The Minnesota Department of Transportation is installing 12 signs to mark the boundaries of a treaty signed in 1854 by three tribal nations and the U.S. government. One of the signs was installed on Nov. 1 along Highway 61 near Grand Portage.
DULUTH, Minn.-During Native American Heritage Month, the government in Minnesota has acknowledged the 12 tribes of the state in a new way.
In Northeastern Minnesota, state transportation officials are posting 12 highway signs to mark the boundaries of a treaty signed in 1854 by the U.S. government and three Ojibwe bands: the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation installed the first sign on Nov. 1 on southbound Highway 61, just south of the Canadian border and near the entrance to Grand Portage State Park.
Grand Portage Chairman Robert Deschamps told MPR News, "When people enter the 1854 Treaty area, they will know where they are and, hopefully, educate themselves about treaties."
In 1854, the Bois Forte, Grand Portage and Fond du Lac Ojibwe bands ceded 5.5 million acres of land in northeastern Minnesota to the U.S. government in exchange for small cash payments and the guaranteed right to continue to hunt, fish and gather on that territory. When the state failed to recognize the rights, in the 1980s, the tribes sued. The state eventually reached a settlement with the Bois Forte, Grand Portage and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.
"We're acknowledging the fact that as the state of Minnesota, we see the tribal nations, we see the treaties and are honoring those treaties. And that is a huge step," Levi Brown, who is not only director of tribal affairs for MnDOT, but also is a membber of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, told MPR.
The additional 11 signs will be placed along other highways, including Interstate 35 near Sturgeon Lake, over the next several weeks.
