Great Plains Pilgrimage Summer 2025- Minnesota Part 2 and crossing over to St. Paul

 Minneapolis is divided into 83 neighborhoods and approximately 11 communities. Folks may identify by region (North, South, West, East) or colloquially. Being a tourist, I chose cardinal directions which brought me to the East Side of Minneapolis. I know I am rehashing old history whenever I mention the forced removal of the Indigenous people from their ancestral lands by colonizers/pioneers/immigrants. But I need the constant reminder because it continues to be mind blowing to me. 

I’m not sure if numbers matter when compared to thousands of years. 

The US government had a lot to do with the movement, and thanks to the yet another act=1956 relocation act which defunded many reservation services and paid for relocation expenses to the cities in an attempt to assimilate the country’s indigenous peoples (much more on the “other” forced assimilation at Indian Boarding Schools in the Great Plains region in another post- the main thrust of my pilgrimage), the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area is home to one of the largest and most tribally diverse urban American Indian populations, numbering well over 35,000. I was looking for a specific place that I learned of long ago. In my small world of cycling into poverty after divorce, I know all too well about section 8 urban housing developments (we called them the projects).

Stark fact= About 45% of Minneapolis’ American Indian population lives in poverty. Sadly, I knew this going in. I also knew the housing development people had no need or desire for me intruding on their lives, so my visit was a drive by. I wish I had the time or the connection to have a sit down. I would explain about the many similarities we have. I would proudly boast about taking full advantage of every government hand-out to lift myself out of the misery, danger, and trauma that cycles of poverty mixed with alcohol and drugs brings to people who give up and give in to the vices. I am a teacher I would proclaim! I am a life-long learner and I want to learn about you I would say. But I didn’t. I just snapped and drove away.

Little Earth

https://www.littleearth.org/

Little Earth is a 9.4 acre, 212-unit Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsidized housing complex located in the urban industrial core of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Little Earth was founded in 1973 and remains the only American Indian/Native preference project-based Section 8 rental assistance community in the United States.

I had a insistent creature hop on for the next part of my ride through the east side.

I was hoping my grasshopper, along for the spirit ride, was a wise one, because I was going to next get out and walk around a bit.

For more information on this mixed area:

https://indigenous-roots.org/intertribal-cultural-corridor

In 2017, Indigenous Roots installed its very first series of murals on the 7th Street Cultural Corridor, in partnership with several organizations (such as Good Space Murals, Dayton's Bluff Community Council, MN350, Youth Water Protectors and local businesses.

In 2019, residents, artists and businesses began to call 7th Street the Intertribal Cultural Corridor to honor the Indigenous Dakota peoples of this land while honoring the many immigrants who have made the East Side their home and/or first home in the Twin Cities.

Not many folks out in the sweltering heat of an approaching 4th of July in 2025. But there was beautiful art and one stayed with me.

It was on a side street from 7th Ave, where I drove to park my car. So vivid, proud, yet brooding. Of course I stopped to read the smaller portrait on the right. 

This mural honors the life of Cordale Quinn Handy, who was born on July 27th, 1987. In 2017 he was murdered by Saint Paul Police and his family continues to work to receive justice for Cordale and others who have fallen victim to gun violence and police brutality. This memorial continues to honor his life and brings light to the police brutality occurring in the Twin Cities. Artist: Xena Goldman (IG: Xenadecia)

I cried. More fucking mea culpa's. More anger at an unjust world. More, more, more...

I continued around the corner and onto the long 7th St. East. Little did I know that once I crossed some odd line or space that was totally unrecognizable to tourist me, that I was now in St. Paul. So these next two places have St. Paul addresses.

Unfortunately wasn't open. Here is what they are:

Healing Practitioners offering wellness services and products to the community of Saint Paul, Minnesota and beyond. 

Contributing to physical, emotional, and spiritual healing through traditional Indigenous healing modalities and a variety of hand crafted self-care products.

Roots Cafe is a youth lead creative economic development program launched by International Indigenous Youth Council- Twin Cities and incubated by Indigenous Roots. This place was open + the shy sweet young lady who waited on me needed some help from an elder to settle out my purchases. I was glad to find a local business to purchase something from.

I headed South of this crazy twin place; looking not for anything either of the competitive modern cities had to offer, but still searching for the ancient history.

Oddly enough, despite traveling South, I ended up on a hill that overlooked some more city. Yet this place was completely quiet. It was across the street from a lovely neighborhood, and after my long stroll, I did not want to ever leave this place. Talk about a spiritual draw!

I would have never learned of this place and a few others had I not stopped and talked with a lovely young woman at the State Park.

Wicaḣapi Regional Park 

The landscape of Wicaḣapi (Literal translation: they bury them. Free translation: burial place. Pronounced we-CHA-ha-pee) is a sacred place of burial. It is a cemetery built by ancestors of living people. The place has deep significance to the Upper Sioux Community, Lower Sioux Community, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Prairie Island Indian Community, Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, and other descendants of those who are buried here. It is home to the only known remaining burial mounds within the Minneapolis-Saint Paul urban core.

There has been a lot of work to bring cultural understanding to place and a push to preserve and protect what is left of the sacred lands of Indigenous peoples. This place is but one small example.

In May 2025, the City of Saint Paul adopted the recommendations of state Tribal Historic Preservation Officers to rename two culturally significant and sacred Dakota sites. The cultural landscape encompassing Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and Indian Mounds Regional Park is now designated as Imniżaska (white cliffs, pronounced e-me-NE-zha-ska). Within this landscape, the two individual sites will now be designated as Waḳaƞ Ṭípi (Dwelling Place of the Sacred, pronounced wah-KAHN TEE-pee) and Wic̣aḣapi (Dakota cemetery, pronounced we-CHA-ha-pee), respectively. This action reflects the city’s commitment to preserving Indigenous heritage and strengthening its long-standing partnership with Dakota leaders and communities.

During the consultation process, these site names, their translations, and appropriateness were vetted by multiple Dakota first language speakers and Dakota language instructors. The spellings are in the Dakota orthography developed by the University of Minnesota’s Dakota Language Department.

The Indigenous burial ground of Wicaḣapi has been a sacred site and place of burial for over a thousand years. It is significant to living Indigenous Peoples as a cemetery where their ancestors are buried. It is a place of reverence, remembrance, respect, and prayer. When the City of Saint Paul established a park in this location in 1892 with the purpose of protecting the historical setting and spectacular views, connections of contemporaneous Indigenous Peoples to the sacred site were not understood, considered, or valued. Over the last century the condition, name, and use of the landscape as a park have become beloved to the surrounding community. Yet many non-Indigenous people have wondered about this powerful landscape without knowing how to learn more about it. Through public gatherings with generous sharing by Indigenous Peoples and members of the public, strong support for protection of this sacred site has been revealed.

For more information on the 2020 Cultural Landscape Study:

Indian Mounds A Sacred Place of Burial

Although a scorcher of a day, having this most sacred, beautiful, and scenic site all to myself was magical. All that cosmopolitan hunk of development seemed to be an eternity away. I got in my car and headed out of these twin cities to look for more on the outskirts and in the great plains. I left city life and its hidden treasures for more than a week and only returned for my plane ride home.

So the other areas that may be considered Metro Twin Cities areas were the following two:

1.

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Off-Reservation Trust Land

I knew little to nothing about this very new (like not open to the public despite a brochure given to me by the person at the state park) site. I didn’t like the super “clean” look and feel of it. Sure it was out in the open + reminded me of a plains place, but it was too slick and polished for me. I was amazed it was 1. Empty and 2. Not open. I found some Anglo landscapers (a big paradigm shift for me to see pale skin vs tan/brown skin on the land crew) who also knew next to nothing and were just following orders on doing the final grounds work. I also didn’t like the reception I got when I went to the intercom spot to try to get some information. It was locked up tighter than a prison. 

The term "Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux off-reservation trust land" refers to lands held in trust by the U.S. federal government for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) that are located outside the official reservation boundaries. While the SMSC is largely based in Prior Lake, Minnesota, it also owns trust land in other locations, such as the Pe'Sla property in South Dakota, which is shared with other tribes. These lands are managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and are considered a vital part of the tribe's history and resources. This spot here on Tintaqcanku St. in Shakopee, MN was Southwest of Minniapolis. This small city (48k) also has burial mounds on the banks of the Minnesota River (culturally misappropriated and renamed Veterans Park in contemporary times), but this site is across the town from there and is away from the further south Prior Lake area that the tribe was forced to in the mid 19th century (I’m telling you- those 1850’s were some nasty years). The stolen/ceded town stopped for a minute after the Dakota war of 1862 + when it started back up it had the name Jackson (as in yeah- that ugly history dude Jackson), but not for long and now it is back to Shakopee. Sad thing is less than 2% of current pop. is Indigenous.

The landscape lady took my picture away from the building as I pondered how to get in. She mentioned something about rules about not taking photos. "Of a building?" I questioned incredulously.

I wanted to know if I could just go around back and see the teepee's or visit the outside exhibit. No, no, no. The first unwelcoming and unfriendly exchanges of my pilgrimage. In a place that was supposedly built to educate. I did not like the vibe there.

For a peek inside:

Finding Minnesota: Mdewakanton Sioux Cultural Center

2. Savage, MN

By this time I was hot as hell, agitated as an angry bee, and shocked when I saw this water tower a short distance from my long drive for nothing to South of Minneapolis. "What the hell?" I wondered out loud; something I did on my long journey through the 4 Great Plain states. "Who the hell and why the f*&$k would anyone allow this to be the name of a place?" It is such a dirty word used so inappropriately all over history plaques and literature back in New England that I just drove on and sent bad juju up to the Universe for that word. Of course I researched it in my hotel room that night + still don't believe it is a town named after the owner of a famous race horse who happens to have the last name Savage.

Like all land in this area, where Savage is today was first native land. Here, the Mdewakanton Dakota used the Minnesota River valley region for fish, game, boating and camping. I know that, history knows that, and Indigenous people know that. So I could give a hoot about a place with a stupid name like Savage. I slept satisfied that I did not stop, nor will I ever stop, in any place named "Savage."

Great Plains Pilgrimage Summer 2025- Minnesota

Have you ever wondered? Wondered about things unseen and misunderstood. How do you get at a truth that has been pretty effectively erased and not necessarily buried, but allowed to sink into the ground and slowly be forgotten?

As an educator, I did my best to work into lessons some forgotten history. Some unbelievably unkind and unfair human practices that don't make the textbooks that we have little to no control over (at least in public education, but I didn't always work the public side).

Let's take war for example. No small topic, no quick and easy explain. Yet humans have been warring for our entire existence. 

Let's also look at power. Throw in conquest, and we are getting at what makes us an ugly species. 

Bring it home to our country; specify the United States, for contrary to what some may think, we are only a small part of North America. Then we can narrow it down.

Have I mentioned genocide? Oh no, not that dirty word. It truly is the dirtiest word in the English dictionary, IMHO.

Once upon a time I did an entire unit on "genocide." One of the essential questions was the poser: Was what happened to the Indigenous Peoples of the United States considered genocide? Boy was that ever a unit! Some folks knew so little of these people, their history, or their current situation. We all sucked up the knowledge like thirsty people who have not had enough water for a long time.

We started with a timeline, went to numbers- compared them to current stats (THEY ARE STILL HERE I kept insisting), then some specific acts, and finished with local history and a field trip around to try to reimagine our landscape. It was powerful stuff.

But we are a small little New England town with a quaint and (untrue) little narrative of the Pilgrims and the Indians that we are fed a history of every Thanksgiving that many want to keep eating from.

Well I don't partake, nor do I eat. I quest. This time it was to the Great Plains region of our country; visiting Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa on my journey.

I start with Minnesota because that is where the plane let me off. 

FORT SNELLING

Right near the airport and right at the confluence of 2 rivers in the twin cities area, this unbelievably quiet place was hard to take in. 

Quiet today b/c the fort wasn't open, but my mind tried to peel back thousands of years and imagine people gathering at this confluence. 

The area was once (and may still be) called Bdote- where 2 waters come together. The Dakota have a long history here; to them this land is sacred- surrounded by spiritual sites and graves of relatives.

It was hard to arrive at the place knowing its history. It's "other history." The Fort is a tourist attraction (rebuilt in the 1960s) when opened + some claim it is the birthplace of Minnesota, heralding the patriotic and pioneering spirit of colonizers, while ignoring the "other history."

In a city/cities that combined has almost 1 million humans, this quiet and nature filled spot seemed almost buccolic...

And it could be if you ignored this sign and the horrid history it contains. This is where the question of genocide first came up for me. And I remind you and myself it is BUT ONE of many places where poor human behavior took place. 

It was a very confusing area with limited signage (b/c the Fort is the draw, not necessarily the trail system or the actual lands of the Dakota or the massacre).

There were other folks hiking, despite the creeping thermometer (upwards of 95 that day). I didn't bother them; instead continued my silent, solemn journey. I bet they made it to the now unmarked concentration camp below Fort Snelling.

This part of the walk was paved so I knew it likely was associated with Fort Snelling and not Dakota.

Hi sentient being! Enjoy your journey!

A useless sign I found. The order of listing told me what I already imagined. As I learned further along in my journey, even the word "Minnehaha" denoting a powerful sacred site to the Dakota was culturally misappropriated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellows, "The Song of Hiawatha," a made up tale made by a white male (not from the area) that made HWL famous with white people. I even saw "Hiawatha" streets! That this "epic" poem has stood for 170 years as a made up piece of literature touted by many makes me sick. I crave real truth, not made up stories. It is right up there with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by a white woman in fake white woman made up black vernacular that promulgated inaccurate stereotypes. Those 1850's did a lot of damage to the history of our country, IMHO. 

Let me sidetrack for a minute while I am on black folks. One interesting historical thing I found was that enslaved Black folks were also kept at the fort. Two in particular were there, made famous in their historic fight for FREEDOM. Dred and Harriet Scott met and married here. I wont go any further b/c we all know it is a sad story with a sad ending and we can't have too many of them in one blog now can we (It's the dam 1850's era again).  

As I didn't follow the hikers, nor did I have a trail guide, I quickly became lost as the temperature steadily rose. I came upon this structure in a clearing, and knew civilization (and my rental car) was near. I made it back to my car and began again.

I just had to pause and snap- this is how close the metropolitan areas of the twin cities was. Hidden history all over this place.

Swingers in St. Paul.

Another sidetrack- by the time I found Pike's Island/Wita Tanka along a very cool drive across small unpaved roads on an actual island in the convergence of the rivers), and the visitor's center, I saw these, and was ready to give in and give it a whirl. But when the woman told me the marker I was looking for was literally right outside the door, I declined the ride. Just want to note how cool it is that this state park (now I was in St. Paul) had these resources available to folks free for use.

The state of the monuments reminded me when I traveled long and far distances in search of black folks history to find weathered and old signage, as if the obligatory effort was built to fade fast so memories would fade + disappear too.

The inscription states:

This memorial honors the sixteen hundred Dakota people, many of them women and children, who were imprisoned here at Fort Snelling in the aftermath of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota Conflict. Frightened, uprooted, and uncertain of the fate of their missing relatives, the interned Dakota suffered severe hardship. At least 130 died during the cold winter months of captivity.

In May, 1863, the survivors from the camp were crowded aboard steamboats and taken to Crow Creek in southeastern South Dakota. Those who survived Crow Creek were moved again three years later to the Santee Reservation in Nebraska.

The pipestone in the center of the memorial was placed here by Amos Owen of the Prairie Island Indian Community during a ceremony in 1987. Please be respectful of this sacred place.

This memorial honors the 1600 Dakota people, many woman, children, and elders that were held in the concentration camp erected below Fort Snelling (which I probably would have perished trying to find without walking sticks nor hydration) after the Dakota War of 1862. This is the pipestone piece placed at the center on the memorial in 1987 by Amos Owen of the Prairie Island Indian Community.

As the inscription stated, a genocide took place here. Persecution continued with court cases, hangings, and even continues to this day, as the contemporary Prairie Island Indian Community has lost land to controversial construction projects and currently only has holdings to approximately 5 square miles, none of which is in the spot of the memorial.

I said my mea culpa's, bowed my head in shame, wiped my very sweaty head, and went on my way. Day one, hour one, and I already felt so heavy with the burdens of the past as I traversed the scarred lands of the Great Plains. 

In the Spirit of... Utah State Hospital Summer 2022 (posted 11/2025)

 Driving around Utah is not like driving around new England. The canyons, valleys, and land masses are so different. 

As we sought out our site the day turned to night and the difference in driving was striking.

East Provo on Canyon Road

Deer Creek State Park in Provo Canyon

Provo- Brigham Young University

A hard concept to take in as we traveled around the mountain west region was to be in one place of great conflict one day (Battle of Little Bighorn) and on another in the land that some folks are now beholden to and call "Mormon Country." We did not stop at any Mormon places per se, nor did we go to any of the national parks here; we had a different agenda. Sites of persecution can be defined in many ways, and I guess those folks who got behind Brigham Young probably felt that way. I mean the dude Brigham came here when this place wasn't even a state yet. It was a territory. Somebody else's land. A man on a mission, rising in status and power, I think, has univision (did I just make up a word?). He led "his" people into a desert canyon, and well known and documented exclusivity (aka racism), had to deal with the "Laminites" (Indigenous people according to the Book of Mormon). That old "kill or be killed" adage usurps the missionary focus of this religious sect. For battle they did. 

I did not have to ask, "What would BY do" in relation to the internment camps we visited. Not his day, not his watch, not his time (WWII), irregardless, I do not think I would have liked a megalomaniac with 56 wifes. I can't even ask him about the site we did visit, which is in the back yard of the school he founded. BY died in 1877, the territorial insane asylum was founded in 1885.

Some background info:

"The asylum was originally conceived as a place for individuals to be rehabilitated and returned to public life. However, the training and resources were insufficient and the institution soon became a human warehouse with terrible conditions."

A shift in attitudes toward the institution was signaled in 1903 when it was officially renamed the State Mental Hospital. Later in 1927, it was again renamed the Utah State Hospital in a further attempt to remove stigma. 

  

Remains of the day... One of my favorite travel things to do. This site, once upon a time, was separated from the town by swamplands and a dump. Now it is neighbors with BY University and has a campus of 312 acres.

Was it overcrowded? Yes. Peak population circa 1940= 1,100 in a place built for 700. Does it still exist? Yes, although we could not see any of the current site, nor the museum they have there.

The original site

And what's left:

What is circled is where we went. The remnants of the "old hospital." The modern campus is quite large + houses 312 patients. We could see little of this campus. We were happy/lucky that the campus security person directed us to the old part in the back. 

The original hospital building, a large Richardson-Romanesque style building (now you know part of where/how my curious mind wended here) was demolished in 1981. 

For a video on the Castle Ampitheater go here:

USH Castle Ampitheater

What hubby Peter + I were trying to sleuth out was the plaque that told who built this awesomely creepy in the night structure.

All stone and built on a hill; doesn't this sound like a wise idea for recreation (insert sarcasm)? This is an 800 stone-seated ampitheater that mostly was unused after being built in the 1930's.

It is impressive and spooky and currently used  (1970's rehab opened it back up) for public events.

This structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 (now you know what we were looking for!).

For nearly 3 decades (1971-1997), the site was used for an annual "Haunted Castle" by the community.

It is hard to conceive as a recreational center. Not sure what the thinking was at the time.

It looked forbidding and like a fortress to lock people in. 

Yes this looks awfully like a possessed spirit, but it is merely me. Back in the day, I would have been committed for "social nonconformity" (yup, a discriminatory practice that existed).

We didn't find this marker, nor the national historic brown one. A quick note; Utah was hit hard by the depression, and had an unemployment rate of approx. 36% (4th highest in the country in 1933). So this project, although probably ill-conceived and impractical, is a cool reminder of a, IMHO, good federal program to put people to work.

For more info: USH Castle Ampitheater

A pictoral essay in Utah Hx'cal Qtrly: https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume78_2010_number2/40

A good article about the "Haunted Castle Days: The Complex Ethics of a Haunted House Starring Psychiatric Patients

A hokey radio-type ghost story piece: Is the Utah State Hospital Haunted by Echoes of Its Dark Past? | Paranormal Deep Dive

We did not find any paranormal experiences, no plaques, and no humans either. This was the only sentient beings we saw silently moving about. They were awfully cute, and could care less about us.