John Beargrease, born 1858 as the son of a Anishinaabe chief by the name of Makwabimidem (Beargrease), is best remembered as the winter mail carrier between Two Harbors, Minnesota and Grand Marais, Minnesota during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Beargrease used a row boat and a dog sled to deliver the mail. His legendary dog sled runs are remembered and celebrated in the annual 411-mile John Beargrease Dog Sled Race between Duluth and Grand Portage, Minnesota. He died at his home in Beaver Bay, Minnesota in 1910. Early life John Beargrease was born near Cass Lake or Beaver Bay in 1858, the same year that Minnesota became a state. His father, an Ojibwe chief named Moquabimeten, also called Beargrease, was a leader of a small group of Ojibwe that settled in Beaver Bay in 1858 to work in the sawmill. His mother Newagagamsbag (Otoe) and two brothers named Peter (Daybosh) and Joseph (Skowegan) lived in a traditional wigwam on the edge of town. Besides his work as a trapper, John's father was also a sailor on a schooner owned by the town's founder, Albert Wieland. Career The Beargrease boys learned trapping, hunting, and fishing from their father; they also sought work with the Wieland family. In his late teens, John worked on commercial fishing, passenger, and freight ships that sailed on Lake Superior. By the 1880s, when John was in his twenties, the North Shore had many small settlements that could be reached by the recently built railroad, but it only went as far as Two Harbors. In 1879 Beargrease and his brothers started delivering the mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais, occasionally going all the way to Grand Portage. The trail they followed along the North Shore was a footpath from Duluth to Thunder Bay, first traveled by the Anishinabe and later by the fishing families and fur traders that settled along the North Shore. The family knew the route well because they ran trap lines along it to sell furs to the European markets. The trail was filled with hundreds of streams, gorges, raging rivers, and unworthy footbridges. In the winter there were blizzards which built mountainous drifts. In the summer there were rains and mosquitoes, ticks, and flies. John is best known for his dogsled trips and the 400-mile John Beargrease Dogsled Race has been named to honor him. Each week, or sometimes