[April 7, 1904 part 2]

At Little Marais we got supper and it was 11:30 PM.  Mr. Lutzen keeps the stopping place.  This place has an unenviable reputation for its filth and unwholesome cooking.  After supper we went to bed and slept about two hours till 3 o’clock.  After one of the worst breakfasts I ever tasted we again started on our journey about 4 o’clock.  The first part of this journey was very pleasant  as the snow had hardened some during the morning hours.  Our driver was Mr. Bukman, one of the owners of the stage line.  He was a very pleasant jolly fellow.  About six miles from our starting place we passed through Cook Bay, a fisherman’s house.  We next stopped and changed horses at Mr. Dolans Camp, about 12 miles out.  Here we also had a lunch.  After lunch we again drove out till we came to Mr. LutzensNelsons place who keeps the postoffice at NelsenLutzen and is a fisherman and lumberman.  After dinner we started out for GM about 20 miles away.  The road was fairly good till we came to within 3 miles of GM where they were all bare and having been plowed and worked the fall before they were very meiray.  We started in ahead of the other stage which did not get in till an hour after us.  Shortly after the road turns to the east we got sight of Grand Marais which lies 1000 feet below along the shore of Lake Superior.  There is a good natural harbor, with a natural brakewater formed by a rocky reef.  From the northerly end of this reef extends a rocky cape which is about 40 feet higher than the brakewater reef and which extends out into the lake about 1500 feet.

The town of GM has a population of about 500.  The town seems to have taken new life lately.  Many new building have been put up within the past year or two, among which may be mentioned a church, a school-house dwelling houses and a store.  This seems to be a one-mans town.  Charles Johnson a Swede seems to own all the business enterprises.  He owns the only store in town, which is modeled in the department plan and he carries a stock worth about $60,000.  He also owns the Bank of GM and is now building a sawmill.  The town has 2 hotels.  One kept by a Mr. Larson and the other by a Mr. Olson.  There are also 3 saloons.  All their supplies must be shipped in during navigation and one of the saloons has run short of goods so it has been compelled to close up.