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This Day in Minnesota History

December 28, 1909

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W. E."Pussyfoot" Johnson, who had the authority to enforce federal liquor laws on Native American reservations, leads a raid on the saloons of Park Rapids, which were illegally serving residents of the White Earth Reservation of Ojibwe (considered wards of the state and protected by an 1855 treaty). Johnson and a trainload of US marshals gather all the bottles they can find and demolish them on Main Street.

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