Grand Portage was a center of partnership between the Grand Portage Ojibwe and the North West Company during the North American fur trade, a bustling depot later reconstructed in its exact location, where pathways lead into that earlier time and the drum could be heard over Gichigami—Lake Superior. In northern Minnesota, the climate is defined by short, warm summers and long, cold winters, with average July temperatures ranging from 55°F to 78°F, average January temperatures ranging from –11°F to 12°F, and about 32 inches of annual precipitation in Grand Portage, Minnesota.