Cannon River (Minnesota) - Cultural Information

Cultural Information

Evidence of human activity along Inyan Bosndata (Or "Standing Rock River" as the Cannon is named in the Dakota Indian language) goes back at least 12,000 years. By C.E. 1000 the Mississippian Culture, a tradition heavily dependent on agriculture, was established in southern Minnesota. An important part of the yearly cycle was the hunting of buffalo west of the Mississippi and the Big Woods. The Cannon served as a primary route from the Mississippi River valley to the plains of western Minnesota where bison were common. The Dakota were forced to surrender the area in the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux and most Dakota (except for a small group south of Faribault) left the area after the Dakota War of 1862. The "Standing Rock" of the Dakota language name is Castle Rock, located two miles east of the village of Castle Rock, Minnesota.

The mouth of the Cannon River was a major center of this culture. In historic times Indians and traders frequently hid their canoes near the river's mouth, and so French fur traders called the stream La Riviere aux Canots, "the river of canoes." In 1877 there were 15 flour mills along the stretch of river between Faribault and Northfield alone. At Dundas, Minnesota travelers still can see the aging limestone walls of the Archibald Mill. The Cannon River also flows through the Science Center at the Maltby Nature Preserve in Randolph, Minnesota.

Adapted from the Minnesota DNR web site