Grand Portage Band Reclaims 87 Acres of Ancestral Land in Northern Minnesota

Three parcels of land stripped from the Grand Portage Band over the course of two centuries — through an 1854 treaty, a state school land transfer, and federal allotment policies — came back to the tribe last month in a single transaction that Chairman Robert Deschampe called the largest land return in the Band's recent history.

The Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe completed the purchase of the roughly 87 acres in partnership with the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation and the Minnesota Land Trust, with the acquisition finalized in February and celebrated publicly on March 16. The three parcels are Paradise Beach, a 5.19-acre stretch of Lake Superior shoreline along Highway 61 south of Grand Portage; Francis Island, a 1.8-acre island in the Susie Islands archipelago on Lake Superior; and an approximately 80-acre forest parcel on Mineral Center Road, about five miles west of the Grand Portage community.

"The return of this land to Grand Portage is the largest land return in our recent history, and it carries meaning for our Grand Portage families that goes far beyond just acreage," Deschampe said. "Getting them back in a single transfer is something our Grand Portage Members have not seen in our lifetimes."

Each parcel represents a different chapter in the tribe's dispossession. Paradise Beach, a gathering place of deep cultural significance since time immemorial, was lost when the Treaty of September 30, 1854 placed it outside the subsequently established reservation boundary. Francis Island, which sits along historic canoe routes connecting Grand Portage to Minong (Isle Royale) and was used for fishing, hunting, gathering, and ceremony, was transferred to the State of Minnesota as State School Trust Lands. The Mineral Center Road forest parcel, described in tribal documents as "pristine and unique," was fragmented away during the federal allotment era. Its return also continues a longer restoration of the Susie Islands that began in 2017, when The Nature Conservancy returned Susie Island to the Band.

The land's path into private hands traces in part to August Van Johnson, who served as Cook County Registrar of Deeds in the early 1900s and generated much of his wealth through land holdings, including Grand Portage parcels the Band said he obtained "in some cases through questionable means." The Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation manages funds mostly amassed by Van Johnson, who was Lloyd K. Johnson's uncle. The foundation and the B. Van Johnson Trust, the landowners, are separate entities, but the connection prompted the foundation to reckon with that history directly.

"When we learned that part of the Johnson family still owned land within and outside of the reservation, we began to dream about getting this land back to the Grand Portage people," said Erik Torch, executive director of the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation. The foundation began working with the B. Van Johnson Trust and the Minnesota Land Trust in 2024 to initiate the transfer.

At the March 16 ceremony, tribal member Morrin framed the return in terms that reached beyond property rights. He thanked the foundation for restoring not only the physical land but also "part of our spirit as a people." "What we're celebrating today is a connection," he said.

Deschampe offered a similar summation, grounding the transfer in both grief and resolve. "Nothing can undo what happened to our Grand Portage families over the past 200 years," he said. "But returning these lands to the Band is very meaningful for our ancestors, for our people today, and for the generations who will care for and keep these lands pristine after us.