Norwegian newspaperman Paul Hjelm-Hansen leaves Alexandria to travel to the Red River by oxcart. Hjelm-Hansen had been hired by the State Board of Immigration to publicize the advantages of moving to western Minnesota. His letters, published in a number of Norwegian newspapers, encourage many emigrants to move there.

Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor ends his command at Fort Snelling, which had begun May 24, 1828. He would later lead the U.S. Army in the war against Mexico, and "Old Rough and Ready" would take that fame to the White House. Taylor is the only U.S. president to have spent a significant amount of time in Minnesota.

The federal government and the Red Lake Ojibwe sign a treaty that cedes 2,905,000 "surplus" acres from the reservation. Rather than distributing the remaining reservation land to individual tribe members as allotments, this treaty allows the Red Lake Ojibwe to hold the land in common, thereby protecting it from piecemeal sale.

A police officer is shot while trying to break up a riot at a saloonkeepers' picnic in St. Paul.

The reassembly of steam engine 201—once operated by Casey Jones and the last of its kind in existence—is complete and ready for display on the grounds of the Owatonna Tool Company. Reuben Kaplan and his son, "Buzz," brought the engine from Peoria, and they would move the Owatonna Union Depot building to the same site the following year.

Carl F. Hirte sets up a homestead claim in the middle of St. Paul's Union Depot rail yard. Hirte had discovered that a nearly five-acre tract in the middle of the yard had never been claimed, and, in accordance with the Homestead Act, he builds a shack for housing. His attorney values the land at $1,000,000.

The National Afro-American Council, a precursor to the NAACP, holds a meeting at the state capitol, and business, social, education, and religious leaders discuss strategies for improving the position of African Americans nationwide.

Dr. Thomas S. Williamson and Alexander Huggins establish the Lac qui Parle mission to the Dakota, which operates for twenty years.

Lewis Cass, territorial governor of Michigan, forbids the sale of liquor on Native American lands under his control, including the area around Fort Snelling.

Golf great Bobby Jones plays a round at the Interlachen Country Club in Edina on the first day of the US Open Championship. At the end of the two-day tournament, he wins the title for the fourth time.