Major Joseph Delafield and his party arrive at Grand Portage to run the first survey of the international boundary in the region.

Minnesota Territory is divided into seven "council districts." Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey declares that elections will be held August 1.

130 gold miners, including a group from St. Paul led by James L. Fisk, set out on oxcarts from Fort Abercrombie on the Red River for the Montana gold fields. The federal government encouraged the expedition in an effort to find gold to finance the Civil War.

Stillwater lumbermen descend the St. Croix River at Hudson, Wisconsin, just after dawn to remove wooden pilings underneath a bridge. Although the pilings support the bridge, they are blocking navigation along the river. Lumber companies in Stillwater had obtained a court injunction requiring a 200-foot clearance between the pilings to allow timber rafts to float through, but workers building the bridge had ignored the order. The lumberjacks return to Stillwater with about 100 pilings, and the event becomes known as the "Battle of the Piles."

The comedy, music, and variety show A Prairie Home Companion makes its first live broadcast from Macalester College in St. Paul. The show's first national broadcast followed nearly four years later, in February 1978.

Police and striking workers (most of them gas- and water-system maintenance crews) clash in Duluth. Police mortally wound four workers before Mayor John B. Sutphin sends in the militia and empties the streets.

The Turnverein, a German organization that sponsored social, educational, and physical events, gives its first dramatic presentation in St. Anthony's Turnverein Hall. Turner clubs provided a strong German presence throughout the country until World War I.

St. Paul's first telegraphed message is delivered to William H. Seward, governor of New York and Republican presidential hopeful.

Minnesota experiences the first ripple of the Panic of 1857 as the William Brewster and Company bank goes out of business, soon followed by the Marshall and Company bank on October 3 and the Truman M. Smith bank on October 4.

The Constitutional Conventions for the soon-to-be state of Minnesota agree to a compromise document as the state's constitution. The convention had split into two parts, Republican and Democratic, shortly after it convened. While the groups were unable to bring themselves to work together formally, they manage to produce nearly identical documents that form the state's constitution. No change in cooperation has been noted since.