Lower Sioux Indian Reservation

Map of Redwood County

The Lower Sioux Indian Reservation, (Dakota: Cansa'yapi; Lakota: Čhaŋšáyapi[1]) also known as the Mdewakanton Tribal Reservation, is an Indian reservation located along the southern bank of the Minnesota River in Paxton Township and Sherman Township, Redwood County, Minnesota. Its administrative headquarters is two miles south of Morton. The land became part of a reservation after the signing of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851, but has now shrunk to a very small size. As of the 2000 census, the site had a population of 335, and a land area of 2.705 sq mi (7.006 km²).

History

Termination Efforts

As part of the Indian termination policy that was followed by the US government from the 1940s to the 1960s, four Native American Groups in Minnesota were targeted. A memo dated 19 January 1955 for the BIA issued from the Department of the Interior indicates additional terminations were being reviewed in proposed legislation for four Indian communities of southern Minnesota including the Lower Sioux Community in Redwood and Scott counties, the New Upper Sioux Community in Yellow Medicine County, the Prairie Island Community in Goodhue County and about 15 individuals living on restricted tracts in Yellow Medicine County.[2]

Discussions between the BIA and the Indians from the targeted area began in 1953 and continued throughout 1954. Though the Prairie Island and Lower Sioux communities drafted agreements with individual land ownership, the Upper Sioux strongly opposed fee simple title to tribal lands. On 26 January 1955 Senator Edward Thye introduced into Congress a bill (S704) to provide for termination of the tribes. Opposition, not only of the Indians, but of other citizens who realized their state expenditures might increase, were made to the committee reviewing the bill. The Governor's Commission on Human Rights also opposed the legislation, indicating that it would "not adequately protect the interests of the Indians..." The bill died in committee, never reaching the Senate floor.[3]

Tribal Enterprises

The community operates Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel, which began in 1984 as a bingo facility. The casino has become a major employer for the surrounding communities. The Lower Sioux Agency, a historic site on the reservation associated with the Dakota War of 1862, is managed by the community in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society.[4]

Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel was the state of Minnesota's first casino. Jackpot Junction features three bars, three restaurants, an amphitheater, and two grand ballrooms. Live music is played every weekend, usually country occasionally rock. The casino is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

County Highway 2 runs through the reservation, connecting it to U.S. Route 71 and Minnesota State Highway 19 to the northwest.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ullrich, Jan, ed. (2011). New Lakota Dictionary (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Lakota Language Consortium. p. 999. ISBN 978-0-9761082-9-0. LCCN 2008922508.
  2. ↑ "Proposed Terminal Legislation for Indians of Southern Minnesota" (PDF). Department of the Interior. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  3. ↑ >Meyer, Roy Willard (1993). "History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trial". University of Nebraska Press. p. 354. ISBN 0-8032-8203-6. Retrieved 2014-12-19.
  4. ↑ "Lower Sioux Agency". Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved 2013-10-01.

External links

Coordinates: 44°32′19″N 94°59′30″W / 44.53861°N 94.99167°W / 44.53861; -94.99167

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