At Minnesota’s northeastern tip, Grand Portage State Park preserves the Pigeon River gorge and High Falls, the state’s tallest waterfall, on the border with Ontario. This rugged stretch of river made the Grand Portage necessary, as rapids and falls blocked travel and led Native peoples to establish the overland route later central to the fur trade. The park also reflects border and reservation history, from the 1842 boundary settlement to the 1854 Treaty of La Pointe, as well as later logging and conservation efforts. Created in 1989 and opened in 1994, it is uniquely leased from the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and jointly managed with the Grand Portage Band.