Traveling the Old North Shore – A mine, a railway and a ‘metropolis’ on the Gunflint Trail
If you travel up the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais and continue just past the beautiful view of Gunflint Lake, you’ll come across the “Centennial Trail.” It’s a U.S. Forest Service hiking trail that explores a brief but significant bit of the area’s history — the Port Arthur, Duluth, and Western Railway and the ill-fated Paulson Mine.
In this two-part segment, producer Martha Marnocha takes us back to the late 1800s to learn more about this chapter of Cook County history, including the “Poverty, Agony, Distress and Want” railway and a settlement once called “Gunflint City.”
Gunflint City is now just a ghost town and a reminder of a failed railway and mining venture in northern Cook County. There is little left of the “city” that was developed in the early 1890s and abandoned less than a year later.
Former site of Gunflint City
Former railway route
Thanks to Thunder Bay history teacher and historian Dave Battistel for his contribution to this feature. You can explore the area of the former Paulson Mine and railway via the Centennial Hiking Trail. The 3.3 mile loop is located just off the Gunflint Trail, approximately 47 miles from Grand Marais.
Paulson mine photo by Dave Battistel. Featured image is Gunflint Narrows Trestle, 1911 (submitted).
Traveling the Old North Shore is supported in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
