Black and white photograph of an unidentified Métis fur trader of Indian and French Ancestry, ca. 1870.

Métis fur trader

An unidentified Métis fur trader of Native American and French ancestry, ca. 1870.

Métis dance at Devil’s Lake, Dakota Territory, ca. 1870. Drawing by Corporal Louis Voelkerer, Company A, Thirty-first United States Infantry.

Métis dance, Devil’s Lake, Dakota Territory

Métis dance at Devil’s Lake, Dakota Territory, ca. 1870. Drawing by Corporal Louis Voelkerer, Company A, Thirty-first United States Infantry.

Black and white photograph of an eight-person mixed-blood Ojibwe family, including a baby, on the White Earth Reservation, ca. 1897.

The Blu family

An eight-person mixed-blood Ojibwe family, including a baby, on the White Earth Reservation, ca. 1897.

Métis in Minnesota

In the Minnesota region during the eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, métis, or mixed-ancestry, people often acted as bridges between white and Native American communities. The Métis cultural community of Pembina formed out of fur trade dynamics and influenced Minnesota during its territorial birth.

Little Round Hill Trading Site

Ojibwe oral tradition identifies Little Round Hill, a small elevation on the banks of the Crow Wing River, as the location of a late-1700s French fur trading fort and a skirmish between Ojibwe hunter-traders and Dakota warriors. Located in Old Wadena County Park at the confluence of the Partridge and Crow Wing Rivers, it was the site of the first intensive archaeological excavation within Wadena County.

Black and white photograph of a translator with three Ojibwe men. The Ojibwe leader Miskogwan (Red Feather) stands on the far right. Northwest School of Agriculture Dedication Day, October 5, 1920.

Participants in NWSA Dedication Day

Three Ojibwe men with a translator. The Ojibwe leader Miskogwan (Red Feather) stands on the far right. Northwest School of Agriculture Dedication Day, October 5, 1920.

Sketch showing the approximate boundaries of the contested zone between the Ojibwe and the Dakota in the late 1700s.

Map of contested zone

Sketch showing the approximate boundaries of the contested zone between the Ojibwe and the Dakota in the late 1700s. Adapted from Douglas A. Birk, “A Preliminary Archaeological Study of the Little Round Hill Site, Old Wadena Park, Wadena County, Minnesota,” 1991.

Black and white photograph of Gabriel Renville in South Dakota, ca. 1890. Photograph by Steinhauer.

Gabriel Renville in South Dakota

Gabriel Renville in South Dakota, ca. 1890. Photograph by Steinhauer.

Black and white photograph of Gabriel Renville in Washington D.C., ca. 1880–1881.

Gabriel Renville in Washington, D.C.

Gabriel Renville in Washington, D.C., ca. 1880–1881. Retrieved from Ancestry.com.

Black and white photograph of Gabriel Renville in Washington, D.C., at about forty-two years old, 1867.

Gabriel Renville in Washington, D.C.

Gabriel Renville in Washington, D.C., at about forty-two years old, 1867.

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