Copyright © 2000 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

What MNDOT did to the Four Sacred Oaks is what this State and Federal Government have been doing to the Native People for 500 years. Our Elder's told us that this area from the Falls to the Spring was an area that was a place where our people would gather for ceremonies and to bury their dead.

Where the Veteran's Hospital and Administration building now sits was Taku Wakan Tipi, or Gathering Place of the Spirits. Later it was called Morgan's Mound by the settlers who also used the area for burials. Our Relative's remains were removed from this area and we aren't sure where they are EVEN today.

The spring, Camp Coldwater Spring, is a block south of where the Four Oaks are on the eastern edge of Taku Wakan Tipi. Dakota oral teaching tells of unk-teh-he, the Water Spirit, would travel from the Mendota, where the waters meet, up to Taku Wakan Tipi. This area was and is very sacred to the Dakota People.

MNDOT killed these Four Trees on December 11, 1999. They took a slab from the West tree to the University of Minnesota to count the life rings. Now they say the trees aren't old enough to be significant to the Dakota People, they counted 137 life rings. So that puts the trees at being planted in 1862, the same year they exiled most of the Dakota People out of this state.

The Hotop Report says "the trees couldn't have been planted by any Dakota because of the exile." All the Dakota were absent from the area. Well that's not true. During the conflict 360 Settlers were saved by the friendlies, or the farmer Indians. These settlers were the women and children. These Dakota, our relatives, were kept by General Sibley on ten acres of land on top of modern day Mendota. Our relatives numbered about 100 and were rewarded for saving the Settlers by being able to remain at Mendota. The Dakota have always been in Mendota and planted these marker trees, to mark the place in Mother Earth where other trees had been before they were cut down by soldier's or settler's. So when they tell us this place is not sacred to our people it's the same thing they have always done with their Cultural Genocide of the Native Peoples of this Turtle Island.

They tell us what is sacred to us. Well we have 12 hours of video taken at the State Capitol of Elders who through oral teachings tell how this area was and is very important to our history and culture. What we have done for the last 16 months is to stand our ground to try to protect this whole area from the Falls to the Spring because of history written by the first missionaries and oral history from our Elders, we have the truth and the history of this place on our side. They think they have "won" something. We have only the Creator to answer to for what has happened to this place. This fight is not over, the Spring is still in grave danger of being destroyed by their destruction. Please keep supporting us in our struggle to get the land around the Spring protected and returned to the Dakota Nation for an interpretative center where people can learn about our history and culture, where Elders can come to remember our Relatives that have lived and died in this place.

What they continue to do is Ethnic Cleansing. They say it is legal, but it is immoral and wrong. It is also wrong to continue to punish the Dakota by trying to completely erase our History and Culture. This cannot be tolerated anymore. All we ask is to let us use this small but very important area to keep it the way it is, to help our people heal and relearn what was almost taken from us.

So in the name of all the Dakota, I thank each and everyone that has understood what this has always been about, the area is sacred to the Dakota and should be told to ALL people.

Pidamaya Kodas,

Mahpiya duta (Redsky)
Jim Anderson ~ 12-28-99
Cultural Chairman Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community
Office Phone: 651-452-4141