“Nobody knew anything about this,” said Randy Forstner, the historical society’s executive director. “We knew it was out here, of course, but creating a trail was something new.”
Trow took charge of the project, finding grant money and working with the Prairie Island Indian Community early in the process to establish plans.
It took some time, but those partnerships paid dividends. Volunteers from Grand Meadow High School, several colleges and universities, and even inmates in community corrections programs spent several years clearing buckthorn and shaping the trails.
From there, Prairie Island worked with several other tribal communities in Minnesota, including the Lower Sioux and Mdewakanton, to help create educational signs in English and Dakota as well as establish trail stops along the way.
“We want to be able to see ourselves reflected on the landscape,” Jackson said. “Having that opportunity to work with subject matter experts and language experts … was incredibly educational. We don’t get this type of collaboration very often.”
For the past five years, archaeologists and the Prairie Island Indian Community have worked to preserve an ancient quarry in rural Grand Meadow where minerals were mined to create tools and other goods for Dakota across the Midwest. (Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Betty Smith, 76, and Shirley Greising, 74, didn’t have much connection to their Dakota heritage for close to 50 years. Their mother, Nora, came from the Spirit Lake reservation in North Dakota, but she never mentioned her roots to her children.