Interested in remote work? The National Park Service may have a job for you
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The National Park Service is seeking applicants for a job that puts a new spin on the phrase “remote work.”
The agency is looking for people or groups interested in managing the 10-room Kettle Falls Hotel, a historic hotel along a wild stretch of the Canadian border, accessible only by boat or float plane.
The Kettle Falls Hotel was built in 1910 to accommodate fishermen, lumberjacks and construction workers who built a nearby dam. It’s the only lodging facility located within Voyageurs National Park.
The historic site also includes camper cabins and villas, marinas, a portage between Rainy and Namakan Lakes, and a restaurant and bar, locally famous for a dramatically tilted floor caused by the settling of the building’s foundation over the years.
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The floor is “affectionately called the ‘Tiltin’ Hilton,’” said Christina Hausman Rhode, executive director of Voyageurs Conservancy, the nonprofit that advocates and fundraises for the park. “They say, ‘When the floor is looking level, you know you’ve had enough to drink.’”
The Park Service bought the historic site in 1978, shortly after Voyageurs National Park was created.
It’s located on the roadless Kabetogama Peninsula, on the eastern tip where Rainy Lake and Namakan Lake meet. The closest boat launch is 14 miles away at the Ash River Visitor Center.
The site is a historic crossroads. Ojibwe people have fished the waters for centuries. They were followed by fur traders, commercial anglers, lumberjacks who ferried millions of board feet of timber over Kettle Falls between 1899 and 1929, even bootleggers who distilled liquor in the area during Prohibition.
Voyageurs National Park Superintendent Bob DeGross said the current concessionaire, Rick Oveson, has run the site for the past 23 years.
Oveson’s contract expired at the end of 2022. The Park Service put out a call then for a new operator. But there weren’t any takers. So the agency extended the contract until the end of 2026.
“If we don’t get any interested business operators in the contract, that means that the building would be closed down,” said DeGross. “There’s nothing worse than having a historic structure not being used, because it deteriorates.”
It’s also the most popular visitor destination in the park. About three-quarters of all park visitors travel to the site, said DeGross. Boaters visit for a walleye sandwich and a beer, or to hike the trails.
The concessionaire also provides important spots for boaters to fuel up, and portages boats between Rainy and Namakan Lakes.
“It is an essential service that we definitely want to see continued into the future,” said DeGross.
The current concessionaire reported $875,000 in revenues in 2023 from lodging, bar and restaurant and other operations.
Annual park visitation has ranged between 199,000 and 263,000 over the past decade, although it dipped to a 10-year low in 2024.
But DeGross and others see untapped potential. The Park Service is currently completing four camper cabins to add options for overnight visitors.
“You’d have to be adventurous and creative, and it's definitely remote,” said Hausman Rhode. “It's not currently open in the winter. But there is a lot of opportunity there as well.”
The Park Service is asking for interested individuals, educational institutions, nonprofit groups, businesses and other entities to indicate their interest by April 30. A site visit is planned for May 21.
“We really want to introduce operators to the potential of the service and get ideas from them on how they feel the service might be tweaked to make it more of an interesting business opportunity,” said DeGross.
Then there will be an official call for proposals from interested operators toward the end of the year. The Park Service is looking to sign a lease ranging from 10 to 60 years.
Correction (April 23, 2025): An earlier version of this story misstated whose contract expired. The story has been corrected.