The Menominee originally controlled nine million acres of land in Wisconsin and chose the area around Keshena Falls as their present reservation. The falls was vital because sturgeon, an important resource for the Menominee, stopped there on their upstream spawning runs each spring until two downstream dams blocked their annual return. Tradition holds that an underwater drum at the foot of the falls is beaten by spring high water, calling the sturgeon home from Lake Winnebago, as they had come for thousands of years. Because the falls was such an important site to the Tribe, the Treaty of 1854 establishing the Menominee Reservation was signed there, and the first Menominee-Wisconsin casino compact was also signed there in 1992. Keshena Falls was also historically the site of a dancing ground where Pow-Wows were held each Sunday, and a hydroelectric plant operated there for many years, providing electricity to tribal members. Although the Pow-Wows have been moved to the Woodland Bowl, the hydroelectric plant has been removed, and the sturgeon now come only as far north as Shawano, Keshena Falls remains a treasured place in the hearts of the Menominee.