Exploring Southwestern Minnesota Historical Marker – Blue Earth, MN - Minnesota Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This historical marker is found at the eastbound rest stop just west of Blue Earth. The text reads:

“With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States acquired a large area west of the Mississippi River. Eager about information about its new territory, the government dispatched a series of explorers to learn more about the land and the native peoples who lived there.

“Expedition leaders recorded their observations, in words, on maps, and in pictures. Each built on work of earlier explorers, until, together, their findings put Minnesota on the map.

“The first to conduct a U.S. expedition from Ft. Snelling to the west was Major Stephen H. Long in 1823. Traveling with him through Minnesota and the Red River valleys were scientists, a landscape painter, and an interpreter.

“In 1835 the government sent English geologist G. W. Featherstonhaugh to further explore the remote region. He kept detailed journals of the expedition and later published his account. It is an important eyewitness record of a frontier in transition, as traders, missionaries, and the military gradually forced the Dakota out of their tribal lands and traditional way of life.

“Another witness to those changes was the artist/author George Catlin, who traveled throughout North America making a complete pictorial record of the American Indians before their culture was forever altered. In 1836 he recorded the Pipestone Quarry in what became southwestern Minnesota. His panoramic picture of the site recorded the religious rites of the Indians as they quarried the stone at this sacred site for carving and trading throughout native North America.

“No other explorer did more to increase our knowledge of this region than French map-maker Joseph Nicolett. Commissioned by the U.S. Army in 1838, Nicolett and his assistant John Fremont let two surveying expeditions into the triangle of land between the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers. Nicolett’s map of the area, extraordinarily accurate for its day, remains a monument to the achievements of western explorers.”

This marker was erected by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1997.

Marker Type:: Roadside

Visit Instructions:
A photo of the 'Marker' or 'Plaque' is required to identify the location, plus a picture of the 'Historic Site'.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   09/08/2011 dbrockhouse visited it