Editing Ely, Minnesota (section)

===Attractions===
[[Image:Burntside Lake BWCAW.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Burntside Lake, Ely, Minnesota]]

Ely is the largest "jumping off" town for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and a major one for [[Quetico Provincial Park]]. The BWCAW is renowned as a destination for canoeing and fishing on its many lakes, and is the nation's most-visited wilderness. With extensive outfitting and other services, Ely can credibly be claimed to do the most wilderness canoe outfitting of any town or city in the world.

[[File:Sigurd F. Olson Writing Shack interior.jpg|thumb|Sigurd F. Olson Writing Shack interior, Ely, Minnesota]]

Longtime Ely resident [[Sigurd F. Olson]] was instrumental in creating the BWCAW. A writer, [[environmentalism|environmentalist]], and advocate for the protection of [[wilderness]], he served for more than 30 years as a wilderness guide in the lakes and forests of the [[Boundary Waters|Quetico-Superior country]] of northern Minnesota and southwestern [[Ontario]]. He worked for the protection of the [[Boundary Waters]], helped draft the [[Wilderness Act]] of 1964, and helped establish [[Voyageurs National Park]] in northern Minnesota. He was known honorifically as ''the Bourgeois''—a term the [[Voyageurs|voyageur]]s used for trusted leaders.