Many people have felt that the place where I grew up was special. There are many other similar places.
People have come to this place with flowing water, prairie, and woods for thousands of years.
They came for the land, to hunt, to gather, to farm and to raise their families. 160 years ago, there were many species present here that are not present today. The bison, elk, antelope, swans and many more that have not been seen for decades.
In the 1851 Treaty with the Dakota at Traverse des Sioux, the government obtained the land for 12 cents an acre.
In 1857 the land was surveyed to establish a grid on the land, that facilitated the buying, selling, and ownership of pieces of land.
I grew up hearing the stories of the pioneers walking three days from St Anthony / Minneapolis. Settlers that went farther west used an old Native American trail across our farm, because there are wetlands to the north and south. They lived in a dugout on the side of a hill, with the wagon for the roof the first winter. During the 1862 Dakota-Settler conflict, settlers came back on their way to the fort at Forest City. One party circled their wagons on the hill where I played and grew up. Two men that followed with their cattle were killed and were buried nearby. My father and his siblings would pick wildflowers and put them on their graves, when they were watching the cows. Later an old man walked up from the Dakota community on Minnesota River, to die in his old hunting grounds, to not be a bother for his family. He was given a chicken for supper. In the morning he had died. He was buried and the grave was marked with stones. Trees later grew up among the stones.
My great grandfather sent $50 back to Norway many times for his brothers, sister, nephews, and niece to come. They sometimes stayed several years. Then they would move west for the opportunities on the frontier. There are more than a thousand descendants that have moved on, from this farm.
My father was offered cash to be able to cut sod in our pasture. He would not accept it. You do not sell the soil.
What is important is the land. We need to restore the water, the prairie, and the woods. In 40 years, the prairie will be able to support the diverse life that it supported 160 years ago. The water will filter and slow down on its journey to the river. The woods will maintain its good example of the Big Woods.
I saw swans on the farm for the first-time last fall. I hope that they will come back next spring to raise their family.
