Practical ‘Land Back’ opportunity, understanding the Two Spirit story, and more

In this post:

• Practical ‘Land Back’ opportunity through the Indian Land Tenure Foundation
• Understanding the Two Spirit story
• MPCA, DNR use law firm with ties to mining interests

The Minnesota Gold Rush that wasn’t and its lasting impact on Anishinaabe people

Today’s history lesson is on the Minnesota Gold Rush of 1866.

Never heard of it? That’s because 1) It fizzled, and 2) It’s a history we don’t tell because it reflects so poorly on our colonial past. While now but a historical footnote, the Minnesota Gold Rush did incredible harm to the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people living in northeastern Minnesota.

The Bois Forte Land Back backstory

The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa acquired 28,000 acres of land within its traditional reservation boundaries this month, in what Native News Online describes as “the largest land-back agreement in Minnesota and one of the largest-ever in Indian Country.”

“The Bois Forte Band plans to directly manage the restored lands under a forest management plan that emphasizes conservation and environmental protection, balanced with economic and cultural benefits to the Band and its members,” the article said.

The headlines are calling this “historic” or that the tribe is “celebrating” the return of land. While true, this land-back story deserves context: An explanation of why Bois Forte needed to get its land back in the first place.

This day in history, Sept. 30, 1854: Ojibwe people in the Arrowhead region forced into treaty to open land to mining interests

Correction: An earlier version of this post misidentified Henry Sibley as one of the treaty negotiators. It also failed to correctly distinguish between the Treaty of 1854 and the Treaty of 1855. Those errors have been corrected.

History offers several examples of white settlers’ greed for gold and how it led to violence, disease, land theft, and genocide of Indigenous peoples, the California and Black Hills gold rushes being prime examples.

Less well know is that it happened in Minnesota, too. It started in 1848, when surveyors found a copper vein in the Arrowhead region of the Minnesota Territory, on Lake Superior’s north shore, the Why Treaties Matter website said. In the 1860s, the Minnesota State Geologist identified gold just west of the Arrowhead region. 

Mining interests wanted in. They pressured the federal government to force treaties with the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people to get access to their land and minerals.

What the Anishinaabe saw as sacred, the colonists saw as profit.

Reads: Bois Forte faces casino boycott over anti-mining stance; Trump gets one vote from Red Lake Nation presidential primary; and more

In this blog:

• Bois Forte Band of Chippewa faces casino boycott over its anti-mining stance
• Trump got only one vote in Red Lake Nation’s presidential primary
• Bad River Band in Wisconsin demands Enbridge pay millions in damages for its crude oil pipeline’s trespass
• Los Angeles clean energy priorities are making changes in Navajo economy
• Application withdrawn for $20 billion Alberta tar sands mining project