St. Mary's Falls Canal opens at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. It connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron and the lower Great Lakes, eventually permitting the mass transport of wheat, coal, and iron ore from Minnesota to points east.

The Mesabi Range towns of Virginia, Merritt, and Mountain Iron are destroyed in a forest fire.

A tornado kills nine and injures 222 in the Anoka area.

Twenty-four people are killed in the "Seven Oaks Massacre" near Winnipeg, Manitoba. The battle is between members of the Selkirk Colony and a group of métis people hired by the North West Company to prevent settler-colonists from destroying the fur market. The colony's founder, Thomas Douglas, the fifth Earl of Selkirk, owned a large interest in the Hudson's Bay Company, a rival to the North West Company.

The first graduation ceremony for the University of Minnesota is held at the Academy of Music in Minneapolis to honor both graduates, Warren Eustis and Henry Williamson.

St. Paul's founder, Pierre Parrant, builds the city's first structure, known as the whiskey seller's cabin, in Fountain Cave. Nicknamed "Pig's Eye" because one of his eyes was surrounded by a "white-ish ring," Parrant had been expelled from the Fort Snelling grounds for selling liquor. The name is also applied to the community when people begin having their mail sent to "Pig's Eye." At Father Lucien Galtier's suggestion, the town's name was changed to St. Paul on November 1, 1849.

Jesse Reno is born in Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1853, General Reno surveyed the military road from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Mendota, a route of 279 miles. He was killed in the Civil War.

Dave and John Kunst and their mule, Willie-Make-It, set out from their Waseca home to walk around the earth. In Afghanistan, bandits attack the brothers, killing John and wounding Dave. Dave's brother Pete then joins him until they reach the Indian Ocean. Dave returns to Waseca on October 5, 1974, the first person to walk around the earth, 14,450 miles in all.

Minneapolis's theatrical scene begins in earnest with the dedication of the Pence Opera House at Second Street and Hennepin Avenue. The opening performance is a joint concert by the Minneapolis Musical Union and the St. Paul Musical Society. The first play, The Hunchback, opens three days later.

Actress Jane Russell is born in Bemidji.

The United States Hockey Hall of Fame opens in Eveleth, the capital of American hockey.

The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment departs Fort Snelling for Washington, DC, eventually finding both glory and death in the Civil War.