Nine Mile Creek (Minnesota River tributary)

Nine Mile Creek
Native name	Iyutapi Napcinwanka (Dakota)
Physical characteristics
Length	fifteen miles (24 km)
Basin size	fifty miles (80 km)
Discharge
• location	Minnesota River
Basin features
River system	Minnesota River
Waterbodies	Normandale Lake

Nine Mile Creek, known in Dakota as Iyutapi Napcinwanka, ^[1] is a stream in Hennepin County, Minnesota, in the United States. ^[2] It is a tributary of the Minnesota River.

Nine Mile Creek was named from its distance, nine miles (14 km) southwest of Fort Snelling where it crosses the (Old) Shakopee Road. ^{[3] [4]}

The stream has two branches, the main branch, with a length of fifteen miles (24 km), and the south branch, with a length of eight point five miles (13.7 km). ^[5] The main branch begins in Hopkins and the south branch begins in Minnetonka. The two branches meet at Normandale Lake, in Bloomington. ^[6]

History

In 1780, the Dakota Chief Penasha led the village Titanka Tannina, located at the mouth of the stream home to about 1900 people. ^[7] The Dakota name for the Creek, Iyutapi Napcinwanka, means 'Stream of He Who Fears Nothing'. ^[8] This likely a reference to Chief Takuni Phephe Sni, who's name means 'He Who Fears Nothing'. Takuni Phephe Sni was chief of Titanka Tannina in the early 1830s. ^[9]

Titanka Tannina would be abandoned in 1851, following the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. In 1858, the area would be incorporated into Bloomington, Minnesota.

The area would be urbanized in the 1950s and 1960s. Between 2000 and 2014, the Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail was constructed. It was opened in 2018.

See also

• List of rivers of Minnesota
• Nine Mile Creek Regional Trail
• Bassett Creek (Mississippi River tributary)
• Minnehaha Creek

References

1. "OHEYAWAHE/PILOT KNOB HISTORIC LANDSCAPE PLAN" (PDF).
2. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Nine Mile Creek (Minnesota River tributary)
3. Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota Historical Society. 1920. p. 231.
4. Wittenberg, Marie (2010). Eden Prairie: A Brief History. The History Press. p. 17. ISBN   978-1-59629-941-2.
5. "Nine Mile Creek".
6. "Nine Mile Creek".
7. "Timeline: The History of Bloomington Since 1750".
8. "Dakota Life".
9. DeCarlo, Peter. "Lines on the Land: How Dakota Homeland Became Private Property" (PDF).

44°48′02″N93°17′25″W / 44.80056°N 93.29028°W / 44.80056; -93.29028