Kittson and Marshall Counties are created. Kittson honors Norman W. Kittson, a prominent territorial pioneer, and Marshall honors William R. Marshall, fifth governor of the state.

Watonwan County is established, named for the river. Watonwan means "I see" in Dakota, but the name of the river may have been a misspelling of watanwan (fish bait).

Morrison and Sherburne Counties are created. Morrison is named for fur traders William and Allan Morrison. Sherburne is named for Moses Sherburne, a justice in the territorial supreme court.

The Mississippi, Pillager, and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Ojibwe sign a treaty ceding to the U.S. government a major portion of heavily wooded north-central Minnesota, in which lumbering companies had expressed a keen interest. The treaty establishes reservations at Leech Lake and Mille Lacs.

The pink-and-white lady slipper (Cypripedium reginae) is named the state flower by the legislature (following the discovery that the previously chosen variety of lady slipper is not native to Minnesota). This wild orchid has a brilliantly colored bloom and thrives in damp woods, swamps, and bogs; it would be protected by a state law passed in 1925 that forbids picking the flower.

A snowstorm lasting until December 8 drops thirty-five inches on Duluth and twenty-five on the Twin Cities.

Cesar Tovar plays all nine positions during a Minnesota Twins baseball game.

Fur trader Alexander Faribault, a son of Pelagie Faribault, contracts with mason Michel Le Laire to build a house in Mendota.

August Schell, founder of August Schell Brewing Company in New Ulm, dies. Born in Durbach, Germany, in 1828, Schell had moved to Minnesota in 1856. Four years later, with Jacob Bernhardt, he founded a small brewery on the banks of the Cottonwood River.

Isaac I. Stevens and his surveying crew leave Minneapolis to plot a rail route to Puget Sound. In 1870 the Northern Pacific Railroad followed this route.