Lily Lake
Tofte Ranger District
The remains of possibly a dock of some sort are still visible at the Brule Lake portage landing as of 2022. This structure was perhaps built as part of the North Star Company logging operations. This company, a subsidiary of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, harvested mostly pulpwood from the area north of Brule Lake. They used trucks to haul this material out of the woods and the Lily Lake portage was along one of those routes to Brule Lake. All of their operations were conducted in the winter over ice roads. The winter roads ended at the General Logging Company railroad on Brule Lake. These operations by the North Star Company took place between 1944 and 1950. The old structure that remains at the portage (as of 2022) may also have been subsequently used by resort visitors as makeshift docks for their boats when they came to visit Lily Lake.
Lily Lake drains to the south into Brule Lake through a small creek that parallels the portage.
The hills to the northeast of Lily Lake are some of the highest elevation in the State of Minnesota (around 2100 feet). Lily Lake lies at an elevation of 1856 feet above sea level.
The portage to Mulligan Lake is moderately steep, gaining 59 feet of elevation in just 32 rods (528 feet).
References:
Heinselman, Miron, The Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), 114.
Exploring Lily Lake
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Lily Lake as seen from the start of the Brule Lake portage.
Route Connections for Lily Lake
From Lily Lake, you can portage to either Brule Lake or Mulligan Lake.
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