Ojibwe Presence

Archaeological evidence shows that tribal peoples frequented this low riverside ridge at least 5,000 years ago, perhaps using the area as a portage around rapids that once existed here on the Mississippi River before the Little Falls dam was built. In the 1700s, disputes between Dakota and Ojibwe peoples turned central Minnesota into a war zone that was generally unsafe for anyone to enter. In 1837, about 100 years after the Ojibwe, also called Chippewa, entered northern Minnesota, they signed a treaty granting lands east of the Mississippi to the United States. The following year, Ojibwe leader Hole-in-the-Day, a supporter of the treaty, asked Methodists to open a mission near his village around the mouth of the Little Elk River. The mission closed in 1841 after the Ojibwe moved north in response to Dakota military pressure. When Hole-in-the-Day died in 1847, his son Kwi-wi-sens, who had spent part of his youth at Little Elk, took his father's name and position. One of Hole-in-the-Day II's first acts was to sign the Treaty of 1847, granting lands on the west side of the Mississippi River to the United States.

Minnesota · United States