Quick History: 1805 - Lieutenant Zebulan Pike Negotiates a Treaty with the Dakota / Mill City History

1805 - Lieutenant Zebulan Pike negotiates a treaty with the Dakota, who cede territory that includes St. Anthony Falls.

Lieutenant Zebulon Pike becomes the first representative of the young United States to appear in Minnesota. While surveying the Louisiana Purchase, Pike buys a sliver of land--"for a song," he says--from the Dakota. The small area will become the first U.S. outpost in the region, but it is another 14 years before the army follows and begins Fort Snelling.

Above: Courtesy of Mill City Museum