The Pigeon River forms part of the Canada–United States border between the state of Minnesota and the province of Ontario, west of Lake Superior. In pre-industrial times the river was a waterway of great importance for transportation and the fur trade.GeographyThe Pigeon River flows in an easterly direction out of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for until it drains into Lake Superior. The Pigeon is one of the larger rivers on Superior's North Shore.HeadwatersThe Pigeon River originates from a chain of lakes along the US-Canada border, the highest of which, and furthest west, is Mountain Lake. Among the Pigeon's tributaries is the Arrow River of Ontario which rises in South Lake, west of and at a lower elevation than Mountain Lake. South Lake is separated only by a narrow isthmus from North Lake in the Rainy River watershed. This isthmus is a part of the Northern (or Laurentian) Continental divide, and is crossed by the Height of Land Portage. The fur-trading Voyageurs and coureurs des bois would cross this divide and travel downstream on the Rainy River and Winnipeg River to Lake Winnipeg, from which routes branched out into fur-producing areas of the Canadian northwest.
