The Land We're On

The Land We're On. a reflection of history. , Dakota and Ojibwe Homeland , Archaeologists have documented human activity within Minnesota to at least 11,000 years ago. By the 1600s, when the first French explorers reached present-day Minnesota, the two main groups of people now occupying the region had been living here for centuries; the Dakota and the Ojibwe. Minnesota (from the Dakota 'Mni Sota Makoce') is center to the Dakota creation story and is also an important place within traditional Ojibwe history., The Dakota and Ojibwe flourished across the Pelican Rapids area including the land now defined by the eight modern townships identified on the stone marker at this site. Beginning with the First Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825, this land was divided by a treaty boundary line running diagonally through parts of what eventually became Maplewood, Lida, Pelican, and Scambler Townships, with the Dakota people to the south and west of this line and the Ojibwe to the north and east., By the end of the 1800s, through often unscrupulous and unfair treaties with the US government, both the Dakota and Ojibwe had been largely removed from their lands to reservations, left with a tiny percentage of their once vast former territories, and the land was opened to Euro-American settlement. However, the Tribes were able to negotiate their right to continue the traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering practices which continue to this day., The Land Divided , Following the Revolutionary War, a system was devised to divide up the large areas of land west of the original 13 states to the Mississippi River, including portions of modern-day Minnesota. The foundations of what would become the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) were originally proposed by Thomas Jefferson in 1784. This system was intended to facilitate the distribution of land to Euro-American settlers as the American frontier pushed ever westward, resulting in the systematic displacement of Native American peoples living in its path., The existing systems of land division in early, colonial America often resulted in irregular shaped parcels that were difficult to define. The PLSS established a much simpler, rectangular system of land division that is evident within the development patterns of much of the midwestern and western United States today, including the eight townships commemorated at this site., The Land Settled , By the end of the 1800s the land had been divided into farms and small communities, including Pelican Rapids, largely by immigrants of Norwegian, Swedish, and German descent. Schools, churches, stores and markets were built. The abundance of water power in the region and the arrival of railroads made the area a center of the flour milling and lumber industries. Then, as today, visitors marveled at the natural beauty of the forests, prairies, lakes, and rivers that would make it the recreational destination it has become., What are Townships? , The PLSS defined townships as areas of land 6 miles wide by 6 miles long. Each township is comprised of 36 sections. Each section is one mile square. The village of Pelican Rapids as originally platted (see the map to the right) is largely contained within one section of Pelican Township., Captions: , Right: Ojibwe woman, about 1885. , Above: Dakota summer lodge, 1846-1848. Watercolor painting by Seth Eastman. , Images courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society, Left and above: Examples of the 1884 plat maps for several of the surrounding townships. , Plat map images courtesy of Otter Tail County Historical Society, Left and below: Early 20th century scenes from Pelican Rapids and the surrounding townships. , Photo courtesy of Otter Tail County Historical Society, Pelican Rapids Village , Historical Marker Wayside, History , The idea for the Pelican Rapids Village Historical Marker Wayside was developed by the Otter Tail County Historical Society (OTCHS) in 1942. The OTCHS established committees for Pelican Rapids and the eight surrounding townships to gather information on the early Euro-American settlement of their respective locales as the proposed marker would contain a plaque for each. The wayside, including the marker, was intended to be constructed during that summer, but was put on hold due to World War II., Construction of the wayside by the Minnesota Highway Department (now MnDOT) began in June of 1946 and the marker was dedicated on Sept. 22, 1946., Did You Know...? , The grassy area behind the stone marker once extended over 400 feet further to the north and originally comprised a much larger wayside! It was planted with a variety of shade trees and offered a large area for public gatherings., Captions: , Pelican Rapids Historical Marker Wayside, circa 1947, looking north. , Minnesota Highway Department engineers reviewing construction of the stone marker, circa 1946., For more information about this and other Historic Roadside Properties throughout Minnesota, please visit: mndot.gov/roadsides/historic