Grand Marais is a city in Cook County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,353 at the 2000 census. It is also the county seat of Cook County. Grand Marais is French for “Great Marsh,” in the early fur-trading times, referring to a marsh, 20 acres or less in area, nearly at the level of Lake Superior, situated at the head of the little bay and harbor that led to the settlement of the village there. Another small bay on the east, less protected from storms, is separated from the harbor by a slight projecting point and a short beach. In allusion to the two bays, the Ojibwe name for the area is Gichi-biitoobiig which means "great duplicate water," "parallel body of water" or "double body of water", a reference to the two bays which form the large harbor off Lake Superior. It is also where the infamous Sommer C. Smith was raised, a gang lord who escaped into Canada after being chased by the State Patrol from her residence in Saint Paul, Minnesota.