Dakota

Chaska: A Minnesota River City (Volume I: The 1800s)

Barac, LaVonne E
This history of the Minnesota River town of Chaska was based primarily on early Chaska newspapers. Volume I covers historical information from before Chaska's founding in the 1850s through 1899, with chapters organized by decade. The author provides information on evidence of early habitation, Dakota Indians, and exploration of the area prior to the 1850s. topics including the formation of the town significant individuals in its history, major buildings, and transportation (roads, stage coach, ferry, steamboat, and railroads) are discussed.

Lac Qui Parle and the Dakota Mission

Willand , John
Based primarily on manuscripts in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, this publication presents the story of Dakota Mission work in southern Minnesota during the nineteenth century. The author reports in detail on the formation, establishment, and decline of the Dakota Mission, with much attention paid to the backgrounds and personalities of the individuals involved. The mission at Lac Qui Parle is emphasized, with chapters addressing the building of the station and its domestic life. A bibliography and chronology of events are appended.
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The Dakota or Sioux in Minnesota As They Were in 1834

Pond, Samuel W
Originally published in 1908, this book was written by a missionary who worked in Dakota settlements in the Minnesota River Valley near Fort Snelling, at Lac Qui Parle, an near Fort Ridgely. Pond's observations encompass a wide range of social and cultural aspects, including tools and weapons, hunting, agriculture, government, language and writing, music, religion, feasts and dances, the condition of women, and medicinal practices.

What This Awl Means: Feminist Archaeology at a Wahpeton Dakota Village

Spector, Janet D
This book highlights the activities and experiences of Dakota women at Little Rapids, a nineteenth-century Eastern Sioux planting village along the lower Minnesota River near Minneapolis. The author uses an individual artifact from the site, a carved antler awl handle, to tell the larger story. Numerous drawings and photographs illustrate the text, listing of artifacts and animal and plant remains are appended, and a source list is provided.

The Aborigines of Minnesota: A Report Based on the Collections of Jacob V. Brower, and on the Field Surveys and Notes of Alfred J. Hill and Theodore H. Lewis.

Winchell , N.H.
This extensive volume presents archaeological and historical information on the aboriginal inhabitants of Minnesota. Topics covered include pre-Indian inhabitants, the earliest Indians, aboriginal geography, and earthworks and mounds. Sections on the Dakota and Ojibwa address the issues of habitations, food, cultural traditions, war and domestic implements, and land treaties. Maps and drawings illustrate the text.
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