , rainbow trout , and brown trout can be found in abundance in the forest's waters. Larger wildlife species include northern woodlands white-tailed deer , western moose , Canadian lynx , eastern black bear , and eastern wolf packs . Northern Minnesota has

400-474: The time of the voyageurs to the miners, commercial fishermen, and lumbermen at the turn of the 20th century, and tourists beginning in the 1930s. The Kettle Falls Dam was built at the site between 1910 and 1914, and two log buildings associated with its construction remain standing. The fourth contributing property to the historic district is the Kettle Falls Hotel , built in 1913. In 1978

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