National

History: Early accounts from non-Indian pioneers in Minnesota

Thursday, July 12, 2012

"Before detailing the dramatic events of the Dakota War that have etched themselves into Minnesota's history and psyche, we will look back to earlier Indian life on Maine Prairie, the relationship between the Indian tribes themselves, and the relationship with the earliest settlers.

As Frost records her first trip west of the Mississippi, crossing by ferry at Clearwater, she gives us a somewhat troubling insight into the perspective new arrivals in Minnesota had on the "Indian issue" and the anxieties new settlers felt with regard to the Indian population: "The great, wide Mississippi divided the lands once owned by the Chippewa [Ojibwe] and Sioux [Dakota] Indians. The east side, the St. Francis side, belonged to the former, a quiet tribe of Indians whom we did not fear, while on the west side of the river roved the savage Sioux. In a treaty they were permitted to own a reservation on the Minnesota River not far from its confluence with the Mississippi, the most desirable strip of land. As they were being paid for their lands by the government, they were better off than were the poor homesteaders. The only hesitancy I had about going [to Fair Haven and Maine Prairie] was that I feared the treachery of the Indians.""

Get the Story:
Early contacts with the Indians (The Tri County News 7/11)