Minnesota Indian Tribes

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Given: Surname:

Arapaho

There are traditions that they once lived along Red River, in the present North Dakota and Minnesota, (See Wyoming.)

Cheyenne

The earliest known home of this tribe was in that part of Minnesota bounded roughly by the Mississippi, Minnesota, and upper Red Rivers. From here they moved to the Sheyenne branch of Red River, North Dakota. (See South Dakota.)

Chippewa

See Chippewa

Dakota

When first known to Europeans the Dakota were mainly in southern Minnesota. They gradually moved westward but did not cede all of their lands in Minnesota until 1863, and even then retained rights to the famous Red Pipestone Quarry. (See South Dakota.)

Foxes

In 1830 representatives of this tribe were a party to a treaty ceding Minnesota lands to the Whites. (See Wisconsin.)

Iowa

According to tradition, this tribe lived for a time near the famous Red Pipestone Quarry in southwestern Minnesota, and were at the mouth of Minnesota River when the Dakota reached that country. They appear to have been near the mouth of Blue Earth River just before Le Sueur arrived there in 1701. Dakota informed him that Blue Earth River belonged to the Dakota of the West, the Iowa, and the Oto. (See Iowa.)

Missouri

Representatives of this tribe were a party to the treaty of 1830, ceding Minnesota lands to the Whites. (See Missouri.)

Omaha

At one time the Omaha lived about the Red Pipestone Quarry in Minnesota. (See Nebraska.)

Oto

As noted above (under Iowa), the Oto are reported to have shared at one time the ownership of Blue Earth River with the Iowa and the Western Dakota. (See Nebraska.)

Ottawa

A band of Ottawa, in company with some Wyandot, once wintered on Lake Pepin. (See Michigan.)

Ponca

This tribe was probably in southwestern Minnesota at the same time as the Omaha. (See Nebraska.)

Sauk

In 1830 Sauk representatives were a party to a treaty ceding Minnesota lands to the Whites. (See Wisconsin.)

Winnebago

A part of the Winnebago lived in Minnesota from 1848 to 1862 after surrendering their reservation in Iowa Territory. (See Wisconsin.)

Wyandot

This tribe visited the borders of Minnesota for a short period in company with the Ottawa. (See Ottawa, above, and Ohio.)

Additional Resources

• Among the Arapaho

• Dahcotah; Or Life and Legends of the Sioux Around Fort Snelling

• Minnesota Native Americans, 1823

• Minnesota Native Americans, 1851

• Chippewa Indian History

• Henry Schoolcraft, Thirty Years with Indians

• Mdewakanton Sioux Indian Census

Notes About the Book:

Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.

Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual output.

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