The Gunflint Trail Just Gets Better Each Day
What a wonderful place to live. Historical Museums, Meteorite sites and now a new archaeological find all on the Gunflint Trail.
The USFS isn’t saying too much about the find but it could be an incredible one.
Lee Johnson, Archaeologist on the East Zone of the Superior National Forest, headed an enthusiastic group of volunteers working on the Gunflint Trail Passport in Time Project this August. Many of the volunteers drove from as far away as Idaho to give Lee a hand managing and interpreting cultural resources on the Superior. These volunteers donated 480 cumulative hours of time over the project duration. Seven district staff and three BWCAW volunteers were also involved in the venture.
Archaeology is a slow, time-consuming, precise and occasionally fruit-less discipline. Fortunately, that did not prove to be the case this summer. Forest Service archaeologists may have identified a fur trade era encampment mentioned by Alexander Henry the Elder in 1775. Numerous artifacts dating to the Late British-Early American periods of the Fur Trade were recovered during archaeological excavations in the eastern BWCAW area. More information on these finds will be forthcoming.
Don’t forget about the meteorite impact site and tour coming up on Monday. It’s going to be awesome!
Mark Jirsa,
interpretive walk to two
Monday, September 21. Meet at the gravel pit on the
Road (formerly
necessary, to the parking area, then walk to the sites off the road.)
These sites are of great significance in the world of geology, and
could potentially be made into interpretative sites. The sites are
quickly becoming grown over, post-fire, so now is the time to view
and learn about this.
From the
"In 2007, a layer of rock was discovered in
thought to have formed during the
The layer is exposed near
of the impact site at
the Gunflint Iron Formation below, and slate of the Rove Formation
above. Both of these formations were deposited as muddy,
oceanic sediments. Nearly a billion years later, these rocks were
intruded by magma (Logan Intrusion) as part of a major continental
rifting event."
For more information go to:
http://talc.geo.umn.edu/mgs/meteoriteimpact.pdf