Gold was discovered on what is now Little American Island in Voyageurs National Park in July 1893. The Little American Mine was up and running early the next year with hard rock mining proceeding with both a horizontal adit and a vertical shaft that eventually reached a depth of 100 feet. The Little American Mine was the only profitable one in the region and it was just barely in the black.
By spring of 1894, the Rainy Lake "Gold Rush" was in full swing with the incorporation of the new settlement of Rainy Lake City on the east side of Black Bay Narrows. The boom quickly fizzled and by 1898 the school and newspaper were closed with the town being totally abandoned by 1901.
A tour of the island begins at the small dock on the northwest side of the island. A packed gravel ¼-mile path loops around to both the mine shaft and the adit. It also offers long distance views up Rainy Lake from an overlook on the east end of the island. One bench is provided for visitors that need to rest after climbing about 20 feet to the small hill atop the island. A vault toilet is located near the dock.
Visitors to the park can reach the island by private boat or by taking the park service's Grand Tour from the nearby Rainy Lake visitor center. I've written about the Grand Tour on a separate post here. We visited in early August 2017.
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| Voyageur at the dock |
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| Heading up from the dock |
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| Typical trail conditions |
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| Wayside display |
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| The adit entrance to the mine is full of water |
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| Bridge across the adit |
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| Remains of the hoist house mechanism |
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| Vertical shaft entrance to the mine |
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| Social trail to the southeast part of the island |
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| Another wayside exhibit |
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| Park bench at trail junction to the overlook |
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| The trail stays high above the lake as it approaches the overlook |
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| View up the lake from the overlook |
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| Looking southeast toward Rainy Lake City |
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| The dock at the foot of what was once Duluth Avenue in Rainy Lake City from the Voyageur |
Entry to Voyageurs National Park is free.
The park website is https://www.nps.gov/voya.
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