For centuries people gathered here to hunt game & exchange goods & information. By 1700 they were joined by Europeans who came to this area to trade guns, cloth & other products the Dakota wanted for furs. Over the next 150 years, traders & Indians did business with each other at Traverse des Sioux, swapping news, ideas, & customs as well as trade items.
B7 1851 settlers in the newly established Minnesota Territory were pressing hard to open Indian lands for settlements. In a treaty signed here that year, the Sisseton & Wahpeton bands of the Dakota sold most of southwestern Minnesota-some 21 million acres-to the government for about 7.5 cents per acre. The sale triggered a land rush. By 1853 this historic meeting place had become the town of Traverse des Sioux. But, like hundreds of other towns in the Territory, it soon failed. The site was farmed until 1969, when it was named into a state park. In 1973, in recognition of its unique significance, Traverse des Sioux was listed on the National Register of Historic Places & designated a state historic site.
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