Minong - The Good Place

Tim Cochrane's Minong-the Good Place rewrites the history of the Isle Royale. Those unfamiliar with the facts contend this Lake Superior archipelago was visited only by copper miners and entrepreneurs before its designation as a national park. Cochrane shatters this myth. In captivating style he reveals the wealth of Ojibwe- particularly Grand Portage Ojibwe- cultural and mythological connections with Minong and the intimate knowledge the Ojibwe have of the straits, reefs, and islands that form this hauntingly beautiful place. The story results from over thirty years of intensive research into the letters, files, and records of early Jesuit priests, the North West, Hudson's Bay and American Fur companies, plus personal interviews with many North Shore Ojibwe elders. 

Author Timothy Cochrane was superintendant at Grand Portage National Monument for twenty years, where he worked closely with the Grand Portage Band of Anishinaabeg and the tribal council.  His books include A Good Boat Speaks for Itself: Isle Royale Fishermen and Their Boats and Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais: Early Accounts of the Anishinaabeg and the North Shore Fur Trade , both published by the University of Minnesota Press, and Making the Carry.